Authentic Creative Expression

Becoming Peace

2011-01-19T19:35:00.000-05:00


Praying Peace by candlelight: dawn 09.09.09

My friend Paula's inviting us to become peace. She welcomes us to step up each Wednesday at 9pm (your time) to:

"Light a candle and pray for peace. Sit in meditation and radiate peaceful energy. Create sacred space and create a peace ritual that sends energy into the world. Breathe peace in and out of your body. There is no right or wrong way to do this." Paula Sutton of Gaia's Touch.

I'm in. This evening I'll light a candle and pray peace. I'll celebrate the full moon. I'll Invite Perceptual Shifts and allow the stillness of my infinite, universally interwoven being to inform me at a deep level.

Join us... if you feel like it. This Wednesday night or any Wednesday night... or anytime actually... Be peace.

munay, Barbara

What is unfolding at this time...

2011-01-16T12:40:00.003-05:00

I enjoy working with online divinatory processes. Today I visited the Osho Zen Tarot online and asked:

What is unfolding in my life at this time? What do I need to be aware of?

First card I drew was Consciousness:

"... there is a crystal clarity available right now, detached, rooted in the deep stillness that lies at the core of your being. There is no desire to understand from the perspective of the mind--the understanding you have now is existential, whole, in harmony with the pulse of life itself. Accept this great gift, and share it."

Ah... this is the crux of things. I'm living in the essence of my being... and allowing my mind to do what it will. My mind is not the boss of me! I'm tuning to the depths of my being... and inviting awareness to arise. Action flows from deep awareness.

Second card I drew was Totality:

"Developing the knack of being total in responding to whatever comes, as it comes, is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. Taking one step through life at a time, giving each step your complete attention and energy, can bring a wondrous new vitality and creativity to all that you do."

This is me... living in the response field... being fully in the Vortex... or whatever language suits me in the moment. This is about absolutely being and fully being. I am living life with gusto and with a wholeheartedness that is earth shattering in its capacity to move me forward along my trajectory of being.

Third card was Traveling:

"Life is a continuity always and always. There is no final destination it is going towards. Just the pilgrimage, just the journey in itself is life, not reaching to some point, no goal--just dancing and being in pilgrimage, moving joyously, without bothering about any destination."

This reminds me that I have no need for a fixed direction that I control or foresee. It's simply the movement across the landscape of my life that has power and vitality. I am awake and alive in this moment. I move. I travel. I explore. This also reminds me literally that this is a year I am free to travel to various places on the planet to engage in ways that arise through the network of friends and allies I've forged bonds with throughout the course of my life. I relish the unknown blessings I'll encounter as I move through the coming months.

Fourth card was Laziness:

"When you are lazy, it is a negative taste: you simply feel that you have no energy, you simply feel dull; you simply feel sleepy, you simply feel dead. When you are in a state of non-doing then you are full of energy--it is a very positive taste. You have full energy, overflowing. You are radiant, bubbling, vibrating, You are not sleepy, you are perfectly aware. You are not dead--you are tremendously alive....There is a possibility the mind can deceive you: it can rationalize laziness as non-doing. It can say, "I have become a Zen master," or, "I believe in Tao"--but you are not deceiving anybody else. You will be deceiving only yourself. So be alert."

This is an excellent reminder to move from inertia to wu wei... be fully radiant and alive while being completely open to what arises. The opposite of laziness/inertia is not initiating, it's not forcing anything into action. The opposite of laziness/inertia is radiant, vibrant alertness and availability to be mobilized by the universe in ways that are thoroughly harmonious with my authentic nature. I make a commitment to attend to the sensations I'm experiencing. If/when I feel sleepy, dull, dead, etc, I'll realign with my deep self ... and activate the flow of radiant vitality. Yes.

Last card was Experiencing:

" 'Experiencing' is the feeling of wonder itself, the thrill of communion, the gentle touch of our connectedness with all that surrounds us."

"If you haven't heard nature whispering to you lately, now is a good time to give her the opportunity."

EXPERIENCE. That's what I'm here to do. Experience. I sit back and enjoy the ride.. the glorious experience of being present. I enliven myself with the awareness that this is one sweet planet and an amazing universe that sparkles with an incredible richness of possibilities. And I'm part of All That Is. I say YES.

munay,
Barbara

The Right to Remain Silent

2011-01-15T11:22:00.000-05:00

I have the right to remain silent.

