...32 questions

Where does that fear come from that locks us in place?

What if today was a beginning and end?

What if we cut those ties that are so tight we have to remind ourselves to breathe?

What if we silenced those voices from within and without 
when they say, 
can't, won't, shouldn't, couldn't?

What if we release the pain that has become a comfort, and a safe place to hide?

What if stepped away from the judgement and disrespect of others?

What if we no longer let another's vision for us keep us from our authentic selves?
What if we stopped self-sabotaging?

What if we put our toxic waste in a box, tied it up tight with string
 and buried it for the last time? 

Finally.


 

What if we made room for the inspired?
What if stepped away from the path that no longer calls to us?

What if we painted the picture we want to step into?
and stepped into it barefooted?

What if we took our long buried dreams out from their hiding place
 and held them to the light?

What if we danced with them?

What if we embraced the gift of them...?

What if we believed?
What if we relaxed?

What if today was the day we pulled up the words from deep within
 and spoke our truth to one and all?
Or just one?
What if we honored ourselves?

What if we asked for what we need?

What if we reached out to each other in support?  

What if as a tribe we chased away loneliness and fear?

What if we embraced our true and loving hearts?

What if we forgave?

Not just them, but ourselves.
What if we loved unconditionally? 
Not just them, but us? 

What if we really stepped into life?

What if we chose to live?

What if I did it today?
And what if we don't?

....believe

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
Thomas Jefferson

It's difficult to believe that people are still starving in this country 
because food isn't available.  
Ronald Reagan

It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.

Henry Ford

As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.  
Voltaire

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation.
 james Madison

I can not believe that war is the best solution. No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war. 
 Eleanor Roosevelt

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.   
 Abraham Lincoln

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
johann Wolfgang von Goethe

....risk and hope

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing
Helen Keller

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental

To reach out for another is to risk involvement.

To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.

To place your dreams before a crowd is to risk ridicule.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To hope is to risk despair.

To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure

But to risk we must, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing is one who does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.

He may avoid suffering and sorrows, 
but he cannot learn, feel, change, grow, or love.

Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave - he has forfeited his freedom.

Only a person who takes risks is FREE...


unknown

.... let it go

Now the barren gives way to the blossom

if you but untie the limp strings of your torn and tender heart and let it go

the mountainous terrain of the past heaves and crumbles,
and in its stead, soft valleys arise in a series of gently rolling caresses,
if you but sink to your knees and assume the holy posture of acceptance
and let it go

the moment you allow yourself to be fully fed,
you acknowledge the depth of your lingering starvation
and you can let it go

the instant in which you agree to be wrapped in illuminative splendor,
you shed the chill that has held you in its icy grip through endless summers
and you can let it go

when you can meet the eyes of one who bears your true reflection
and not shrink from your own brilliance
(no matter how tarnished you believe it to be),
a glorious visage will greet you
and you will be shown all that was withheld from your gaze
since the onset of antiquity
so let it go

once your senses are awash in silent symphony,
you recognize how fervently you had come to rely on distraction,
the hollow ring of obfuscation forever fades
and you are gifted with the sustained and echoing tones of truth
so just let it go

once you bid farewell to your default resistance
and release it with kindness and grace,
you shake your head in astonishment
that you chose to carry it for so long
and yes, you let it go

there is a single moment in time
when you find yourself at peace with all that 

once brought deep grief
and you feel sorrow give way to an indeterminate joy,
your aching for authenticity subsides without notice
something inside opens ever so slightly,
and you enter the temple of divine consummation
where you are the lover and beloved and every act is born sacred and pure

and in that single, uncontainable moment
you know that love’s offering dwells within~
has waited patiently upon the doorstep
while you pointed yourself in another direction,
bemoaning its absence
and decrying the forsaking of your soul

til at last, with a sigh,
you simply let it go

Rachel Snyder 

-- 

...letting go and moving forward

Intentions compressed into

words enfold magical power.

Deepak Chopra

It’s 2011...I am so ready!!…

I’ll bet you've spent some time in reflection about your 2010 experiences…I have too.  
I probably started right after I got back from the San Francisco show..,,,

It is amazing to me how much took place in the last 52 weeks…
changes in my personal, spiritual, and my art life.....
of course they are merged. 
 A change in one area has effect on the other two…
it’s  good when I keep that in mind.

2010 was very good to me…filled with memorable experiences and teachers…
Many doors opened for me…. 
I felt an instant kinship with many new people who came  into my life… 
Some came and went quickly, others have stayed long enough so that we are experiencing change together…walking together for a while…
I have been blessed with people who lift me higher....
and those who challenge me...

Friend Vivian mind mapping New Years day...

Inspiration is intention obeyed..

Emily Carr

And now it is time to set my intent for the new year....
I don’t do New Year Resolutions….
I think they set me up for failure…but I do believe in setting intent…
.I like to really think about what it is I want to welcome into the new year…
then send the invitation out into the Universe…

for this I need clear vision….and I'm not quite there yet...so many possibilities..

