Serenity

16 January 2014 Serenity - such a wonderful quality to bring into my life. The Serenity Prayer always comes to mind when I hear this word, and has been a comfort to me over many years. By wonderful synchronicity, the day after I drew this card the daily prompt for Satya Robyn's 31 Days of Waking Up course contained 'serenity' in the title and the prayer in the text:   “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.” I think I was first introduced to this sometime during my recovery from surgery in 1994 following my diagnosis with cervical cancer. This year is the twentieth anniversary of that difficult time and every year (and every day in fact) I celebrate the fact that I came through that experience stronger and more resilient. It feels as if my path in life shifted in profound ways - or maybe I don't mean that, maybe I mean I returned to my true path after straying in my "un-awareness" as a young woman. In another wonderful piece of cosmic timing, the anniversary of the actual date of my life-saving operation is at the end of May, and will more-or-less coincide with the time when I finish this journey of sharing my weekly thoughts on the cards with you. All is proceeding with a deep feeling of purpose and right timing.. The word 'Serenity' also brings to mind the image of a swan, calm and regal, floating on a tranquil river in summer sunshine. I have been told that I can create a feeling of being calm and serene - something that is wonderful to hear. In the past I have perhaps undermined the power of that thought by joking about paddling like mad under the calm surface. That may be true for real swans sometimes - and it may also be true that often they are able to maintain their calm position with just a few strokes of their webbed feet, without stress or undue effort. So my aim is to be more like a swan in calm water, just floating, going with the flow, allowing myself to be carried along by the river of life. Always being aware and alert in case I need to correct my course, rather than needing a loud and shocking wake-up call such as a serious illness. I haven't had the opportunity to take any photographs of swans on calm rivers, so I will share with you another sunrise photo. As well as the soft and complex colours of the clouds, I felt drawn to the clear, calm pale blue of the dawn sky beyond. In another piece of perfect timing for me, I saw this 'Conscious Writing Retreat' and decided in an instant to book it. It is at the end of May (that anniversary again!), and will be an ideal environment to consider my next development in coming home to myself. A final piece of synchronicity is that the person running the retreat, Julia McCutchen, was at Element Books, one of the publishers I contacted back in 1997 in relation to getting Flying in the Face of Fear: Surviving Cervical Cancer out to the world. Although she wasn't able to help then, I am delighted to be meeting her at last in May. The retreat sounds idyllic: a combination of yoga, walking, good food and company with guided and solo writing, all in the amazing (and serene, I am sure) location of Abbey House in Glastonbury. If this appeals, do have a look - it would be wonderful to spend time with you there. Normally I would include notices about events in the Dare to Blossom monthly newsletter, but I didn't want you to miss a chance of booking this at the Early Bird price:. As always, please feel free to comment below 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 *if you have any difficulty accessing the 'blogspot' service, you can also read here on the Daring to Blossom website, or find 'Dare to Blossom Life Coaching' on Facebook.