The past two nights I've dreamt about Miranda. I woke this morning clear that the dream is inviting me to honor and avail myself of my right to remain silent.

The past few days as I've engaged with activities related to the launch of Indiana University's new Cinema, I put my attention on the powerful transmissions of energy, the capacity for deepening awareness, and the opening up to transformative possibilities that are available in the presence of potent works of motion picture art. During the guest speaker events, which I attended yesterday, I appreciated how moving conversation and dialogue can be when approached with a lively sense of presence and generosity of spirit.

On the flip side as I've moved around campus I overheard many conversations: cell phone and in person exchanges. I was struck by how pointless, rote, and fueled by conditioning most of what I heard emanating from people's mouths seemed to be. How opinionated. How disconnected. How unnecessary.

What arose was the reminder for me to always begin from a ground of silence, to wait for words to arise from a deep place in my being before speaking.

I have a right to remain silent. Under any circumstances whatsoever I may honor the richness of silence. And in the moment when words are prepared to arise from my authentic core, I'll be happy to escort them out into the world.

I'll play with this practice and see what arises.

munay,
Barbara

Rising over the limitations of snow

2011-01-11T15:05:00.000-05:00

Today it is snowing again. We are honoring the seasonal weather patterns by staying home. The winter weather isn't my favorite. Never has been. I recognize the beauty, but that's where my appreciation ends. I find the constriction brought on by cold and the resulting travel curtailment doesn't suit my expansive desire to be free to move about the planet easily and effectively at any time.

I have friends who are prone to saying... Why don't you just... adjust your mental framework, your way of seeing so that winter snow and ice are just the way you like it... or some such. OK... that's possible. But I'm more interested in tuning in to what my body is trying to tell me... and experience what I need to attend to from that deeper part of my being... the essential self that sings to me through the bones...

What is it telling me? I think it is telling me not to live in Indiana in the wintertime. Or at least not to spend the bulk of the winter here. It doesn't feel right to me. I always want to be somewhere else in the winter and no where else in the fall. The fall has always been my favorite season and Brown County Indiana seems to have evolved as a shrine to the exquisite beauty and transformative power of autumn. So.. be here in autumn, be elsewhere most of the winter, then return in the spring. Part of the summer I could do without as well... so perhaps I'll plan to be somewhere else in parts of July and August. Let's see what unfolds.

Coming back to the present moment.... I remind myself that my essential nature is unbounded by constraints. My spirit ventures to any place or time with ease. My body on the other hand chafes at the limitations. During warm, clear weather I might CHOOSE to stay home for days on end, but once the snow piles up outside on our hilly gravel road and the situation dictates homeboundness... that's when I find myself whining... WHY? WHY? WHY?

So... I just notice that and say OK. That's what's up at the moment. Think I'll soak in a hot bath and relax. Maybe I'll read. Maybe I'll just sit with my mesa and dream into the numerological mysteries of 11s piled onto more 11s... as some of my Facebook friends have urged me to do today.

Today I invite myself to let the day unfold without regard to weather of any kind. Today I'm enjoying being home with my sweetheart. That's all.

New Moon Fire Ceremony

2011-01-09T01:42:00.000-05:00

New Moon Fire Ceremony by Candlelight

Mid week I held fire ceremony to honor and connect with the energies of the new moon.

Dreaming into the heart of the flame... exploring the essence of the new moon's capacities to deepen and then reveal from that depth exciting possibilities not manifested in quite that way ever before.

Saying YES to deepest self.... recognizing the power to over reach is a definite possibility if what I say yes to is random and unclear... but if I say YES to what arises from my authentic self... and if I say YES to what resonates with my true nature... then what I say YES to will be in exquisite alignment for me... and will be harmonious with why I am here on the planet.

This is the dream I'm dreaming at this time.... to open to unknown blessings already on the way, to recognize them when they arrive, and to say YES in glorious fashion to what sings to my deepest heart.

Thanks in advance to everyone and everything in the universe that steps up to offer invitations that I will thrill to say YES to.

I must not hoard...

