The Morning, Brilliant Blue
Issue #8 - The Peter Cottontail Issue
In This issue, scroll on down to:
A Big Hat Welcome Letter
My Feathered Friend from Canada
Personal Invitation Video/Song
When Inspiration Finds You
Earth Day Snacks
Video & Song ~ In Memory of Mr. Peter Cottontail
Thank you
Dear Springtime Friends,
This is a shorter version of my The Morning, Brilliant Blue letter I love to send you. It’s a light-hearted gesture because that’s what feels good in the moment and because I know there is already way too much heavy-hearted activity getting our attention daily.
Because sunny days are starting to reach up into the low sixties roun’ here, I have taken to wearing this oversized Stetson. It’s very freeing, always having shade and being able to make all kinds of facial expressions that people have to guess about. “Is he upset? Is he like a wild cat, feeling cornered? Or is he jolly and chucklin’ to himself?” My answer would be HIsssssss! But mostly I’m chucklin’.
I’m sending you a few shorter pieces that feel good to me. A reminiscence of childhood Easters, an Invitation to my Online Concert next weekend, and maybe a little pure nonsense for Earth Day.
And this one reminder; that even in chaotic, confusing times, we can find love all around us. Look closely at people, at little kids, at birds and flowers and trees and sky. All of those I have found to be very helpful at reminding me of the blessings of my life. I wish that for you too.
Your friend in the wind, Michael Tomlinson
My Feathered Friend from Canada
I SOMETIMES EXPERIENCE BIRDS APPEARING in such a way that it causes me to wonder if it is not an actual personal gesture toward me, something meant for me to notice and receive. I have had unusual birds, chickadees and hawks, eagles, Steller’s Jays, kestrels, crows, and a few days ago a large Canada Goose, swoop down to get my attention and leave me wondering what that was all about. You see these huge geese in the sky or grazing in wetlands and you know they are large. But when one flies by from a foot above your head and spreads it's wings wide to land almost on your hood, then settles in the street a few feet in front of you. I think it may be something to give your attention to.
I was the first car approaching a red light at a busy intersection when it happened. Before I could fully come to a stop, the goose swooped down from behind and above me, then tilted his massive wings, so close I could see individual feathers fluttering. He landed in front of me and turned and stood there looking at me. He was just barely beyond the cross traffic and I was worried that someone might make a turn and hit him. But no one did. Then just as the light changed he walked over to the curb and up onto the grass. I eased forward, crossed the street and watched him with amazement as I rolled very slowly by - or rather, we watched each other. I'm sure my face was a big question of wonder. His was completely unreadable, as I am unfamiliar with goose expressions.
I'm not sure what this was. I could name a few dozen beautiful examples of some strange bird experience happening, and you probably can too. I take it as a gesture of Nature, of Life, that there is a flow in my life that is more in alignment with the stream of my soul than I am aware of. So I receive it as a gift. Maybe I have been troubled or sad, and this gesture wakes me up and reminds me that I am more than this self, this body and these emotions and this constant thinking.
When I was young I read the magnificent Castaneda books about his apprenticeship with Don Juan Matus. I always loved that when his teacher would say something that confused Carlos, or seemed impossible to comprehend, Don Juan would speak and then point to anything; a distant bark of a dog, a horn honking out in the desert, or maybe a torn piece of paper fluttering past, and he would say with great authority and a sly grin, "See? The world agrees with me." I have never forgotten that way of looking at the world.
We can see the mysterious world around us and be blind to it, doubtful and jaded, or we can sense great wonder and permission to live in everything that happens. I think these birds that come to me and win my attention are agreeing with the parts of me that still trust and live in wonder, and they help me to trust more. Perhaps the Canada goose flew down before me not to speak individually to me, goose to man, but as a brush stroke of Nature caressing another loving aspect of Itself. ~ Michael Tomlinson
Video ~ ~ ~ A personal invitation to my Songs of Love, Hope and Kindness concert on Sunday, April 27 ~ 5 pm Pacific
I’ve been especially looking forward to this concert. I’m simply choosing songs that make me happy to play. Songs that I’m still in love with after all these years. And songs I know that so many people hold closely to their hearts. I’ll also be playing a couple of new songs I’m excited to share with you. And of course, stories! I love the way stories flow around songs. I hope you’ll join us on Sunday, April 27.
Your friend who sings stuff, Michael
Alive on Zoom Sunday April 27 at 5pm Pacific Info and tickets at www.michaeltomlinson.com
When Inspiration Finds You
I often speak of inspiration as something like sparks going off. There is a fleeting moment of desire to create, write a song, make a repair, plant a garden, sew something, write something. It comes in all forms but the sense of light around an idea often presents you with a moment and an invitation to come alive inside it.
