Poetic Flow

What is it about poetry that is so compelling?

Poetry speaks to the heart. It has a different vibration than that to which the mind is attuned. It has an energy that flows, moves, and creates an emotional connection. To the self. To others. To the world.

And when I have been focusing intensely on my routine work and the sometimes jerky nature of its implementation, when there is much detailed research, or when things sometimes go off the smoother rails, so to speak, like right now, it is where I go to let go and reconnect. Art in general has that power. To switch from the mundane to the beautiful. To take a break. To refresh, to feel, and move away from the tiredness or the stuckness, to a new gracefulness and intention.

As Robert Fitzgerald put it "Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation".

That is why I have recently changed my workspace. I have two workstations. One for my organised structured work that always must get done, and a separate space for my poetry and art work, which is dear to my heart. One is more organised. The other much less so. And I switch and blend between them. The right brain and the left brain. Creative space and routine space. It is working well. It helps balance and counteract fatigue and invite new thinking. It brings my heart back when my mind gets cluttered. And creates a new energy that is more inspiring, more creative, more open to options, solutions and renewed vigour.

I invite you to come and join in. Experiment with a poem. Begin.

It is a poem about poetry by John Fox, a poetry therapist and teacher who discovered the benefits of poetry to deal with distress. He wrote it when he was thirteen during an experience when he was inspired by a skater. And likened it to the experience of writing poetry. The letting go into the feeling experience transitioning.

Let go, slow down, and breathe, with me.

Read it with your feeling heart, and see.

It skates boldly onto
the page, tips one vulnerable foot
back and forth slowly, till finally
the edge of a toe
cuts a simple, sharp line
through the world's cold resistance
and with that plain courage, a statement of intention begins;
and you can't turn back any longer
from the weight of feeling and letting go
into the flow that follows.
Poetry is a choice to feel it all,
not all at once but to gradually sink down
within ourselves, to give what fear
we hold behind our knees
to gravity and grace,
to discover what makes our whole world turn;
the place our necessary weight
lifts to lightened joy.

Ah, yes...The feeling imagery is soul food. The changing pace. Movement. New momentum.

I hope you find the creativity that inspires you to lightened joy. Whether it be art, dance, music, writing, whatever does it for you. Blend it in with the routine. And see.

All of it works for me.

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti.


Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

ManWoman. Art.

Art for me is an inner expression. It is representational art. Of what I and my subconscious are working on or experiencing at any given time. It informs me of my process. Brings it into conscious form. And often simplifies it to a core message.

One of the processes we are collectively working on is the balancing, and bringing into cooperative and collaborative alignment, our masculine and our feminine. Qualities that combined are essential to giving wholeness.

And what does that mean? It is the divine interplay between our own inner masculine and feminine energies so that we can apply them in our more refined outer existence.

Whether you call it animus and anima as Jung put it, or Shiva and Shakti, Adonai and Shekinah, right and left brain, conscious and subconscious, Sun and Moon, God and Goddess, or any term in any tradition, it is how we work with our feminine flow and masculine structure.

The qualities of the feminine can be both positive and negative. Likewise the masculine has light and shadow elements.

Our task is to focus on the virtues of each to bring about an alchemical process of being more complete. And that's where the magic is. Things work better for us.

It is a big, beautiful, and often complex topic.

Today, as a simple visual representation, here is how my own art expression showed me the balance.

I have included both the raw form drawing at the top. The one that flowed from my feminine subconscious. And then the more structured form below it, refined by an artist.

Both are beautiful. Each is valid. Inner expression and outer representation. Flow and structure. Subconscious and Conscious Collaboration.

Notice how the masculine and the feminine, side by side, each bring golden gifts into the world as they deposit their jewels into troughs of abundance.

Wishing each of us an abundant collaborative journey from idea to reality with our feminine and masculine forms.

SaraSwati Shakti


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www.lovingpsyche.com

Sensational Awareness

The Toltec Mystery school tradition crossed my path a few years ago. It has decided to enter again. A friend, and separately a client, recently reminded me of Don Miguel Ruiz's Four Agreements. I now have them type gifted, on pretty pink large ink, beside my desk.

And, this morning my eye caught his book, The Mastery of Love, A Toltec Wisdom Book, on my shelf.

