My year so far has been unlike any other and I feel so blessed for all that's unfolding. After the accident on Christmas day that made me sit my butt down and just be still, I realised how much I am craving space for creation and reflection. So I decided to bring more of my attention towards creativity again. The little girl in me is doing daily happy dances :) I am writing again, painting, drawing and dancing.
Here is a little story that came through last week while attending an absolutely magical Qoya movement retreat with my sweet friend Betsy:
Nala's Gems
Once upon a time, there was a girl who decided to spread her wings. The girl's name was Nala.
Nala decided to spread her wings not because she thought there was space for them.
Nala decided to spread her wings not because she thought she was strong enough to hold them up on her own, let alone for her wings to carry her.
She decided to spread her wings because the love, the bubbling colors, the compassion and the wisdom inside of her started to feel unbearable to hold inside any longer. As she was building up the strength to untangle those big wings that she had held wrapped around herself for so long, she heard the wind whisper: “You have to share the gems you carry. They are gems for the world. And those gems can only reach their recipients, if you open up those wings wide instead of using them to keep yourself wrapped up. Allow yourself to be seen.”
With the strength of the wind, Nala managed carefully to open those wrinkled up wings. However, once they were spread, she felt more vulnerable than she had ever felt before. The gems underneath those covers were wide exposed and in between the gems, there were scars - now to be seen for everyone who cared to look. At first, this frightened the crap out of her, until she finally dared to look up and observe the beings that were around her. The ones that were passing by and the ones that cared to look at what she was carrying.
Nala realized with joy that there were other beings with their wings wide open, with sparkling gems and crystals and with scars of all sizes and shapes. To her excitement, some of these beings liked to swap gems – and as they were trading them, they found out with delight that she had the perfectly shaped gems to fit like keys into the scar holes of the others. And guess what?! Some of them had the perfect gems to fit into some of her scars like excellent healing keys.
The more of her scar holes that were filled, the stronger her wings grew. There were some creatures however, who were out to steal her gems. There was one moment she was particularly tempted to close down her wings to protect herself. In that exact moment she felt the strength in her wings. She reached them out wide and lifted of the ground – soaring wildly and freely across the skies. Once she landed, a big smile spread across her heart and she knew that in some moments, it will be appropriate to lift off and fly – and in others it was perfectly ok to use her wings as a cloak.
Despite that knowledge, her heart didn’t understand why some beings wanted to just steal her gems without trading. It made her scars ache. One day, when a particularly nasty robber crossed her path, instead of spreading her strong wings and lifting up into the skies, she decided to look the creature straight in the eyes.
‘Miss, before you rob me’ she insisted, ‘at least show the courage to spread your own wings and uncover what you are carrying inside them.’ Nala recognized a flicker of a little girl in the thief’s eyes, as the creature gently and shyly started opening her coat. Nala was shocked at what she saw – the woman’s entire body was covered in deep, throbbing holes. They weren’t scars yet, they were open, infected wounds. With tears in her eyes, Nala pulled out three of her biggest, most beautiful gems and plugged them into the deepest holes – and they fit oh so wonderfully.
With a grateful smile on her lips, the creature let out a deep sigh. They looked each other in the eyes and just knew that everything was ok and that there was nothing to rob or fly away from.
Artwork by Outi Harma 💕
