The Rhythm of the Heart

Recently, our most wonderful Sognatrice of Bleeding Espresso (one of my very favorite bloggers and her exquisite blog) kindly asked if she could host me as a guest blogger. I was delighted to accept and I wrote the following piece for her. The layout and design is all hers, and it is very well done (thank you Sognatrice!).

What fun, I thoroughly enjoyed working with her for a mutual post.

This post may also be found on her blog with her original design at Bleeding Espresso.

The Rhythm of the Heart

Close your eyes and listen . . . when it’s quiet. The rush of blood from your heart will fill your ears and mind.

It’s the rhythm of life flowing in a river through you.

Close your eyes and look . . . deep into your heart.

You will find the rhythm of your soul, flowing from your heart like a river, washing over every moment of your life, over everyone and everything you touch.

What is your rhythm?

Is it a steady, constant rhythm . . . like a beating drum?

Is it strong and passionate, filled with extremes . . . love, hate, jealousy, perfection?

Is it gentle? Warm? Like the caress of sunbeams on bare skin, or a caring hand?

Is it rough and driven . . .

Is it filled with anger and disappointment?

Is it always searching, always hungry?

Patient, overflowing with grace

Sad with currents of longing

Quiet, hidden and deep

Bubbling and dancing over the places in life that try to block your path

Or forceful, crashing with power. . . until you reach the end?

What rhythm flows through you, touches others and changes their rhythms, even a little?

I have said, in the past, that everything we do, everything we say, think and feel has a ripple effect that touches the lives of others, and those ripples continue into so many other people and into the future of more lives, in more ways than can be imagined . . .

But I was looking at it in such a small way.

It is not a ripple.

It is a wave much bigger and more powerful than we can conceive, and it never ends.

Search your heart, look deeply and find the rhythms that drive your life. Consider the way those rhythms will touch everyone you ever meet, and remember that those rhythms, having come from you, will come back to you in many ways.

It is the Golden Rule of the Heart . . . you will get whatever it is that you give.

Let everything that comes from you, that flows from your soul and your heart be the best that can be given, always. In every way, every moment . . . you will join the chorus of rhythms that flows around you constantly, the rhythms of life, of the heart.

You are the conductor . . .


Make the rush of your soul’s rhythm fill your whole being, spill out into the wide world and wash over it in a wave that makes this a better place for your having been here, having added to it the very best that can be within you.

Play on, rhythm of the heart, play on.

Spring Cleaning

Bonnie at Words From a Wordsmith recently posted a very moving piece that has inspired me to rise to the draw of Spring.

Let us dig deep, to find the dead, rotted roots and bring them out.
Let us prune away the dead branches that sap energy but give no life.
Let us refresh ourselves, reach for the sun, and blossom in all our natural beauty.

Cecilia and I are standing under the lilac bush. She touches the dead branches that are protruding from the ground at our feet and states resolutely that these dead branches are going to be pruned away, cut off at the base, because they take energy away from the bush and hinder its growth.
"We must trim away all the dead so that it can grow." she says, looking meticulously at every limb.

And I stood there, awash in a moment of epiphany.
Wholly bathed in the light of realization.

What dead, useless rubbish is within me that I hold on to and shouldn't?
What old rotted roots and branches hinder my growth and drain me of energy?
What could I cut away that would enable me to grow and breathe deeply? To blossom?

Oh... how long is this list?

I carry dead weight with me. I do. For what purpose? Who knows.
I hold on to the experience and the lesson; when I should only hold the lesson.
I didn't realize that my shadows are flat and empty... instead of deep and dark and full of mysterious necessities that I couldn't possibly understand or let go of.

I definitely need to prune. Need to dig up the dead and toss it overboard. Need to release everything that does not enrich my soul, my life... and the lives of others. Need to let the past be the fleeting shadow that it is. Something that is gone as soon as it happens. How can I hold so tightly to something that does not exist now? Carve away the things that weigh me down, bind my wings, and tether my feet... how did I ever believe that the shadows were strong? They are nothing but places without light.
Whether material or not... it is time to clean out the old.

It's Spring... what a perfect time to garden and grow.

Reach for the sun, and grow indeed.

Happy Spring!

The Road Ahead

We Are One!

From the Shores of Introspect and Retrospect is a year old! We made it! And, by sheer luck and a sprinkling of irony... this is our 100th post!

~A look back...

It's been a good year. I started the journey on my own and a short time after I began, I adopted Viaggiatore from Seamus, we joined the Shameless Lions Writing Circle; and this fantastic lion has been right by my side every step of the way, since. We've made many wonderful friends with whom we have shared laughs & ideas, supported when there was sorrow, gained and given insight and explored life together.

It has been absolutely wonderful, and worth every moment.

~A look ahead...

It is our intention to post a LOT more often, and to visit with our treasured friends at every opportunity. I think sometimes that I would like to have a photojournalism blog, and post stories about the world around us, but this blog is a place of the mind, heart and soul, and it's flavor cannot change. It's grown from a small idea into what it is today, and that will continue as time passes.

I hope that you find common threads here. I hope that you find words worth your while. I hope that the ideas and stories that you find here inspire & encourage you. I hope you find friends here.

And I hope that when you leave, you have a little more Introspect and Retrospect in your pocket, to enjoy later on, down the road ahead.

Scarlett & Viaggiatore