La Douceur

 

 

~ La douceur ~ 

 

is the French word to describe

 

not only 

 

sweet to the taste or a mild temperature

 

but 

 

a sense of gentleness and contentment.

 

Don't you agree that the world

 

needs more of that right now?

 

I was given a chance to participate

 

in a virtual meditation group from France.

 

The leader invited us to sit or lay down

 

close our eyes, forget everything

 

and 

 

enter into a state of "la douceur." 

 

How often does anyone take time out of the day

 

to just be 

 

gentle, sweet, kind, mild and most of all

 

content with oneself?

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Enter into a moment of sweetness

 

with 

 

the only person who will 

 

never leave you:

 

You.

 

And of course, The Divine

 

who loves you more 

 

than you can ever know

 

but can begin to know 

 

when you ask.

 

We all can make this world a much better place. 

 

 Photo Les Dames D'abord Instagram

 

 

Are You OK?

 

Just listen.

 

And if you've already heard it

 

listen again.

 

Are you OK?

 

                                             Do you have a faith

that will help you 

 

sing

"The Keep Going On Song?"

 

If you don't

 

that's OK.

 

Just keep going until

 

you find it.

 

 

Listen quietly to the softness of your

 

life

 

 

pick up the spills

 

 

 

and watch yourself change

into 

 

a new creation that 

 

you never expected you'd be.

 

 

It takes faith to even

 

hope 

it takes hope to even

 

believe

that you are loved

 

beyond your own understanding.

 

 

Keep going.

 

B A C K S T A G E

 

Unless 

 

you've been backstage for a performance

 

 

 

you will never know 

 

what goes into the staging

 

of

 

a person's story.

 

 

As the curtain of 2020 has risen

we have seen 

 

resilience, collaboration, innovation

 

as well as

 

defeat, division and personal loss.

 

You can be in line at the gas pump

 

or in the parking lot of a home improvement store

 

and a complete stranger will have no problem

 

insulting you

 

lashing out - even threatening you

 

or 

 

breaking down in front of you.  

You never know what has gone on

B A C K S T A G E 

for 

 

a performance as such.

That is why I've changed course.

 

From the political scene to the pandemic

 

I observe from my theatre seat

 

and I wonder and I weep

 

but all it took was for

 

one man

in his mid-70s

 

standing in front of me in line 

 

buying bottled water

to rant 

 

about the closure of his business

 

to question my use of a mask and goggles

and then to

I read his script.

 

 And the uncanny thing about it is

it 

 

was my script.

 

The muffled words sucking in and puffing out 

 

from behind his mask,

 

"I'm so sorry but it's been so hard. I'm losing everything. I deeply apologize" 

were like a tinnitus in my ears

that resonated his pain with mine.

 

His admission ticket of humility 

 

wasn't for a seat for the final act

but 

 

for entrance into the darkness 

 

of 

 

the corridors 

 

of 

 

our humanity.

 

 

 

 

In April

I'm learning

how to garden again.

While listening to one of my students

read his personal memoir draft


the 

teaching experience quickly

reversed roles.

Suddenly

I was looking at 

a newly blossomed  bouquet

emerge on its own

while 

I merely stood in the background.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

In April

I'm learning once again

that 

You can't force

a tiny seed to grow

in the soils of the growing field.

You feed it.

You allow it 

the space of light

then before you know it

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

rose petals 

fall from the sky.

To be

vulnerable

is to be

brave.

It sounds lovely

and 

we'd all agree 

that's the way 

to be.

But have you ever wondered how

a rose bud's roots feel

in the chilling chamber

of 

January?

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

If she's ambitious

she's furious

when her plans to gracefully 

unfurl

shrivel under the demands 

of building up 

resilience. 

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

Is she cold?

Or does she reach down for earth's

dark blanket

to embrace the blush 

that will be the rush of her outrageous reality?

Only time will strike 

at the right moment

of her debut.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

 I'm experimenting with Photoshop Layers

and

this year's goal is to submit 

my heART to 

Bella Grace Magazine -

in other words,

a portion of my memoirs

and a maybe a few photos.

What daring goal do you have for 2019?


 

The First Kiss

from a Minnesota January

is 

slow and still.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

However

the ambiance slightly changes

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

when I decide I'm simply going to

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

and illuminate the barren landscape

as I wait

to be embraced by the caress of spring

and the heat 

of summer's passions.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

Be kissed by a rose. 

Follow my Instagram page Les Dames D'abord to see my progress 

with my new camera. Cards and prints to be available later this year. 

Away

I am October

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

and I whisper tails of light

in

the wind. 

 

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

 You will hear me weep

and

you will hear me 

roar.

Then, I will spread gems

of ruby red

and

burnished gold

for you to

behold

but for only 

an instant

until I come again

and 

sweep us both 

away.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

Just Listen

to what you see.

  Fix your eyes

on what you 

hear.

  Do you taste 

the backward syncopation 

of 

  your life's choreography?

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

Does the primeval perfume of the sea

wash over you

does the acrid taste 

of 

of a single rose petal dropping to earth

move you?

Feel the stars on your fingertips

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

and 

shine light years

on

someone's life.


  Dedicated to my mother

Grace

long gone

but who loves me still

beyond 

the light years of time.

Experiments

White, dreamy, creamy and bright 

was the trend in 

Blogland

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

But I wanted to follow a different route:

My own.

Starting from 

and working with

hardly anything

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

I continue to learn the value

of being myself 

in a world that sees light

in

only one way.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

The results for me on the quest for beauty,

are striking.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

Do you see the light in the darkness?

I'm back

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

But not for long.

This stretched-out journey of change

has curved my path

down unexpected realities

that are blessed in memory with abandoned

yet

 unforgotten destinations.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

In each season, however,

you have been there 

each one of you 

who has stayed with me

as an angel

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

to guide me back home

to my calling

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

to explore the most productive landscape in each one of us:

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

the empty and open space where 

the only way any of us can see 

the light of the world

is to open 

our heart. 


Happy Holidays to all who pass by here. 



(my comments page magically re-appeared. Feel free to leave a comment)

I Remember

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

the sweet days

of

blogging.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

 An abundance of 

burgeoning creativity

accompanied by

what seemed to be

a wealth

of 

friendships

has left a lasting

but lonely impression on me.

But 

beautiful life 

blossoms on

and

sometimes I just collapse 

into 

jubilation.

 

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

I will never forget.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

She's arrived

and 

we rejoice.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

Spring is about ready

les dames d'abord

to hatch.

les dames d'abord

 

 

has finally broken through the clouds

with wings

of spring 

hope

where I live.

les dame d'abord

les dames d'abord

Wishing you all

a 

happy first day of spring.

les dames d'abord

 

When Linda from the Blog

Life and Linda

asked me to participate in

The Bloggers' Writing Process Tour

I thought it would be a good time

to share more about 

the writer

behind the scenes.

via

Each blogger selected

answers four questions

about her writing process

then chooses two to three others 

to do likewise and continue

the tour.  

The questions are as follows:

What am I working on? 

via

How does my work differ

from others of its genre?

Why do I write what I do? 

How does my 

writing process work?

And now to the following bloggers:

Martina ~ MVS Art Impressions

Judith ~ Botanic Bleu

via

What makes you happy

 

patrick demarchelier via

and moves you 

to share your

passion with the world?

header photo via