Connected and Committed

like I said

It's not your work to make anything happen. It's your work to dream it and let it happen. Law of Attraction will make it happen. In your joy, you create something, and then you maintain your vibrational harmony with it, and the Universe must find a way to bring it about. That's the promise of Law of Attraction. --- Abraham

through the mouthes of old white guys

I swear the Universe has a great sense of humor. Who knew that some spiritual food would arrive in the guise of an old white guy? It makes me laugh, so I go with it. John, you done good, and I thank you for it.

There is something going on in my consciousness that resembles a laboratory experiment and involves concentrated focus on dis-ease and discovering ways to prod it out of the Petry dish. Eradicate it. Blast it to smithereens. Take away its power. Delegate it to last place.

OK, so that method hasn't been working very well. I've been thinking that a gentler approach is in order. Shifting attention from where it's been to where I want it to go - that is enough. With genuine, authentic, passionate, joyous feeling. No more demolition-mindedness.

Step 7873: Put together a collection of Joy charms onto a bracelet that I've accumulated over the years since I noticed the interesting phenomenon that chotchkes (sp?) come in many phrases - love, peace, sing, dance, create, but hardly ever joy - so I made it my personal mission to acquire one whenever I chanced upon it out and about in chotchke land.

I've had the bracelet and charms, some for several years, and only recently came across the inspiration to pull it all together - the recent gathering at which much jewelry was made. It rekindled my interest in creating, and this weekend I made five bracelets, one of them said charm bracelet.

   

A circle of joy - I like that image.

On the back it says "212". Hmmmm.

This is what joy feels like.

And this is the joy goddess.

OK, on to old white guy words. There is plenty here that might raise my hackles about organized religious wording, but for some reason I just don't care. So be it. Plenty of it resonates with and duplicates words from other sources. So I present it here as part of my kinder, gentler program. I will read it at several points during the day, allowing it to seep in and saturate, marinate my mind.

-"You must think of money and any other material desire or possession simply as an outer symbol of the inner supply. And the only Reality of that symbol is the substance which underlies the outward manifestation."

That term "substance" got my attention tonight. I immediately thought of the zero point field, and the spiderweb of all energy in the universe.

-"As this Divine Thought Energy flows through your consciousness and out into the phenomenal world to appear as prosperous experiences and conditions, its "plastic" quality allows it to be impressed by the tone and shape of your dominant beliefs. Therefore, what you see, hear, taste, touch and smell are your beliefs objectified...The only attributes that an effect has are the ones you give it."

-"It seems that we must come to the realization, the sure and immovable conviction, that any experience of contraction is a gathering of power - power which will flow according to the clearest pictures that we hold in our mind. I would work with sweeping, definite, gentle, persistent denials of all terror, panic, lack or loss. I would rest in the abiding place in which it is an unshakable certainty that now every thought and everything needed is being given, that you are totally receptive to the clear message of Divine Mind, and that you proceed with utter fearlessness to accomplish that which the Indwelling Spirit guides you to accomplish."

-"With every degree of understanding, power is released to bring immediate good into your world."

-"Recognize that the Divine idea corresponding to your desire already exists in your Superconsciousness. This is the intellectual awareness."

-"Your feeling nature must also be brought into play.

-"Subjective conviction"

-"When you want something that cannot hurt you or anyone else, and will bring good into your life, it is your Spiritual Self tugging at your heart's door - trying to get your attention."

-"For every desire you have, you must make a firm, definite decision to accept the fulfillment of that desire. This is "claiming you good" - or choosing what is to be."

-"Know that the spirit within you loves a made-up mind, for this is where the pattern of fulfillment begins.

-"You must open a channel to release this "imprisoned splendor."

-"There is a Presence and a power within me now. It is all knowing, all caring, all loving, all powerful. It is the completeness of the Universe individualized as me. It is who I am. It is what I am. It is God as me now."

-"When your thinking and feeling nature are in alignment, you are literally filled with Light and you know that you know."

-"As within, so without."

-"I now release my masterpiece to my Higher Self, knowing that She will make any necessary adjustments to improve the picture, in order that I may receive all the good that the universe has for me now. Since I am assured that my desires will be fulfilled according to the Love and Wisdom of my Supermind, my heart overflows with love and gratitude. The feeling of thankfulness pulsates throughout my entire being, and I am filled and thrilled with the joy of life. And it is so!"

