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quiet fills the spaces left behind as the setting sun has spent its final glory for the day.
the world waits and eyes are closed against the absence of light that encompasses all.
ships rock easily in the harbour, the water depthless in its blackness.
the village streets barren in the moonlight that casts a misty silver curtain.

it is the witches hour that silently approaches.
midnight is theirs, the newly blackened skies simmer the darkness that cradles their magic.
they haunt the hour that rests in the shadows as the hands of the clock reach for the heavens.
the night air as cold as their words that fall in whispers over their cauldrons.

the devil plays in the coal black hour that slides into being as the witches take their leave.
the clock strikes three and she dances brazenly in her hour of seduction, enticing the minds of her lovers in their slumber.
beckoning their hearts to fall into her embrace, her gossamer wings fold and envelope tightly.

the hour of lost souls calls to its tribe; they answer with surrender.
four am is the beautiful torment of time reserved for those who wander, ever meandering.
it awakens those who most desperately seek the promised solace of sleep, their rest denied.
it is a hushed reverence of secrets hidden in graves too shallow to ever find peace.

the shifting shapes transform, change, grow.
creeping away, begrudgingly, as the night begins its slow transformation into the light.
stirrings appear at the edges of awareness. the darkness releases its grip reluctantly,
the shadows that will lurk in the sunlight, its delicate promise of return.

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the wind is restless around her body tonight.

the breeze kisses her face as the night begins its entrance.

the chill in the air nips at her exposed skin,

her breath catches sharply and she shivers.

her bare feet are grounded, rooted to the edge

of the precipice she is so easily balanced on.

her body sways in time to a melody that only she hears.

the setting sun casts a brilliant shadow play against her closed eyes

as it escapes the horizon.

the sky, now barren of warmth and light

envelopes her in a shroud of twilight.

she waits.

her darkness is coming.

she waits.

steady and strong is her stance.

her pulse quickens,

her heart beating a song that enchants her soul.

her spirit, singing an aria in response,

a call and answer harmony that bewitches,

binding a spell

in the night air that swirls around her.

the night air lifts and plays with her hair,

sending wisps of her black hair to tickle her cheeks.

the moment, her moment, approaches.

she waits.

feeling the darkness inside of her

ripen the intention of movement that has been awakened.

it lies deep in her being,

growing with a swiftness and surety

that brings a smile to her lips as her heart beats ever faster.

she is awakened.

she waits no longer.

lifting her face to the rising moon, her eyes open slowly,

drinking in the cold light that washes over her.

drawing her breath in slowly, fully,

her chest expands and her soul reaches upwards, exploding.

her wings unfurl and stretch with a rustling that is a symphony of beauty to her spirit.

she gazes steadfastly upward,

her wings beat down hard,

releasing her,

carrying her off of the ledge and into the void.

she soars,

into her darkness.

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I say that I’m not creative,

that I don’t have an artistic bone in my body.

I assure you, when you say I must be wrong,

that my hands hold no gifts of artistry.

No paintings or drawings spring forth from my fingertips.

A crudely scribbled stick person is the extent of my skill,

and even those, I don’t do very well at all to be honest.

 

But oh my, you should see the webs that I weave.

The beautiful mirages that I craft,

the masks that I sculpt – and wear with such conviction.

Wonders of illusion, they are creations to behold, I tell you.

So perfectly honed and presented

that there are times that even I am fooled

by what I see in the mirror, reflected back at me.

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Sweaty and spent.

Two of my favourite things to be.

I am on the floor, not caring one bit that my sweat is probably making the carpet damp.

Earbuds are in and on high volume.

The music is anything but slow and calm for my stretch time.

I like it loud and fast and driven while I come down from my run.

The music pounds in my head louder than I could ever get away with playing it out loud in my apartment.

I go limp from my final long stretch. My arms reach out above me and my legs wiggle a bit.

The music fills my head with it rhythm.

