Self ♥ Papaji's Poem Performed by Satyashanti

Gayatri Mantra Tina Malia

Oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥtát savitúr váreṇyaṃbhárgo devásya dhīmahidhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt
Oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥtát savitúr váreṇyaṃbhárgo devásya dhīmahidhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt
Oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥtát savitúr váreṇyaṃbhárgo devásya dhīmahidhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt
Oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥtát savitúr váreṇyaṃbhárgo devásya dhīmahidhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt

Let us honor the unity of Divine Spirit
that pervades all realms of existance:
the earth, the atmosphere and the heavens.

May That most brilliant Divine Light
protect us, sustain us
and illuminate our consciousness

that we might realize
our inherent goodness,
our inborn divinity
and our unity with All That Is.

By this knowledge may our actions be inspired

Vedic Sanskrit .

When I was that age
I was longing so hard
Straining to have fun
To reach out
to touch
and be touched
Yearning to be witnessed
and explored
To be found and catapulted
Into the honey sweet piquant peak
 of some sunrise ecstasy

I see their lives
flooded with opportunity
awash with beauty
and wonder if they are
 as There
as every ingredient invites them to be?
Or are they where I was?

If I stepped in now,
off my quiet shore,
Solid in my love,
In through the froth and playfulness
Could I dive in to that sunrise
Or would I be waiting, all over again,
to be swept?

Socks

Life ticks over in mundane ways
The ever repeating arguments
That take up half the day
The piles of things, wrappers, washing
laying in the way of peace;
Of pause without thought

Is a mother
Always twice the age
Of every other?
I see two years here, four there, feel ancient.

Actually ancient sounds good
Feels clean, honest, honed and wisdom worthy.

I am crumpled laundry faded with dust

Part of my gathering 'what I've been up to's has had me returning to October's Breast Cancer Awareness body painting jam and I think it was my favourite event of the year...this is it:

 

http://www.juliaarts.co.uk/breast-cancer-awareness-body-paint-2013.php

We are halfway through January and I am taking quiet time. I am hampered by having an only half functioning right hand, but also quite intentionally taking time to try and work out a healthy balance between my little business and the rest of life (and some relaxation:P,I am here working at 22:30 but I did have a massage today:P)

December became such a blur as I attempted to run an advent giveaway calendar through my facebook page and bit off way more than I anticipated work wise...I missed one of my regular things, a quarterly giveaway, supposed to have happened 20th December.

Last year the December giveaway didn't happen as I had no names to put on the list. the names come from contibutors of pictures, reviews and the such. This year the list is taking some compiling.

Compiling my list of contributors from the last three months has led me through some amazing memories and it prompted me to take time to look back through 2013 as a whole. I worked pretty much constantly, often functioning at the very edge of what was sanely possible for me (and those around me) for days on end to see a project through, only to take a breather for a second before having to step up to the next festival/party/photo shoot/charity event on the list.
It has left me with quite a year to look back on!

Of course all the while trying to book-keep, facebook, website manage, advertise, stay insured, order stock, produce stock, keep learning, provide excellent customer service...let alone raise two boys and try to fit in some life.

Off to finish the list and maybe create a 2013 hi-lights thingy:) xx

Aready the days and evenings are beginning to return into a garbled string of internet information where each thought and remembering of something I need to do leads me further into the ever tangling internetty spaghetti...and somehow my house looks the same!

Softly and gradually the year begins to come to life.

 I am still quite peaceful and the pace is quite slow, a few bookings already for later in the year and a handful for the next few weeks.
I am spending time clearing the house and my art spaces, watching tutorials, aiming to keep a mellow pace and playing with paint a little.
I am hopefully imagining getting out paper and pencils, but remember the exact same hope at the beginning of last year so am trying to carefully focus the energy into providing the space to easily do so.
 I enjoyed tentatively  painting small faces and a couple of grown ups at a friends 5th Birthday today with my half working hand. It has slowed me down a bit and it was quite awkward to do things from some angles, but some pretty faces came about and a wonderful rainbow Spidey face.

 More happens than it feels like and it's hard to imagine right now how much I must get done when the pace of life seems so fast and insanely full as it has been the last couple of years with frequent weeks of ticking off checklists from 7am til 3the next am. hmmmmm.