As my fingers flicked through the old familiar pages, I was drawn to a prayer.

The perfect prayer for today. I dedicate it to my friend. Yes, the one who gifted me a copy of the Four Agreements. But I am not sure if she has this one.

It is her birthday today. She has walked the Camino twice. And today she is somewhere walking the spectacularly sensational Great Ocean Road. She, like me, revels in awareness with Spirit, and Nature. And the pleasure of being alive.

This is the Prayer for Awareness. Yes more, always rich, wonderful, sensational, more...

It is a bit long, but she won't mind.

Breathe into it if you will. I hope you find something fulfilling in and from it too.

Today, Creator of the Universe, we ask that you open our heart and open our eyes so we can enjoy all of your creations and live in eternal love with you. Help us to see you in everything we perceive with our eyes, with our ears, with our heart, with all our senses. Let us perceive with eyes of love so that we find you wherever we go and see you in everything you create. Let us see you in every cell of our body, in every emotion of our mind, in every dream, in every flower, in every person we meet. You cannot hide from us because you are everywhere, and we are one with you. Let us be aware of this truth.

Let us be aware of our power to create a dream of heaven where everything is possible. Help us to use our imagination to guide the dream of our life, the magic of our creation, so we can live without fear, without anger, without jealousy, without envy. Give us a light to follow, and let today be the day that our search for love and happiness is over. Today let something extra-ordinary happen that will change our life forever; Let everything we do and say be an expression of the beauty in our heart, always based on love.

Help us to be the way you are, to love the way you love, to create a masterpiece of beauty and love. Beginning today, and gradually over time, help us to increase the power of our love so that we may create a masterpiece of art - our own life. Today, Creator, we give you all of our gratitude and love because you have given us life. Amen.

By way of further insight, Don Miguel Ruiz, born in rural Mexico, was raised by a curandera (healer) mother and a nagual (shaman) grandfather. As a former medical surgeon, and now a nagual himself, he is spreading the rich esoteric Toltec centuries-old wisdom throughout the world.

May you commune with Creator, and with all that pleases you around and throughout your senses.

Much love

SaraSwati Shakti


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www.lovingpsyche.com

Myth Madness

It has been a week of reigniting my passion for myth and archetypes. I have dipped into Robert A. Johnson's writings on the ancient myth of Amor and Psyche, the story of a woman's task of becoming whole, complete and individuated in his book She. He also wrote He about male psychology and We about the psychology of romantic love. It has been total immersion, as love always is.

Added to that has been watching Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief, in preparation for the school holiday, next in the series, movie release. Resplendent in ancient mythical Gods, Goddesses and demigods.

This interaction between divine forces and the human experience reconnects me to the perennial hero's journey, and another of my favourites, Joseph Campbell.

Myth engages all of me. My sense of adventure, my belief in love of self and others, and the work of living and participating in a meaningful life.

Each of the mythical stories focusses on our ordinary world being interrupted by forces outside of our control, our challenge to express and transform beyond our former selves, into something more golden, more complete. I see that happening to many of us as we tackle life events, and accept the challenge to become a better human being, and bring that as richness to the making of a better world.

As Joseph Campbell put it:

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from his mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

It is the working through of spiritual tasks. How we accept the challenge to overcome limitations and master higher virtues in the process. How we move through our own inner battles, holding onto our humanity, and bring back to the world those gifts we have opened up, and better mastered in ourselves.

For me none best describes it than C.S. Lewis, and the way he has blended the Jesus story and wisdom, through Narnia. And Jesus is a hero of mine. His sacred heart, his teachings, and his mystical path.

My favourite of the Narnia series is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Edmund and Lucy are each challenged to surmount old dependencies and to find self-reliance, and overcome their own unique spiritual tests.

Seeing life through those eyes makes it even more riveting.

Much love on your hero/ine's journey.

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

Rainy Days and Mondays...

My day started with a quick peruse of my LinkedIn news feeds. And I came across an article. Things successful people do on a Monday morning.

It made me ponder about the meaning of success. What does that look like for each of us?

I know that it can look different to me than it can to some of you.

And it can be different from person to person.