I close and my eyes and a smile creeps across my lips.

The invitation is there and the answer starts in my hips and shoulders.

They pulse with the thumping beat of the drums.

Slowly, the rest of my body follows suit as the music builds.

I groove, sway, funk a bit even.

A little reclined solo bump and grind set to music that only

I can hear.

I trip the light fantastic.

Floor dancing.

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Top 10 – Life Lessons From The Desert

or

“What I Learned While Jeeping Through Arizona With Friends”

 

  1. Perception is not reality. The clarity of the desert air and the landscape can be deceptive. Don’t always take something you see at face value. A destination may seem like you are “just about there” when in fact it is another hour of travel. Likewise, a rock formation that is “way over there” will be reached in two turns of the road and 3 minutes. Don’t trust your perception of things.
  2. Things are not always what they seem. This is not just another way of saying #1; this is physical and real. Fuzzy looking things may not be (and in the desert – most likely are not) fuzzy. Chances are that the fuzzy soft looking plant fur is actually prickly little spines that you will soon regret brushing up against. Trust me on this one.
  3. Just go limp. Seriously. There is nothing to be gained, and much soreness to be added to your life when you resist what is coming your way. 4 x4’ing in the desert will teach you this in short order. Relax, go limp and just roll with it; and have fun while you get tossed around. It’s going to happen anyways, you may as well enjoy the ride.
  4. Accept help when it’s offered. Sure, I could have struggled and made it in and out of the jeep without help; but it sure went a lot smoother with a helping hand or two. There are enough times in life when you won’t have help and you will HAVE no choice but to go it alone. Why in the world not take the help when it’s there.
  5. Trust. Sometimes you can’t see what’s ahead and you have to trust someone who says that they can and that it will be ok. Just point the wheels in the direction they say is good and give it some gas. Trust.
  6. Don’t be a litterbug. Seriously. The sight of a lone beer can in the vast expanse of desert is infuriating. Don’t be a douche. Clean up after yourself.
  7. Death is a part of life. Looking across the landscape you see the cycle of birth, growth and death in action. Dead plants and animals decompose and nourish the new growth that goes on after them. Sometimes new life even springs up inside the old dead husks left behind. Sad and beautiful all together. Life.
  8. There is always hope. Waiting for the return of rain, the desert embodies the hope for the tides to turn that we sometimes have a hard time holding onto. The rain always returns, even if it takes longer than expected. Hope.
  9. Life will always balance. Life will always change. A two for one… A look around at the rocks that seem to have landed, like giant’s playthings, on one another, shows that perfectly. It all balances. Until it doesn’t anymore, and the rocks tumble and find new resting places where they fit.
  10. Not all truths are universal, some are fluid and specific to persons and places and situations. “Winter” in Arizona is not “Winter” in British Columbia, Canada. The same season looks wildly different but they are both “Winter”. The sun and the warmth of January in Arizona is not what the truth of “Winter” means to me; but it is truth in Arizona. It’s still winter even if it doesn’t look and feel like my winter.

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I am much more of a Winter Solstice person than I am a New Years Eve person when it comes to what feels like it clicks for me. I love New Years Eve for what it is; like Christmas, a chance to celebrate and enjoy a slower work schedule for a few days and time to spend with people I enjoy hanging out with. The concept of resolutions that simply get recycled every year on December 31st seems incomplete somehow.

 

Oh but the Winter Solstice is where it’s at for me. A time of renewal and rebirth, the turning of the season, the return of the sun. A time of clarity and setting intentions to move into the next cycle of seasons. I don’t mean it’s time for a list of promises to myself or others about what I want to accomplish in the next 12 months, but rather a time to reflect on what my values and visions are and how my life, lived so far, matches up with those. A time to check in with my values and visions and see if or how they have evolved.

