August Guest Blogger – Douglas Robertson

Please let me introduce you to this month’s very creative Guest Blogger, Douglas Robertson.

Douglas Robertson
Douglas Robertson

Douglas has always been interested in art but says that he hasn’t really drawn anything recently but does love photoshopping. Douglas says, “I suppose what I do is the equivalent of what ‘pimp my ride’ is to cars as to what I do to pictures/photos. I sometimes refer to what I do as ‘digi-punk’ art. Basically I either get an idea for a picture and create it by taking different parts and pieces of other pictures to create a new one.”  

The other thing Douglas likes to do is turn a photograph into a ‘painting’ by using various effects and layers and many ‘paintings’ can have as many as 20 layers.

When I, (Clarabelle) went on holiday this year to Ibiza I took a photo of my footprints in the sand, Douglas then added his own creative art to the photo and used one of my original poems to add a touch of uniqueness too.  Douglas says, “the ‘footprints in the sand‘ picture with poem had about 8 layers and was itself the result of several ‘halfway’ pictures to get the final result.”  

footprints in the sand

Douglas also takes his own photographs with the view to photoshopping them when he gets home – a good example of that is: Photo 1 and the original photograph:  Photo 2

Douglas’ Next Steps

My next step would be to actually turn my creations into real paintings by actually getting the brushes out and painting versions of them.  Below is Douglas’ own caracature creation of himself.  🙂

Douglas Robertson Caracature
Douglas Robertson Caracature

I am sure you will all agree, Douglas is a very talented creative individual and if you would like to see more of Douglas’ work, then please feel free to head over to his facebook page, Wiggly Beezers Arts you will also find there another creative picture of me, Clarabelle with the “City Lights” poem added to it.

I would like to give a special thank you to Douglas for sharing his creatives talents on this Clarabelle blog, it’s been an absolutely pleasure.

Field of Love

I had this thought whilst out running yesterday morning, it certainly made me think and maybe because I am very much a ‘people person’ i.e. I love people, is why I think this way.

golden summer meadow

Golden Summer Meadow

Imagine you were walking alone through a beautiful golden summer meadow, beneath the bluest of skies, with the sun beaming down on all the colours of the flowers around you, the scenery is so stunning it has a white haze around it, as if you were in your own beautiful dream.

You feel lots of love around you, you feel happy, contented and at peace, you are grateful for this moment, you feel very blessed indeed.  Imagine that moment for yourself right now, if you’re anything like me, you feel so happy and have a soft smile upon your face. What is it that makes you feel that way, when you walk through the golden summer meadow, what makes you feel at one?

Think About This Now

Now I’m going to switch this up a little bit, imagine everything is the same as above but the only difference is, you now know that you are the only person living in this world whilst walking through the beautiful golden summer meadow, think about this now, how does it make you feel?  I thought about this, the surroundings have not changed but for me, now I feel alone, now I feel lifeless, now I feel lacking in energy, now I feel dead inside……why do I feel this way?  

No Life But Your Own 

For me, it is because there are no people to share this experience with, no family or friends to go home and talk to, no conversations to look forward to, no laughter shared with another, no life but your own, no relationships to nurture, no one to give your love to, no one to love, just to give love to yourself.

So I am thinking, that you have can as much self love within you to reach the stars and back but if you don’t have other people in your life to share it with, to give your love to, it becomes dead, it doesn’t thrive, it doesn’t grow.

Field of Love

You see this made me think about how we are all connected, we are all connected with that invisible field of love, love’s energy is keeping this Universe alive and the best way for the Universe to grow and thrive is to share your love with others and in doing so you get more love.

A little love goes a long way, you will never be alone in the beautiful golden summer meadow as long as there is love inside of you and the knowing that it is reaching out to others.

Your love is so powerful, more powerful than you will ever know but I feel the key is to ensure you share it, you give yourself the opportunity to express it, you give it, this I feel is what will ignite the inner flame of your own love, it will take root and nourish every part of your very being.

Another way of looking at it is this, imagine you’re the only person in this world with a loving heart……..I think that’s another blog post.

Thank you for taking the time to read my running reflections, would be good to know what you think of it all, I’d love to know.

Wishing you a beautiful day filled with love, Clarabelle

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Don’t Let Life Pass You By

cherry blossom tree

Don’t let life pass you by, do all you can to make it a great life, think about who or what inspires your soul, what connects your spirit to another dimension, what gives you that feeling of excitement inside……..hold on to that thought, embrace that special feeling because that’s who you are, that’s what makes you YOU.

There is a special something inside of you, a precious gift that is waiting to be unwrapped, unfold it gently and release its magic into the Universe.  I see it now, I see you sparkling and glistening, touching other happy spirits and uplifting the temporary broken ones.

