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Singing as the Darkness Lifts 11/12/2023 (Episode 15)

Singing as the Darkness Lifts 11/12/2023


This morning the moon is new and the air carries the tiniest hint of trampoline. I am transported back to a shingle beach where I lie on my stomach on blue vinyl staring first at the sea and then at the impressively strong tight springs that hold the trampoline to its frame. That’s an interesting place to start a Monday morning and the thought of all that jumping makes me smile. Gymnastics was not my thing, but I did love the feeling of the bounce and that wonderful boing from seated bounce to standing up again. That feeling of movement that ripples with momentum.

 

On Saturday night it sounded. ‘It’ being the sound of Santa’s sleigh approaching. I was very quick to wrap my Christmas lights round my neck, and call to Kath to bring some money to make a donation. And this year on the town tour, Santa blew me kisses as well as doing the lucky Santa wave. A perfect treat. I always feel lucky to have seen Santa and those blown kisses made me feel superbly lucky.

 

Two coaching sessions and two Christmas fairs this week as well as the two-handed joyous wave from Father Christmas so maybe good things come in twos lately. The feeling of leaving myself behind when I enter a coaching room is a lovely one and such a perfect reminder of how good it is to just be in the moment. So having that feeling more than once in a week was a treat. It also begins to prepare me for how things will feel when I work with more people. My own coaching session this week was also a joy to be in. I gain clarity from thinking aloud with my coach and from the honest reflection that emerges within that space. I feel fortunate to have this time dedicated to me.

 

A book I read this week used the term ‘thinker’ instead of ‘coachee’ or ‘client’ and this really resonated with me. My thanks to Claire Pedrick for this way of describing each “resilient and resourceful human being” a coach shares time with. Here’s to the joy of coaching space and time.

 

Vortex Over Wave is starting to make its appearance in the world. This is my ‘coffee table book’ which combines #ElasticBandPhotos with a series of poems for the full moon. I am fortunate to have been able to work with Jason Conway to bring this book together, and I am hoping it will bring joy to others as they discover it. As Matt Quinn once said: “Tell me there’s going to be a book of these one day. It’s exactly the sort of thing I’d leave out on my coffee table (if I had one) to impress guests (if I had any).” The photo at the start of the blog this week shows a copy of the book on a green cushion and it makes me smile.

 

My heart glowed when I sold the collage I had made by enhancing a different elastic band photo. This one was 'in a puddle by the laundry shed in the garden'. I used sea glass and pink and purple buttons to give it extra depth and then framed it. I was telling someone at the market the story of how I came to have the photo in the first place thanks to Cicely who sent it to me from Australia when she went out to visit her family, and they too had a connection with Australia. And so they bought it and I smiled at the way this picture had gone on a cyclical journey of its own. Here's the alt text that I wrote to accompany the photograph: A discarded elastic band lies in a puddle in a garden in Australia. Green and pinks leaves add colour. The band is twisted in the shape of a number eight. And here’s the Alt Text doing it pretty well too: A purple rubber band and leaves on wet ground.

 

 

And the colour and vibrance of this leads me to choose ‘i am a firm believer in fairy lights’ by Annick Yerem as the poem to leave you with this week:

‘i am a firm believer in fairy lights’

the way they offer a twinkly hope
for better days, the way they cut
through the fog on winter nights,
illuminated landing strips
sparkling my walks round
the neighbourhood

an assembly of wayward, tiny stars

ages ago, you handed me a small
bundle and on the wrapping paper
you had written: ‘those dark corners don't stand a chance`

i switch them on at night
and every time i remember how
good it felt to know

that every once in a while
someone will see all your darkness
and help you light it up.

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