 

Life is fluid, it evolves and with it, so does our path from time to time. Taking a look at what is important to me and whether my actions show that or not is integral to being well – mentally, emotionally and physically. I’ve been shown this past year – in a huge and nasty way – that when you neglect your Self and your course, it hurts. It’s a lesson that I’m seeing was needed. Got it, universe, thanks (could there not have been an easier way to show me the same things ?!)

Last year,  I did what I often do. I wrote myself a letter, dated to be opened at the next Winter Solstice. It wasn’t a list of “by this time next year….” it was a look at what was important to me – then – and what direction I intended to take to bring me closer to my dreams and visions of life for me. It was vague and that is what I aim for. Oddly enough, for all of my perfectionist, itemized, list-making tendencies that I possess, setting intentions has always been about the big picture rather than the micro view of details.

 

Now, a cycle of the seasons has come and gone and I read that letter and see much that is true. What makes me tick is still there and still waiting patiently for my actions to match my internal “really this is a priority” sense. What I hope to achieve is still on the mark – all good there. Yet, when I take an honest and raw look, I have to say that this past year has been drifting rather than paddling in my life. Granted the last 6 months have been holding on for dear life rather than being swept away, but still….

 

My last post hit the proverbial nail on the head and as I sat down to dive into actually naming what I want and what dreams I have – if nothing was impossible, what would you want to do? – it quickly became clear that two lists were evolving for me.

 

One was definitely a list that slapped me hard with a feeling of why in the world I wasn’t making these things happen??? They are absolutely achievable! Things like: be less afraid; be more self-confident; paddle boarding, taking a cooking class, trying my hand at pottery, publishing a piece of writing, finishing that novel. These things were not “I want to visit Mars” type of dreams, they are all attainable. I just need to get off my ass and make them happen. Point taken, universe.

 

The other list was no less attainable, technically… but the visions on that list are not the “bang that off with a bit of effort” type of items. Things like: grow old with friends who are family to me in my life; buy a piece of land and build on while I live in a trailer (preferable with a bunch of those Framily people 🙂 ) ; own a dog; hike the West Coast Trail; travel to Greece; . These are things that require some foundation time and planning to bring to fruition. That list shows me the big picture of what is important to me. Freedom, adventure, connection, love.

 

Resolutions? Nope.

Intentions to live so that I am moving in the direction that I want and need to be? Absofuckinglutely.

 

to be continued….

 

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It’s time for the obligatory “reflectingonthepastyearandmakingplansisweari’llkeepfornextyear” blog post…. :). In true “me” fashion, this will be a bit rambling and not all done in one shot, enjoy!

In late 2016 I decided I would embark on a “year of yes” .

As 2017 wraps up, it has been just over a year of consciously being open to new experiences and opportunities that came my way. A year of pausing before replying with the almost automatic “no” and replacing it with a “yes”, most of the time. It was good. I got out of my comfort zone more than a few times and stepped into my fears – and got through them.

It has been so good in fact that when the year was done, I made the choice to keep the sentiment going and really embrace this concept of saying yes. So there I was, patting myself on the back for having done such a good job of being so open and willing to say yes. Good job Lola.

So why then, do I feel like something still isn’t quite right?

Then it hits me.

Well, it doesn’t so much as hit me as it slowly sinks in as I sit reading a book about bucket lists. A book about 4 young men (from my home town even!) who sat down and made lists – and started making it happen (still are actually.. check them out here )

Being open and saying yes is all good, but it’s still passive. I may have been actively saying yes, but it’s actually being REactive. It’s passive.So while it was a great place for me to start – it’s not where I need or want to be.

It’s not enough to say yes to what comes my way…that’s only half the glass, so to speak. I need to find out and pursue – make happen even– those things that I want. Waiting for something to drop in my lap is a wonderful way to still have nearly zero responsibility for my own happiness.

Did I accomplish and experience some amazing things this past year that I would have not done had it not been my “year of yes”? Absolutely!

Am I reflecting over the past year and thinking of the things that I wanted to experience that I didn’t? Absolutely.

