new stuff finally!

 I have been so immersed in life and work that I have neglected my much treasured blog readers.  I am so sorry.  I've been doing alot of blogging on my Mermaid Circus Online workshop site, so I haven't been thinking about it here too.  Anyway...here are the latest.

 These weird yellow ones were completely done during the last 2 art romps we held.  I find it interesting that they look so different from my normal stuff (at least to me).  They sorta don't look finished and yet I am in that state of liking them the way they are and being afraid if I go further I won't like them as much.  I think I'll call them done and move on.

 Being influenced by gazillions of mermaids on my brain the last few weeks.

This is a strange little page too.  no explanation.  it's just what came out.  ;)

Radioloab followed me to work

Not really, but you should go and listen to this. You should not, however, do so on an emotionally fraught trip to visit an ailing family member, because you will sob uncontrollably in seat 9C for most of your transcontinental flight, which will make the impeccably groomed 20-something in 9D very uncomfortable. Theoretically speaking.

Regardless, it was beautifully done, I thought, in that it bypasses a lot of the unhelpful rhetoric, and did so with tremendous respects for all the options presented. I don't agree with absolutely all the counselling or medical management in this story, and I have some unresolved questions (why the cesarean? why?) but so very worth it.

intention

One thing I know a thing or two about is INTENTION (or The Law of Attraction).  I have seen this concept work it’s magic time and time again.  I recently was talking to a group about it and reading them my intention list out loud and wouldn’t you know, the 2nd thing on the list came true a week later…I was the proud owner of a camping trailer.  I had written on my list “Airstream” but in my mind any kind of camper would do as long as it was cute and clean.  Tracy and I want to create more out in nature and this has been a wish of ours.  Out of the blue, I was googling something else and a page popped up from craigslist.  The second listing from the top was for a camper for $700.  When I clicked on the pictures, it was the cutest thing ever.  I emailed the woman and sat and waited.  In the meantime she told me that she received 100′s of emails about it but “since I was the first one”, she was offering it to me first.  Somehow I had managed to see it right after it posted without even looking for anything like that.  We had just made $700 in sales from the art romp retreat (selling pens, collage sheets, a journal made by Tracy and some thread).  So it was like we traded a journal and a few supplies for a camper!  It was a sign that it was a gift from the universe.  When Tracy went to get it, he texted that it was a 1963 Artist model!  That was the year we were both born.  What Tracy had mistakenly read as “artist” ended up being “arist” (short for aristocrat), but we both laughed and took it as another confirmation that intentions work.

How it works

Make a list of 20 things you want.  Keep it personal.  World peace is fine…but we generally don’t really think about what WE want and it is OK to think about ourselves!  This can be material objects, prestigious honors, emotional desires, resolution of physical or psychological problems, etc.  Make every item on your list personal to yourself and completely selfish.  It was extremely difficult to come up with 20 things.  It took me days to write mine because I tend to be happy with what I have and who I am.  But it’s only those who dream big that achieve it.  After you have come up with your list, shorten each thing into a one or two word name.

Now, translate each item into a visual image that suggests the wish has already been granted.  Choose images that are ends and not means.  Don’t imagine yourself with a big pile of money.  Instead, visualize the yacht or condo or all the art supplies you would buy if you had the money.  Don’t think about the bad knee you want healed.  Imagine yourself playing tennis or doing something else you couldn’t otherwise do.  Don’t think about ways and means.  Seize on each image as if it were already a reality.  One of my wishes is to lose weight which I translated into “new wardrobe”.  In my mind I envision me buying it from anthropology (who only sells skinny sizes).

Invest at least 5 minutes in each image.  Enter into it by using all your senses to make it a real and present part of your life (maybe even do a journal page on each wish).  Imprint it onto your brain.  Once you’ve compiled the list, regard every item on it as equal.  The desire for a new computer is therefore no more or no less important than imagining your name on the cover of a book or president of your company.

Consider your list dynamic.  Redo it at least every week to see that it continues to reflect your current desires and concerns.  As soon as a wish has been realized, remove it from the list.  Otherwise, you’re expressing an unconscious fear that you’ll lose what you already have.  If you stop wanting something, replace it with something you do want.

It’s best to memorize the list and cycle through it while creating.  This will help in distracting your mind from the creative process and work on your intentions at the same time.  At the very least read through your list as often as you can and speak it out loud whenever possible.  Spoken words have SO MUCH power.

I really learned this last year when I was under enormous constant pain in my arm that even the heaviest pain killers couldn’t help.  Well meaning people would ask me how I was feeling and I would truthfully tell them “not so good!”.  One day I was tired of talking about it…it didn’t feel right to go on and on about the pain and then hear stories of other peoples pains and aches.  It just didn’t seem to serve any purpose at all.  So, I decided from that point I would say “I am well” even if I had pain.  I focused on the fact that I was happy it wasn’t much worse so I could say those words with conviction.  Believe it or not, the pain subsided within days and has not been back since.  Think what you will , but I believe it was a different mind set that changed everything.

I have always felt that my journal was not the place for negativity.  Some may disagree but for me, I want to focus on what is good in my life, not what isn’t.  I truly believe that giving energy to the good makes it even better, just as giving energy to the unpleasant parts of our lives only amplifies it.  Besides, at this point in my life I can look back and see that those unpleasant times were all part of growing and really the “good stuff” when all is said and done.

One more thing that is in this same topic is to write an affirmation list.  This is different from your wish list, but kinda the same.  Things like “I am an amazing artist” or “I relate well to my children” or “I love myself”…the list could go on…is just more confirmation to the universe of what your intentions are and what you are trying to achieve.  Read it aloud every day and you will see changes.  I can promise you that!

note: some of the above ideas are from a book called The Energy Cure by William Bengston.  An amazing book about hands-on healing but so much of it I related to the creative process as well as great tools for using intention.