Month: June 2017

Triumph

lizaaitken

Life is full of triumphs, from the moment we are born and maybe long before. Each and everything we do, from the smallest to the greatest steps, each of these is an individual triumph. The things we survive, the things we achieve and the lessons we learn as we walk our path, each of these is a message from the universe that we are going the right way.  Our connectedness to all things, our understanding and our striving to achieve the best good, these are our triumphs and the universe applauds.

~ Liza

lizalizaskysaregrey©2017

 

The Journey of the Flower

lizaaitken

 

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Imagine for a moment a flowers journey through life.  A journey that begins with it pushing up from deep within the hard earth, struggling to get through the darkness. The dark earth being all that it has known, but on and on it goes, because it is searching for the light. The flower hasn’t seen the light or been told about it but somewhere deep inside of its being it knows that there is light beyond the surface of the earth, it pushes on towards the light.

Breaking through the earth at last it encounters the cold, crisp air of a spring morning, moisture falling on it’s small and fragile body, pushing it down and back towards the earth. But something in the flower tells it to fight, to push on and stand up. The moisture passes along the tiny stem and sinks into the earth feeding it’s roots. Something that might have drowned the flower if it had given up, now feeds and nourishes it.

It begins to grow, slowly at first, but the draw of the light pulls it upwards, the flower now understands where the light comes from, the flower realises this light is it’s connection to all things. Looking around the flower starts to hear the music of nature, whispers, whistles and calls, the flower connects with the rhythm of the nature. Listening to what nature is saying the flower dances in the wind to confirm its understanding.

This is the stage the flower begins to understand it’s journey, it knows that it must open itself, it also knows that it’s opening will also be the beginning of its death. It understands the challenges ahead, but also understands the challenges are necessary to its growth.

The flower can feel a connection to the heart deep within the bud it still holds tightly closed. With the dawning realisation that there is a connection between the light of the sun and the heart, the flower begins to open its petals. Slowly at first, one by one each petal opens to bathe in the light of the sun.

The sun shines down on the open flower, warming and feeding the very heart of it. The flower knows it is near the journeys end but knows that it has reached its destination. Full of understanding and love the flower bows to the sun, bows down to the earth from where it came and closes at last, its journey complete.

lizalizaskysaregrey©2017

1000 Posts!

lizaaitken

I’ve made a thousand posts,

on skies are grey.

Usually one post at least,

but I try every day.

Quite regularly I might

take a weekend away,

it worries me then

if my followers will stray.

But I’ve stuck to the plan,

I write on my blog.

I get lost in my writing,

it’s not a hard slog.

Sometimes it’s just pros,

some poetry too.

I just love showing,

photography to you.

So thank you for following,

as this keeps me going.

I know that you do this,

in my stats it is showing.

I’m excited to be here,

at one thousand at last.

On to the next badge now,

I’m a blogger at last!

~

A silly poem to celebrate my achievement, but seriously, thanks for following 🙂

lizalizaskysaregrey©2017

Taps

lizaaitken

I polish taps and sinks, I don’t like water marks and I’ve been known to follow people into the bathroom to dry the taps after them. It’s crazy isn’t it, I mean aren’t taps supposed to get wet. I hate this about myself, hate the fact that I’m so small minded and that I worry about if taps are shining or not.

I’ve got other OCD tendencies, I don’t like sitting on the sofa, well I didn’t until I sold it anyway. It was a beautiful sofa, big feather cushions, that squashed immediately if anyone sat down. What looked majestic, strong and beautiful, looked like a piece of trash if it was sat on. I sold it because I was downsizing, not because of the feather cushions, I got used to it being squashed. My friends sat on it all the time, to spite me or teach me a lesson, it did I relaxed a little but until the day it went I could never leave the house or go to bed without puffing the cushions.

I take after my dad with these crazy habits, I’m not quite as bad but I’m not good. I like things spick and span, on the surface that is because behind closed doors it’s a completely different story.

For me when everything is shiny and in place, I’m more in place, I function better. So polishing my taps is a treatment of sorts, it clears my mind. I cope so much better in a clean and tidy environment, I can think. Saying that I’ve spent years working in situations of crisis, yet this has never bothered me. I’ve worked with people who have experienced traumatic situations and therefore the environment has often been a reflection of their inner turmoil. That’s probably why I like to tidy my own space as I’m tidying myself up on the inside as I do it.