Why didn’t I experience them? Because I didn’t make it happen… because I didn’t speak up and get off my ass and create the opportunity.

Something that I wanted or needed didn’t come to me and I when I should have gone and went to IT, I didn’t.

And that’s not good enough.

So 2018 will be a year lived differently. Proactive and in pursuit of those things that I want – and need – for my happiness. With a healthy dose of unrealistic dreaming, just for fun. After all, what good is stretching outside of your boundaries if it’s not at least a bit challenging 😉

to be continued….

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A friend commented that I’ve been sharing more suicide and mental health related posts on social media this past while. It’s true, and there are a couple of reasons why that is.

Firstly, it’s an issue that is close to home for me on a very personal note. Not just because I’ve lost someone I love to suicide but also because mental health is something that I live and battle with myself.

Secondly, because even with all of the media attention and education that our society now has exposure to surrounding suicide, we still hold strong to some misconceptions that are dangerously inaccurate.

There are a couple that bother me the most though. The first is that a person who talks about being suicidal or having thoughts of wanting to harm or kill themselves won’t actually do it. That it’s the ones who don’t talk about it that you have to worry about. You know what? Some people talk about it and some don’t. Just because someone is open and shares what is going on inside of them doesn’t make them less at risk. Even if they joke about it and make it sound like it’s not serious, you just can’t be sure.

The other one is that a person who is at imminent risk of killing themselves looks or acts a certain way. There is no one way that someone looks when they are at the point of taking their own life. In fact, I’ve been told by a mental health professional that many people who have been suicidal and come to the decision to complete are actually more upbeat and happy in the hours or day immediately preceding an attempt; not the opposite which we tend to think we should see – the quiet, withdrawn and sad looking person who has “given up”. Often times, people with chronic depression or other mental health issues have grown so adept at masking how they feel that they don’t even know how to let themselves be seen as anything other than “fine” and functional. There are numerous videos and pictures circulating lately showing this.

Here’s mine to add:

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This is a picture taken of me on the labour day weekend in 2012; I was with a small group of friends who had gathered to spend the long weekend together at one person’s waterfront house. It was sunny and warm, a lazy, easy going weekend of relaxation was well under way when this picture was snapped. This was taken a few hours before I was supposed to go back into town to run a few errands and then head back to the friends house; continuing the weekend of sunbathing , bbq meals and late nights of laughing and fun.

I had no intention of returning though and had everything in place that I would be found a couple of days later.  I had spent the days prior to this picture finalizing suicide plans and details to end my life. Do I look suicidal and sad and despondent? Not at all…I look exactly how I wanted to be seen as: happy and relaxed and all good. Inside I was as far from that as a person could get.

Don’t let these misconceptions fool you and contribute to more loss. Those of us who struggle to live with mental health issues DO talk openly about it – and we also DON’T. We do sometimes look like we’re falling apart and you can see how deeply it hurts – and oftentimes, we look amazingly together and happy, confident, strong and unshakeable.

There is no universal or standard way to gauge how a person is really feeling.

So….

Ask.

Listen.

Talk.

Care.

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A glimpse into one of the two lucid dreams that visit me often..

I am standing on a street in what appears to be a seaside fishing village. I look around me and see the narrow streets leading away from the house that I am in front of. Glancing over my shoulder, I see a house that is familiar but I can’t quite place it in my mind. It is different from the other houses that line this street. They are all brightly coloured and similar to each other in shape and size but this house behind me is larger and a more muted colour than the other houses. It feels older somehow.

The ocean is just beyond the row of houses in front of my view and I start to walk across the street towards the sound of the waves crashing. There are no cars, no people, no sounds other than the ocean. I cross the street in a lazy line, taking my time walking down the road as I make my way over to the other sidewalk. I am in no hurry it feels like and I’m not sure where I’m going.

