{breaking apart and breaking open, and coming full circle time and time again}

It's been a tough time around here, there's no hiding from that fact.  I sometimes feel like my life is a constant cycle of hope and despair.  It's an exhausting ride at times.  I long for a slower pace, a smoother ride, a sense of balance.

I receive so many incredibly kind emails and comments about the way I share my journey here on the blog and in day-to-day life.  Sharing my truth, putting it all out in the world, warts and all.  It fills me with peace, and hope, and a great sense of pride to know that my words have an impact.

What I also realised today is that when I do put myself out there in all my vulnerability and imperfectness, and people connect with that story, it always comes full circle and heals me too.  We are all so deeply connected and we all have so much power to change each other, to inspire each other and to share hope.  And when we do it comes back to us like an amazing gift that restores our own souls.  

I wanted to share this story with you today and to tell you that you are such an important part of my journey and that I'm often thinking of you.  Time and time again I come back to this place {this blog} knowing that I will find my people here, and that the more I continue to be present in this space the more my life is enriched and filled with so many blessings.

Thank you.

{and special thanks to my amazing friend Jay for the wonderfully soulful conversation today}

{you are held}

in your hopes and your dreams

your moments of strength

as you reach for everything you know is possible

in your fear and overwhelm

in all your self-doubt and uncertainty

you are held

the universe has you firmly in her arms

these are the words i needed to hear today

i thought you might need them too

***********************************************

Looking for an amazing way start to your year?  Join myself and fellow dreamer Louise Gale for an imtimate one-day visioning workshop in the lush surrounds of CERES Community Environmental Park.

More details here or register right here.

{on hope}

 

work in progress

"I was annoyed from the start by the attitude of doubt by the spectators that I would never really make the flight. This attitude made me more determined than ever to succeed."

— Harriet Quimby, just prior to her flight across the English Channel, 1912

{daily routines}

Turn alarm off and lie in bed waking up

Hop out of bed

Let cats out of the laundry

Put the coffee machine on

Feed the cats

Make coffee

Stand in the back yard with my coffee 

and stare up through this amazing tree

Think to myself how incredibly lucky we are 

to have been gifted with this beautiful new home

 Thanks Universe

************************************

2 weeks till the opening of my new exhibition

Acts of Love 

Paintings by Cath Kirwan

Opening Night

Thursday June 16th 2011

7pm

Chair 14

167 Darebin Rd, Thornbury

ALL WELCOME

{on knowing exactly what to do}

there was a moment yesterday when everything became so crystal clear it was stunning.  this, i thought, is exactly what i'm meant to be doing. sharing hope. now. not waiting till i'm 'fixed' or 'perfect' or 'ready', but right now in amidst all my imperfectness and all my brokenness. nothing in a long time has felt as clear as that moment when i realised that you can simultaneously offer hope whilst also receiving it.  that you can be uncertain and afraid, and still have important gifts to give.  i think it was this post by jen lemen that opened my eyes and my heart. it gave voice to something that i have been trying to put words around for such a long time.

i've felt so disconnected these past few months.  i've been here and there, but often not really present.  i've really noticed it on the blog.  that i've been showing up, but a part of me has felt completely absent.  i think sometimes when it all goes pear shaped we close off part of ourselves.

i've been thinking how this period has been such a time of solitude for me, and how strange it has been for an extrovert like myself to spend 7 months largely alone.  i've been thinking how this time has been a journey with my painting and with myself.  me in my studio with the cats and my paint brush for company.  i've been thinking about how necessary this time was, but also how ready i am for it to be over.  how ready i feel to do more than spend my days quietly painting.  how ready i feel to connect with the world again, to write more and to think more about breathing life into this idea of sharing hope. it is compelling me.

i am so completely energised and honoured by those who contacted me regarding my post yesterday.  packages will be going out soon, full of hope, love and care.  thank you.  together we do make a difference.

{offering hope}

 

sometimes hanging on to hope seems almost impossible.  there have been times this year when hope has felt so completely out of my reach, when darkness has taken hold of me and seeped into my core.  those have been the truly awful times, the ones where i wondered how i could go on, if i could go on, what option there was but to go on putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that i would always want more.

recently though i have been gifted hope in subtle and yet profound ways.  it has opened my eyes to the amazing impact that small acts of kindness can bring and i've grabbed hold of it with all my heart.

i wondered if you might know someone who could use some hope right now.  is there someone in your life who is putting one foot in front of the other, being brave when they really want to cry or stay in bed or give up. do you think that a small act of random kindness might make a difference in their life.

together i'd like to make a difference.

email me at tinniegirl(at)optusnet.com.au with the address details of a person you would like to send some hope to.  i'll send them a small package to let them know that they are loved.  i can do this on your behalf or anonymously, whichever you would prefer.  i'm going to send out three packages of hope into the universe in the next week.

i look forward to hearing from you.