Going with the flow...01/19/2011

I am bursting with so many ideas this morning that I feel my head is going to explode before I capture my thoughts into some coherent message to share.

We began our Creative Cluster last night and will meet for the next 12 weeks on Tuesday nights. We are basing our sessions on Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" with modifications as needed. The book was published in 1992 and we realized that some of the wording is dated and we've learned (discovered/recovered) more since the book was written. Still, it's a good book with valid and valuable tools for helping us to "discover/recover" even more of our Self through this "journey" together.

I was so stimulated after our meeting that I found it difficult to fall asleep and when I awoke this morning, it was from a dream that I immediately wrote in my morning pages while it was fresh on my mind. Part of the process in the The Artist's Way is to write, long-hand, three pages every morning. These handwritten pages are called the morning pages and are for stream of consciousness writing. We are instructed to do this faithfully, every morning but these pages are not to be looked back upon or shared.

In our creative cluster, we are writers, for the most part with other talents but we especially love writing. To write something and then "let it go" is a difficult thing for us to do. We tend to hang on to everything we write thinking we may need it for something we create in the future. So, in addition to doing our morning pages, we have decided to bring our morning pages to our meeting and have a little ceremony where we burn the previous weeks morning pages. This is a way of teaching ourselves to "let go." We discussed the process of letting go and agreed that letting go is not easy. Letting go of bad relationships. Letting go of toxic friends. Letting go of bad personal images. Letting go of "others" statements or beliefs about us that we know are not truth about who we are so I guess the best example would be letting go of judgments. Hanging on to something or someone who is not in alignment with who we are who we want to be seems to be a life theme. It is very hard to just LET GO!

Burning our morning pages, we are symbolically LETTING GO of anything and everything that does not serve our higher and better good. We are letting go of the old to make room for the new.

One of my messages from my reading this morning was to "learn from water." Once I finished my morning work I pulled "The Tao of Birth Days...using the i-ching to become who you were born to be" by Denny Sargent from my shelf. The book was published in 2000 and I pulled it because my daughter's birthday is coming up on January 21st. I knew there wasfound an interesting message that related to my morning work and it was the first sentence in the book, the Prologue on Page 1 which says in bold letters: "Prologue: Please read!" Denny Sargent wrote: "Sometimes the simplest is the best; in fact, the goal of the Taoist is wei wu wei--"Nothing doing Nothing." This translates as GOING WITH THE FLOW. [emphasis my own].

He says that he is not naturally that type of person and I have to admit that until later in my life, I have not been that type of person either. Yet I am realizing the value of going with the flow and letting go and letting God. When I am able to BE in the flow, life seems to be so much better on all levels. So, how can I BE in the flow? How do I let go and let God?

Those are the questions I ponder yet I know that each of us comes to our own truth in our own time. The Tao tells us that all things happen for a reason and when they are supposed to happen. I wake up in the morning and I am excited at the prospect of a new day. I start my day filling my head with positive affirmations and lifting any problems up to God knowing the solution will appear when the time is right. I try to live my life in divine flow knowing that all that happens in my life is either created or allowed by me so that I can learn and grow and "become who I was born to be." I want to be happy. I believe we all want to be happy. But if we weren't sad once in a while, we wouldn't be able to appreciate the joy and elation of being happy as deeply as we do, don't you think?

I practiced mindfulness this morning. I was listening to music as I was doing my morning work and a violin piece came on. I felt so moved by its beauty that I put aside my pen, paper, books (doing all of this in bed) and went into a meditation pose, closed my eyes,started my deep breathing and totally focused on the sounds I was hearing. What a gift to me that moment in time was because I became one with EVERYTHING. I felt peaceful and connected to the ONENESS of God, Goddess, All There Is. I became the music. When the piece ended another began and it was a piano piece and I lingered at that place of "nothing doing nothing" and I knew without a doubt that I was in divine flow at that moment in time. It was a gift and I gave it to myself. When I refocused on my body and opened my eyes, I realized my cheeks were covered in tears. It was a moment of rapture. I was not only going with the flow but I was the flow. I think everyone should treat themselves to such a moment and I challenge you to gift that to yourself today!

There is so much joy, so much beauty, so much to learn, so much to know, so much to share and we are all capable of doing and being so much more as we travel along our path in life. We are remarkable beings and I marvel at something or someone every day. When I hear music such as I listened to this morning, I know it is a gift from God. I believe we all have gifts from God, every single one of us on this earth has a gift from God. We all have a contribution to make to this world.

I e-mailed Frank Riccio, the artist I mentioned yesterday, to tell him how his work moved me and how much I enjoyed looking at his work and thinking about the symbolism. I searched around on the internet until I found an e-mail address and in doing so was treated to seeing other works of his. He actually wrote back and thanked me for my e-mail. How awesome! I'd like to ask him questions about his creative process. I'm really becoming interested in knowing about the process other artists experience as they create. Anyhow, I'm getting off subject...but going with the flow ?!

Well, I am getting wordy as I have a propensity for doing so I will stop now and get on with my day. I have a lot to do today but I am focused on going with the flow. I'm excited and each new day is like unwrapping a gift. I am filling my mind with the good, the pure, the powerful, the positive and the opimistic. (Thank you and God bless you Zig Ziglar!) It IS a GREAT day to be alive and the best is yet to come!