As I reach the other sidewalk and turn left at the corner, the street takes a strong angle downhill and I notice that the village is built around the cliffs above a harsh shoreline. The cloud-filled sky is darkening quickly and the wind chases the birds as they abandon the shore trees in the storm that I can feel is coming. A voice in my head is warning me that I have to hurry and I see, far below me, an entrance to a cave in the rocks where the street ends and the rocky beach begins.

All at once, I know exactly what I have to do. I start to run, already mapping out in my mind how I will collect the people I need to save from the cave first and where we need to go from there. My lungs are starting to burn from the cold air and the sudden burst of running. With the steep angle of the street I am barely in control of my legs, I am going so fast that gravity is taking over and I am careening down the middle of the street towards the beach. I can faintly hear other voices as I run. They are coming from the houses, I’m certain, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. I’m coming back, I whisper to the voices, my breath panting the words.

I see the water on the shore pulling away. The sound of the waves has gone and there is a silence so intense that my ears are ringing. As I reach the edge of the rocks and sand I can’t see the water anymore, it has gone out so far. I turn to my left and see the opening in the rocks. It’s huge, higher than a house, and dark, just enough light for me to see the staircase that I need to climb to reach the house inside that I know is there. I run up the stairs, hearing behind me a rumble starting, far away. I know I have to move as fast as I can. The wooden staircase is old and falling apart. peeling paint where there is still any shows the havoc that the wind and salt from the ocean has wrought on it. Some steps are barely there and my hands are bleeding from the slivers that I get from running my hands along the rails as I run, taking the steps two at a time. The entire staircase creaks and sways as I fly up it. It is bolted by metal hooks into the rocks and they are holding it in place even as the wood rots. I reach the door at the top of the final flight and burst into the room inside. The house is built into the cave walls, hidden inside the rock. A house identical to any on the street above us but sheltered and isolated here. I know exactly what and who is there and my eyes sweep the soft golden light of the lamps as the heat of the fireplace blasts my freezing face as I start yelling.

I reach for the little boy that runs to me and I hold him tight in my arms as I stand up. He is small enough that I carry him easily and I shout for the other boy to follow me as  turn to go back down the stairs. The other boy is older, almost a man, and he follows me without asking or speaking. I hold onto the small boy in my arms as I run down the stairs, glancing over my shoulder to make sure the other is staying close. The door is left ajar behind us and I can see the light it is casting out into the cave as I turn to keep my eyes on the staircase in front of me. The rumble from where the ocean should be, but isn’t still, is louder now and growing with every step it feels like. The stairs are shaking but not just from us running. The ground is starting to heave and small rocks are chipping from the walls of the cave, falling past us and striking the sandy bottom of the cave. Under the noises that threaten, I can hear the soft whispers of the little boy against me. He whispers words that I can’t understand but the tone is soft and soothing and he is almost singing the words. His breath is warm against my chest and neck and his arms around me are strong, stronger than their size implies. I want nothing more than to cry at how beautiful he feels in my against me and I feel such a strong sense that this feeling has been absent for too long. I keep running.

We are out of the cave now and running up the steep hill lined with houses. The rumble is now deafening and I know the water returning will crush us if we don’t make it to higher ground. We have more houses to go to first though. More people to collect. The older boy is running alongside of me. There is a tethered feeling between us even though we don;t touch. we have not spoken but we don’t need to. Every now and then we look at each other and nods are exchanged, and we know. We turn sharply to the left, heading down a street filled with small shacks. The one we are running for is halfway down the block and we are there in seconds it feels like. The boy hits the door hard and it opens just as another young man comes out to join us. He is older than the other but not by much and he is ready. He has a backpack on his shoulders and as he comes out he reaches his arms to me and the small boy at my chest releases his grip on me and he is suddenly in the arms of the other boy. His brother. They are all brothers. The circle of connect between them is so strong that it’s unmistakable. The voice in my heads screams at me to run, to keep going, that there is one more and that we are running out of time. With the oldest boy now carrying his small brother, we run faster. Together. Back out onto the small street and turning onto the main road at the end of the block. My ears are ringing again but now it is from the roaring of the water. It’s here and it’s coming up the hill of the street towards us. We only have to make it across the street though and into one more house and then we can run as hard as we can uphill and we can still make it. We all sprint to the house across from where we are. Spray from the waves crashing up the hill is hitting my face, stinging my eyes and mixing with the tears that are running down my cheeks. I am screaming into the wind, the noise from the water so loud that it is silent. The door of the house opens and the young man stands in the doorway, facing us as we race to gather him to us. He just stands there though and shakes his head and looks past us.