2011-01-03T23:56:00.000-05:00

My sweetie is very witty. He comes up with wonderful insights and humorous quips all the time. I feel quite delighted that we're sharing our lives together. On New Year's Eve he devised this wry adaptation of the Bene Gesserit mantra from Dune and posted it to his Facebook profile page:

I must not hoard.

Stuff is the mind-killer.
Stuff is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my stuff.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the stuff has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

This sparked in me a desire to look deeply at the nature of hoarding in my life... and to make a deep commitment to releasing 'stuff' from all aspects of my life:

There are so many ways I hoard. I'm attending to any and all as they arise in my awareness.

One way is that I hold on to things I've created - or partially created. Examples: Sewing/knitting/beading projects. Writing projects. Photography.

Since I put my attention on this hoarding issue, I've had the inspiration to reassemble space in my home office. I recruited my sweetie's help in getting the doors off the closet (read: he took them off for me!). This opened up space in my room. It also takes the room down to one door, which helps me out as I focus on ways to spend more time in a Blended Cave Environment as my Human Design variables invite, but more on that in another post.

I cleared things out of my closet, put a wire shelf unit in there and started moving my sewing and knitting and beading supplies and tools into the space. Then I started to envision the possibility of moving a small table into that area to serve as a sewing/crafting workspace. I am in the process of liberating a table from another part of our home, so I can relocate it into my office. Also... same for another wire shelf unit. Moving swiftly to activate these energies so I can release the hoarded projects and materials... transforming them into new creations.

I am aware that my opportunities arise through the network of friends, colleagues, and acquaintances I've connected with over the years. I'm deeply appreciative of all these connections. At this time I'm practicing the art of sharing only with those who ask me to share... by gifting to any of my Facebook friends who say yes to receiving gifts from me in thanksgiving for my appreciation of our FB connection. I'm really feeling delighted by this process and am deeply moved by the way some of my FB friends have stepped up to let me know they are open to receiving the gifts I have to share. This is a potent way for me to stop the hoarding. I'm taking things that are in my possession and gifting them.... but I'm also gifting from other levels of my being. I look forward to seeing what arises as I prepare for this powerful gifting process to unfold.

Another way I hoard is that I withhold my dreaming, shamanic, and energy skills... skills that have strong ability to catalyze transformation in the world. In the past I've misdirected myself by offering these skills and abilities indiscriminately, resulting in deep frustration when they weren't received or when the work wasn't able to go to a deep level, because I was offering my gifts to people for whom they weren't a good match, or to those who hadn't made a personal commitment to engage them fully. The frustration led me to stop allowing those gifts to flow. They'd gotten bottled up and congested in many ways.

The approach I'm taking to stop the hoarding of these abilities is... perhaps counter intuitively... to stop offering them. I choose to cease offering, but I choose to be completely open to sharing my gifts when they are called for in ways that are in alignment with my deepest nature. Going forward I only respond to requests from those individuals and groups, who feel a deep call to open to their deepest, most authentic selves and who feel inspired to invite me to step up to support them. This feels very liberating. It stops me wasting energy and building frustration by offering myself and my abilities where they aren't wanted or needed. It keeps me from hoarding as I won't feel like retiring inward in frustration. And it opens up a vast flood of energy that can bring me into connection with those who will call forth from me information, skills, and abilities that are deeply satisfying for me to share and which infuse in them a greater sense of wholeness and integrity and passion for bringing their own gifts into the world joyously, lovingly, creatively.

People will find me... through my communities and networks. They will know when to step up to ask me to share my skills and abilities, my time and attention... and they'll do so in ways that are in alignment for us both. This feels great.

I haven't addressed the cessation of the hoarding of writing and photography and other forms of hoarding.... those are multi-faceted explorations which I'll undertake in the coming days.

For now... this is enough. I feel some serious shifts in the energy patterns in my life. I invite blessings to flow... and I make myself available as a valuable resource in ways that make me feel alive and full of gusto and joy.

love and blessings....

munay,
Barbara

New Year's Attentions

2011-01-02T11:48:00.000-05:00

The focus for so many at the start of a new calendar year is on New Year's Intentions or Resolutions. I'm interested instead in New Year's Attentions.

As I move into a new cycle of experience, I will be noticing what I am attending to, because "Energy flows where attention goes" as the Huna principle Makia states so eloquently.