Sending best wishes for a day of going with the flow and enjoying the beauty around you!

[16X20 Acrylic w/sand on canvas - Untitled - by Sabra L. Ray (moi!)
Enjoy and lose yourself "in the flow!"


Namaste!

Abundance and Love - January 18, 2011

I bought the book "Abounding River" by Matthew and Terces Englelhart as a gift to myself for 2011. The cover promises "an unfamiliar view of being abundant." In the introduction, they tell me that this book "is a Spiritual perspective and practice and is designed for people who already have a spiritual connection in their lives, or for those who are willing to open up to one, particularly in the area of abundance! Which may only look like you are simple tired of living with LACK!"

The book includes a 42-day process which can transform the reader's (me...you)thinking from one of lack to abundance. For anyone interested, I bought the book online. The Englehart's own, among other things, a restaurant on Shattuck Street in Berkeley that I visited with friends called Cafe Gratitude. Their website is www.cafegratitude.com and you can purchase the book in the webstore. The website is interesting and if you take a look, I'd love to know what you think.

Twelve years ago, I read Sarah Ban Breathnac's book "Simple Abundance" which is a "Daybook of Comfort and Joy." In her introduction, she saids "Reading books changes lives." I agree with her completely and her book certainly changed my life and I am expecting no less from The Abounding River. Her book is about abundance of the SOUL and I suspect The Abounding River is going to be the next step for me. I'll keep you posted!

I hadn't planned to write about abundance this morning but I ask for guidance before I sit down to write that whatever comes through is for my higher and better good and the higher and better good of all and then it's my job to just let it flow. So what flowed this morning was abundance.

Affirm: I am abundant. My life is abundant. Abundance is my natural condition.

There is such a sense of LACK rampant in consciousness right now and it takes all my effort to block that negative flow of energy. It is people like Sarah Ban Breathnac and the Englehart's who are resonating with abundance and love and as a species, if we are to survive, we need to be focused on all that we do have and on helping each other and sharing. It all starts with one person and that one person is SELF. I want to help others and I want abundance to continue in my life and in the life of others. I want to be a better person. That doesn't mean I'm not a good person but part of the process of life, in my opinion, is to grow in spirit and in love. There is so much I DON'T UNDERSTAND so when I get overwhelmed I go within and find that place of peace and love so I CAN share. And as I write I hear "each person is on their own path and will come to the place they need to be in their own time." I am no hero. I am, daily, finding my own path, my own place, my own peace. It's a process. It's all a process.

Back to yesterday's blog and I was going to tell you about the second thing that happened. A friend I adore and respect said she thought I was "angry" and covering it up with "love and light." Since I do have a great respect for her, I thought about it for a while. Am I angry? Why I am angry, if I am angry? Do I cover up my anger? Is it all a facade? What does it mean? Why would she think that of me? She sent another e-mail with 45 things to know and one of those 45 things was that it is okay to agree to disagree. So there was my answer to her! I thanked her for opinion but said that we can agree to disagree on this point. She said I search and I search but don't find my answers. She was partly right because I do search and search and that's because I am a seeker. The part where she was wrong is that I do find answers.

I am a seeker. I seek truth, love, light, joy, peace, knowledge, understanding. That's my path. That's my journey. She has been a light along my way and I love and honor her for all that she has shown me. One answer leads to another question. I'm questing. This life is a quest and I seek the holy grail. Yet I have traveled far enough along this journey to know that when I find the holy grail, the journey is complete and that will hopefully, not be for quite a while as I still have a lot of road to put behind me. So am I angry? No, I'm not. Not that I'm covering it up with love and light. I AM love and light! God shines through me. He shines through each of us although perhaps differently and more brighter in some than others. So although I did not agree with what she said, I did not let it "hurt my feelings" and cause me to "shut down" as it may have in the past when I wasn't quite as far along in my journey. I was able to thank her for her opinion, disagree and let it go. That's how I know I am growing. It's a "self-measurement" and I am learning to be my own champion rather than being so self-critical. That's how I know I am growing. How about you? In what ways are you becoming more of who you are meant to be in this life?

On the cover of the Abounding River is a blue sky above the horizon of a desert landscape which looks to be Sedona, Arizona with Bell Rock front and center. There is a dried river bed with pebbles and river rocks and on the dried river bed sits a pair of mirrored sunglasses. In the mirror of the sunglasses is a frothing ocean with waves hitting the shore and splashing upon rocks which are at the edge of a line of trees that are in full bloom. In the waves you see a couple of leaves floating.

The cover art is by Frank Riccio and the powerful symbolism of that cover just stops me in my tracks and makes me want to see more of his work. I will put that on my list of things to research. Bravo, Frank! Bellissimo!

My blogging time is up and it is time to move in to what is going to be a very full day. Tonight my creative cluster meets for the first time and I am very, very excited to get that going and to be a part of a new group.

Remember...Today IS a great day to be alive and the best is yet to come! Wishing you abundance in your mind, for your body and most importantly may your soul be abundantly nourished this day! Namaste!