On a bad day this ink helps. As does laying low for a few – back soon …… The Army of Ink … turns raging anger into foot stamping grumpiness – stubborn defiance … fear becomes a little scary – turns the deep end into a puddle I can jump over … rejection directs me to a nice warm place I can call home … pain becomes a hurt more my size … loneliness shifts to alone wrapped in a nice warm blanket … shame is snipped off and planted in a bed of white roses … truth is transformed into something so special I can hold it close without losing myself. Click here for handwritten PDF version you can print and keep.
Write – even if it’s messy and you can’t spell. Draw – even if you think you can’t. I’ve found more substance in my scribble – than I’ve read in books. Seen more through my drawings - than through my own eyes. And found this great quote …. “Drawing can be a potent problem-solving aid for both children and adults. A drawing can let you see how you feel. Putting that another way, the right brain, by means of a drawing, can show the left brain what the trouble is. The left brain, in turn, can use its own powerful skills—language and logical thought—to solve the problem.” Betty Edwards Pass it on …
The Inch is a piece EV (Secret 29) held close and shared in her story. It also opened the floodgates and brought to life the troops in these diaries …. and still guides me today.
I try not to have ‘favourites’ but this ink I keep very close – she speaks of equality, self worth and value and sends a strong message that size doesn’t matter. Refreshing, to say the least in a world obsessed with super heroes, super models and super stars. She’s a grounder. Here’s her story …
‘Round and ’round the racecourse . my finger beat you there . you mustn’t laugh . you mustn’t cry . or tell little girls ‘there, there’ . Take one step out . and two steps down . to a place you cannot stand . for it was you – you naughty boy . who tried to steal my hand . and she goes on to say … the trick is, to find a place where size doesn’t matter, nobody can touch the bottom – and everyone can reach. Head spinning? Here’s a little explanation …
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Sometimes it’s scary to let go. Found her in my draw - so I’m sticking her on the fridge for reassurance as I let go of the balloon! (See # 48 and this comment will make more sense.) It also begs the Q? … what might you need to let go of before you can really take off ?
Flying on a string … I stretch to forever with the very tips of my fingers . way up high to a place where everything falls away . just me and nothing . nothing and me . Then I let go . fell into a place much harder than my story . it hurt . not from the fall . from landing in things I didn’t know were still there . Now my fingers ache for the place where everything falls away . I fight with might to soothe fiddling fingers still . lock them in my lap . far less than the place they long for . much more for being held in a place I believe I have a chance to hold. Been talking about chocolate and alcohol in my blog so this seems fitting - for me it’s about …
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