Whether it is running a business, a corporation, or a household I believe that success needs to include structure, nurture and play. I call it the holy trinity of balance. Our masculine, feminine and inner children in divine interplay.

For me, I like to look to Nature to help me to make that call. To connect to her heartbeat. After all she is the mother.

And today it is rainy. It is a soft and gentle day. So I have blended that into my day. And it has kept me happy. And more rested in my actions. That helps my life to stay successful. Because I have invested in the nurture necessary to keep me sustaining the stamina for the other elements of work and play, for the more focussed elements of a work day.

My coachees are familiar with my use of nature cycles in organising, planning and connecting. It brings a dimension to business that is dynamic and organic, softer and creative.

Success to me is about getting the balance right. You may wish to consider it too.

So, as an alternative to Karen Carpenter's lovely lament, my rainy day and Monday has provided a happy, gentle high.

For those of you interested in reading the article find it here:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/worklife/things-successful-people-do-on-monday-morning/story-fni0d8zi-1226711294929

My wish is that each of us finds the success that brings the deepest joy to our lives in work, relationships and play. Have a happy day.

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

Real Love Deal

People ask me how I can be so joyful, so peaceful.

I have been, and witnessed others, in the depths of despair.

But I do not have to stay there.

I do not need to hang my suffering like a badge of valour to convince others
that I know what it is to be deep, intense, and in grief.

I am already that depth. I already know the pain we can all meet.

Love is not just fluff and bubble.

Love is fierce and strong.
Intense, and long.

I remain.
Inner and Outer.
Devoter.

To the Real Lover.

The Real Love Deal.


SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

Winds of Change

It's wonderful windy Sydney September again.

I love the wildness of the wind. Listening to it is one of the most vital of expressions. It howls and whispers at the same time. It has a life force that brings so much energy swirling around me. Trees become animated in dancing reverie. Leaves dance their wild Watusi. Clouds speed and re-create at great velocity. It's a force of Nature that tells me to be ready. There is change and activity in the air. Mother Nature is ruffling her feathers preparing for the new. Clearing out the cobwebs, and creating new thoroughfares. Certainly in some traditions it signifies that invisible forces are energetically at play.

As many of my readers know, I work in the field of change. And dealing with changes, whether they are self-directed or involuntary, can be tricky. Often there is no map to guide the way. Much of it involves faith as well as action to move toward a new vision of how life can look, especially one that keeps satisfying the evolving soul, the deepest part of being. The very core of creativity and life activity.

Listening to the core regularly and in the moment is a vital clue to whether actions feel right. Turning to inner guidance keeps the radar tuned to which actions need to come next toward the broader goal. Meditation and stillness allow for that to occur. Moving through fear gently and toward opportunity excitedly is the key. And despite the swirl of change, like the wind around us, a more careful, graceful course can be maintained through the blustery days.

It was September last year after I attended a spiritual retreat on higher consciousness that the following poem flowed through. It certainly preceded some significant changes in my own life.

So, in preparation of the new, growing consciousness of us all as we keep transforming toward our greater soul selves I invite you to feel into it.

Winds of Change

The winds of change are blowing
Maintain your inner knowing

The Angels are A'Rushing
Cleaning, Clearing, Flushing

Surrender to the Power
Where new things will take flower

The seeds have all been planted
Just sow with glowing lantern

The fertile soil, God's Garden
You've asked. And it is granted.

May September blow her blessings upon you, and may your prayers be answered.

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

Affairs in Order

The last few days for me has been a process of clearing, cleaning, sorting, filing, donating, distributing. Out with the old. In with the new.

There is something to be said about having your affairs in order so that any unfinished business does not contaminate the freshness that needs to emerge for a new start. A new season of life.

Whether it be physical, emotional, or psychological, whatever is not 'closed' so to speak, bleeds into the next phase of life, relationships and work, and can be unnecessary stressors.

Taking whatever time is necessary to say goodbye to an old phase. To de clutter as much as possible. To get rid of anything that is being held on to that is no longer relevant. And to organise what is. Opens the vista for new possibilities. New horizons.

Crying tears, remembering joys, all refresh the spirit for new hello's.

To do that each time approaching a new phase of life is liberating.

