Month: October 2013

The Garden in Me

On By Anna EastlandIn Poetry3 Comments

Somewhere in the late summer garden
that is slowly turning into fall
the way a green fern curls into papery brown,
gently caressing it’s demise,
there is a poem hiding.

I can feel it.
I’m going to hunt for it,
like a leopard stalking it’s prey.

The poem leaps through the garden
like a little mouse jumping in tall grasses.

It’s hides in the little chickadee,
perched on an exhausted sunflower,
picking out seeds.

It sneaks with the sleek squirrel
between the playhouse stairs under the hazlenut tree.

It’s in the late afternoon sun,
breaking through the clouds
and making the white flowers glow.

It’s in the whispy tall grasses
that sway like tipsy paintbrushes.

Poetry parades in the gaudy orange nasturtiums,
holding up their pert round leaves like summer parasols.

There’s beauty in the watercolor rainbow
painted across the sky
as fine rain falls through the sunshine.

Sweet comfort in the sounds of the wood pecker
calling from rooftops, the brown chicken clucking,
the water fountain gurgling softly…

Poetry sprawls across the lazy blue sky
and laughs now the rain is gone,
how we scuttled about putting away things before they got too wet.

It flies in the sun shining silver on a seagull’s back
as it swoops over the graveyard behind our garden.

This poem, which has been calling me for days,
is in the grass, the dirt, everywhere.

And now, having devoured the garden with my eyes, it’s in me.

Giving Birth: Better Than You Think

On By Anna EastlandIn motherhood5 Comments

This post is on honor of my friend who’s first baby is due today. “If pregnancy is this hard, what can labour be like?” she asked recently. Well, here’s a few reasons it’s better than you think.

Because, after all the waiting, the getting bigger, the feeling awkward, the heart burn and poor sleeps, labour sets you free. It is like an awesome thunderstorm relieving the pressure of dense dark clouds…and making way for the sunshine of your child’s first smile.

Because even if you’re nervous, you’re much stronger than you think. Your body is an amazing participant in the creation of new life, and you’ll discover your autopilot knows what to do.

And because weakness is ok. A delicate flower can open and reveal new life, and gentleness is one of a mother’s greatest gifts.

Because patience, which is love extended over time, will carry you through. Try to offer up each moment for a special intention; it will help the time pass. But ask for whatever help you need, whether it’s to hold hands, drink lemonade, be held tight or be given space. Embrace your labour for what it is, and don’t worry too much about how you planned it. Being at peace with how it actually is is even better.

Giving birth is wonderful because, in a way like never before, you’re husband is going to be completely awed by you, revering your ability to lovingly bring forth a miracle: your baby, the incarnation of your love. You will fall in love again, with your baby yes, but also with each other.

Because after all the tense waiting and preparation, as before the grand opening of an art show or piano concert, it ends in the revelation of your masterpiece. Applause! You will never see something more beautiful than that tiny newborn face, those little dark eyes looking at you for the first time.

So to all women who are due to give birth soon, many blessings of peace and strength be with you!
You can do it! And it’ll be more worth it than you can imagine.

One Good Apple

On By Anna EastlandIn Ponderings2 Comments

Thought I’d repost this one I came across in the bowls of my blog. Happy reading!

There’s a tree in my back garden that is almost fruitless. It has one cluster of small green apples, misshapen and stuck together, and not ripening. And then, in the expanse of many green leaves and twigs there’s one other apple. It’s beautifully round and large, and I don’t say it’s perfect, but it’s certainly a very good apple.

“Good job, Tree,” I whisper. It is impressive to do one thing really well, to grow that one good apple.

Too often personally, I take on so many little things, try to focus in so many directions at once, that my apples end up small and misshapen. I live on the scattered surface of life, instead of looking and living more deeply, more slowly, with focus and peace.

Sometimes I think we need to give ourselves permission to be very small, to live slowly and deeply in our little corner of the world. To have the humility to just do our little thing, and the hope to know that our little thing really matters, and is worth doing well.

When we busy ourselves so much with external things, we forget to nourish and explore the treasure within. It is this interior life that gives depth and meaning to all we do, and brings us happiness and peace in the most diverse circumstances.

It’s important to be still, to spend time in solitude and in contemplation. In this quiet we become more aware of the beauty surrounding us, and of the way we want to respond to it. Chances are we’ll find the seed of one good apple, that unique fruit we have to offer the world.

Find Your Sparkle!

On By Anna EastlandIn Arts and Entertainment1 Comment

I haven’t posted in so long but I have so many things I want to write about! I’m jotting them down, even in bits, so I don’t forget ideas, but my list of drafts is becoming like a Christmas wish list…longer and longer…One of my dear friends has been gently nudging me to publish more of them. Of course, as soon as I start writing this, one of my little girls comes running out of the bathroom to tell me a big blue-eyed story and pee on my bedroom floor. Looks like I’ll need to make it sparkle before I can get on with my story about finding my sparkle…

Anyway, back to writing. I’m really loving having a blog. It is challenging to find the time for it, but it’s so good to have a creative outlet, and I think it’s important. Sometimes I need a CIA badge in covert operations to sneak the writing in between dishes and diapers, but it’s worth it. As my buddy said of herself, “I have things to say.” I think we all do, but sometimes we’re afraid to do it. What if I sound funny, vain, stupid, crazy, or even worse, boring?! Well, so what? We can hide in a shell of “at least I didn’t fail, because I never tried,” but it’s a miserable place to be. Better to go out on a limb and try, come what may.

So after many years as a closet writer, I’m trying this blog, and my Mum gave me the nicest compliment about it, “I’m so glad you’ve found your sparkle!” Thanks, Mum! I want to encourage everyone who reads this to find what it is that brings them joy, and to go for it. Don’t think you’re not worth it or don’t have time or are being silly. Every person is a unique and unrepeatable creation, so really the only unreasonable attitude is the one that we have nothing to offer the world, nothing new, nothing distinctly us. Pablo Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

I’m reading an amazing book by Julia Cameron called “The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity.” She writes about overcoming our fears to unleash our creativity, and fighting our inner censor who can be such a perfectionist: “Remember that in order to recover as an artist, you must be willing to be a bad artist. Give yourself permission to be a beginner.” Like any important journey, this one begins with humility and hope.

She continues, “By being willing to be a bad artist, you have a chance to be an artist, and perhaps, over time, a very good one.  When I make this point in teaching, I am met with an instant, defensive hostility: “But do you know how old I will be by the time I learn to really play the piano/act/paint/ write a decent play?”  Yes…the same age you will be if you don’t.  So let’s start.”

So whatever makes you sparkle, whether painting or music, making soufflés or repairing old cars, do it! Do it with joy and abandon, with the simplicity of a child who does it just because it makes her happy. Chances are no one else writes quite the way you do, and certainly no one else can tell your story. Chances are no one can make tiny steam trains that really chug along with your distinct artistry, so if you don’t do it, you will have missed your unique chance to make the world a little more beautiful. All of us want to do that; what we need to believe is that we CAN.