But do we do that? Do you ever drop what you’re doing and give it an effort? Sometimes it’s gone almost instantly. Maybe you won’t even remember what that bright spark was. But usually, especially if you train yourself to do so, you can grasp it in an instant. And you can make some advance toward it. Maybe you write something down. Maybe you pick up your guitar or your brush or your favorite pan.
Seeing if there is something lasting is the leap we usually do not take. It appears in our periphery but we do not pause and turn to see it. We let it pass. But what if these light messages were gifts to help us along the way? What if they are a part of why we came here?
Just think about it. All of us have had lengthy times when not much was going on that was exciting for us. That wasn’t because Life doesn’t offer richness and wonder and joy and challenge. It’s because we get lazy about standing up and leaping toward that remarkable spark of an idea. When we DO leap, a million factors come alive. Because we can take an idea in unlimited directions. The key is to begin. You can always go another way with it as you start to feel something rewarding in it.
I believe strongly that along with the rapid changes of the planet; weather, storms, tilting of axis, changing eco systems, great growing awareness in the Animal Queendom, there is so much to notice if we’re willing. And every part of it awakens us and invites us to be a part of that richness and wonder.
A few days ago that jolt of electrical current took me in the outer edges of a dream — a song I was excited about a year ago, but then let go of when I couldn’t find that same delight again — came to me and said, “I’m a great song! Finish writing me!” Or something like that.
So I paid attention and did that. I got up at 2:30 a.m. and picked up my guitar and turned on my laptop, making notes as I recalled the basics of what I’d written. I sang it over and over again until some new sense of it came to me — and it reawakened the delight I’d lost in it. Sometimes it’s just that way. You are super exited about something and the next day you can’t even find what you liked about it. Well, it came back. And in this last week I’ve played it, tweaked it. Added lyrics, made slight chord changes. It’s promising and I’m really glad I got up that night.
Three hours later I crawled back into bed. I wasn’t sure of what I had, but I had given my full attention to my song, written a few missing lyrics, and spent over an hour making a chord diagram chart so I wouldn’t forget anything.
Sometimes when your inspiration comes, you have to do the grunt work. Maybe you unpack a new painting canvas and set up the tripod so you’ll be able to dive into it when you see sparks. Maybe you write the second chapter of your book first, because you’re feeling something exciting, but you just don’t know how to begin. Always give yourself permission to start with any aspect of your creation. Because that act, dusting off the table, finding the tools and getting them in order, drawing an outline of the thing you want to build, those are all beautiful parts of the process. Don’t give up if you can’t figure out the first sentence of your novel. Jump ahead and come back to that later.
May I mention that I have another motive in hoping to encourage you to follow your inspiration? The World Needs for Us to Be Creative! Everything works better when Life’s children create. And guess what? We’re Life’s Children! In the same way that it’s a happier world with bees buzzing over flower fields and butterflies floating on the breeze and birds singing, it’s also a happier, more balanced world when YOU are involved in creation. We are co-creators with God, with The Universe. With All That Is. So we’re more in harmony when we participate. And the gifts are endless. It’s always a surprise to remember how much you LOVE your own creativity.
At my concert on April 27, I plan to share a couple of my new songs and talk about the process of what I went through in finding ways to stay with them until I really loved what I was doing. You can have that too. And I’d love to know about it. Thank you for reading this. I hope it brings you feelings of love, relief, inspiration and hope. ~ Michael
Earth Day Snacks
Announcing our 43rd annual Earth Day Winner! Here we see Mr. Rustle Ittupp hiding in the bushes amongst real leaves and natural branches while grazing from a non-volatile organic compound container of raw seeds, berries and old sticks. The sticks are especially delicious but do sometimes require the use of our super good tongue tweezer. We call it Splinta Outa Heah!™ and it’s available on our website.
Rusty is wearing a 100% organically grown gently combed and foot-massaged cotton tee-shirt, woven and consensually bean-dyed by Certified People of Earth on the side of a pretty mountain where proper amounts of sun and shade coexist justly and in complete harmony. As near as we can tell, he wears no britches. Don't know if that has to do with Earth Day or with YOU - we found him behind YOUR house. So you might want to maybe wander out there with a glass of organic iced tea and a fungo bat and ask him what he's up to, there in the bushes. I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe he just forgot his spf 55 and needed a little shade. ~ Michael Tomlinson
A Video & Song for You ~ In Special Remembrance of Mister Peter Cottontail
THANK YOU
Thank you for spending a little time with me and my springtime letter. I love writing to you and I hope it sometimes feels like a hug from an old friend. It does to me, you’re a good hugger!
~ Michael Tomlinson
Loved your version of Peter Cottontail!