Meristem
The Hush. The Waiting. The Darkness Between. The Hope.
I Carry the Forest with me on my canvas
The carols fade to echoes in the hall,
As December leans against the turning year.
The woods are held in silvered, soft enthrall,
Where every breath is crystalline and clear.
The calendar is thin, a ghost of days,
While nature waits in light of frozen grays.
I dip my brush in solitude and light,
To wash the canvas in a quiet blue;
The stroke of shadows cast by winter’s height,
Where old intentions wait for something new.
A smudge of charcoal for the cedar’s spine,
A streak of white for heaven’s cold design.
I paint the ache of silence on my tongue,
The way my chest expands against the chill,
The heavy peace of songs already sung,
And all the world remaining perfectly still.
I use the frost to highlight what is deep:
A promise that the dreaming earth will keep.
The forest is a gallery of rest,
Between the celebration and the vow.
I paint the heartbeat steady in my breast,
The art of simply being here, and now.
With every breath, the colors start to blur—
A portrait of the soul, and all we were.
.Ginger Stockwell.
The Hush.
Keep calm and go slowly. There is a day in every week that I practice: Keep Calm + Go. There is a quietness in the between of what has passed and what is yet to be. I find calm works over striving. There is another day in every week I practice being grounded. I call it walking in my true identity. It brings a remembrance of my Aunt Alice saying in her slow, Kansan drawl, “Ginger.” I am immediately invoked by a sensation of being grounded, being reminded of who I am in all of life, all together, and all at once. In the Hush, I can practice: Be true to your self.
How to hear the Hush: stop and listen in quietude and feel the awe and wonder of it.
In paraphrasing C.S. Lewis from A Grief Observed, he says you can only move on when you accept there is no going back. And that is where I have come to. The point of no return is my point of arrival. But, I see there is a Hush that stands in the way.
Something has changed forever with this new acceptance of allowing grief to be done with me and me with it. A new perspective about life constructing in my psyche. I stand still and think of all the roads that have brought me here to this point. I find I cannot hate any of the roads. This is all part of our journey. We travel and see new views. Our change in perspective can lead to great leaps in understanding and how we approach life challenges. But we might have these questions:
What is this 2026 ?
What happens in leaving the Hush ?
What will this new beginning of purpose growing within become ?
The Waiting.
This past year I ghosted myself. In fact 2024 was a No-Show in many ways. Frankly, I believe it was the result of residual grief, of loss, that I had not truly acknowledged. I found myself walking the path of the grief cycle. But I found myself mired in chaos and indecision. experienced a troubling in my heart and soul. And, I needed to hide in my comfortable but miserable rabbit burrow once again.
There exists a necessary realm in the human experience, a profound internal space described as a “place of waiting: a holding place, a place of holy keepsake, a sacred space waiting for stress to evaporate.” This evocative passage points not to a physical location but to a vital psychological or spiritual state—a sanctuary where the demands of the external world are suspended. Within this sacred space, an essential transformation occurs: the release of anxiety and the preparation for true, authentic creation “in wonder.” This holding place is crucial for emotional recuperation, spiritual safeguarding, and ultimately, the fostering of genuine human ingenuity.
It is a place of waiting:
a holding place, a place of holy keepsake,
a scared space waiting for stress to evaporate and safety’s return -
then the time for unveiling, unfolding, creating in wonder.
The Darkness Between.
This period of waiting, of a darkness between, is not merely an empty pause; it is an active state of becoming. The evaporation of stress is a prerequisite for authentic expression. Only when the mind is clear and “all is safe” can the true self begin the process of “unveiling, unfolding.” This process is described as “creating in wonder.” This is significant because it highlights a mode of creativity that is intrinsic and inspired, rather than forced or commercially driven. It suggests that profound art, genuine connection, and meaningful insight do not emerge from haste and anxiety, but from a state of receptive calm. It is a space of fertile quietude, where ideas are allowed to germinate at their own pace, free from the pressure to perform.
The Hope.
The hope that is born from a “place of waiting” is a profound and essential concept for navigating modern life as a creative. It serves as a vital sanctuary for the stressed mind, a sacred repository for the inner spirit, and a necessary incubation period for authentic creativity. The passage ultimately reminds us that patience is not inaction, but a deliberate, powerful choice to allow the right conditions to form. To embrace this holding place is to honor the natural rhythm of the human soul, ensuring that when the time is “right for unveiling,” the resulting creation is truly born of wonder.
I thank The Wonder Habit™ with D. Michele Perry for inspiring me to return to writing after a 2024’s HUSH. Inspired to create a new compilation of art in 2025, I found all things of wonder in my past and brought them forward into the light. Above all, I found worth in my writing and in my re-telling my story. I stand on solid ground.
This is the Final Wonder Prompt & Ponder of 2025: Meristem
Meristem
A birthplace of continued growth. As The Wonder Habit™ with D. Michele Perry says: Meristem is where our next chapter is already stirring, even before we have language for it. Meristem is found at the tips of roots as they reach into darkness to anchor and nourish the plant in the light. Meristem is the moment a creative idea stirs. It is the tender bud of something new that is waiting, ready to grow once the winter has past. That power is found in change that doesn’t come all at once. Rather, one tiny transformation at a time.
A fitting word to quietly close 2025 and enjoy sitting in the Hush for just a bit longer.
The First Wonder Prompt & Ponder of 2025: Threshold
Threshold
I stand on the shoulders of so many way-makers that held out their hands to help me follow a path meant for me to walk. Being shown the way encouraged me to reach deep into my soul, to find my heart that had been hidden away for safekeeping.
Thresholds ask us to take a leap of faith and cross over the stoop. We can see a little ways through the opening, but we cannot see the outcome. Every threshold holds a prize, a lesson to be learned or a life fulfilment. We can look at thresholds as opportunities that beckon us to become more of ourselves.
For 2026, let’s look for open doors and courageously cross the thresholds.
To the way-makers and the ticket-masters
I give all my express gratitude and love.
Kierkegaard’s famous quote: ‘Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards’ became my beacon for 2025 to forage, dig deep, and find out all of my story memories that needed to be retold. In this amazing endeavor, the manuscript for my first book was written, now waiting in the Hush before crossing the threshold to an agent standing in an open door.
“Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love,
the things you are, the things you never want to lose.”
- C.S. Lewis
