Visualization

In the early years of my spiritual development I decided to try visualizing what I wanted to manifest. In those early days I wanted very much to evolve spiritually, but also had desires for material things, which is a very human trait.  Things such as houses. It was during that time when many people had the same desires, or our landscapes would not be peppered with McMansions.

At any rate, I had just read Shakti Gawain's "Creative Visualization" and decided to give it a try it by visualizing myself living in big beautiful homes. More than one. (I also had a desire to live in other places.) So I set about following Shakti's advice - putting myself into a calm, relaxed state and then visualizing myself walking through these homes, enjoying how pretty they were, feeling all the feelings one associates with being in beautiful surroundings. During this time living in something of this magnitude was very far from my realm of possibility. I was a stay-at-home mom attending college, living a very middle-class lifestyle, with a husband that had no desire to move. Nonetheless, I had my dreams... shallow as they were.

Cut to today.

I now live in a very lovely home that we are renting from people who obviously had the same dreams. It is my third lovely home in six years. The other two were homes that we owned and sold, as we moved around the country for my husband's job. We are renting this home because over the course of the last few years our furnishings grew. Otherwise, we would not be here. The people who own this house have moved to smaller digs as well. Obviously, they found the same thing we did - bigger is not necessarily better. But we both had to experience the contrast to learn that lesson. I think that may be what life is all about - experiencing contrasts to understand what is truly important to us.

My point?

Creative visualization works. Whether you come at it from a very pointed, conscious manner, or are unconscious and letting your energy create willy nilly, what you think about and put your energy into becomes your eventual reality. You are the driver of your own boat. People that are highly successful are putting their life force into creating whatever it is that they feel passionate about. Science is catching up with this concept. It is now believed by many that on a subatomic level the world is possibility. That by just observing - we can change a wave into a particle, or a particle into a wave. It is the expectation of the observer that actually affects the outcome.

I tell this story because I know that my living arrangements are a product of what I purposely manifested those many years ago. It takes time for the atoms and particles to arrange themselves into what we want. We are energy. We live in a world that is made up of energy. I believe we are living our "dream" world. Making sure that dream is the one you want to live is the challenge. After all, there is a time gap. Simply directing our thoughts to being grateful, kind, nonjudgmental and loving is a step in the right direction. After all, our physical desires may change, but wanting to live in peaceful harmony rarely does.

My new visualization? It is a small house - maybe a tree house (seriously) - living in a community of like-minded people who share the same values as I do for the environment, resources, and life in general. I spend time thinking about it, reading about other similar communities, and designing the concepts from a lifespan perspective. I put myself into calm relaxed states and walk through the neighborhood where everyone smiles and waves, because they are all my friends and family. 


To be continued sometime in the future...

Blogging & Triggers

There has been an excellent conversation going on with Bonnie at Original Art Studio and Delwyn at A Hazy Moon. Both excellent blogs, by the way, well worth checking out if you are not already a follower. The conversation revolves around the meaning and intricacies of blogging. Why do we do it? How does it change us? What are the expectations? And best one of all - what are we getting out of it?

I have been pondering and studying these questions for some time. And I believe we are in the beginning stages of an explosion of creativity. Which often happens in economic downturns, by the way. The blogging world is one way to ignite the spark within us to find and explore the gift with which we were born. We all have one, and it may not have anything to do with how we have been making our living. We may read a post, or comment, or be directed to a website, and then find ourselves thinking in a completely new direction. When you think about it - most of us have dozens of blogs that we read on a routine basis, not to mention the comments on each post. That is an abundance of information being processed. What are the odds that something wouldn't stick?

We have been sparked and ignited. Which then sparks something in someone else... and so on it goes. Little triggers, hidden deep in our subconscious mind.

It's exciting to read your posts that talk about doing something you have always wanted to do, but somehow didn't have the confidence, time, money, etc. But now, for some reason you have decided to take a chance, follow a new path, think new thoughts, follow a dream.

And there are many of you out there right now.

Are you one of those considering a new path, or idea, that you have always wanted to explore?

What do you think?

My Heart Tag

A couple of days ago Harmony of Harmony Travels tagged me with a tag that I thought might be fun to do. I've always believed in getting in touch with those things that touch our lives in meaningful ways, and this is one way to do it. We always know the big things, but what about the little things? Here are the instructions:

The tag reads -- With as much creativity as you can muster, show your heart in a picture, poem, a song (or a piece of music), a phrase (or quote), an item of clothing, a place and (just for fun) a Disney Princess.

