THE DAILY SPARK

DISTURB THE PEACE

Most of us, no matter what we say, are walking in the dark, whistling in the dark.  Nobody knows what is going to happen from one moment to the next, or how one will bear it.  This is irreducible.  And it’s true of everybody.  Now, it is true that the nature of society is to create, among its citizens, an illusion of safety; but it is also absolutely true that the safety is always necessarily an illusion.  Artists are here to disturb the peace. 

FROM:  “An Interview with James Baldwin” (1961) during an interview with Studs Terkel published  in Conversations with James Baldwin (1989)

REFLECTION:

  • We don’t know what will happen from one moment to the next.  Have you come to terms with the illusion of safety?
  • Think about a time when you thought you could not bear it.  How did you get through this time?
  • What form of art do you create (i.e. cooking, writing, speaking, leading, photography, singing, etc.) How can you “disturb the peace” with you own artist expression?

CHASING SOMETHING ELSE

So often we imagine that THERE is more full of gold than HERE.  It is the same with love and dreams and the work of our lives.  We see the light everywhere but where we are, and chase after what we think we lack, only to find, humbly, it was with us all along. 

FROM:  THE BOOK OF AWAKENING  Having the Life You Want By Being Present To The Life You Have by Mark Nepo

REFLECTION:

  • Are you chasing something you think you lack over THERE?
  • How can you more effectively embrace the HERE and now?

THE TRUTH OF OUR CHILDHOOD

“The truth about our childhood is stored up in our body, and although we can repress it, we can never alter it.  Our intellect can be deceived, our feelings manipulated, and conceptions confused, and our body tricked with medication. But someday our body will present its bill, for it is as incorruptible as a child, who, still whole in spirit, will accept no compromises or excuses, and it will not stop tormenting us until we stop evading the truth. “

QUOTE by Alice Miller – Swiss Psychologist 1923 – 2010

Her books include: The Body Never Lies; The Truth Will Set You Free; The Drama of the Gifted Child; Free From Lies

REFLECTION:

  • Is your body presenting a bill for a childhood truth?
  • Is it time to examine this?  BE KIND and gentle with yourself…. and if you are ready, perhaps you can find a trusted person (therapist) to support you in unpacking this. 
  • If not ready yet, trust you will know when the time is right.  BE COMPASSIONATE with yourself  – no judgment.