“You are not any of the stories you believed about yourself. What you are is actually the absence of story. That’s why the Buddha said, “There is no self.“”
— Adyashanti
To live in a story
is to live in a moment
that is not now
for tales imply an ending
a past already wrote
but the present is ever written
gone when word hits page
or lips.
Once upon a time..
a time not now
in a place
not here
but gone
the now may be spoken of some day
when it has become then
but our moment our now
is happening so no tale
in the unfolding..
— G A Rosenberg
“We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.”
— Jonathan Gottschall
Once upon a time…
You should have been there…
Well I’ll tell you..
At a party..
In the forest…
In the desert…
I met..
I saw..
I was visited by..
I loved every moment
I hated it
Never Again..
If I ever have the chance..
I ran like hell…
then when I thought it was over…
BAM…
yes how was I to know..?
I should have known..?
We made love on the beach..
We talked until dawn..
I walked away..
I never..
He said…
She wouldn’t..
and then I returned..
an then I woke up..
and then She left..
Changed.
— G A Rosenberg
We are transformed by the stories we hear, the stories we tell and the stories we tell ourselves. Perhaps, at essence we are story that we make up as we go along and live as we make it up.
Blessings, G
“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
― Rumi
What is your story? What is the myth you will pass on to your children and grandchildren? How did it begin? What have you been striving for? What hardships did you face on the road and how did you overcome them? In what ways were you tested and how did you do? What was your motivation? What kind of story is it? Can you put it to music?
We are our stories yet we constantly recreate them both our past and our present. We cannot follow another’s trail tho we can try to ape it and thus do ourselves and them a grave injustice? We are the heroes and our stories are unique? By telling them, we add to the world’s story. Weaving new myths that may just stand the test of time.
Blessings, G
“A writer is a world trapped in a person.”
— Victor Hugo
What do you do to free the worlds trapped within you? How do you expose those inhabited spheres of light and darkness that never see the light of day? Too many of us live the lives we think we need to, going through the motions, feeling more and more numb inside. There is a teacher who loves to dance and yet few have seen her ever move a foot out of place. There is a stock investor who dreams of playing jazz guitar on the street busking. There is a young woman scraping to get by as a waitress who has the most beautiful paintings tucked away in a closet. These aren’t even the saddest stories. Even those of us lucky enough to express artistically keep the greatest part of ourselves trapped inside. Perhaps its out of fear of ridicule. Perhaps its because we are too busy trying to earn a living. Perhaps its because we feel our expressions to be too strange or not good enough.
Imagine what it would be like to free these worlds. Sometimes its just a matter of showing one other person one of yours. One other person can open the gateway to freedom for all the myriad trapped worlds. Let’s do it!! Pick a friend or if its easier a complete stranger and let them see your dream. Who knows perhaps that one person is all it takes to keep that dream alive.
It’s an easy thing to pay forward also. How many people can you get to reveal their dreams to you? How can you encourage them to keep their heart fire alive? To me this is a truly worthwhile endeavour.
Blessings, G
“I suppose the other thing too many forget is that we were all stories once, each and every one of us. And we remain stories. But too often we allow those stories to grow banal, or cruel or unconnected to each other.We allow the stories to continue, but they no longer have a heart. They no longer sustain us.”
― Charles de Lint
Writing a new tale
with new ink
on a page that has never been written on
yet the story’s shape seems way too familiar
i need to break this mould
and twist a plot more to my liking
and write myself storied
in a new image
one that expresses the becoming me….
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full sized:
Blessing of the Three Goddesses by G A Rosenberg
Blessing of the Three Goddesses with Altered Colours by G A Rosenberg
“I suppose the other thing too many forget is that we were all stories once, each and every one of us. And we remain stories. But too often we allow those stories to grow banal, or cruel or unconnected to each other.We allow the stories to continue, but they no longer have a heart. They no longer sustain us.”
