We’ve made it to another year together and that’s so much to be grateful for!

2022 feels like a red hot fireball to me. This is the year for me to lean into the anger that burns inside of me, and every other human being. Think about all those times we weren’t heard or seen, misunderstood, called out, and ourselves too numb to fully consider the invisible battles and scars everyone is putting up with in order to be a functioning member of society.

By this time in history, are all walking wounded. Our parents’ generation for the most part were unaware of their own emotional needs let alone the needs of their children. Emotions were not talked about and now the weight of the unsaid are on our shoulders as the next generation. I can either get very good at expressing myself and lighten up or get crushed under expectations and social pressures that didn’t factor in my personal stance.

The Year of Red

Red is an evocative and passionate colour of lava, which is in the heart and core of our planet, it is the colour of blood and the iron ore-rich soil in Australia. This is not a coincidence. It is iron that colours the earth and our blood bright red. We are all a part of a much larger reality, beyond our Earth, our galaxy, we are all a speck of dust and at the same time the very thing our universe is made of, stardust.

Red is the colour of action, risk and danger and what is life without getting close to the flames, without having to face ourselves and what we are willing to sacrifice and for which we will sacrifice ourselves?

Give me writing or give me death, I could say and yet, it goes deeper than that. In my lifetime, I want to witness people finding the words to express their emotions, the core of their humanity. For far too long we’ve put on our poker face masks and went about pretending that all is hunky-dory. I wondered long enough whether everyone else is full of doubts about how to get back on track living a life in alignment with their natural gifts.

Tapping Into The Ground

Like in Imogen Smid’s picture of the Chalice Well in Glastonbury I chose for this article, I long for roots to keep me grounded, a feeling of being in touch with the ultimate reality that I’m a part of nature. Chalice Well is also known as the Red Spring because of iron oxide deposits in the water that paint it. Its image reminds me that there’s a flow and a flaw within me that must be honoured. I must work with my own nature and not against it as I surf upon the emotions which I translate to the written word.

It takes patience to establish the roots from which one can draw nourishment for whatever creative idea they’re looking to grow into something much much bigger than themselves.

Anger, Action and Risk

I mentioned there’s anger. Many people will say that anger is a low-frequency emotion and has no value so best to ignore it. Anything not aired out turns lethal in the end and anger ignored destroys all creativity within a person. This was what I experienced. This year, I will pay attention to the flames of anger within me and explore them before a raging inferno erupts.

Action is a result of emotions and I recognise that I’m moved by my anger for myself, for having stayed quiet for too long about my gifts. I will make amends. I wrote my book and now it’s time for me to assure anyone who suspects they have an amazing life story that their book is waiting to dazzle the world.

Risk is worth taking if it’s for true love. The love of this work means that I will have to overcome anxieties, talk to local people, anyone who can support me on this mission to get stories of familiar faces out in book form. Risk will look like marketing campaigns and sales. It will mean investing money and not expecting anything in return because we all know that nothing kills love like expectations.

Your Colours Workshop in January

If you’re writing your memoir or have written it and are looking for inspiration from those on the journey towards clear self expression, I invite you to join WirePublishGrow Your Life workshops.

Our first workshop of the year is FREE!

All subsequent workshops are free for WritePublishGrow members ($120 AUD for 2022 intake), $40 AUD for guests, and here’s what’s scheduled for this year.