The endless days

Warm embrace

It is dark. Outside the snow covers the ground like a blanket. The clouds drift past bringing the odd snowfall, and the snowflakes fall silently and slowly to the ground. It is 3.30 in the afternoon, and I've been up for what seems like an eternity. Cocooned inside, held in an embrace made of light and warmth. Time seize to exist in this place. Nothing is rushed, yet things unfold and get done. Effortlessly. 

Magical time and space

High above the Arctic circle at Christmastime, is a magical place and a magical time. The darkest time of the year is lit up by candles, Christmas lights, and fireplaces. I am with my family, we are eating, chatting, watching movies, reading, napping, knitting, and eating some more. Time moves slowly, and the rush of everyday life seems so far away and so unimportant. It is a time for reflection and to recharge. To rethink what you are doing and make plans for change, if that is what you need. To let the shoulders down, to breathe deeply, to get grounded. To relax. 

Find stillness

You might not be anywhere close to the Arctic Circle, you might never have experienced the comfort of the darkness, or you might have experienced it and hated it! Nevertheless I invite you to find some stillness wherever you are, to feel all the feelings and fall into yourself. To figure out what you need and what you want, and make a plan to look after yourself, whatever that means to you. 

That's what I am doing with these dark, wonderfully endless days. I am enjoying the embrace, I am sinking into the warmth, into my cocoon. I'm a butterfly waiting to break free from my chrysalis. But not yet. The day is not over. There are many endless hours left, I still have plenty of time to relax. 

I'll see you on the other side.

A World In A Drop

Sometimes it is good to just let things happen. To not control everything, and let go a little, just to see what is happening.

I have been doing that quite a lot lately when I am watercolour doodling. I make a blob of water, and then I add the paint and let it go where it wants, then I add another colour and see where that goes. I then – usually – end up with some amazing little blobs of colour that has so much narrative in them. Landscapes, galaxies, eyes. Small worlds living their own lives, not bound by any other rule than the physics of water. But for me, since I know nothing about the physics of water, I decide to think of it as magic! Because who doesn’t need a little magic in their lives? I know I sure do. And the ability to see something else in something, to see something specific in something abstract, is wonderful. When you see a landscape in a small blob of watercolour paint, what can’t you see in other things. Everything can be imagined into something else if you just allow your brain to do it. Kids are great at it. Give them an empty box, and it is anything from a space ship, to a car, to a castle. We have all been able to do this at some point. Why do we lose that ability? Why do we have to be and think like everybody else?

I am going to keep doodling my little magical worlds, and perhaps they will lead me to reimagine something else, and then something else…