-"Your objective between treatments is to protect your ideal mind model with tender loving care and to keep your Light shining."

-"You can start cleaning up your mind by giving up all grudges and negative feelings toward others. All others. Everyone! Without exception."

-"Only you can work on your consciousness because only you know where the soft spots are.

-"Whatever you hold in consciousness as the truth about yourself and God will be mirrored in the world about you."

-"Face yourself squarely in the mirror and acknowledge that you have been plugged into the race mind...and declare that you have had enough of this mass illusion."

-"I live in this world but I am not of it. I do not accept anything but peace, power and perfection - and this consciousness of the Ideal is outpictured in my world."

-"Identify yourself with Yourself and step out into mastery."

-"If one advances confidently in the direction of her dreams, and endeavors to live the life which she has imagined, she will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. She will put something behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within her, or the old laws will be expanded and interpreted in her favor in a more liberal sense; and she will live with the license of a higher order of beings." --Thoreau

-"A prosperity consciousness will  bring forth poise, confidence, contentment, peace, joy, and freedom from the fear of lack - in addition to tangible supply."

-"But know that you can achieve the total freedom of financial independence if you choose it and will work to uplift your consciousness to accommodate that level of completeness."

-"When Jesus told us to seek the Kingdom, He didn't say to try for a little bit of the Kingdom or half of the Kingdom. He said to go for it in its entirety...to incorporate the total spiritual consciousness of plenty in our hearts. And He said to do this first - and then all things would be added (attracted) to us."

-"As the substance idea is understood and realized, every need of supply in the physical world is made manifest. Substance - flowing through a consciousness of substance - 'reads your needs' as it passes through your mind and literally becomes the needed thing, whether money, a home, an automobile, or whatever."

-"God does not give us money or homes. He gives us Himself. He gives us substance, and substance becomes the money or the home."

-"You place the image of the [desire] in the stream of substance and the substance flows from the invisible to the visible - according to the degree of your faith and expectation. Substance has a plastic quality, and what you impress it with, it becomes. So expect the very best."

-"Be open and receptive to the Voice within speaking to you through your intuition. If you feel an urge to call someone, write a letter, or make a visit - do so. You never know just how, when or where your Inner Self is going to manifest as your abundance. So these hunches may be the first link in a chain reaction that will pay off in handsome dividends."

-"Let the substance flow into visibility and experience."

-"As your good begins to materialize, do not get "puffed up" with spiritual pride. Remember, you are not doing the work. It is spiritual substance that is interpreting itself as the fulfillment of your desires, and you are but the channel for its outpouring."

-"You develop a prosperity consciousness by changing your mind - by replacing ideas of lack with ideas of abundance. Spend your time each day thinking about what you want rather than what you do not want. You don't want lack, so stop thinking about it."

-"You are seeking, through a prosperity consciousness, the freedom to be Yourself without any concern or anxiety over financial matters. You want to be free to do, to go, to be according to your highest vision. And when you help yourself, you become a prospering influence for everyone."

Which is so cool, of course, so Reach.Dabble.Shine-ish.

the mall

psychedelic

nudges 02.23.07

I am so happy and grateful for:

1) Only three minutes a day. That's the difference in having the sun up while I drive to work versus total darkness. Three minutes a day for several weeks for the earth's tilt to accommodate giving me a smile. Three minutes. Baby steps to the max;

2) Following through with the nudge to ask someone I've never met in person but have had a satisfying relationship with via email for the past five years at work if she would like to get together in person and do artsy-fartsy stuff once in awhile cuz I'm going through withdrawal from my creativity weekend. And she said yes! and already has invited several people she works with to join us next Monday evening. How cool is that. How very extroverted of me;

3) When I got to the airport last week, I didn't know about the 3 ounce rule for gels and liquids in my toiletry collection, so I needed to replace the bottle of jojoba oil the was confiscated that I didn't feel like being escorted to the ticketing counter to check in, in order to keep on my person. So yesterday, as well as appreciating my proximity to and reveling in the store that is Lush and becoming the proud owner of several bath bombs,  I found a bottle of oil infused with tangerine, patchouli and nutmeg at Whole Foods. Yum;

4) The company I work for during the day is undergoing massive change, and even though I know a goodly portion of the employee base doesn't appreciate that fact, I do. And I appreciate the fact that the people I work for embrace change, possibly more than I do, if that's possible. Perhaps just on a different scale;

5) Having something to look forward to, like attending a theatrical performance, or watching a movie, or the next time energies are exchanged;

6) Really getting the fact that we are all here to help each other be the best that we can be.

sweeping

I would work with sweeping, definite, gentle, persistent denials of all terror, panic, lack or loss.

