Flexibility

7 May 2014 This card seemed to validate my decision to have a 'week off' sending the monthly newsletter last week. Allowing myself to be flexible. Sitting here writing to you I smile as I am feeling almost the opposite of flexible. Having spent most of the Bank Holiday weekend in the gardening 'jungle-bashing', clearing and tidying - I feel stiff and sore. However, there is also a lot of satisfaction in seeing how much better things look. I also took some time out for a walk in the bluebell woods at Lanhydrock. It is my intention to do this every year, but sometimes I miss the short season. This time the timing was just right. The walk goes along the River Fowey from Respryn Bridge - here is a photo of the light on the river as it flows to the sea.    I spent a while here just watching, and listening to, the river. The light was mesmerising - ever-changing as the water flowed. The ultimate expression of 'flexibility', literally going with the flow. At the same time the water seemed to have a strength and ancient power. The natural cycle of water from raindrops in the clouds, to streams flowing into rivers, down to the sea and then evaporating again up into the sky. Many people experienced all too strongly the power of water in all it's forms this winter in England with floods and storm damage, as have many people around the world. The ancient tree on the opposite bank fascinated me. Trees adapt and change all the time, but seem solid and fixed. Many have longer lives than human beings. I loved the shape of the branches against the sky, reaching outwards and upwards. After reflecting on all this and simply enjoying the peace of the moment I continued along the path until it crosses a footbridge and then walked up into the beech woods. The scene immediately changed to being surrounded by towering trunks with the bluebells starting to appear in the distance between them The contrast between the brilliant green of the new leaves and the purple-blue of the blossoms never fails to take my breath away. As you can imagine, I couldn't resist taking many photographs, here is another of my favourites. This weekend has been a time of variable weather meaning plenty of flexibility has also been needed in plans and arrangements - as is the way in any place with our sort of climate. 'Going with the flow' like the river has seemed the best way to be in this time. Sometimes it is necessary to be more like an immovable object, more like a boulder in the stream (though the boulder will eventually be worn away by the action of the water - but that is another meditation altogether.) And there may be a certain point beyond which even the branches of the tree cannot move in the wind: when the breeze becomes a gale and the gale becomes a storm - sometimes the tree cannot withstand the pressure and will fall. There were a number of recently fallen  trees along the way as I walked through the woods. Some seemed to have been old and rotten and thus less able to remain flexible. This piece of flow-writing has itself felt like watching the stream: I have been watching my thoughts and writing them here to share with you. Sometimes they have stalled as the water does coming to a boulder; at others they have felt confused and jumbled - with rather mixed metaphors perhaps - as the water looked as it swirls around on it's way downstream. At the same time I have not felt any particular attachment to those thoughts, or any need to make sense of them or make them 'fit' any particular story. They are just as they are, just a meditation of passing images. I have yet to mention the colour of the card - strangely, on my screen it appears just like the blue of the bluebells in my photos, even though the card itself on my desk is a slightly more pink shade of purple-blue. Either way, to me it feels a reflection and calm colour, an aide to a meditation. As always, please feel free to comment with your thoughts and comments.  If you would like to own a set of cards to explore their power for yourself, please visit the dedicated page. Thank you dear friends for visiting with me again this week and sharing my musings. Until next time, with love, Mary * find 'Dare to Blossom Life Coaching' on Facebook.