Hello Dear Friend,
How are you this week? As you read or listen to this I will be demonstrating how to use a Shetland Knitting Belt to knit a Traditional Gansey Jumper similar to the one in the photo below. If you are on the island I will be at the Island Fibre and Fleece Easter Fair on Sunday and Monday, but the event is on all week if you wanted to pop along and see other wonderful fibre artists demonstrating their skills.
So, for once I have been organized and written this in advance, will wonders never cease. For those who are new here, these Sunday Letters are usually written on a Sunday, I tend to write whatever is coming to the forefront of my mind in the hopes it resonates with you. Up until now, it seems to be working.
Hello and Welcome
This week I would like to say hello to my new subscribers, there have been a few in the last few days mostly thanks to The Nearness. I was honoured to be the first volunteer for their ‘Meet the Community’ slot. Now if you have been around for a while you will have heard me mention The Nearness before. It is a new community that gathers in small groups online to discuss our spirituality, and how it shows itself in our lives.
During the course of the conversation, I was reminded of why I started writing these Sunday Letters to you. It was to encourage everyone to live a heart-centered life, full of curiosity and wonder, in the hope it would create a better world for us all to live in.
A couple of years ago this world of ours had become so full of caution and distrust it was filling my heart and soul with heaviness, the pandemic did not help, every day news of hundreds if not thousands of people who had died in the past 24 hours. I found myself tracking the infection and death rates, frightening myself with the statistics. Am I alone in this? Did you find yourself doing something similar? I have just checked the file I kept on my phone - I tracked the rates until the end of June 2021, I realised then what an effect it was all having on my well-being. I stopped listening to the news, played music instead, and sat in the garden with my patchwork or knitting just listening to the sound of nature.
Slowly, my internal balance returned. When four months or so earlier I started writing the story of Daisy and her Angel friends helping humanity to fight the Darkness in the world, I had not realised that this was something we could all help with. In the story, the Angels helped gifted people, those who could see the Darkness.
But in a way, we can all see the Darkness.
We have it within us to see the injustice in the world. To see when someone is being treated unfairly, to see the cruelty which exists. Those are things that we may not have much power to effect change, but other things we can see and react differently to.
Have you ever felt afraid of a stranger?
Have you ever avoided someone because of how they look?
There are many small instances in how we live our life where we feed the Darkness ourselves.
Our fears.
Our doubts.
Our anxiousness.
Usually, it is because what faces us is unknown to us. Our gut reaction is usually to protect ourselves from the unknown, in case it could hurt us.
But.
Mostly, or so I have found, the things that scare us, or cause us fear and anxiousness are other human beings.
Other people.
Why?
Because they are different? Do they speak differently? Do they dress differently? Do they have, I don’t know… facial piercings/tattoos/strange clothes/religious clothes/headscarves/beards… whatever it is. Something deep inside you triggers a reaction.
This is the time to remember that they are just another human being.
Someone who has a family, a home, hopes, fears, and dreams, and who feels love, pain, and hurt.
Just as we do.
We are all filled with the same energy - call it what you will - spirit, universal spark, soul. Every single one of us has this divine, for want of a better word, energy within us. It is this that I believe lives on after our physical form dies. I also believe that that spark has the power to connect us all.
We all resonate, we are emitting an energy frequency all the time, sometimes we feel full of energy, and at other times, we feel drained. We all know someone who can sap our energy just by being near us. It is this energy, this light within us that we need to connect with, to share with others. Approach the world with hope, with love in your heart, and with an enormous amount of curiosity for the world and those people we share it with.
Say hello to the scary person, and give them a smile. They may not respond, but they will remember that moment.
As do we all.
How many times have you received a smile? How did it make you feel? The more honest, open, and intentional the smile, the greater its impact.
Try it.
Take some time, every day, to just be kind to everyone, even if it feels challenging.
If we all were a little kinder to one another, can you imagine the impact that would have on our world?
Things catching my eye this week:
A gentleman, called Simon Howes, has just rowed 3,000 miles, from Gran Canaria to St. Lucia, single-handed and unaccompanied to raise money for our local squirrel charity, the Isle of Wight Red Squirrel Trust. We are blessed here on the Isle of Wight to have a thriving population of Red Squirrels, by the blessing of being an island, the grey squirrel has not made it here.
They were and are raising funds to help purchase some woodland to enable them to continue their valuable work creating safe habitats for these wonderful creatures.
Their Facebook page is here.
And the Just Giving page is here if you are able to give them a few quid, they are almost at their target.
So remember, be kind and curious towards our fellow human beings, and allow your goodness, your heart, and your energy to reach out and touch others. You will feel the difference, and if you are interested in The Nearness, take a look at their website and see what you think. There is a new round of small groups about to start if you feel called to join.
Until next time, as ever, may your angels and guides watch over you and protect you until we meet again.
Love and Light,
Tracy
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Until next time, bye for now.
Links:
Island Fibre and Fleece Easter Week demonstrations at The Green Barn, Main Road, Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, PO41 0XN run from Saturday 8th April until Sunday 16th April, open every day 10 am - 4 pm.
My new Gansey Substack can be found here
The Nearness for more information about who they are and what they are about go to their website here
Isle of Wight Red Squirrel Trust
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