The Superbeings - John Randolph Price

***************************************

Yeah. I would recommend that. As I wake up each morning and remark on the quality of my experience having changed slow-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-ly over time and now find myself in the land of contentment more often than anxiety, I think this strategy has contributed most to my success. That, and listening to my mp3 player. And going where the good energy is. And that denial thing, it's not denying that an emotional state exists, it's denying its power over who I will be today. Only I get to decide what entity lives rent-free in my head.

source

marianne williamson

The first time I saw this pic of me, I immediately thought of this photo of Marianne Williamson. OK, maybe the resemblance isn't that striking, but the spirit is there.

gloryfest ll

D's fabulous living room

The kids' bathroom

 

Produce heaven

Across the street from the best cheesesteak in town

G-man

V-man

Italian heaven

Cheese, anyone?

Goddess T

Goddess N

Goddess D, practicing her craft

Swirls I

Swirls II

Swirls III

bedazzled

Painting I

Painting II

Painting III

Fruits of the Italian market

chance

There are no things that happen by chance or by circumstance. There is nothing that is happening because of something you vibrated a long time ago or in a past life. It is not about what you were born into. It is only about what you are, right now, in this red hot fresh moment emitting. --- Abraham

gloryfest 2007

h

Philly Cheese Steak near the Italian Market

 

Hard at work at the creative table

I can paint - thanks for the tutorial, D!!!

Goddesses to the left, goddesses to the right ~

Goddesses everywhere

Boas are fun

And so are belts

I HEART YOU

Goddess N

Goddess T

Pretty much

 

Flashback from the 70s

Brunette

nudges 02.18.07

I am  so happy and grateful for:

1) the ability to move slowly but surely in the general direction I want to go;

2) knowing some amazing women who set examples for doing just that;

3) art that leaks out of me when I let it;

4) belly laughs and funky t-shirts;

5) Italian markets spread throughout America that capture the homeland so well;

6) food prepared with love;

7) men who write poetry and appreciate the small things;

8) new music that I love - Jack Johnson and the soundtrack to Curious George are must haves;

9) Lush products. I've walked by this  store with manna on the shelves and in the buckets in the mall at twice, vaguely wondering what it was, and missed a little bit of heaven each time. Oh well. My birthday is coming up.

10) Beads and photography and paint and fiber.

11) The internet for making how I interact with the world that much more seamless with who I really am.

change

Evidence of the possibility for change - all my life I despised crunchy peanut butter. What resides on my pantry at this moment? Crunchy peanut butter. I don't even consider creamy anymore.

This weekend is a gala weekend for several women who meet regularly on the internet - we will be meeting in person and spending time together in various pursuits - fabulous meals, funky art, soul searching, diving into the deep and coming up with pearls. That kind of thing. Not quite as significant as Superhero and Wish Jar and Swirly Girl etc getting together awhile back, but significant just the same. So my posts here may be fewer for awhile. But I will have killer photos when I'm done. 

goddess

Tripura Rahasya
The Mystery of the Triune Goddess
(edited excerpt)

I am the intelligence
   that gives birth to the universe
   and in which it abides.

The wise experience Me
   as the true Self within themselves.

All creatures are manifestations
   of Who I am.

You do not know Me
   when your mind is clouded by ignorance.
   That too is my power.

There is no remedy for such ignorance
   other than to worship Me
   as your innermost Self.

Surrender your self to Me
   with joyful, one-pointed devotion,
   and I will help you discover your true being.

Abide in the core of your being —
   you will find Me there.

Abide in Me as I abide in you.
   Know that even now, in this very moment,
   there is absolutely no difference between us.

