Friday, January 7, 2011

Abraham-Late Night Vortex

Really cool lounge chairs at the Frankfurt airport. And that's my carry-on, which I always see in my mind's eye as "carrion". The word, not the luggage.


Yeah, I don't think I should be up at 11:49 starting to blog, either, but here I am. I worked two half days in a row--both cooking classes and got off work around 3 today. I had done a lot of cleaning at home in the morning after I meditated, so I'd been on my feet from about 7-10, then went to work and stood from 11-3 and went shopping until 5, so I now realize I was on my feet for 10 hours straight. No wonder my dogs were barking. I couldn't swim until at least 7 because of a water aerobics class that uses the whole pool and dinner was important and my partner made a wonderful roasted pepper and tofu dish with cumin, and perfectly roasted some halved potatoes (Vortex food), which we ate around 6:30. I ate moderately, but wasn't feeling the pool right after I ate. 


Besides, we had to finish "Io Sono L'Amore", which was absolutely spectacular! I would call this a film, not a movie. There is a scene where Tilda Swinton is walking through San Remo in an orange dress that matches the begonias that match the car parked on the street. Then a woman passes through the frame in fuschia dress that matches the geraniums and all this is in contrast with the gorgeous stone buildings that are very lovingly shot. Oh, my! Vortex-worthy mise-en-scene. And the sex scenes: FANTASTICALLY VORTEXY SEXY. I like it when a director shows as much of the man's body as the woman's. I watched "Io Sono L'Amore" twice (the second time to see what the director was doing) and I will rent it again to get another impression and to watch the special features, which I did not have time for. I hope there is a director-narrated version, because that will be Vortex material, indeed. To see pictures of director, Luca Guadagnino, Edoardo Gabriellini and Ms. Swinton, go here:


http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0345174/

So, all of me got in the Vortex except my feet. (I'm claiming an in-the-Vortex status, because I heard on an Abraham CD that it's good to do that even if you're in and out or on the edge. Just claim it. I like that.) I don't know if I'm working tomorrow, but up to now when my feet hurt at night and I don't do something, they kinda don't feel their prime in the morning. But, I didn't really want to go to all the trouble of getting to the pool. My partner and I had been chatting and time was slipping by and I was yawning and feeling very beddish. But then it dawned upon me that the video was due tonight before midnight and the video store is right across the street from the pool. I did some mental gymnastics and fought the idea of going swimming so late, but I really did have the desire for the feeling of being in the water and experiencing its silky envelopment. My partner and I negotiated a bit and then I gave in to the call of the water and off I went, reaching the water at exactly 10 PM. I love it when I start my exercise exactly on the hour, too. I find it very aligning. 


It took me a while to warm up. My shoulders and back were actually chilly as I swam, but the water began working its magic on me. I've recently been able to get back to doing the crawl and that is such a gift. I've been doing mainly kicking in the last several months and an interesting stroke I learned from an Olympic swimmer from the 1940's who lifeguarded at the downtown Portland YWCA decades back. It's a butterfly kick with breast stroke arms and it's a really cool stroke. I was the only swimmer and the only pool occupant until 30 minutes into my routine when a guy got in and did a walking workout. I had brought my Yoga Toes with me:


http://www.yogapro.com/?gclid=CNve2oTYp6YCFRBzgwodNgd5pA

and would normally put them on in the hot tub. I haven't used them in a long time--I sometimes forget I have them--and the hot tub use is how I've always done it in the past. But I had a brainstorm while I swam. I could actually wear them while I did my water weights. I have tried to wear them while I swim, but they fall off. I like to wear them for about a half-hour because my feet look so aligned for some time afterward and also feel really good. So I did wear them standing up in the pool; I kept them on as I walked to the hot tub and since I was the only person in the hot tub, I left the jets off and just floated in the warmth. I wear my goggles so I can completely relax without water in my eyes and I can just let my body go. Vortex!


