Stella's Soul Retreat

So true and beautiful❣️❣️❣️

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/SfPeRC6UFjUFLxrJ/?mibextid=WC7FNe

‘…to hold it all, to count it grace…’

despite its appearance, how it arrives to my life, i am being shaped into something, daily there is a turning, a yielding, but also a standing up, a holding my hands out and asking for more, knowing there IS more, knowing Whom i ask it from, knowing the journey is always inward, always inward, always inward.

📷 on my worktable today.

Oh yes❣️❣️❣️

when it happens
—the thread, knotting itself
into a tightness

i have to let go
soften my grip
retrace my steps

send my fingers in
on cat-feet

now, allowing it
to become a meditation

i am forced to choose
—cut, or work at the knot
a bit longer

i have done both

{here, i am no longer talking about embroidery thread}

often, and all at once
and also, with the slowness
it takes to heal a broken thing

{perhaps, the space between two people}

the thread becomes
unimportant

{in other words, there are more important things to grab hold of}

even if it is vintage
even if you found it
in a charity shop
even if it is the precise shade
of a buttercup, or
the stamen of purple crocus

{in other words, a thing that is fragile, and delicate, that has seen many seasons}

the knot becomes
a place of undoing, or
freedom

and sometimes
a place of sighing, an exhale
and weeping

{also, sometimes, they are all the same thing}

perhaps, this is no longer
a poem about thread

rather, it is to say
that anything can be undone
any knot can be loosened

walk there
with your feet bare
and slowly

{if you are there
you will know what i mean
by this}

{if you are there, and if you are serious about it, you have to walk on bare feet, and gentle feet, if you are carrying an offering to a bruised heart, perhaps a yellow songbird singing a trust song woven together from new notes}

if it is the yellow of corn
or a dandelion, perhaps
a wedding ring

i don’t know what else to say

anything can be undone
and by undone, i mean

healed.

© Liezel Graham 2024

{📷 a charity shop find… a vintage thread, a brand that is no longer made…even more important to undo the knots with gentle fingers}

x

So very true❣️🥰❣️

By Donna Ashworth ❤️

OR YOU COULD JUST LIVE

You are going to wish your body was more,
You are going to wish your body was less,
You are going to wish your body would change,
You are going to wish your body would not.

You are going to wish your body was many things,
between now,
and the day you leave this mortal coil.

And one day,
as is always the way,
you will look back,
and see,
that your body was always as it should be.
Doing its best
To be you,
for you.

And you are then going to wish that just once,
you had told your body,
‘I accept you, as you are, right now’.

And that maybe had you done this,
you would have spared yourself a lifetime,
of wishing for something you didn’t really ever need.

That what it was you should have been wishing for, in fact,
was the courage to accept,
the strength to embrace,
the wisdom to really see,
what you have.

You’re going to wish for many things,
when it comes to your body.

Or you could just wish for health.

And live your life,
flawed
and
beautiful.

Donna Ashworth

From ‘I wish I knew’
https://www.waterstones.com/win/i-wish-i-knew-prize-draw

Art by Helma Speksnijder

Love this 🖼️ soooo much and love my precious friend more❣️🥰❣️

“Teddy bears don’t need hearts as they are already stuffed with love.”

Today's sea glass story is inspired by Stella's Soul Retreat - a friend that gives the bestest bear hugs stuffed and overflowing with love 🤗 🧸💞

❣️YES❣️

‘…the woman knew that words mattered, that HER words mattered, that some things ask to be seen as what they are long before they have shed their Winter feathers for their long journey home. she knew that the asking was only the planting, that things need to be watered, and shifted into the Light, even when there is still no sign of life above the soil, perhaps especially when there is no sign of life above the soil. how she walks about her life saying, ‘ here i have asked my God for something that still dwells in the other place, let me prepare a room, lay the table, for when it arrives with healing in its wings, for i know it will, i know it will. i know it has already packed a bag full of miracles and Light, already it is waiting at the station for the next train home to my mouth…’

© Liezel Graham 2024

{📷 words that mean business}

for you, if you need words that remind you of the planting of a miracle.

fierce words. trusting words. i know them well.

this beauty is on my table this week.

wishing you a peaceful and rich week,

liezel

🎄The week between Christmas day and New Year’s day has always held a certain fascination for me… a sort of limbo feeling.🧑🏻‍🎄
A breathlessness, partly from the activities of Christmas day now done and New Year’s celebrations to come!
What do I feel? What do you feel?

🕊️In the meantime I pray peace and love to surround you at this time🤍

With much love and many beautiful blessings as always,
Stella🪷

Mmmm so beautiful and true❣️

every now and then
you should take off all your fears
and expose them to the light.

© Liezel Graham 2019

something for you to tuck under your pillow for whenever you need it.

keep your eyes on the light,

liezel

❣️simply beautiful❣️

‘…your heart is a wide, open field and you—always walking towards places that are peaceful, always seeking them out, sniffing the air for signs of things to avoid. It takes courage to do this—always seeking peace, and you do it, always walking away from what would cost you your peace, always finding ways to make your presence a soft place for others, but also for yourself. That’s where it all begins. That is the womb of peace—that inner space, and courage is what this requires. Don’t let anyone tell you anything different. Being a peacemaker requires more courage than being a warmaker…’

© Liezel Graham 2023

thoughts from my early morning writing this morning.

the seagulls are especially vocal this morning, I have had some lovely coffee, and a walk is on the cards. later, a movie with our boy and I think it is going to be the Tigger movie, so bouncing will be in order!

may your day be kind and rich,

liezel

Beautiful and true❣️❣️❣️

‘i am not what was done to me…’

This is number 3 in my ‘i am’ affirmation series and although the first two were made, in part, with remnants of an Edwardian child’s dress, this one wanted to be on a dress of its own.

I sat for hours last night with all my little dresses and in the end a very plain, vintage 16” doll’s dress was the one that quietly said: ‘me. i am the one.’

And so this is on my work table as I also finish up a beautiful commission.

I don’t have any words yet to pair with this piece…they will come. They always do. I trust my work implicitly. I trust that the words; the messages, will always arrive at the right time and that they will be found by the right soft bodies.

Isn’t this a miracle? I think it is.

For now? If you find yourself caught up in this statement then tuck them securely into your heart space.

You are not what was done to you.
You are not.
You are not.
You are not.

This is what I have for now. I hope it is enough for your heart.

If you are thinking of joining me at tonight’s writing group, we will be focusing our meditation and writing on this thought:

All is as it should be.

From a rainy and chilly Glasgow,

liezel

'Nurture' online writing group:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/nurture-a-mindfulness-writing-group-for-women-tickets-717060546397?aff=oddtdtcreator

Brave🩷

pay attention to your life.
when you are distracted; called away by things that sell you fear, or shame, or fake treasure, arrive back to yourself with great kindness.
you might not have been shown how to do this.
it is ok.
you can teach yourself everything you need to know.
there are teachers everywhere.
this is how we live the word ‘brave’: by searching for what we need and then choosing to be it.
pay attention to your life.
be a tenderness to yourself so that you might be a tenderness to others.
use your mouth to bless your days.
do this as if it has the power of life and death.
it does.
pay attention to your life.
keep a window open for fresh air and light.
a door, for things to arrive;
and leave.

© Liezel Graham 2023