So... no rules to follow or to ignore or to fail to live up to. Just paying attention... and noticing who is doing that attention paying... being clear that I value the attention of the deeply authentic aspects of my being over the scattered and opinionated graspings of the mind.

So... at this time I'm inviting my deepest self to assert its capacities and claim its privilege of being the trendsetter in my life... choosing to attend to what resonates at the core of my being. I choose to move forward in harmony with my deepest self's sense of what matters. I know that the universe lines up with me when that happens and massive quantities of creative energy are unleashed and activated to flow through me mobilizing amazing new possibilities. That's how I'm created. That's how I'm designed... to have innate capacities fully engaged by life force energies that thrill to be in alliance with my uniqueness.

That potential is only activated when I'm paying attention to what matters to me at the deepest level of my being... and steering clear of conditioning influences, which stultify and distort what it really means for me to be alive in this world at this time... part of an unfolding evolutionary, expansive universe.

Shifting Focus

2010-12-25T15:36:00.000-05:00

It's really not my way to attend to things in a linear fashion... focusing on the same thing continually. I float. I find myself attracted here and there. I find things, situations, people attracted to me and then they flow away. This is the nature of how I am... and one of these days I'm going to acknowledge that in the depths of my being and let it be a guiding principle. For now that realization alternates with a desire to settle into something and ride it according to someone else's schedule.

At the moment I'm making a leap. I'm saying 15 days is plenty for the Mandala Making process. That's how much energy there was. Those 15 days were fueled by a desire to mandala make and the work arose from a deep place beyond the constraints of mind. So that was deeply harmonious. Then the energy stopped. At first I found my mind saying... but, but, but... and I tried to forge ahead. I started to work on a 16th image. Nothing was gelling. And I realized.. no. That's all for now. 15 day Mandala Challenge. Complete. Check. On to what's next.

What's shown up now is the exploration of the power of shifting my handwriting to transform my life. I got hold of Vimala Rodgers' Transform Your Life Through Handwriting kit published by Sounds True. Vimala says work in 40 day cycles. OK... I think. I can do that. And then I realize... well, maybe. The important thing is that I think this would be fun to explore... and the 40 day thing is about inviting a new pattern to have time to settle in. So I'm going to be OPEN to a 40 day potential... without being attached to a 40 day anything... and see what emerges.

Vimala suggests working with a particular letter for 40 days while also attending each day to the Letter of the Day. These letters are thematically driven... in the sense that you choose letters that represent some aspect you are open to transforming in your life. I like to work in a divinatory manner, so I selected my '40 day' letter by setting a clear intention to tune to a quality that would be beneficial for me to deepen into and/or tranform at this time. I blew my intention into the card deck that holds the 26 letters with their soul qualities and intentions. I connected the deck with my 3 power centers: yachay (3rd eye), munay (heart center), and llankay (sacral). Then... eyes closed.... I chose the card for the '40 day' letter...

P: truly loving and appreciating yourself. Intent: I interact with everyone as though they love me.

I think that's fabulous. I look forward to rockin' that intention for 40 days (or however long I feel called to continue with it).

Before I start with the letter P however... I'll invite a Letter of the Day. Her process involves focusing on the Letter of the Day first and then following it with the 40 day letter.

OK. Today's letter is T. Status in the world; the letter of the visionary. Intent: I grow in spiritual stature as my choices align with my vision.

These are interesting. Off to explore these with handwriting... so I'll do that in my notebook....

Perhaps this is more detail than you really needed. Just sharing what's unfolding in my life. Today is a Writing Intensive Day and I've chosen to incorporate attention to my physical handwriting as an integral part of my writing process ... and as a way to honor the arising nature of writing.

I Intend...

2010-12-23T18:11:00.000-05:00

I Intend Mandala: Day 14

What do I intend? What am I willing to align with?

I intend... to write prolifically, allowing the words and writing projects to arise from a deep place in my being.

I intend... to relish each moment joyously.

I intend... to be vibrantly healthy, nourishing myself fully in ways that I can easily digest on all levels.

I intend... to have fantastic support for everything I do in life.

I intend... to be in the right place at the right moment ... every moment... thriving in environments that deeply support me.

I intend... to say YES to what resonates deeply with me and let everything else flow past on its way to those for whom it is appropriate.

