peace

The Goddess Tree

A poem taken from ‘Secret Garden of the Soul’ and inspired by a beautiful silver birch tree in a friend’s garden in Dorset, where I sometimes go to write.

The tree looks remarkably like a woman standing with her arms outstretched, blessing and protecting and giving beauty, nourishment and joy to the garden and those in it. The sort of place you can sit and reflect and receive great inspiration and nurturing.

This is one of those very ‘blessed’ pieces of writing that just poured forth, asking to be created as a visual poem, and it is published here in honour of a wonderful and inspiring group of women I met and re-kindled spirit with on Saturday October 8th, at Romio Shrestha’s workshop on art for peace and transformation in London.

Please add your comments below about the workshop, the poetry or whatever moves you.

You can see more and a video about the Taras at christinemiller.co.

Being Inspired

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Finding Inspiration –
Ideas for Lightening Life

Some sources and moments of inspiration are evergreen, timeless, universal.

They appeal to a deep, shared human experience, the spirit of which which has filled us with awe and wonder for eons.

Magical Moons

Spending time outdoors in deep, dark velvety nights, here in South West France where we have zero light pollution, means that our stargazing, planet spotting, seeing and sensing of the delicious sparkling over-mantle of the Milky Way above, are a regular source of inspiring moments for spirit and soul.

The full moon can be astonishing in its size and brightness, and I love to see it peeping from behind the trees. The photograph has a mistily masked effect, and nicely captures the mood and magic of our mellow moon.

This poem below, though, was inspired by an amazing full moon which shone so splendidly on the sea, as I was returning home during a time I spent in Lyme Regis*, writing at a friend’s house .

For tips and Ideas on Being Inspired, sign up for our newsletter and ask for our *free gift guide to writing love letters, poetry and poetic prose, in the sidebar alongside this post.

* Lyme is a favourite seaside resort in Dorset, UK, which is famous for its Heritage Coast rich in fossils dating back to the Jurassic period. It’s a quaintly attractive town with many artists and writers, wonderful walks and scenery and the world famous Cobb harbour is a major draw – “not just for its visual splendour and its magnificent naval architecture, but also for its connections with great literature. Indeed people come from all over the world to see the steps where Louisa Musgrove fell in Jane Austen’s Persuasion; or to see where Meryl Streep stood, looking forlornly out to sea, in the film adaptation of John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman.”

Masques & Roles

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By Popular Demand:

Flourish Through Challenging Times

Christine Miller’s Celebrated

‘Masques & Roles’ Workshop

Are you Living Your Own Life?

Or Following a Life You Inherited?

In these troubled times, as much of what has traditionally been upheld as important starts to fall away, many of us are questioning ourselves about what is really important in life.

There can be no question that knowing ourselves and recognising our strengths is crucial to our progress.
Until we look within, and find the means to self-leadership and awareness, we cannot deal honestly and with integrity with the outer world.

In this workshop, you will experience recognising, acknowledging, and then peeling off your masks, shedding your assumptions and opening your eyes to the treasure within you.
You will emerge stronger, clearer and with a greater understanding of who you truly are.

Then you can live a fulfilled life, regardless of the outside influences you encounter, because your joy will emanate from your inner strengths, your sense of self will be unassailable, and you will experience whole-hearted happiness and love.

Enjoy a day of nourishment for your spirit, rekindle your joy,
Experience inner calm and peace, and refresh all your senses.

Dates:

TBA
Location: London UK, Bergerac, SW France
Time: 10.00 – 16.00
Cost: £199.00

CONTACT: christine@christinemiller.co

ABOUT CHRISTINE

Christine is dedicated to helping others uncover and fulfil their true potential. She holds a Masters Degree in Psychology and is a poet, author, consultant and speaker at many conferences.
As the Visionary Founder editor of ReSource magazine, she enjoys many opportunities to share thoughts and ideas with world spiritual and personal growth leaders.

