Friday, August 5, 2011

Abraham: Evidence of Being In Complete Control of EVERYTHING

This is one of my Frida Kahlo Flags (I've been obsessed with Frida since I was a teen). I did a series of these a couple of years back.


I awoke pretty much in the Vortex this morning. Fabulous partner had taken the day off so I knew I'd get to visit with him in a much more leisurely manner than is usual for a weekday. I've been deeply immersed, off and on, in some artwork projects (creating a Junk Journal or Smashbook, making the tags I showed you in the last blogpost, doing my own version of Zendoodling in which I add bright colors to what is usually only done in black and white and attempting to create my own Washi tape). I listen to a lot of Abraham on YouTube, but I also follow a lot of sister artistes who generously share their endeavors and spark me into "having" to make something--a feeling that I relish. If you're interested in any of these somewhat obscure art projects, just google any one of the terms and you'll find lots of info. 


In addition to my personal art endeavors, the new season of Project Runway just began and a very good friend and I meet every Thursday to view the newest episode. We get WAY into it. If you're at all familiar with this particular reality series, you know that it's about fashion designers and that Portland area designers have won the competition a few times. There are two Portland designers this year, so it's pretty exciting. 


On top of that, a local Salem/Portland comic, Ron Funches appeared on Conan last night and got a TON of laughs and Conan called him "hilarious". Fabulous partner and I reviewed the performance this morning and reveled in Ron's success. We had both seen Ron open for Michael Ian Black at the Helium Comedy Club show that launched my recent excursion into live comedy. 


I showed my friend my homemade Washi tape last night and after she left, I began playing with it in my Junk Journal on my fabulous, perfect-height-for-me peninsula in my LOVELY kitchen which I appreciate time and again each day. I so impressed myself with my artistic brilliance that I went to bed in the Vortex. I could barely tear myself away from my journal this morning even though I was dressed for my morning walk and had my earphones hanging round my neck ready to listen to Prince in the park.


I experienced some contrast before my walk and I'll be darned if it didn't get stuck in my craw, as Abraham likes to say. I might have remembered an Abraham excerpt that I shared in a previous Vortex Diary blogpost, but noooo:


http://vortexdiary.blogspot.com/2011_06_26_archive.html


It's the one that answers the question about why we run into ornrey or intransigent folks even when we're in or near the Vortex ourselves. Abraham's response is that as uplifters, we can use those opportunities to be amused by those whose behavior may look to us to be OOV and to overpower the negative or fearful or controlling vibe with our own higher, positive vibration. We do this by seeing them through the eyes of Source. HA! That's not what I did....I bailed out of the Vortex and got my underwear in a bundle (AREN'T I PRECIOUS???) Here I was being given a chance to expand and I just wouldn't take my expansion right away (YOU'RE WELCOME, UNIVERSE!!!) Coolest thing ever is that I just got out of my own way and started allowing (my Step 3) a few minutes ago and it was magnificent. Here's what went down.


I set out on my walk with my resentment active in my thoughts. I didn't shake it right away, but eventually the music and the beauty of my little park and moving my body conspired and there I was in the Vortex. I ran into a lovely neighbor I worked with for years and I repeated the story of my resentment!!! Oh, aren't I precious setting off more rockets of desire asking to be treated fabulously wherever I go? Aren't I generous to get something stuck in my craw and to wait to take my expansion by staying in Step One just a little longer? 


Still, I had an endorphin high going and a lot of energy, so I extended my walk a bit and began gathering bits and bobs of trash as well as feathers and sticks. I have an art project in mind into which I'll incorporate these park finds. When I got home I enjoyed my breakfast and an espresso and nursed my resentment by keeping it running it in the background. Even though I thought of it consciously only in flashes, it was still charged and active in my vibration. It was active enough that I created a segment of errands in which nothing went well. I couldn't find a receipt for a return I had. I created an extra trip for myself. Traffic didn't flow well. You get the picture.... 


But here's the neatest thing of all. I knew that I was responsible for every event I experienced. "I did that!" I thought. I knew that I was creating the whole thing. I knew that all I had to do was to change my thinking and that I could create something completely different. I knew that the Vortex was right there. I knew that Source was calling me. How cool is that??????????


After all this transpired, I decided to just chill. That's when I re-read an email from a wonderful friend and Abraham fan who thanked me for the last Vortex Diary, which she said reminded her to reach for a better-feeling thought when she was OOV. I had to laugh, because she was actually reminding me to do exactly the same thing. I replied to her and could feel my vibration lifting. Since I was chilling anyway, I surfed over to YouTube and picked out a Vortexchillin75 video. I thought from the title that it was one that I'd heard recently, but that I think is wonderful. It was the excerpt I'd expected. I was hurtled into the Vortex immediately. I knew the story that Abraham was about to tell and the mere anticipation of the pleasure of hearing it again intoxicated me. 


"I did that!" I thought as I basked and listened and practiced the vibration of the Vortex. It so supercharged me that I have typed this whole blogpost at superspeed and enjoyed every minute of it. Here's the story for your listening enjoyment:


http://preview.tinyurl.com/PeggyAndTheMissedConnection




Love ya'; mean it! Bye.


P.S. Fabulous partner returned home and we decided on the I'd fly if he'd buy arrangement for dinner. A lovely young woman (probably going into her freshman year  this fall) held the door open for me as I came into the restaurant. The equally lovely young woman who worked there delivered my to go order to my table rather than call out my number. The first young woman whispered to her younger brother as I received my order and he ran to the door to hold it open for me. Evidence of our improved vibration is always there if we care to notice. Thank you, garage sale gals, for the expansion. You're welcome, Universe, for all of us doing our parts to offer expansion to you.







Wednesday, August 3, 2011

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":  


"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