― Charles de Lint
Writing a new tale
with new ink
on a page that has never been written on
yet the story’s shape seems way too familiar
i need to break this mould
and twist a plot more to my liking
and write myself storied
in a new image
one that expresses the becoming me….
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full sized:
Blessing of the Three Goddesses by G A Rosenberg
Blessing of the Three Goddesses with Altered Colours by G A Rosenberg
“I could not stop talking because now I had started my story, it wanted to be finished. We cannot choose where to start and stop. Our stories are the tellers of us. ”
― Chris Cleave
A new month and a new chapter begins. Like all beginning points it is somewhat arbitrary but the calendar is as good a demarcation as any. May this new month bring a new time of accomplishment, of appreciation for the things we have and an acceptance and transcendence of those things that trouble us. May we appreciate the gifts of the moment and may it buoy us through. I intend that in this month I will find my way through the next several sections of the tarot book and learn a few new techniques to add to my art repertoire. I will care for my partner, my son and the pets and my friends. I will continue to learn new things and add to my practice those that will benefit. I set these intentions forth and may in the long run that be the story that tells me.
Blessings, G
“Do not lose hope — what you seek will be found. Trust ghosts. Trust those that you have helped to help you in their turn. Trust dreams. Trust your heart, and trust your story. (from ‘Instructions’)”
― Neil Gaiman
Trusting my story often means surfing through the plot twists… I’ve learned that no matter what happens that I am still alive and that anything that seems worse will often improve… if a plot twists ends up with me leaving the party (dying) than this may have to be rethought… Not every good deed goes unpunished and every bad turn becomes a teacher…especially if you see it as furthering the plot…perhaps that is the secret to perspective..see even the bad things that happen as part of the story…perhaps this may be an advisor as well. For every decision that comes our way ask yourself “Does this serve the story?” I’ve heard worse advice..and if you believe that this is only one of perhaps an infinite amount of stories we will experience, perhaps not even one of the better ones or perhaps the most sublime, perspective increases… either way enjoy the tale.
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full-sized:
Her Spirit Within the Wolf Comforted Him by G A Rosenberg
“I watched the people passing below, each of them a story, each story part of somebody else’s, all of it connected to the big story of the world. People weren’t islands, so far as I was concerned. How could they be, when their stories kept getting tangled up in everybody else’s?”
— Charles de Lint
Have you ever stopped and listened to the story of the world? Have you leaned in close and heard the whispers of life that pass by you? There are many ways to connect if you’re open to it. Perhaps the easiest is become aware of the thread of your own life and see where it touches others. Follow their threads for awhile. All it takes is compassion and willingness to feel their thread without judgement of width texture or colour. What threads go on from there. After awhile you start to realize the shape of the tapestry, the repeated motifs and where the strange turns come in. Eventually if you’re lucky you may come to realize how deeply each of us is connected to every other thing on this world just one of the billions of interwoven plot lines in the story of the world.
Blessings, G
“Write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.”
― Neil Gaiman
For me by necessity the story comes out in small parts, chapters from the past and chapters from the future that haven’t been written yet. The present is always here and accepted gracefully. After all what else do you do with a present? This past while, I’ve been learning myself a bit more every day and as I learn myself and find my story I can share it like the tale of the bridge and the angel I found there… or the dream of my first crush, and of pain… I may tell of days but difficult and joyous but slowly I find my voice.
Funny thing tho, the more I listen to my voice the more I can hear others and hear them as they are felt and said. Perhaps all its taken is greater self-honesty or like the expression that I’ve used for years, shovelling the shit out of the communication box. I’m not there yet, not totally. I need to write, I’ve been told as if I’m the only one who will read it. Yet for me at times, it is easier to be honest on some things with witnesses for telling myself some truths may be too painful. There lies my blind spots and those are the ones I must work at.
What stories will you share and how honestly and easily do you find they come?
Blessings, G
Spirits in Motion by G A Rosenberg 
Serpentine Orb by G A Rosenberg 