Close your eyes right now, feel that special gift inside of you, let this unique feeling penetrate every part of your being, let it flow, let it out, let it dance with the stars under the moonlit sky……your light is special, like no other light, let it glow.

I know you are smiling now, you feel it, you believe it, now let the people of this world welcome it with open arms.

May you have a truly magical weekend, only you can make it magical, do it and don’t let life pass you by.  

Thank you Universe for making this a truly MAGICAL weekend for me and for you.

Much love to you today, as always,  Clarabelle

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What do you do?

What do you do?

Sometimes when we are going through the deepest of pain, your best creative work can be produced.  Right now this hurts, it is a live experience for me, however, I have an unbelieveable amount of inner strength, I express what I feel and I become stronger.  We live, we love, we loss – we give, we love, we gain.  I hope you enjoy this next poem, love Clarabelle.

What do you do?

What do you do, when faced with deep pain?
Emotional hell, love lost again.
What do you do, when all trust has gone?
Before you thought of someone, from dusk till dawn.
What do you do, when your heart is so sad?
You want to hold on, but that would be bad.
What do you do, in the midst of it all?
You build up more barriers, to create a brick wall.

Let me tell you, when tears they do fall,
There is a reason, for you to stand tall.
Life is not easy, love can turn cold,
Be confident in your soul, be bright, be bold
Nothing can break you, nothing at all,
This sadness is temporary, hear my call.
A new love will come, and shine like a star,
Reaching out to you, so special you are.

Keep your self-love, respect all of you,
A passionate heart, will always break through.
Love grows from within, it travels afar,
Needing no transport, train, plane or car.
Your love is pure, gentle and true,
It will always find, the right person for you.
So smile in the morning, wipe away the tears,
A new love will be born, staying with you for years.

poemsbyclarabelle, 24 June 2013

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Me and My Heart

Love heart

You have a good heart, remember that and it is always with you.   This next poem is inspired by just that.  Have a lovely day with your heart today, Clarabelle

Me and My Heart

Me and My Heart, we travel together;
No matter what time, no matter the weather.
We are strong in the sunshine, stronger in the rain,
When we laugh out loud, we are free from pain.
Sometimes we are heavy, closed off to it all;
Sometimes we are happy, having a ball.
But one thing’s for sure, I’ll never change mine;
For me and my heart, we’re simply divine.

poemsbyclarabelle, 17 June 2013

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I Am Here

Being Brave

This is a breakthrough day for me today, a day where I put my energy and heart out there to the world.  I say this because I am being brave and courageous and putting myself out there to the Universe in a different way.  I am sharing with you one of the songs I wrote recently for my new Album called “The Becoming of Me”.  This is the first time I have ever sang on video with the intent to demonstrate the power and unfolding of making my dreams come true.  This passion has indeed been locked inside of me for over 30 years and now I am embracing the moment and creating opportunities for myself.  I have no idea where this may lead to, all I know is that it feels right to share with you today.

TRACK 1:  “I AM HERE”  

This song is about the loss of a loved one (my father) and also about having a loved one who lives very far away from you, like in a long distance relationship or family living “Across the Miles”.  It tells the heartfelt story of the strong innner desire to have them so close to you, in that very moment, imagining them so close that they are actually there, then feeling the heartbreak of the reality that they are not there and are never coming back or will not be back for a long time.

Here is the YouTube video of me singing the song in acapella, I do hope you like it.

Here are the song lyrics:

Verse 1

The night is cold tonight
I feel you here
And I just want you now
I want you near
But you are far away
From me
My heart is silenced now
It’s history

 Chorus

And I am here
For you
I am close
Can you feel me too
Your love
Is all I need
Heaven open your gates
This I plead

Verse 2

The starry sky so bright
Watches me
I feel your presence here
Let this be
You may be far away
From me
My heart is open now
Set me free

Chorus

So I am here
For you
I am close
Can you feel me too
Your love
Is all I need
Heaven open your gates
This I plead
Heaven open your gates
This I plead

 Encore

I once had hope
That I held you
Tight in my arms
Loving you
I see your smile
I see your eyes
Loving me
Beyond the skies

Chorus

And I am here
For you
I am close
Can you feel me too
Your love
Is all I need
Heaven open your gates
This I plead
Heaven open your gates
This I plead

Copyright, Claire Marie Murray, a.k.a. Clarabelle, May 2013

I would really love to hear what you think of the song and lyrics, it will help me develop into the Artist that I am becoming.

I truly thank you for listening and may you be brave and courageous today, wherever you are in the world.

Much love to you, as always, Clarabelle

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What Is Your Inner Desire?

Desire

The sun is shining on me right now as I write this blog post and I feel its energy and warmth beating down on me through my living room window.

