Anna's outfit

Lying in bed, holding up Anna's outfit and looking through it to the light on the ceiling

*

Yesterday a friend and I went to another friend's house. I would say our friend, Mitch, is like a local Crocodile Dundee jungle man. One of the animals he has rescued and now cares for is Anna, the boa. As we were leaving, I saw Anna's skin hanging on the fence, like a large outfit drying in the sun. Mitch ripped off a big piece and gave it to me. Anna's outfit reminds me of the constant process of shedding my own skin - the parts of myself that are no longer needed or no longer fit as I grow. Sometimes it is a conscious shedding, sometimes it is involuntary, sometimes it feels overwhelmingly intense and urgent (to me), but is not necessarily visible to others. It is an inevitable desire and a never-ending process ... peeling off my 'surface' and going deeper ... not only to reveal, discover and understand more of who I am, but to fully be that in my truest form.

"What is your truth? Ask your heart, your back, your bones and your dreams. Listen to that truth with your whole body. Understand that this truth will destroy no one and that you're too old to be sent to your room. Move into your truth as though it were an old house. Walk through each room. See, hear, and feel what it is to live there. Try to love what you find, and remember the words that come to you as you explore. If you embrace it, if you are faithful to it, your truth will reward you with unimaginable freedom and intimacy with yourself and others. You won't land in a world made to order; some people in your life may not like what you write. But those who remain will be allies, people who breathe deeply and listen. It will feel good to be seen completely and loved as you are." John Lee, Writing from the body (I found this extract here)