I intend... to celebrate authenticity wherever I experience it and invite authenticity to flourish where it is lacking expression.

I intend... to streamline my life so that all my energy and attention is harnessed by the depths of my being in ways that fuel a vibrant existence.

I intend... to look deeply, tuning to the depths of my being to find clarity from which I can act in generous alignment with my deepest, most authentic self.

I intend... to sweeten each moment through authentic being.

munay,

Barbara

Enter the Heart

2010-12-22T10:47:00.001-05:00

I work with people who are ready to live exquisite lives... for their own well being and the well being of All That Is. I support them as they make the leap into who they are becoming... their luminous, authentic selves.

"But I'm already myself!" I've heard people object. Well, yes. It feels that way. It feels that we're living our authentic lives, because we've gotten used to things the way they are. And, yes, there's an inherent perfection in each moment that reminds us nothing needs to be changed or fixed. We are who and what we are in each moment and that's just as it needs to be in this moment. But there's so much more to who we inherently are than most people have begun to live.

We can make a leap into the depths of our being and manifest a much more authentic experience. The next moment in life is always an opportunity for surprise and for authentic transformation. Will we continue to manifest as we are in this moment or will we realign with our deeper nature - our authentic self - and live a far more robust, joyous, creative, loving life?

We carry around energies and patterns that are not authentic, not germane to who we truly are. The richest, most creative, loving, joyous, vibrant aspects of ourselves get crushed beneath all the excess baggage, contorted by misdirections of our life force.

These excess energies are free to move out of our fields when we recognize that they are intruding on our essential nature, and when we claim the right to be our deepest, truest selves. This authentic transformation is often so much more available when we realize that being ourselves is the most amazing gift we could ever offer the world, our colleagues, our friends, our family, ourselves.

These distorted patterns come into more harmonious alignment when we honor the choices that have been made, acknowledge that we are not our stories, and embrace the knowledge that we are free to choose to live in more authentic ways... that we have the power to release the conditioning energies that have gotten us off track.

We also go without parts of ourselves more often than we know. We allow our most delicious aspects of ourselves to go walkabout... leaving us cut off from a sense of wholeness and unity. Sometimes these parts of ourselves have stayed put, but are hunkered down in confusion under the weight of the rules, guidelines, and dictates from friends, family, or community that we've taken as gospel and allowed to drive our authentic knowingness deep underground.

Although there are many techniques and processes that can support Authentic Transformation, at the core what brings the authentic self forward into a state of thriving wholeness is what is known in the Andes as Tukumunayniyok: the TOTAL POWER of Unconditional Love. Love trumps all other powers. Love is the vibrant heartbeat of the universe.

I feel enlivened when I have the privilege to look deeply into the heart of a person's authentic, luminous nature with the intention of inviting authenticity to flourish for their benefit and the benefit of all. I know in the deepest part of my being that when we live as ourselves everyone and everything thrives more fully. It's a rare gift... one most people don't even contemplate offering to a world so clearly desirous of living in a more beautiful way.

You are invited to live your authentic life. I invite you.

Enter the heart.

munay,

Barbara

Winter Solstice Ceremonies

2010-12-21T21:35:00.001-05:00

Winter Solstice Fire Ceremony: 02010.12.21

Today is the beginning of a new year.... a year of tuning deeply to the patterns of nature... attending to the shifts in season, in lunar cycles, in flows from day to night to day....

This afternoon I stomped out into the snow in the woods behind our house to honor the Winter Solstice and the Full Moon with Full Eclipse by holding fire ceremony. The temperature warmed today. Snow and ice have begun to melt. Sheets of snow slid along the metal roof, balanced precariously over the edge... dripping... dripping... before slumping to the ground in one heavy thud after another as the afternoon progressed.

I called the directions: Winds of the South, West, North, East.. and the powers of Below and Above..... inviting them to hold the space sacred as I deepened my intention to live life in harmony, in alignment with Tukumunayniyok... the total power of unconditional love.

The woods gift me branches and twigs throughout the year to fuel my fires. Today those branches were cold and damp from their time hiding beneath piles of snow. I utilized some dried sage gifted to me by a client to inspire flames to leap up from the ice cold fire pit. The fire sputtered and was subdued most of the time, but it felt refreshing to be out in the snow covered woods beside Autumn Lake. I meditated on the iced over lake, adorned with swaths of wind blown snow.