So now it's even later and I'm going to go now. But first I wanted to mention some little things that happened in the last week that I found Vortextual:


-an incredible salmon and pink sunset showing through bare black trees 


-a student who had given me a hard time before winter break giving me a side hug when I passed on a compliment from one of his teachers


-a very funny Craigslist ad title: "Need to published your work in online? here! (salem)" 


-8 hawks on the way to Portland yesterday--8 hawks!


-a marbled pink, blue, gray sky above me at the Keizer mall today


-in general, laughing at my own jokes, like right now when I was editing this post and re-read the last sentence in the caption on the lounge chair photo. And the joke came about as the result of an earlier edit and I laughed both times.


Oh, life is so good, isn't it?


A Madrid street performer who would fit nicely into the lounge chairs in Frankfurt.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Abraham-Vortextual Day

Gluten-free (!) pizza at a great restaurant in Paderno, Italy.




Our favorite paella. We ate this during a
wonderful Vortextual date in Madrid.


I had a lovely day yesterday (Monday, January 4) doing laundry and putzing around and swimming and getting groceries and THEN....


I had agreed to a task that I thought might be tough to stay in the Vortex around. It was a co-creative kind of a task and was not one I looked forward to. It took a few minutes, but I got spit out of the Vortex (OOV) into some uncomfortable rumination and activation at bedtime. That's all of the story I will tell other than to estimate that I was OOV for a good hour. Here's what's SOOOOO fantastic. Even with all that activation, I remembered to say things like, "I'm having a Step 1 moment that's going to make Steps 2 and 3 even bigger and even better," "I'm having a clarifying moment," "What is it that I want here?" How cool is that? Then when I couldn't get to sleep right away, I just kept thinking soothing thoughts and soon I was in the Vortex again and off to sleep. I had a great day at work even with some overflowed cakes, which caused some odors in the ovens. Young cooks learning some basics. The kids were great--I got to chat and build relationships and just enjoy those high schoolers. Fun times. 


Work was just a half-day and I was off to Portland to have lunch with a friend. Not only is she more stunning than ever, she has a passion for "the transformation of consciousness", as she puts it. She and I can talk Abraham at a level that I find really, really fun. She is also very cognizant of the huge shift that is happening in the psychotheraputic world and I enjoyed collecting book titles from her. A very enjoyable experience.


Then I went to see Braco, the Croation "gazer". Very interesting. Pretty positive. I had some interesting physical responses. I could definitely feel a lot of energy in the room and I appreciated many things about the whole experience. There is a wise guy that lives inside me who sometimes tries to make me laugh when things are supposed to be serious--I got kicked out of a Mormon church service I attended with two of my girlfriends when I was 13 for laughing--and I had a couple of those moments, but I really liked it overall. I had some lovely conversations with people around me. One man had died and come back and had out-of-body experiences. One beautiful, spirited woman with pink hair was just a delight to chat with. I met a couple of Abraham people. Fun.


I managed to squeeze in a couple of trips to places where I resell items I've collected. I got primo parking places at the height of rush hour. I tried routes that allowed me to move unimpeded to my various destinations. When I arrived I was first or second in line. All day long, things just worked out. I didn't get to do absolutely everything that I wanted to do, but it was a good day and I got home by 9 PM.


And the OOV subject? No charge in that for me today--it just had no juice, no electricity in it. I did discuss it briefly and mid-topic I thought, hmmmm, why would I focus on this? I quickly switched topics and got out of that stream of thought. I was just Step 1-ing a little, and creating an even juicier Vortex. No regrets. No-fault universe. I had managed to figure out a lovely solution even amidst all the contrast and look forward to applying that solution soon. 


Tangent: We've begun watching "I Am Love"/"Io Sono L'Amore" with Tilda Swinton. In the film she just ate a meal prepared for her by her son's friend, an experimenteur gastronomique, I would call him. She is eating the shrimp and vegetables dish he has made for her (very cutting edge, sculptural work-of-art food). In this scene, she is swept into the Vortex as she eats and it is a sight to behold. 


Enjoy your Vortex! 