I chance a look behind me and the wave is there. The feeling that rushes over me as the water grabs me and the boys and slams us into the house is crushing. We are a jumble of bodies tossed in the wreckage of the house and the swirling, freezing, suffocating water. I reach for them and my hands and arms find them as blackness takes my vision.

————

I am standing on a street in what appears to be a seaside fishing village. I look around me and see the narrow streets leading away from the house that I am in front of. Glancing over my shoulder, I see a house that is familiar but I can’t quite place it in my mind.

I start to run. I know where I have to go and I know that I am already running out of time. As I run, my mind is already planning how I will gather them all differently this time. Better. Faster. This time, we’ll make it…..

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*We never do. The dream / nightmare loops numerous times when I have it and I never wake between “takes”. Each time, the urgency and frantic panic increase as I struggle to find some way to escape and save everyone that I need to. I try different routes and different places to hide from the waves but in the end, the water always consumes us and it goes black. There is always an awareness that I am in control of making the alterations to my choices – the goal to have a different outcome. Yet there never is a different outcome. It ends the same, no matter what choices are made.

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I am not someone that you want next to you when enjoying a horror flick.

As anyone who has ever had the pleasure of my company in such a setting can attest to, it’s not fun.

I startle easily and violently with my go-to response being to lash out. I strike, hit, punch, and grab whoever is nearest with lightening speed reflexes.

It’s actually quite impressive, I think. My companions, they tend to disagree.

Which brings me to where I am lately. Alone, at home, giving exposure therapy a valiant effort. There is a long way to go before I’m going to give myself a passing grade and say that I can enter the realm of accompanied horror movie watching again. However, this foray into gore and murderous mayhem has allowed me to discover some truths for myself:

Ten Truths I Have Discovered Through Horror Movies

  1. Any encounter with a homicidal maniac is always accompanied with either complete silence or stereotypical eerie, chill-inducing music. Always. (ps, this helps know when to cover your eyes when you’re watching, just sayin)
  2. Your odds of being murdered in a horror movie are directly related to your gender. Female equals kill stock. Males will go too but if you’re female, the odds are stacked against you. If you are pretty, you go sooner.
  3. The caveat to #2 is that females also have higher odds of being the last survivor. This may have something to do with point #4.
  4. Your overall attractiveness and bra cup size will dramatically increase the chances of you losing clothing during your struggle to survive the aforementioned homicidal maniac…and your odds of needing to run *bounce bounce bounce*
  5. We have gut instincts for a reason. Developed over thousands of years to help us stay safe. Why almost no one in horror movies chooses to believe the creepy feeling they have when the porchlight goes out and the wind chimes play is beyond my understanding.
  6. The same stupidity and knack for poor decision-making that gets a person in trouble will also help them survive – against all odds, if they are the big name star (who is needed for the sequel).
  7. An adult-sized person can successfully hide behind a sapling.
  8. Forests at night are scary. Always. There are no helpful woodland creatures like in Bambi, just predators hunting you as you run at top speed through the trees – and somehow manage to not run headfirst into any of them.
  9. The concept of safety in numbers only works if you all stay together! Do not, under any circumstances, leave the herd to go get a beer. You will not be “right back”. But your body will be found later (accompanied by eerie music or silence – see point # 1).
  10. I should not watch horror movies alone.