I invited vigor and ease into my life. As I gifted a branch (my life/death arrow) to the flames I recommitted myself to the practice of opening to the rich abundance the universe showers upon me and to continually offering to bring my gifts fully into the world for the benefit of all.

After the fire I moved into the house, opened my mesa, and brought a huaca through... to infuse the world with a fresh burst of creative energy in service to the evolving consciousness of the universe. I will feed the huaca with my breath each day during this moon cycle to help fuel authentic transformation on the planet at this time in the sweetest ways possible.

This is a potent time of change, of deepening, of expansion, of ease. This is a time when we can drop the pretense of control and in so doing open to a more luminous potential thrumming within us at all times... the opportunity to allow life to unfold, to carry us forward, to elicit our deepest, most authentic nature to step out and thrive.

I say YES to the unfolding luminosity. I say YES to authentic becoming. I feel deep appreciation for what is unfolding at this time. Moment by moment I hold space for authentic transformation on the planet.

Huaca Ceremony

Please feel free to visit my Winter Solstice 02010.12.21 Facebook album for more images from the Fire and Huaca Building Ceremonies.

Offering blessings for joy, beauty, love, vitality, and creativity to flourish.

munay,

Barbara

Celebrating the return of the light

2010-12-21T09:55:00.000-05:00

Winter Solstice! Welcoming back the light. This solstice is powered even more intensely by the alignment of a full Lunar Eclipse in the early hours of the morning. First time since 1703 that a Winter Solstice and a Lunar Eclipse combined. The cloud cover in our area kept the lunar eclipse from view, but we witnessed the clouds turn orange with an eerie glow. Laying in bed tuning to the energies as the sun, earth, moon lined up with the heart of the galaxy, I saw and felt the energies bouncing around the room. The energies were palpable.

I created this mandala a few days ago and love the way it is built completely of images I took when I was visiting Jyoti and Tod in Sedona in November. That's a place of power and highly alive energies. And the world is alive and crackling with the potential for change at this time.

Today I am allowing myself to lighten up as the days lengthen and the world moves into a more expansive way of being. I invite myself to say YES to All That Is.

One third the way through the mandala process

2010-12-20T10:28:00.000-05:00

Whirlpool Mandala: Day 11

I'm just over 1/3rd of the way through the 30 day mandala making process I've embarked on. I can feel the shift in the process as I move into this next phase of continuing to deepen and expand into the flow of what longs to arise. I'm a person who moves in waves. I'm not a steady plodding forward kind of creator. I flurry and flow.

Engaging the same process for 30 days in a row is a challenge in itself. I'm contemplating whether I want to liberate myself in the future from any such intensity of continuity.... or whether I want to dive deeper into this mode of attention focusing on other projects. We'll see what unfolds in the new year.

Something I'm very much enjoying here is that my preconceived notions of what constitutes a mandala were immediately blown out of the water. The images that have been arising don't necessarily feel like what I thought I'd be making and that's very exciting for me. When I bring work up from a deep place in my being, it startles and delights and sometimes disconcerts me. I love it.

OK... I'm not actually creating a mandala every day. I'm creating 30 mandalas in 30 days and I'm sharing one every day. That's the pattern I'm adhering to at this time. Off to create a few more. I have only one in reserve at the moment... which I'll post after midnight... to celebrate the Winter Solstice/Lunar Eclipse.

altering images of self

2010-12-19T10:36:00.000-05:00

Eye of Flower: Day 10

I take a lot of self-portraits. Over and over I point the lens of my camera in my direction. I let the camera inform me of what's unfolding in my life. Rarely do I take those images and alter them in any way. I prefer to let them be what they were in the moment they happened.

But in this mandala making process I'm reassembling reality.. looking through a lens of collage. I love to collage. Usually I collage with physical objects... pictures and words borrowed from magazines or printed out from online sources or generated from my own work - writing and photography that I blend with other pieces of creation to build a vision container.

This mandala building project is taking on a more surreal quality in some ways. I'm moving in the dreaming allowing images to call out to be together. This mandala gathers from 4 different images I took while in Phoenix in October. I was teaching on the staff of Donna Eden's Energy Medicine Program. Having taught in the Inaugural Year of the program and then moved on, it was interesting to return to explore my relationship with the Eden Energy Community and with myself as a teacher, mentor, ally, etc.

