Joy

November was not the easiest of months for me, but I focused on the positives each day - finding breathing space and moments of joy. This week I managed to take a morning off work and chores to just sit, read and reflect. I opened up 'Benedictus - A book of Blessings' by John O'Donohue and read the blessing For Equilibrium:

As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity be lightened by grace...
May your prayer of listening deepen enough
To hear in the depths the laughter of God.

It reminded me of a moment last week when I was out walking my dog. It was a wet and very windy day but, despite the greyness, in the silence of nature I felt an unusual lightness in my spirit. I walked through a sheltered part of the park and watched the leaves falling from the trees. I was reminded of a similar day years ago when my children and neices and nephews were young and ran laughing and dancing around those very trees as their leaves fell. And I reconised the joy in letting go.

I wrote this poem this week.   And then I danced (because I was in a space where nobody was watching)!

Out in the wide open spaces
I want to dance
In the rain
Beneath the trees
Fling wide my arms
And welcome you
Welcome the change
The advancing seasons
The stages of growth
And death
The letting go
Of all that was
To welcome what’s to come
And I may look a fool
Spinning here
But here
The weighty things fall away
Unrestrained
And carried by the wind
I welcome joy
And dance