Red

My house seems really bare at the moment because I have been refurbishing and I am waiting on my new red sofa to arrive, I can’t stop buying red right now – I will share my thoughts around that in another blog post.

White

There is something about having this extra ‘white’ space in my house that makes me feel free, feel alive in this very moment and gives me true clarity of thinking.  It’s like the energy in this room has space to breathe and dance around me – I can really feel it and it feels good.

If you are a follower of this blog and I truly thank you if you are, you may have noticed that over the last few weeks my posts are changing slightly, this was not deliberate, I am just doing what feels natural to me – I write about what feels right!!  Maybe this is because the energy within and around me is changing, growing and multiplying like never before.

I feel like a magical magnet right now, I am attracting so much goodness and a wealth of abundance like never before.  I feel truly rich in this moment and I am so very grateful for it.

Desire

I am feeling this strong desire to ‘move’ from my current environment and this morning I am already thinking about how I can make this happen.  I may even decide to sell all my worldly goods and go on an adventure to explore all the deep faculties of this amazing world.  I know I can make this happen because when you have desire and I mean real desire for something, nothing will get in your way.  That inner desire that I am talking about turns into an obsession and the pure delight and excitement of having it builds up into such a humongous level of passionate energy….the head is not driving this anymore….the heart is.

When the heart takes control of your destiny, you feel alive, every part of you feels awakened and you see so much beauty in everything around you – everything seems like paradise and it’s like you are vibrating on a different frequency – yes you actually are.

I want to leave you with a heart question today…..What does your heart desire?....not your head, What does your heart desire?  I believe your answer to this question, is your next step on your journey of life.

Love life, live life, be life.

Clarabelle

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Guest Blogger – Aviral Kulshreshtha

Guest Blogger:  April 2013

Every month I shall be posting a poem/article from a guest blogger.  If you are interested in becoming a guest blogger on this blog, please note your interest on the comments section below or email me at claire@murraypeople.com

May I introduce you to a very talented inspirational writer, Aviral Kulshreshtha from India. Aviral writes with passion, enthusiasm and pure positivity, I know you will be inspired by his writings.

Aviral loves acting and it is his passion and he always trys to learn the lessons of Life. Aviral says, “I want to be an entrepreneur and would one day make an impact on the world.”  You can find out more about Aviral’s professional background by going over to his About Me page on his wonderful blog cherrypositive.

Aviral Kulshreshtha
Aviral Kulshreshtha

Following your passion

When we were kids, we used to enjoy every moment of our life. We were surrounded by ecstatic group, the group we were proud of and used to flaunt about with our family. We had no goal, no tensions, no work pressure apart from school homework and we never considered our life seriously. We weren’t serious about it. Those were halcyon days of our life.

Still we were passionate, energetic and full of motivation.

Where did we get the motivation from? What was the motivational factor? Who injected inspiration in us? What made us smile?

You guessed it right.

Friends!

Friends and friendship was our passion.

Follow Your Passion

We developed and weaved beautiful dreams in our mind like weaving colourful sweaters.

As we grew older and got to know about life and relationships, got to know about priorities and our life got diverted from personal life to the professional life. As priorities changed, our goals changed and it changed the source of motivation.

Guess what?

Our dreams got shattered like ruptured glass and we adopted the scenario which later changed our motivation and passion. When passion and motivation fade, confidence drops and seeds of frustration burst over.

Result is crystal clear. Depression crops up and we ruin our precious life.

Follow your passion midst reaction.

We must never ever end up our passion. Passion makes us. It gives intense happiness which no one can ever provide you. Rebuild your motivational factor and prepare goal. Get inspired from leaders who changed the world. Ignite the passion within you.

Passion within You

If you love singing or dancing, join some institution or organization where you can strengthen and prosper your talent.

Search out what makes you happy. Scratch the factor and do what you love to do.

Discover You

Rebuild your passion and make a way to achieve it. It not only blossoms you but also nurtures the society.

If you would like to check out Aviral’s blog, then please head over to cherrypositive for some more daily inspiration, you’ll be so glad you did.

Thank you Aviral for this wonderful post, Clarabelle.

What makes you tick?

Welcome to my newly monthly post, where I will post a question for you to answer (I will share my answer with you too).  You may not wish to answer straight away, you may wish to contemplate the question for a few minutes/hours/days or even a couple of weeks.  You don’t even need to post the answer on here, but it would be nice if you would and share your answers with others.  So here is your question for March 2013:

What makes you tick?
What makes you tick?

What makes you tick?

Here is my answer:

Creating meaningful poetry from my heart and soul and sharing it with you. 