This image shows me the potency of dreaming a new world into being... the power of looking with a new sight... blossoming a new dream out of the cold stones.

That's what I see when I look at this image today... this image that grew itself.

I'm grateful for the opportunity this trip back into the Eden Energy Program gave me to see where I am in relationship to energy and healing... and where I am being called in the future.

What's True for Me....

2010-12-18T09:33:00.000-05:00

What's true for me... what's true for me at this time... that's what intrigues me... what holds my attention when I am not distracted by everything that's floating through my awareness... everything that serves to syphon off my attention when I neglect to connect with my deepest, most authentic self.

I make it a practice moment by moment to enrich my connection with authenticity to the best of my ability.

I'm delighted when others attend to what is true for them at that time... and live in harmony with their authentic knowingness.

I acknowledge, celebrate and assist authenticity to flourish in others... their own deep awareness of what's true for them... in that moment... in that unfolding of their authentic experience. I choose to be present with the intention of holding space for authenticity to flourish whenever and wherever it can find purchase and grow. I invite authenticity to arise and sing to us, to sing through us.

I'm not interested in telling anyone what they should do. I'm happy to share insights that arise as I put my attention on what's unfolding in their authentic experience.... if invited. That's something I love to do... to look deeply and share what's arising... that comes from the vast, rich pool of information and energy and consciousness available when we tune in to the essential, the underlying nature of reality. I notice that looking deeply, acknowledging what is and inviting what arises next to be in stronger connection with authentic nature brings potent transformation in ways that are often surprisingly radical and yet at the same time sweet and effortless.

I flourish when I share what's unfolding in my awareness. I notice that my sharing often offers others something that sparks their desire and ability to mobilize their authentic selves... catalyzing a deeper connection with who they truly are. When others share their own awarenesses - their own experiences of what they are attending to in their lives from a place of clarity, I benefit as well.

It's my contention that the entire world benefits when each being lives as their true selves... bringing themselves and their gifts fully into the world. That's how I experience the world. I'm delighted to let people know that I see things that way.

I'm celebrating the possibilities that are available when I live my life as myself.... and when others choose to live as their authentic selves. I'm dreaming a world into being where the potential for authenticity to flourish is greatly enhanced.

I'm happy to explore and encourage these potentials with individuals and groups in ways that are deeply harmonious for us all. I am open to invitation.

munay,

Barbara

Appreciating my Human Design Mandala

2010-12-18T09:03:00.002-05:00

My Human Design Mandala: Quad Right 4/6 Manifesting Generator w/ Emotional Authority

I'm 6 months into my Human Design experiment. [NOTE: Correction: Just over 7 months! Time flies] I'm drawn to exploring various models that map uniqueness in human experience. Human Design is one of the more intriguing and compelling models I've encountered in my journey into deep understanding of authenticity. It resonates with me. I feel a hum in the depths of my being when I engage with Human Design... and that's actually an integral part of my experiment... following what Human Design founder Ra Uru Hu calls Strategy and Inner Authority.

I'm not feeling a need to explain these concepts here at the moment. I'm just reflecting on the way that the Human Design charts are often displayed as mandalas ringed with the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching. This seems so harmonious with the 30 Day Mandala Challenge I've embarked on at this time.

I am simply feeling the rightness of this mandala exploration in the depths of my being. As a Manifesting Generator with an Emotional Inner Authority my Human Design strategy is to Wait to Respond. I experience that as being alert to what is arising in my field of awareness and being alert to the responses I feel in the depths of my sacral center. When I get a visceral confirmation, which for me shows up as a humming or a solidifying of the core of my sacral center, then I know I'm onto something that may indeed have merit for me. Because I have an emotional inner authority, my next step is to wait further... to allow myself to move through the emotional turbulence to assess what is in fact deeply appropriate for me to attend to, to act on, to live fully.

When my friend Jyoti mentioned on Facebook in May that she thought I might find Human Design interesting and valuable, I had an immediate sense of YES YES YES deep in my belly. That yes continued to deepen over time, so I knew that it was right for me. I have been following this practice of checking in with my gut and riding the variations over time for many years. My introduction to Human Design served to reinforce what I've already been engaging... but with even more vigor and commitment.