I’m a bit of a collector, I like nice things around me so being tidy takes time. I like books on art and philosophy, spiritual practices and poetry, I like pictures, mainly of women but nature too. I like to cook and my store cupboards are brimming with ingredients, I like lots of things.

I wish I wasn’t so peculiar, I practice spirituality but part of me is obsessed with the human side of me, the collector, the organiser, the nutter!

I don’t mind a messy garden, I like the fact that all flowers are different, that there is variation in nature. I love to be by the water, I don’t mind that the shore is still wet when the tide goes out. I suppose I’m still a piece of work in progress and the bottom line is I just polish taps!

lizalizaskysaregrey©2017

Healing from the Heart

lizaaitken

The centre of a flower, the heart of a flower does not break. It is only the outer, external layers that get broken by life but the centre remains whole.  

~ Liza

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Healing comes from within and if we enter into our own hearts, we can perhaps, with practice, start to experience a place of wholeness. We can discover a place in which we are whole rather than remaining trapped in a place where we are broken.

I have suffered trauma, I have worked for a number of years with those that have suffered trauma. I have sat with them while they have experienced the most unbearable feelings, held these feelings for them when it was necessary and helped them in various ways towards their recovery. What I have come to realise is that trauma does not go away, traumatic events have a way of returning to haunt us, the effects of past traumatic events continue to live in the body, they reignite and burn through us time and time again, they are after all our experience.

Trauma is experienced by the very humanness of who we are, the person we relate to and recognise and the one we identify with. Trauma is like a deep scar that has never really healed, we can continue to cover it, treat it or ignore it but like a scar it remains.

I believe that if we can go into the heart and look at these traumatic events from a place of stillness, love and wholeness we can perhaps separate ourselves from the one who identifies with these feelings and they just might be easier to bare.

It works for me, I’m not suggesting it would work for everyone but to try is to know. I have come to terms with some of the things that have happened to me, I have watched as the observer, detached in a way from the event. Yes they can come back at times, times I’m not prepared, it was only the other day I found myself in tears, but I know where to go, I know where I can make sense of these feelings.

I feel it’s in our identifying with traumatic events that prevents us from moving on. They won’t ever go away, after all we are human, these things happened to us and won’t unhappen. But if we can allow ourselves time in the heart, to acknowledge these happenings, view them as an observer, as well acknowledging and sitting with the feelings they bring we might start to free ourselves a little.

I believe it’s the heart that holds the key to healing, the core of our being that is timeless and constant, the place that was there before the events happened and the place that remains whole.

I believe healing of any type comes from inside, we have the potential to heal ourselves if that is what is meant to be, we have the potential to be whole.

lizalizaskysaregrey©2017

 

If you’re interested in a heart centred healing approach please check out my other blog https://restingintheheart.com it’s in its infancy but I’m hopeful 🙂

 

Never Natty

lizaaitken

I turn out okay but I don’t think I’ve ever been or ever deserved to be called natty. It’s a new word to me but my understanding of it is stylish, neat, well turned out. I’m thinking of everything being in place, matching, tidy and put together.

It takes me about ten minutes to get ready, that’s after a bath of course! I have never understood what takes so long, on occasion I’ve felt myself to be lacking in this area, but then again I think life is for living not for preparing to live.

I usually look okay, friends tell me I look good and mum used to say I looked beautiful but I think that’s because she loved me. I don’t put an excessive amount of effort into how I look because it’s not me, I like to look okay but not over done. I think whatever we put on, it’s the whole person that comes through, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear can you. If we want to look good, we need to feel good and feeling good comes from somewhere a little deeper than the surface, I’m hoping I’m more vibrant inside than what I put on the outside of me, I’m also hoping it shines through.

I have fine hair with a tendency to frizz so in a million years that’s not going to be natty, windswept maybe, maybe sometimes just right but never natty. I have a god of good hair, I don’t abuse him but if I want to look okay I might send him a quick prayer. I’ve also a god of parking spaces but he’s not for this post.

Today I’m wearing workout leggings (no I haven’t been working out) and a t-shirt, I could never be called natty and I’m not sure I’m desperately seeking it!

So I don’t want to wear a uniform and I don’t want to be described as natty, I wonder what tomorrows prompt might be 😉

lizalizaskysaregrey©2017

 

 

 

Extremism

lizaaitken

I think it’s getting a little out of hand, call it extreme if you like. I’ve seen more extremist posts on social media sites against extremism and radicalisation than I am wholly comfortable with.  People should stop and think a little before they spout off extremist opinions.

~ Liza