Let it Flow

How many times do we question ourselves - question our abilities, our strengths, our beauty, our thoughts and feelings, our decisions?  We all do it...some more than others.  But what if we just let it all flow - without judging ourselves or our circumstance?  Instead, what if we danced with what presents, acknowledging ourselves and the situations, but moving forwarded anyway - letting it flow?

This poem what born of such questions to myself.  I would have all these thoughts pop in my head, but at a time when I wasn't sure if they were my own thoughts, or if I had adopted those of others.  Once I realized that I could own them if I wanted, or let them go if I wanted, I could stop any resistance and just let it all flow in complete neutrality...and what a grand feeling that is - to let it all flow; to let it all just be.

Hope you enjoy the read...you can find it in the Dec-Jan2014 issue of Sibella Poetry Magazine, where I'm contributing for the third year in a row :).   Click on the image of the magazine cover to enter a different kind of poetry world - a creative one of spirit, inspiration and insight :)


Let it Flow
(copyright 2013, Linda J. Spencer)

My body is alive and full of energy.
My mind is full, ready to explode
With all of its thoughts,
All of its grand creations.
But what if they're not my own?

What if they belong to another?
How can I possibly know?
My mind is overflowing
And now it cannot be contained.
Energy transcends.
I have set it free.
It is what will be.
Or is it?
Is it really free?
Only I can choose.
Only I can know.
If only I'd listen.
Can I do this?
If only I could still my mind
I could see what's real,
And the knots would come undone,
Anxiety and doubt would cease.
Or would it?
I can only try.

This Body

How many of you have truly taken a look at your body - its curves, its lines, its story - without judgement, but full of appreciation for all of it?  Now, a couple of years ago, I would have had difficulty doing this without judging what I saw in the mirror.  What a difference removing judgement (not only with looking at my body, but with SO many things in my life)!!!  It took forty years, but I have finally come to appreciate all of it...filled with gratitude for my body - my divine vessel in which I am afforded the opportunity to experience THIS life on Earth - I wrote this poem, in tribute.

Photo by Change Your Life Photography

This Body – My Divine Vessel
(© Linda J. Spencer, 2013)

This body carried my children for nine months
And brought them into this world with love.
The scars are witness to the beauty of the birth,
And they are beautiful.
This body has carried me my whole life with ease and grace.
Its lines and creases are testament to this life.
This body moves with grace and feels the flow of life
It lets me know when to take a break,
And when it’s ready to run full out –
And I have learned to hear what it has to say.
This body allows me to dance among the trees,
In the light of the setting sun,
And under the starry full moon night.
This body receives the light and love that feeds my soul.
Its curves reflect that love,
And reflect its light back out to the world.
This body is a divine vessel which embodies my soul
And it is perfect, just as it is.


A couple of months ago, as part of a "homework" assignment (I use the term "homework" loosely, as it was more of an experience than homework) for a program I was taking, I was to look, or rather observe, myself in the mirror for 20 minutes - naked - without judgement.   This experience, along with reading about the experiences of others in the group and seeing myself in some amazing photos by Change Your Life Photography, inspired me to write this particular poem, which I am proud to say that you can find in the Oct/Nov 2013 issue of Sibella Poetry Magazine (click on the magazine cover artwork to enter the most recent issue).  Big thanks to Jennifer Hough of the Wide Awakening Team and the Innate Abilities Group for the inspiration :)

Words from a Photograph

I’ve experienced so much expansiveness in the last while and although not doing so much writing, there’s been a creative flow of a different kind.  A couple of months ago, I started doing a program which has opened not only my eyes, but all of my senses and my very being to a vastness of pure potential which I find absolutely amazingly fascinating.  With those experiences of the last few months, coupled with a recent opportunity to be the subject of a couple of photo shoots, I found myself falling in love with the images I saw, and more deeply in love with my own camera.  Those experiences have inspired me to be more attentive and present to what I see, and capture as much as I can with the lens - capturing the essence of what I see in nature – the greatest inspiration for my poetic verses. 

This week I chaired my Wordsmiths writing group meeting.  Inspired by the photos I had taken the week before at my parents’ farm, I decided we’d do an exercise that entailed writing the story that is happening outside the photo frame.  It’s one thing to see a photograph or a painting and write its story, but it’s something else to write what happening outside of that image.  The result – 8 wonderfully creative stories churned up in a 20 minute writing session.  Some of them will be developed into greater works of prose and poetry, I’m sure, and I look forward to my fellow wordsmiths to share their creations at a later date. 

I mentioned this writing exercise to my photographer later that night while discussing a shoot.  Inspired by a photograph that he took of me (probably my most favourite shot of them all).  It’s such a good piece that I asked his permission to share it here.  Thanks to Steve Di Monte of Change Your Life Photography for sharing.

 So, next time you're out and about, why not grab your camera and capture what you see.  Search the images to inspire you and dream up what’s happening around them…it’s a really fun exercise, and if nothing else will put a smile on your face as you reminisce through the photographs.  Happy writing :) :) :)