Painting with Words

I love creativity, I love imagination, I love self-expression, I love painting with words. I feel this is where I belong, it feels like home to me, I feel I’m connected to another source when all of these come together and I know I am not the only one who feels this way when in artistic mode.  This next poem in inspired by that.  I wish for you a day where you do things that you love.  Much love to you, as always, Clarabelle.

painting with words
painting with words

Painting with Words

I write these words, there’s no stopping me;

Late at night, the moon shines on what is to be.

It fills up my senses, with pure delight;

Awakens my spirit, all through the night.

There’s no escaping, the beauty of this soul;

It flows so abundantly, fills up the black hole.

Painting with words, is like treasure in my hand;

A princess of all princesses, welcome to my land.

poemsbyclarabelle, 5 January 2013

You can listen to the Poemcast for the above poem by clicking on the link below.

PBC Poemcast 14 – Painting with Words

If you enjoy what you read here on this blog, you may be interested in borrowing for FREE and/or purchasing one of Clarabelle’s self-published inspirational poetry ebooks available to download now on Amazon Kindle, please refer to the Author page on this blog or click HERE

Passion Keeps You Strong

To all you creative writers out there, who share your passion with the world, this next poem is for you.  Inspired by creative flow, written in creative flow.  Wishing you all a day full of creativity and imagination.  Lots of love Clarabelle

passion keeps you strong
passion keeps you strong

Passion Keeps You Strong

To all my fellow bloggers, passion keeps you strong;

Expressions from your heart, that’s where you belong.

Creativity flows, when your soul talks to you;

Mesmerized in the moment, defining what you do.

I hear your calling, I feel it in your words;

The writing is on the wall, beneath the flight of birds.

Magic comes from you, you’re mystical for sure;

Your posts are like gold dust, to your audience they are so pure.

poemsbyclarabelle, 5 January 2013

To access the Poemcast for the above poem, then please click on the link below.

PBC Poemcast 12 – Passion Keeps Your Strong

If you enjoy what you read here on this blog, you may be interested in borrowing for FREE and/or purchasing one of Clarabelle’s self-published inspirational poetry ebooks available to download now on Amazon Kindle, please refer to the Author page on this blog or click HERE

Poemcasts

Clarabelle New Year 2013
Clarabelle New Year 2013

Poemcasts for YOU

I do hope 2013 is getting off to a great start for you. I am so focused and driven to achieving my goals this year and one of them relates to putting a lot of energy into this blog and making it even better and more impactful for you.  I can genuinely and honestly say that I LOVE this blog, I just love working on it, love sharing with you and love reading your comments and your posts too.  

Podcast Host

Whilst looking into blogtalkradio this evening, I came across a podcast host, http://www.podbean.com.  I got so curious and excited about it and after a good 6 hours playing around with it and voice recording some of my poems, I have now created my own Poemcast website http://poemsbyclarabelle.podbean.com which is directly related to and linked to this blog.  I wanted to create podcasts, which as I am sure you have guessed by now, I have renamed to Poemcasts (thanks to a wonderful conversation I had with my friend Tom last year – his idea).     

Poemcasting

I think it was Tony Robbins who said the quote “where focus goes energy flows” and I can’t agree more, because my focus on making this blog even better has led me to a new world of Poemcasting!!  I share this information with you today, because you may wish to try it out for yourself.  

So, if you would like to hear my beautiful Bonny Scotland accent whilst reciting some of my poems, you can.  

Below are three links to my most recent Poemcasts for YOU, I do hope you enjoy.  

PBC Poemcast 1 – Happiness is the Way

PBC Poemcast 2 – Love is Free-Flowing

PBC Poemcast 3 – Postcards from the Heart

I have also added the above links into the related posts on this blog and I have a lot more to update!!

I am sure I have still a lot to learn but baby steps all the way and I am very excited on this journey.  

Much love to you as always, Clarabelle.

Can you understand my broad Scottish accent?

If you enjoy what you read here on this blog, you may be interested in borrowing for FREE and/or purchasing one of Clarabelle’s self-published inspirational poetry ebooks available to download now on Amazon Kindle, please refer to the Author page on this blog or click HERE

I Am Love

I have just finished reading the book ‘The Path to Love’ by Deepak Chopra and I wanted to share with you an enlightening quote from the book, “You know that you have fully experienced love when you turn into love – that is the spiritual goal of life”.  This book has expanded my knowledge and widened by perception of life and love and this next poem is inspired by just that.  Have a lovely day.

I Am Love

I am love, just let it be

Open your heart, look and see

A journey of knowing, love is here

With no time or space boundaries, there is no fear

Fuel the spirit, show you care

The vision of ‘here’, once was there

The sweet energy of love, flows freely in you

Love is at your core, it’s shining through

poemsbyclarabelle, 1 August 2012