Monday, January 3, 2011

Abraham-Crafty Chica/On Being Alone

Flowers in our hotel in Madrid.
Just finished publishing the last post and checked Twitter. Found a tweet about a most delightful blogpost by Kathy Cano-Murillo on her blog, Diary of a Crafty Chica, and a wonderful video called "On Being Alone" made by her daughter, Maya. Una familia muy talentosa. I love the name Maya because that is the name of my midwife's daughter who was about 6 when my son was born and was a full participant in the home birth experience, bringing me cool washcloths and making sure I was comfortable. All this made me happy even though I should be in bed now. Here's the link:


 


In the Vortex again!



Abraham-Callback Number 4

The amazing Lila Downs.
This link will take you to one of Lila Downs' wonderful songs. The link showed up on my Twitter stream and I was delighted to see this cool video. There's a bit of a Mexican theme today, so this seems apt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtFlBWt864c

Here's a little story about what I term a "callback". Okay, so if you've been following the Vortex Diary, you may remember that the first post was about meditating and getting just to the edge of the Vortex only to be swept in by the appreciation of some porcelain hands on my mantle. A day or two later, I blogged about seeing a woman at the pool arranging her hands just so in a position that mimicked that of the porcelain hands exactly. That was callback Number 1. A callback, for me, is when the Universe lines up a little happening--a little coincidence--that only you would notice, that says to you, "You're doing very well," and reminds you to notice your alignment and to celebrate it. Esther Hicks loves to see the numbers on clocks and speedometers line up as does my friend with whom I had lunch today (I'll wind back around to that in a moment). I love those little signs and feel happy when they happen. 


After I wrote about the hands, a friend of mine told me that her sister and her brother-in-law, also friends, had been reading and enjoying the Vortex Diary, and that her brother-in-law's mind was a little blown by story of the lady in the pool arranging her hands just so. He, it seems, had been swimming in another pool on that same day, and had seen a woman do this same rather unusual exercise and arrange her hands just so. Now I had never seen anyone do this--place hands palm-down on the edge of the pool right above the waterline and then go underwater--and I've been going to public pools for decades, so it was quite a coincidence for two people to see this in one day. Callback Number 2.


On Christmas day, my partner gave me some lovely things, but maybe the sweetest thing he gave me was Callback Number 3. While looking through my extensive collection of greeting cards for one to send to his dad, he came across a card that I bought at least five years ago. I actually bought two of them because I thought they were so beautiful. He pulled it out and gave it to me because he knew the story of the porcelain hands and the just so hands at the pool. This card pictures the palms of a pair of hands arranged just so, and he was struck by the coincidence and wanted to share that with me. Thank you, honey.


Many times in the last few months, my partner and I have talked about stopping at a Mexican restaurant we pass en route to 24 Hour Fitness (or 24/7 as my partner now refers to it). We finally got around to it yesterday afternoon. (For locals, it's called Habanero and is located in the mini-mall at Hawthorne and Center.) The first thing I noticed was the cute decor--contemporary and tasteful--and the second thing I noticed was that behind the counter was a wonderful friend I'd lost contact with after I quit teaching full-time. She and I had worked in the same building for three years and really appreciated each other. We stayed in touch for some time but got out of each other's orbits and hadn't seen one another for quite some time. I think about her every single day, because she gave me two beautiful objects from Mexico for my mantle--a painting and a mask, and the painting is directly across from the chair where I meditate. She and her husband made this cool little restaurant together and the food is really, really good. She told me that she was hoping to build up their business and I, of course, told her to hold that vision.


I went right home yesterday and emailed all my friends in town and recommended the restaurant. One of my very good friends responded and suggested having lunch today. The idea of great food and great company was an easy yes. We met and ordered and as we chatted about the blog, I told my friend about Callback Number 2: my friend seeing a completely different swimmer in another pool arranging her hands just so. We got our wonderful meal and kept chatting. I was happy to see that while it wasn't busy in the restaurant, there was a steady trickle of customers. As it turned out, one of the customers was another friend I'd emailed the night before who was in the neighborhood and stopped in. What I didn't realize at the moment was that this friend is the wife of Mr. Callback Number 2 and I'd been talking about them just moments before she showed up in the flesh. I'd say that's Callback Number 4, wouldn't you?