I'm not nearly as creative as so many of you, so expectations need to be adjusted, but here goes:

My heart in a picture would of course include my little grandson, who is one of life's pleasures and steals a little part of my heart each time I see him:

A poem that would come close to my heart, and my view of life, would be by Emily Dickenson, and is titled:

Life

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

A song is a little easier, in that I love music, but whittling it down to one is much harder. There are so many! But lately I have been thinking about the words to Kenny Chesney's song "Don't Blink". It may not be my favorite song of all time, but the words resonate with me right now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hlvo2zHNbo

A phrase or quote is right up my alley, so a favorite would be:

Live with intention, Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.

Mary Anne Radmacher

An item of clothing would have to be my big cotton shirt from Sea Ranch that serves to keep me warm in the winter in the house, and warm in the summer on the deck when the sun goes down. It's heavy cotton, and very soft. It fits guests, of both genders, and is often sought after.

A place is where I sit and talk with you. A down-filled chair cozied up to a window that sits up in the big pine trees and looks down on a little stream and waterfall. I am at peace in this chair.

A Disney Princess would have to be Cinderella, as she was from an era when I was a little girl and she always had all those animals and birds to help her dress:

So these are some things that are attached to my heart. I know I am supposed to pick a few of you to tag, but I find that too difficult, so I will tag all of you that would like to share a little of yourself. Please drop me a comment, so I know you decided to play along, as I am very interested in what touches your heart, as well.

Just Thinkin'

One thing about driving along, you have plenty of time to just think. And quite frankly, I think many of you are finding yourself in "thinking mode" right along with me. (Thanks to this world-wide economic tsunami.) As I visit all of your blogs, however, I find myself becoming more and more excited about our future.

Pema Chodron, in her book "When Things Fall Apart", talks about when we are faced with the "gorilla in the mirror", i.e., all of our defenses are not working, and we are unable to manipulate the situation to make ourselves come out looking good. Now many of you are saying - "But I didn't do anything to bring on this economic mess - this doesn't fit my situation." And you are right, but just for a moment, think how the following excerpt can relate to you in any difficult personal situation you may find yourself in right now:

"It's as if you just looked at yourself in the mirror, and you saw a gorilla. The mirror's there; it's showing you, and what you see looks bad. You try to angle the mirror so you will look a little better, but no matter what you do, you still look like a gorilla. That's being nailed by life, the place where you have no choice except to embrace what's happening or push it away." She goes on to talk about other things like "leaning into the points", allowing ourselves to feel sad, mad, disappointed, embarrassed, whatever the situation calls for. But after a certain amount of time doing that, use the situation as a guide to show us where we might be stuck. Use it as an opportunity.

Could this meltdown be an opportunity? Blog after blog of talented, really talented, people are looking at themselves and asking if maybe they should make those widgets they always wanted to make, or write, or do their art, or start a company, or have an animal shelter. Maybe they won't make as much money, but maybe they don't need as much money. 

What do you think? Could this be an opportunity for an explosion of creativity in the marketplace? What would it look like if people were working from a place of passion? Do you have a passion for something you have always wanted to do, but never found the opportunity?

Mission Statement

Many years ago, when I began my "spiritual search" for meaning, I wrote a little personal mission statement. It has come and gone in my consciousness over the years. But for anyone who has begun a "spiritual search", you know that you are not always on the path. You fall off and go in different directions, only to find the need to get back on the path because you don't feel so well. It usually happens when everything we work for, or believe in, becomes an illusion, or doesn't feed that part of us that needs feeding. I think that is happening on a world-wide scale. Our old ways of doing things are no longer applicable. We are destroying our earth home, consuming to feed that part of us that actually needs food of a different sort. Your path is different from mine, but one thing we have in common is our desire for a society, no matter where you live in this world, that listens, and provides, what we want and need.

So what do we want? What do we need? Now that our institutions are falling, how would you like to see them structured?

These questions are very real. Governments all over the world are needing our help. Yes, our help. The simple fact is - they really don't know how to fix all that ails. Of course we may have some ideas, but we are only small people and these are larger than life problems. Or are we?

I have found an explosion of new ideas and energy over the last couple of months. People who no longer trust institutions are taking destiny into their own hands. This creativity is coming from despair, but it's building, believe me. And you, yes you, are part of it. You are part of it because you were drawn to read this. Because you've been thinking about it. Whatever special gift you were given, and we all have one, is part of the solution.

So it's time to take your place in the scheme of things. It's time for you to start designing your world as you want it to be. Keeping in mind that "like attracts like", I would challenge you to work from a higher self, one that takes the well-being of all into consideration. Write your own mission statement. Carry it in your mind as you start designing the world you would like to see. Starting in very simple ways is okay, but everyone, everywhere, can do something to affect change. And remember, thoughts are energy, the very building block of what you want to see happen. Speaking of energy, I woke up to a little update blog entry from one of my favorite authors this morning in my e-mail. Are we on the same page or what?

Share your ideas, they may spark one in us. Blogging is a unique opportunity because it shares information instead of competing for it. How great is that?