As I settle into my new life, the challenges of getting here feel further away. Of course, there are new challenges, but my rabbit Gnocchi and I are stabilizing. From that budding stability, creativity is starting to flow again. Well, drip. Then trickle. THEN flow. 

I’ve always been a creative person. Making art, singing, dancing, painting, writing, whatever I could get my hands on. 

But even though artistic expression is my native language, I still go through periods where my tongue is tied. My pipes are clogged. I’m wrapped up in fear and doubt and other things are higher on the priority list.

Each time I come back and start flowing again, it feels like coming home. I’m sitting on the floor like I did as a kid, with my smelly markers, humming and doodling and wiggling my toes. 

Sometimes, I lose sight of this girl. But when I remember, she reminds me that she isn’t just a child I have to appease from time to time. 

Play is a way of being. It’s what makes life…alive. Like surfing a wave of inspiration, I’m moving  and grooving and things and people are just coming to me. I’m laughing. I’m having fun. And I’m at peace.

You can’t surf the wave forever, all waves crash. But you can develop your ability to access it, especially if you’ve forgotten your inner artist for a long time and life is feeling like a drag. This is for you if you’re overwhelmed, heavy and depleted. 

This is when it’s time to remember. It is essential to reconnect. Now. Not once you get to the bottom of your to-do list. Because the list never ends. 

So right now, wherever you’re reading this, imagine yourself putting on your FUN GOGGLES. Make them as outrageously silly and vibrantly colorful as you wish. And let yourself see the world through them. 

Ask them to help you see the fun, the absurd, the silly. Don’t make it another task for you to manage. Ask them for help, ask to RECEIVE inspiration. 

All you have to do is be willing to see it. Don’t let your naggy, critical mind talk you out of nurturing the little seeds. Maybe you notice a flower petal on the ground. Pick it up. Maybe you catch yourself in the mirror. Stick your tongue out. Do something dumb like it’s the most important thing in the world. 

Give every seed room to grow. Because every plant, every tree, every human being, starts as a seed. It just needs protection, care, and time.

I often find myself diving deep, into heavy emotion and big transformation. I love it. It’s what I do. But sometimes…it’s a bit much. Sometimes, the medicine I need more is just to play. To imagine. To be silly. So this week, I challenged myself to break out of my usual rhythm and do something different.

I am learning to lighten up.

To fill my cup

with flakes of frosted crystals

that leave sugar dust in lavender milk.

Little sips of silk,

the color moon.

I am learning to dance magic.

Sparkling fingertips,

swirling tornado hips,

enlightening a storm in the air.

I’m writing my own solar system.

A planetary play,

starring…Neptune.

A deep blue mystery,

one leap ahead

of everything I know.

A rainbow bridge that draws itself

one color at a time.

The rest of the poem,

an un-know-em.

Every line

holding its breath

waiting to be whispered into the sky.

A silver slingshot,

launches bright, burning giggles,

that light up the dark as they wiggle.

A pirate ship of treasure dreams

sets sail in open seas.

Where all the rules and threaded spools

unravel at every seam.

Tearing apart the insides of my heart,

so every love vessel is seen.

Let every wave break,

every hardening unmake,

so the river can rage different ways.

Let nature disrobe,

take off all your tight clothes,

so the awe of raw nakedness

speaks.

As our jaws hit the floor,

there’s an unopened door

to a place that our minds never reach.

The mystery zone,

the orangutan’s throne,

where hanging upside down

reigns supreme.

Where the breeze is exposed

to the tips of your toes.

And you don’t have to know what I mean.

Go ahead, flip the script,

to see wild tpircs 

who swing free on a flying trapeze.

Re-jigger your eyes

with a whole new disguise

so there’s no former you to be seen.

And then you’ll be free,

that’s the un-recipe,

to un-think,

to un-know,

to un-be.