Knowing that:

This journey is mine
It's now changing course
Forever the past
Free of discourse

Ready to clear
All that's not right
For this turn of events
New vista in sight

Let go of the old
and into the new
A better future
is now in view

Happy Spring cleaning...

SaraSwati Shakti

Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved.
www.lovingpsyche.com

My Body is a Wonderland

I was contemplating how so many of us are getting back into our bodies. Giving them the honour they deserve. After all they are the vessels of our spirit, our senses, our intuition, our life force, and deserve special care and attention, always.

Certainly after the winter hibernation and rest, it feels right to get the blood flowing and our bodies moving again. But we can also overdo it. And damage ourselves by doing so.

So it's also the perfect opportunity to learn to really tune into our bodies and what they are communicating to us.

Our bodies have wisdom.

They tell us when we are stiff, tired, sore, uncomfortable and where we may need to nurture ourselves, take it more slowly, breathe more fully, rest more deeply. And when we invest in this gentleness, the strength, stamina and endurance are more sustainable and rewarding as well.

When and how far to move, the pace, the progress and the rigour are all matters for us to consider. In work, or in play, are we working too hard? too forcefully? Or does it flow naturally?

It's worth listening to that and responding. Taking a kind approach. Having the discipline to scan around and check in with all parts of ourselves to see where we need to attend.

Our bodies are too precious not to give them the loving care that will keep them happy, healthy and vital.

So for me...

My body is a wonderland
Her intelligence is right at hand
She teaches me what I need to know
Wisdom flowing through her so

I clothe her, bathe her
Because WonderGod made her
So very right
For my earthly delight

And when she hurts I attend
to what she needs to mend
She is so precious and so true
She tells me what I need to do

I take care of this wonder world
with nourishing air, water, food
& enough exercise to keep her ripe
essential, pleasured, supple, light

And thank you John Mayer for the inspiration today.

Enjoy your beautiful bodies in this beautiful sunshine.

SaraSwati Shakti

Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved
www.lovingpsyche.com

'I could...'

I love my work and all of its facets. Much of it recently has involved helping people negotiate changes at work such as the loss of a job. And there can be much to contemplate in that process.

It often interests me that many people then try to recreate what they have lost, and in doing so, may miss the opportunity to really look at what else they could do.

Life changes. And we change. Everything is evolving. What was right for us once may no longer be the best for us next. And we can take what we have learned, our skills, interests, our more complete selves into those next opportunities. And become more authentic in our work. I call it the re-authenticating process. Who am I now? What could I do?

It is at that place of being in the question that each of us can get a chance to contemplate what 'I could...', What is my loving work? What would I like to do with my life? That is the inner exploration.

The following is what came to me during one of those contemplative days to keep me motivated in my own exploration.

If you are in a life question, you may like to recite it or adapt it for yourself in the direction of the fresh and new authentic you...

Silhouette of Dawn
Through curtains drawn
Golden morning beholding
Possibilities unfolding.

Choices to be made
Give, Receive, Trade
Meeting the opportunities
Loving new communities

Plans to make
Actions to take
Step by step in the moment
Floating in Divine movement

Leaving, and weaving
Past to Future, Streaming.

End, and Beginnings
With all of the trimmings
Standing tall, heart and soul
No more misgivings.

A new consciousness beckons
I take the road to the heavens
Leaving behind
Life less of my kind.

Thank You. Now True.

And, once you are more decided, then "I can" and "I will" kicks in...

Best wishes in your truer you exploration.

SaraSwati Shakti


Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved
www.lovingpsyche.com

Have you ever...

Have you ever had a flame
in your heart burn so bright
that you need to breathe to cool it down?

I have.

Have you ever cried pitifully
for the state of humanity and the suffering in it now
and throughout all time?

I have.

Have you ever really looked at someone
and realised how much love you have and
how truly amazing they are?

I have. Often.

Have you ever had a flame in your heart
burn so deep that
it brought tears to your eyes?

I have.

Have you ever had a flame in your heart burn so hot
that when you breathe, it fans and spreads so wide
it could embrace the entire world?

I have.

Have you ever had a flame in your heart
burn so bright?

I have. Right now.

May it spread far and wide.


SaraSwati Shakti.


Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved
www.lovingpsyche.com