I'm appreciating the unfolding process of deepening into authenticity... in all the ways I engage that process. Today I am deeply appreciating the Human Design clarity... the simplicity of the process and the rich complexities. I'm grateful to everyone who has stepped up to share their knowledge, wisdom, insights, enthusiasm, and practices regarding Human Design. I look forward to deepening my exploration going forward. I'll share more as I move into new areas of exploration.

Desert Living Mandala

2010-12-18T00:27:00.000-05:00

Desert Living Mandala: Day 9

Intitita and I co-create a mandala

2010-12-17T00:44:00.001-05:00


Intitita Father Sun Mandala: Day 8

I'm relishing the freedom to understand and create from a place that is not the province of the mind. I'm experiencing mandala as a process of recognizing what is already being co-created before the mind steps in and attempts to apply structure and definition. This image of the sun, taken while I was on a journey opening to Unknown Blessings through the western part of North America in September of this year, informed me of how the sun, the atmosphere, my camera, and I all came together to create a mandala of considerable power without any additional manipulation being necessary other than a counterclockwise rotation of the image, which seemed to make the vibrancy of the sun's rays more vivid, and a frame to hold the images with colors drawn from the sun's illumination.

I'm deeply appreciative of this mandala creating experience. I'm finding myself mobilized to engage the photography in new ways and to invite myself into a more immediate relationship with the images. I'm inviting my body to explore the terrain of the image files in a vibrant burst of oh.. yeah.

During the entire Unknown Blessings tour in September, I was vividly aware that Intitita, Father Sun, was present with me, sharing warmth and light, illuminating my journey. As we move toward this powerful Winter Solstice with a full Lunar Eclipse, it's great to be able to meditate on this image of the sun from around the time of the Autumnal Equinox. All part of my stepping into closer connection with the Pampamesayok, the Daykeeper Lineage... and fully embracing the nature of my total oneness with All That Is.

I am grateful for the reminder to be completely self referencing as I approach each day in harmony with the deepest part of my being... the place where I know myself to be part of everything....

Mandala Creation

2010-12-16T10:11:00.002-05:00

Fire Ring Mandala: Day 7 of 30 Day Mandala Challenge

A Facebook Friend (FBF) alerted me to a 30 Day Mandala Making Challenge on FB. It sparked something in me. I dove in. I'm noticing that the group on FB isn't at all active, but the existence of the challenge and the fact that someone notified me about it and my deepest self went "YEAH!" is good enough for me. Today is Day 7. I'm finding myself creating images that are arising from some of the photography I've been doing this past year. And I'm playing around with photoshop... expanding my familiarity with the program's capabilities.

I'm basically leaving my mind out of the equation. I'm simply letting myself explore and see what shows up. I'm staying away from concepts like PERFECTION or SENSIBLE or LIKE OTHER PEOPLE'S MANDALAS. I'm finding it rewarding to allow the idea of CIRCLE to slide into the idea of OVAL. I'm finding it rewarding to allow the mandalas to arise as they want... without a great deal of manipulation. I like the idea of FOUND MANDALAS. I'm observing that the mandala naming seems like an important component of this process. I enjoy watching the names arise.

It'll be fun to see what arises in the coming days.

Here are the 6 previous mandalas I've created for this project:


Waves of Fire Mandala: Day 1

Heart Blessings Mandala: Day 2

Guarding the Directions Mandala: Day 3

Swirling Eye Mandala: Day 4

Feather Mandala: Day 5

Drum Offerings Mandala: Day 6

Snow and sleet on the way... Watching Pacers and Lakers play...

2010-12-15T19:25:00.001-05:00

We are warming ourselves by the fire as we await the arrival of a snow/sleet storm. The cold so far this month has been oppressive. I have a feeling I may never leave the house again... and then I remind myself that seasons move in their own ways. December has been uncharacteristically cold ... so perhaps January and February will be balmy. I can dream on that at least...

Tonight we'll watch the Pacers play the Lakers from the comfort of home.

Cyberspace for Authentic Creative Expression

2010-12-15T18:22:00.001-05:00

I'm streamlining my life at this time... and stepping into a greater flow...

This space is the new home for everything I feel inspired to share about what's unfolding in my life. Let's see what arises.