Attention is a Bridge

 

"It takes discipline to develop attention and awareness. For me, this discipline is part of my dance. One of the biggest challenges is to keep my awareness in my body, not in my head where it can distract me in a million ways....

 

Ideally, attention should be a point of consciousness moving around inside a field of awareness.

Awareness is the forest, attention is the trees....

Attention is a bridge between the receptive, feminine energy of awareness and the outgoing, masculine energy of action."       ~ the words of Gabrielle Roth

 

This is where I am.

Standing, sitting, floating on this bridge.

Offering my presence in the moments of attention
to shadow~work and light~play,
to the amazing power of women gathering together, and within themselves,
to share, learn, dream, explore, work through, conjure up the healing that is needed,
from the wisest centers of their being,
with open, courageous eyes and hearts
and a willingness to shapeshift further into themselves...
to thrive
to serve
to sing, create, imagine
to love
to know the joy that is calling us home to circles of each other. 

From this bridge, I am 
Dipping into the field of awareness, deeper
noticing,
allowing it to soak into my moments as if I were a sponge,
to clear and cleanse with the breeze, the sun, the crisp cool drizzles
of forests filled with baby black bears and plant medicine
and cycles of being...

and then wading in and out of the energy of action,
testing the waters with the charged tools of awareness
and intentional attention,
led by the wisdom of my people, my truth,
and my connection to the mysterious joy of creation.

This is where I am
with intention,
learning my discipline tricks and trades,
offering my attention to learn and grow,
from a place of presence - full in shadow and light,
on a bridge with beautiful, infinite choices
and where connections abound.

~hali
17 october 2012

(the top photo is the light on my studio door in the morning. i love it. the mountain lake is from the southeast women's herbalism conference i attended this past weekend with my mom and over 1000 women who believe in alternative ways of living with the earth and healing and eating. further down are pictures of a sacred art project i am creating as part of my soulwork in IGNITE. and the singers are Rising Appalachia - a sister duo living their truth, of rootsy, raw, divine feminine energy, song and body awareness. check them out - they are inspiring! they were at the conference.)