Abraham: Puttering, Prince and Veering in the Vortex

I manipulated this photo of a crazy-beautiful vintage creation with gorgeous crocheted edges. 

Hey, Y'All!
August already! I've been puttering in my basement studio today having a lot of fun making hang tags for my Etsy customers. I like to make their orders look fab when I send them off--sort of vintage variety store style. I love to wrap the item in brown paper and secure it with twine to the ends of which I've adhered beautiful circles of paper that I stamp with an appropriate sentiment like "Enjoy". I have an opulent profusion of papers from which to choose. I love taking an elderly or mousy pattern and transforming it. Now I'm thinking that I need to take pictures to show you all the results. This is a perfect example of what happens when I'm blogging:


I so adore talking about the things I relish in life that I'm flooded with ideas as I'm in the process of writing about them. I'm happily paddling down the beautiful Blog River and can't help but notice Photo-Op Creek or Papercraft Brook along the way. I start to get a bit agitated until I remember that none of us will ever run out of ideas or inspiration. I can relax and enjoy writing and I don't have to worry that I'll forget something or "lose" an idea, because for every magnificent inkling I might temporarily neglect, there are a hundred more lined up and ready to launch. Here's a picture of the package. Out of this came a small line of tags that I'll put on Etsy which are fancied up with a little glitter glue, but that's a whole other tangent:

SO much fun to create in the Vortex!

It's been some time since I've published a blogpost, but I've been writing in bursts. I've begun to collect snippets I've written when I'm inspired and I'm putting them together into this one post. It's been that kind of summer. I'm often happily immersed in this project or that and have given myself permission to veer. I find the arguments between me and me quite beguiling. The inspired me is all, "We're restyling the china cabinet NOW!" as the OOV* practical me retorts, "Let's vacuum, do laundry and sort mail FIRST and then you can play with all the pretty things." 


I find that if I listen to the haughty yet convincing OOV voice, I may accomplish some stuff, but it takes longer, things go wrong and I end up even more out of the Vortex. Veering is Vortextual. Here's the restyled china:

This task was totally Vortextual!

That part of me that is sometimes OOV believes that fun is antithetical to accomplishment, but when I'm in the Vortex, I fly through tasks. And since I am currently in the Vortex, I'm going to publish this post, with but one more veer:

Algeria

Argentina

Australia

Brazil

Canada

China

France

Germany

India

Italy

Latvia

Malaysia

New Zealand

Nigeria

Peru

Phillipines

Poland

Romania

Russia

Serbia

South Korea

Thailand

UKZambia 

That is a list of countries that show up in the pageview stats. This is a shout out to all my readers and a warm recognition of those of you around the world who like to explore the Vortex with me. I set out on this expedition with several intentions and have reaped more than I could ever have imagined. Thank you, fellow explorers!

These are the snippets and some stop abruptly. Enjoy!

Monday, July 26th
I just pulled myself away from Photoshop where I've been employing the power the program gives me to get surreal if I want to, like I did in the picture above. I love puttering down one artistic avenue and veering off into another just because. I have this wonderful camera and a sufficient amount of skill to have fun with the learning curve I'm experiencing. Photography always fascinated me. It started with a book entitled, I believe, "The Family of Man". The only one like it that my parents owned, that book overflowed with photos of people from all over the world. I have no way of knowing how many hours, days, weeks or months I spent joyously poring over this collection, but those photos seared into my consciousness so deeply that I felt I knew the subjects personally. The skillfully rendered black and white photos schooled my eye at an intuitive level and fueled a desire to take pictures. I love to play at photography and often enter the Vortex both while capturing images and while processing them in Photoshop. 


I did get swept into the Vortex today and found myself judging the value of what I was accomplishing, which quickly got me booted out. I want to keep noticing when I'm swept in so that I can milk it once I'm in and keep practicing that vibration. I believe I'm in an extremely expansive phase right now because when I'm in or near the Vortex I feel marvelous and when I'm out it's unpleasant. In fact, I just returned from a long break from writing this post after developing a severe case of syntax anxiety. You've heard me speak of my desire to not give a rip what anyone thinks. When word worry cripples my writing I know I've taken a detour out of the Vortex and into self-consciousness, and it's time to do something else. It took time, but puttering, a pleasant phone conversation and some tea cupboard organization swept me back into this wonderful place where words sing rather than nag. 


Tuesday, July 27th
Got so tired I quit writing, but I was still in the Vortex while I readied myself for sleep. I basked in my bed for quite some time (fabulous partner was out of town) and even sang a few songs. My voice and I communed several times this week, so it was ready to go and we both enjoyed the songs. Singing in the Vortex.....mmmmmm. I don't remember my dreams exactly, just a feeling and some impressions and I awoke completely in the Vortex. I had my phone and earphones, so I meditated in bed. I've really been enjoying the General Well Being meditation for first thing in the morning. Then I milked being in there in order to practice the vibration of the Vortex. I paid attention to the elements of the environment that contributed to the feeling of being in. I focused on some friends and family and practiced seeing my Vortex versions of them. I thought about a few subjects and noticed where and how the resistance manifested. When and if it did, I refocused in a more general way or switched topics. I visited my insides and tracked sensations.


I am remembering to stop trying to get into the Vortex. If I'm really way out I might take a nap or do something completely selfish. I told a friend recently that while I think I'm quite selfish, my actions often come from a place of trying to accomplish something, often with another person or the committee in my head in mind. I may be trying to please, make an impression, or affect their judgement of me. The committee is the toughest, because they ask me to justify EVERYTHING. They would actually prefer that I punch a time clock and keep a log of all my activities to justify my worthiness. The call of Source scares them until they've been soothed and wrapped in the "warm blanket of worthiness" that Abraham mentions in the Vortex meditation. Music is one of my shortcuts into the Vortex. Recently, I lined up with the following song on a Prince album that came my way as my incredible son and I (simultaneously in the Vortex on that particular day) ran errands in Portland. Prince is apparently not just aware of the Vortex (the lyrics are all about being there), but I like to think that being in the Vortex has changed him. He has apparently loosened up about letting his music be on YouTube. I love you, Prince, and appreciate your generosity. Here's the link and the lyrics to "Future Soul Song":  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcka7eGySTY

"Future Soul Song"

I had a dream last night That I was flying for the first time 
And in the dream I could pilot my flight 
With the thoughts in my mind 

Since there wasn't any up or down 
Everybody was all around 
When we sang, we all sang together 
Oh, what a beautiful sound 

Ooh, ooh, sha la la la la 
This is the future soul song 
Ooh, ooh, sha la la la la 
This is the future soul song 

I had a dream last night 
That I was singing and the sound of my voice 
Seemed to come from every mountain top 
Like it had no choice 

And when my voice rose, so did the sun 
When the trees sang the harmony as one 
Every living soul sang the most beautiful 
Melody ever sung 

Ooh, ooh, sha la la la la 
 This is the future soul song 
Ooh, ooh, sha la la la la 
This is the future soul song 

Before the war the only words and language said 
Let there be light 
Those that can see it are the ones who believe it 
And put up no fight 

And in the absence of fear and control 
Is the sound of the surrendering soul 
Louder than the dogmatic persecution 
I sing it like you got that right 

Ooh, ooh, sha la la la la 
This is the future soul song 
Ooh, ooh, sha la la la la 
This is the future soul song 

Ooh, ooh, sha la la la la 
Ooh, ooh, sha la la la la 
This is the future soul song