 
The Tripura Rahasya is an ancient scripture of India.
Linda Johnsen's translation of the passage from which this excerpt is adapted appears in her article "Rediscovering Tantra," Yoga Journal, Jan/Feb 1996.
© 1996 Linda Johnsen 

transcendence

Only to the extent that someone is living out this self transcendence of human existence is he truly human or does he become his true self. He becomes so, not by concerning himself with his self's actualization, but by forgetting himself and giving himself, overlooking himself and focusing outward. --Viktor Frankl

papayamaya

What she wanted was to return
to maplessness, to luck, to the
pure white light of letting go...
she leaned into the cold wind
and began the harder work
of standing still enough
to pay attention.

http://www.papayamaya.blogspot.com/

I love the way this woman puts the English language together into little bits of magic and wonder. Every syllable comes alive with color and texture in her authentic voice.  For me. And that is enough.

peace

Another morning free from vague free-form anxiety. It is amazing, and inspiring, and affirming, and magical, this indigenous well-being. The need for approval is a strong motivator, one that has the power to derail such an oasis of peace of mind. I have a healthy respect for it, and compassion for those who succumb to its enticement, and all of us do, from an early age. But I also have a personal arsenal at my disposal that I have wielded at various times to differing degrees with fluctuating results.

Looking outside yourself for approval, squashing impulses that would further establish what you want in your awareness, and beating yourself up for anything less than perfection - these are mighty forces to reckon with on a daily basis. The effort wears you down, and rightly so, because it's a two-sided battle - maintaining a perceived vigilance against imperfection, while suppressing who you really are, at the same time.  No wonder we get so exhausted.

Some of us have a wellspring of intent that is more insistent on reclaiming our power than others. I am so very happy and grateful to be one of former.

sapphire

worse than yours

I didn't peek inside - didn't want to know.

nudgings 02.08.07

I am so very happy and grateful for:

*the expression of gratitude from the unlikeliest of places;

*not one, but TWO parking spots at the library the other day, so I could pull through and park nose-out;

*the little nuggets of abundance that keep getting put in my path so I can fortify that vibe while diminishing its opposite;

*a job that surrounds me with the kind of people who think toys are good, toys are necessary, toys RULE!;

*the opportunity to reorient everyday, every moment, if I so choose (well, it's really when I remember);

*another gut shot of a Joy Puller - the other day I was walking by the cubicle of a newer employee, and I noticed that he had placed several small plastic figures along the top of the bulletin board facing the aisle. I backed up to stop and ask him what they were, and then realized they were caricatures of the most recent Star Wars characters, done in clever thumb mitten form. The man said that he had brought them in because he saw my computer toys at my cube - which are prominently displayed along the top of one wall - and he was inspired to do something similar.

My gut and my heart were basting in love and gratitude and amazement - I want to do exactly that - inspire by my example, whatever the avenue or outlet.

goddess

Howl's Moving Castle

It's been awhile since I watched a film with intent to find spiritual capital.  Last night I watched Howl's Moving Castle, by Hayao Miyazaki.  About a year ago I watched an earlier film of his, Spirited Away.  Neither of them disappoint - as a matter of fact, they seep into your soul and rearrange things for you so you are changed afterward.

I like that the hero in both of these films is a young female, and there isn't the typical macho male figure in American culture dominating the action or the story, although there is plenty of masculine energy around in the guise of war and power and magic. It's just the simple shift of focus to the feminine, and the acknowledgment of the wisdom available there, that is so refreshing.

At one point, the action and my beliefs in the zero point field converged, and I felt compelled to find out if the people I care about were OK.  That's how much this story can grab you.

cybermarketing genius

expatriot sperm

********************************

Right. They all have passports.

dreamboard

when you change

Direct yourself towards what you want to become and leave behind all that no longer serves you. If you have a weakness-change it. Lack of confidence or initiative-change it. You are forever becoming-all change exists as a potential within you. Thoughts of confidence will draw confidence from the reservoir within you. Likewise thoughts of courage and action will set your life in motion toward positive change. How you envision yourself is what you will become. When you change, everything changes. When you change, the world is turned upside down and inside out. It's that dramatic. A new life is but a new mind. Awaken now, this very moment, to your potential. See your life as it is and how you want it to be. See the actions, choices and beliefs necessary to take you there. Are you ready to go? Would you like to begin the journey now? You are the programmer-write and activate the program.

John Kehoe

******************************************************************

Ran into this today, surfing on abundance consciousness. I'm focusing on this in myself as I construct my dream board, and observe what it is in my beliefs that don't serve me in my journey to what I want. In the past my campaign would have been an all-out assault on what I perceived as something that needed to be fixed. Now, I am taking a gentler approach. My observer has agreed to let me know when I am thinking thoughts that don't serve me, or when a belief is swimming in the background of my conscious awareness - like, "Hey, see that? That's what we've been talking about."

