A few months ago I had insomnia for 5 weeks.

Click play to hear me read this piece:

 

I was exhausted, but when I’d get in bed and close my eyes, I would just lie there vibrating with a strange internal energy. I simply could not fall asleep. It was only at around 2am that sleep would finally overtake me.

During that time it felt like I had two sets of eyes and eyelids, a visible physical pair, and an invisible internal pair. It was when I let my physical eyelids close that the sensation of vibrating internal energy would amplify. I felt like I had an inside set of wide open and wide, wide, awake eyes.

I felt like this mask painting looks.

hardy_janelle_2014masks001compressed

She is called Owl Eyes, and if you’ve looked up on the left hand side of this website or gone to my Etsy site and facebook page you’ve probably noticed that I use her as my little icon.

Although the human eyes in my painting are closed, the owl eyes are not. They are watchful and alert. They are also wise.

She reminds me that my intuition is a wise internal force, a watchful presence that tells me things my rational logical brain cannot. Although I’ve learned those lessons about listening to my intuition the hard way, I’ve come to a place now where I have a great desire to be ruled more strongly by my internal intuitive wisdom, and less so by my external rational knowledge.

When I look at Owl Eyes she reminds me that I can close my physical eyes and tune in to my wide open wise eyes. They will always see true. They won’t fail me.