Moments by SARK

Do you ever run into those bright colorful books in the self-help/inspirational section of your favorite book store? Those books written by SARK, a very inspiring person. She has gone through a lot in her life and yet she has written all of her books in color. I will be taking a few of her books today and sharing some of her comments in them.

1. The books I write about have colorful, happy covers which can cause people to think: it must be easy for her. It isn't easy for any of us to transcend the past, or pain we might have suffered. Yet, there are gifts in those pains, and we can choose to let light into the dark places. We are not alone! a quote by William Stfford is " I have woven a parachute out of everything broken."

2. Women are receptive to therapy, I think because of their attention to the emotional aspects and need to be heard. I'm always amazed when women don't try, or haven't tried therapy. Who else will listen so raptly to you? There is still a stigma about "going to therapy," as though there is something wrong with you, or it is self-indulgent to pay someone to help you within psychological work. Yet we pay our car mechanics, our gynecologists, or gardeners. This is curious. What is more important than our psychological health? Friends can also provide some of these things, but it's not their profession. A dedicated therapist's only professional purpose is your psychological health.

Sark mentions that healing is an inside job. Although she has been in therapy for eight years, both individual and groups, she continues to go because it enriches her. She is also fascinated by PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS WORK. We contain so much as women. We are so complex, stuffed full of feelings, memories, half-truths, denials, hopes and yearnings.

We deserve to be fully alive psychologically! Celebrate your own psychology! Read words from your soul, Explore your own interior. You are valuable just as you are.

Healing Places

OCEAN-waves remind us that there are reliable patterns like our breath. Also, the negative ions in the air actually change brain waves.

WOODS-We are surrounded by tree families and sheltered by their canopies. Keep hugging trees.

ROCKS-We are reminded that growth and change can be microscopic and result in something solid.

WATERFALLS-Falling water speaks of constancy and power.

GARDENS-In the gardens, our hands touch the growing things and our hearts fill.

TOPS OF HILLS- Overlooking the world, we see tiny cars ot towns and gain perspective.

Some of Sark's inside locations of healing.....

BATHTUB- Floating in warm water, surrounded on all sides, tears can flow out of us and join the water everywhere.

BEDS- Soft and thick, safe places to hibernate and dream.

FORTS- Tiny mocks of privacy and escape. Remember the safety of a good fort?

PHONES- Psychic sound chmbers, one on one, intimate conversations can take place without distraction.

GROUPS- In certain kinds of groups, there can be profound safety and exploration in the company of others.

PLANES- Speeding through the sky in a metal capsule emphasizes the importance of trust and release of control.

In our hearts is where the healing occurs-We can take what we experience in the outside, and bring it in for healing. Women's hearts are rare, deep and wide. We do contain multitudes!


Succulent Wild Women

They are all around you. Look for the bright eyes, ready smile, and unusual clothes. Or perhaps it's a more shy succulent wild woman who dresses and appears more quiet, and then you get close enough to bask in her succulent glow.

Sark goes on to list her favorites. These are the famous and more obscure. She invites you to add your favorites to the list.

Isadora Duncan. Sara Bernhardt. Ruth Gordon. Gertrude Stein. Anais Nin. Anne Morrow Zindbergh. Emily Dickinson. Colette. Maya Angelou. Jessica Tandy.Imogene Cunningham.

YOUR BODACIOUS SUCCULENT LIFE

You are succulent even if you don't know it yet. Succulence is a process of aliveness and discovery, and it means living your life in full color, out to the edges, and in celebration of your radiant, eccentric self. BODACIOUS means: SPLENDID, BOLD AND REMARKABLE. That's you! Succulence includes all of you: parts that may feel lost, trapped, in hiding or broken, as well as your most flamboyant, extravagant, incandescent parts. Everything in the middle is succulent too. Our ordinary, tender, jealous, procrastinating, perfectionistic selves. Sometimes we fall asleep, get lost or gorget that we are such splendid, forgivable, adorable souls. We step into lives that aren't ours, make choices that aren't nourishing, or dance stiffly for years with the wrong partner, or parts of ourselves. Some say life is short. I say, life is TALL- grab a straw!

A few questions(soul-searching)

1. What is the most alive choice you recently made?
2. In what way(s) are you succulent?
3. Who do you admire and why?



All of the above are statements from Sark's book, Succulent Wild Women.