This is the way I'm going to replace those thoughts and beliefs and reactions that don't belong.

results

Everything is vibrational. "I'm letting it in or I'm not. And I'm using lots of things as my excuse to let it in, or as my excuse not to let it in." But it's all vibrational. Otherwise, we should be able to take 100 people, give them all identical exposure to experience, and get identical results. And you can't do that. You'd get 100 different results, and you'd get several big differences in results. --- Abraham

******************************************************

I'm constructing a dream board, and I want to harness the powers of the Law of Attraction to bring about the essence of what makes me happy - me, a unique individual with my own vibrational tuning. Here are some basic guidelines I gleaned from a teleclass I took on the topic recently:

1) Can be on a board of some kind, or in a book of some kind - whatever works for or jazzes you.

2) Intention is the key here - intention of allowing the things that you say you want. Practice allowing for 15 minutes a day to let your body remember how that feels, and it will respond in kind.

3) Look back over the past year and acknowledge the things that worked well for you (cuz there were some, no matter what you may remember off the top of your head)

4) Look for images of experiences/things/relationships that capture the essence of what you want in your life- for example, I want to teach workshops, but I don't have a photo of that yet, so I borrowed one from the internet.

5) Put the dream images where you will see them every day.

5) Watch for opportunities that present themselves based on what you put on your board. Quite likely, the opportunities won't look like what your mere mortal mind could come up with - thank goodness!

possible

To be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing. --Raymond Williams

*********************

And that goes double for hip cynicism. No, make that a triple.

said and shed

Oh, it's a cold winter's night. Reading books about dinosaurs with my son makes me wonder what it was like wayy-y-y-y-y-y back when, without the benefit of gloves, parkas, modern housing, heat sources, checkers and hot chocolate.

Yesterday and part of I was caught in a morass of negativity - probably not enough sleep compounding a construction project involving a put-it-together-yourself desk that of course had one section that just wouldn't join the way it was supposed to, compounded by more conversations with a certain individual than I ever need to have in this lifetime or next, and not enough with a certain other, compounded by a lack of pharmacological substance that didn't need to happen, compounded by cultural expectations that just don't trip my trigger AT ALL. To top it all off, the third security breach of my soon-to-be-abandoned financial institution left me with a newly issued replacement ATM card that did not function as such.

There. I said them. And shed them.

Now I am snuggled in at home, construction completed successfully, listening to music that soothes the savaged beast, cooking concoctions that send wonderful aromas out into the air, anticipating my upcoming vacation, counting my blessings in so many ways, shaking my head at the absurdity of modern life. It occurs that a decade ago I lived the previous paragraph's emotions everyday, and was numbed out to them because of their frequency. Now when they come around, they are intense by contrast to all the abundance around me, and short-lived, simply by default - they don't have any Velcro to hook to anymore.

Or, more likely, I am in the swim lane of the primordial hunter bird that swoops in and carries me by the scruff of the neck into the stream of the upper registers of the emotional scale. I like the view from up here.

lightening-bolt hits

When you receive a lightening-bolt intuitive hit about a new direction to take in your life, it's often for something you have no skills in whatsoever, something that takes you outside your normal range of experience and far away from your comfort zone.

~~Sera Beak ,The Red Book

~~~~~~~~~~~~

How true. I remember rejecting a job offer once because I just didn't think I was appropriate for the position. A former supervisor told my soon-to-be boss to not give up, and sure enough, that job eventually lead to some of the most satisfying days in my distant teaching career. Of course it took several years before those wavy-gravy days came around, but come around they did. I was smack-dab in the middle of a reform initiative so huge, I was in out-of-the-box heaven. Hob-nobbing with the superintendent, the director of curriculum, the director of testing, and speaking on the phone briefly with one of the industry's gurus at the time - heady stuff for a change maven. And I would have missed it all if I had said "No" to the iffy, uncomfortable start of it.

You gotta say "Yes!" to it all.

get out of the way

Find something to feel good about and get out of the way, and allow the cells to receive what they've been asking for. That is the key to healing. --- Abraham

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Someone I work with has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I am sending this vibe to him to add to his healing arsenal. He's got a wicked sense of humor, so he's probably got it licked.