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

“Christine has a graceful presence, a calmness and a warmth which combined with her in-depth knowledge of her subject, and her dedication to her students’ learning, makes her a compelling and inspirational trainer.”
Alison Paterson, Kaizen Training

“People can feel your commanding energy presence as you walk on stage and they can feel your energy and passion, and know with certainty that you totally believe in what you’re delivering.”
Steve Ross, MD, Ross Associates, Bristol

“I have had the privilege of knowing Christine for some time, and I have been very blessed to hear her speak, to share her warm and heartfelt, powerful poetry, and to read her marvellous words in her world-class professional magazine. Not only well connected but someone who leads with her heart and soul first.
The word inspirational is over-used, but is entirely apposite here. Thank you for being a friend.
aloha nui loa (as they say in Hawaii)”
Gary Plunkett, Business Coach

“Christine Miller’s workshop was inventive, creative, fun, intimate, validating and insightful. The notion of masks were all useful reminders, to me, of how much we (I) can choose to stay hidden behind any of a number of facades and, worse, convince myself that it is neither my choice nor my responsibility i.e. if I’m hiding my light it’s because other people aren’t seeing my light! Yeah. Right! Thank you Christine.”
Michael Mallows; author, trainer, coach

“Christine Miller’s workshop was truly excellent.”
Hugh L’Estrange, Director, SEAL (Society for Effective Affective Learning)

“Christine is a wonderful and inspiring spirit, her natural gift to heal with her words and with her hands is tangible as you stand within her presence.
I am delighted to know Christine and have safely shared my personal story with her.
I highly recommend that you experience Christine’s beautiful and calming energy to create harmony in your life.”
Pauline Crawford, Founder, Corporate Heart

“Christine has not only quality in her work but every ounce of her being is designed to make human potential increase. Very few people have this gift. One in a million.”
Nigel Risner, CEO, Nigel Risner

“I spent an inspiring afternoon with Christine recently, and her magic for me is that her guidance appears effortless – to the point I felt that I was coming up with all these wonderful visions on my own. In fact, it was Christine’s caring and intuitive guidance gently taking me to a place I would never have reached without her. Those who know Christine already will understand me when I say that with Christine’s help I have seen a realistic vision of my own future. Thanks Christine – and I look forward to working with you for a long time to come.”
Richard Flewitt, Business Video Producer, New Edge

Make sure you reserve your place
for this life-changing experience

Contact Christine NOW

c hristine@christinemiller.co

Peace Amidst Turmoil – an Inner Innisfree

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A new friend, Steve Earle, sent me a couple of his poems the other day, he’s a really interesting guy who I’m learning about and I appreciate his writing.

One of the poems, called ‘The Sea’ reminded me of a W.B. Yeats favourite ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’. Steve’s poem is about a soulful returning to what he knows, to peace and a kind of innocence, a theme shared with ‘Innisfree’.

It’s one of Yeats’ earlier poems and as such, the critics don’t rate it as a work of real literary merit, yet it is beloved of the public and it is widely known and read, memorable, and taught in school. Yeats himself acknowledged that his style changed significantly as he matured and developed as a poet, as you will see in the quote from his autobiography below.

I’ve cherished this poem since childhood and it often springs to mind – even sometimes the parodied versions we chanted – things like:

“I must arise and go now, and go to Innisfree

I left my shoes and socks there, underneath a tree…”

I can feel Yeats’ turning in his grave right now…!!

What is represents is a retreat into peace and calm, from the hustle and bustle of city life – a return to simplicity and the opportunity for reflection. Finding an inner sanctum in which we can take refuge and rebuild our strength is something of great importance in these times of global chaos and concern, and I invite you to enjoy the poem and the pictures here, and find your own Inner Innisfree.

Then visit my events page here and decide to come along and find out how to Flourish in Challenging Times, so you’ll always have your place of peace to keep you calm and confident of your ability to thrive – no matter what.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)

Nobel Prize winning Irish dramatist, author and poet

First published in ‘The National Observer’ 13th December 1890

Innisfree is in County Sligo in Ireland, and was a place where Yeats spent holidays with his family in his youth.

Yeats commented on “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” in a passage in his autobiography about his London days:

“I had still the ambition, formed in Sligo in my teens, of living in imitation of Thoreau on Innisfree, a little island in Lough Gill, and when walking through Fleet Street very homesick I heard a little tinkle of water and saw a fountain in a shop-window which balanced a little ball upon its jet, and began to remember lake water.

From the sudden remembrance came my poem “Innisfree,” my first lyric with anything in its rhythm of my own music. I had begun to loosen rhythm as an escape from rhetoric and from that emotion of the crowd that rhetoric brings, but I only understood vaguely and occasionally that I must for my special purpose use nothing but the common syntax. A couple of years later I could not have written that first line with its conventional archaism — “Arise and go” — nor the inversion of the last stanza.”