I believe the more precise the intent is, the more likely it is I will see the opportunities to help me along the way to attainment…
When I set an intention I don‘t know how I’ll get there 
But I believe by sending it out to the Universe and opening up,
 I am calling that future, 
that dream toward me…
pulling that destiny into my present moment……
I believe the Universe will show me the path……


I  look at the word attainment and I think it isn’t material things I want, it is experiences…
I am wealthy with possibilities and in many ways it is because of all the creative people around me…
I look at the people in my life and I am amazed by the incredible wealth of knowledge and experience they share with me…
they are a kaleidoscope of love and creativity sending out this wave of  good stuff that trickles down and around and inspires me to be better.

And even as scary as the world sometimes looks to me, I still have the belief, the hope, 
that things are changing for the better…

that there will be a shift and the world will wake up. …

I believe the Tribes are gathering for change…

that’s us….

One of my intents is to continue to create my figures…

I think art is a powerful force in the world…

I think the stories we share are powerful too…

Our experiences are usually very different than what we hear from corporate news…we don‘t have to accept what they tell us is reality…we don‘t have to believe in their wars, we don’t have to buy into the ’us’ vs. ’them’...we don't have to accept that there is lack..
not enough to go around....…


This is a small planet and we are in this together..... we don‘t have to be afraid of each other…most of us want the same things, family, friends, freedom to choose our life path, 
a safe place to call home, love...

 He is a reason to care...


The news that is broadcast to us all day, everyday is filled with bad new and things to keep us afraid of each other
...it‘s surprising any of us leave our homes…the people who deliver the negative to us everyday are  fear mongers, intent on keeping us afraid and in the dark…
separate…
but we are not separate…
we share this little blue planet…and our intent can make a difference...
and we don‘t have to walk  alone…
we can gather and support each other in our vision of a peaceful world..
an abundant world....
holding on to that vision, that intent,

the belief that we we can be the change we want to see in the world…step by step…
it is up to us…
I can make a difference…I believe together we will make a difference...…

Intention is the core of all conscious life.
It is our intentions that create karma, our intentions that help others,
our intentions that lead us away from the delusions of individuality
toward the immutable verities of enlightened awareness.
Conscious intention colors and moves everything.

Master Hsing Yun

........the Tat Man and me

Way, way, back in my history, in the late 60's, my girlfriend and I were hanging out with friends in San Francisco and we decided to go get tattooed. Tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle had a little shop not far from where we were so we headed down, stood in line for over an hour and waited for our turn with excitement and anxiety mixing.
We felt like we were breaking some archaic rule against women getting tattoos...
Tuttle had been creating buzz for himself by tattooing people like
Cher, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, etc.
All I wanted was the little butterfly above in the photo...

over the years that little butterfly has come to represent freedom and change.
And it had become very faded...

When asked what made tattooing gain in popularity during his early career, Tuttle responded:

"Womens liberation! One hundred percent womens liberation! That put tattooing back on the map. With women getting a new found freedom, they could get tattooed if they so desired. It increased and opened the market by 50% of the population - hell of the human race! For three years, I tattooed almost nothing but women. "

So lovely daughters #1 & #2 pooled their money and bought me a new tattoo for
Mother's Day.
Last Saturday we met for lunch, and then headed to the local tattoo shop where I had a 2pm appointment to get my faded little butterfly made over into something much more glorious.

I knew Jeremy, the Tat Man, was an artist....he 'painted' this beautiful scene on daughter#1's back. Yes, I know it's big...and not for everyone, but it suits her, and makes her happy, and it's beautiful, and it's not on her face!

I had no apprehension or anxiety this time.

I've known jeremey since he was 5...he was the cutest red-headed little boy, so mischievous ...
He and daughter # 1 have been friends since kindergarten.
His mom has been my friend since our first meeting at our daughter's dance class.
I was at Jeremy and his beautiful wife Enis's baby shower.
So knowing him....

I was ready for the new experience of spending the afternoon in a modern day tattoo parlor.

Jeremy knew I wanted a butterfly...there was a little sketch...we picked out my colors...purple, blue, yellow...I gave him free reign to do his thing.
The outlining in black feels a little intense...I think my meditation practice served me. And after a very short time I realized that the pain was going to be easy to ignore, and I was able to relax into it.



The music was loud, but bless jeremy's heart, he switched it from heavy metal to the Doors, something he probably enjoys, himself and puts on for 'older' folks, who are still decorating their bodies with other peoples art.... So loud was alright..even good...


....in fact it sent me back to a time when I would hitchhike into the City and go to Filmore and Winterland to hear the music of the Grateful Dead, The Jefferson Airplane, B.B. King, Santana, The Doors, Janis Joplin....all the bands that were part of the S.F. Summer of Love culture.
And all my colorful friends from that time.



We chatted a little about his new baby girl Athena, who he loves and adores as he does the baby's mother, his wife...his sense of responsibility to them is strong and deep...his love is evident when he looks at them. I was aware that he didn't like to talk a lot while tattooing,
so mostly we were comfortably silent ...
I appreciate his desire to give full attention to what he is doing....he's leaving his mark.



The whole experience was enjoyable
and look at my new tat...!!


I think it's beautiful!!!...
the picture doesn't do it justice..and it's still a little bumpy...
but healing beautifully.

I think it not only represents freedom and change,
but it's also a symbol of things to come....
.of looking forward to a kaleidoscope of new experiences...
.growth, creativity, exploration...

a joyful new phase in my life....