Abraham: Celebrating Big Egos and Other Stuff

I've really been enjoying reducing the clarity setting in Photoshop to make these dreamy-feeling effects.

Earlier Vortex Diaries reveal some of my history in 12-Step programs, which provided stepping stones out of a life I had surely outgrown and into one I naively imagined would permanently quench my thirst for happiness. Well, Honey... (have Whoopie Goldberg read this line in your head, please) things didn't quite go down  that way. Even before Charlotte Davis Kasl published her controversial Many Roads, One Journey: Moving Beyond the 12 Steps in 1992, I had been in a secret wrestling match with the concept of humility, one of the pillars of Bill W.'s amazing offering to the modern world. One point that Kasl makes very wisely, I believe, is that many of us women have patterns of humbling ourselves in ways that actually fuel the addictive cycle. I would boldly expand that notion to include both sexes and go out on an egotistical limb to proclaim:

HUMILITY IS OVERRATED!

There, I've said it! I, whose parents stomped out any lick of self-esteem to prevent a wildfire of conceit they feared would consume me and spread to my five younger siblings. And what was up with that? Since I am in the Vortex as I write this, I can see that they believed that innoculating their brood against big-headedness was the responsibility of any good parent. I am not alone. Most of us received, from numerous cultural messengers, reinforcement of the belief that the ego is the enemy. Well, I'm getting up on my high horse right now, too smart for my own good and too big for my britches, to toot my own horn all high and mighty to pompously and shamelessly bluster that I agree with what Abraham is saying these days. It's good to be egotistical. We are genius creators who are meant to be joyously conceited. I declare it publicly for the first time today, but Honey... (cue Whoopie one more time) deep down inside, I've known it all along. I've known it all along because Source has been there all along calling me toward my genius. 

Raise your hand right now if I've shocked you. I'm going to sit here for a minute and picture that. I'm going to practice not giving a rip whether I see a room, a stadium or even a sea full of raised hands. I'm going to picture Oprah and Eckhart Tolle sadly commiserating over my misguided celebration of ego. I'm going to love them and their beliefs, which, after all, aren't far off from mine. Hell, I'm even going to love any and everyone who would doom me to eternal damnation if they could. I'm loving you and them all because I'm in the Vortex and love is the best-feeling thought of all.

Lately, I've questioned my in-the-Vortex status. I have experienced a LOT of contrast lately and I've been worried. Worried that I'm attracting negative experiences and since I create it all, I must be doing something very wrong. Through some fine-tuning and chilling I've remembered that contrast creates expansion and that not only is suffering optional, it's impossible if I focus on the solution that is created in the same instant as the problem. Abraham states it succinctly. Negative emotion tells us that:

a.) Our emotional guidance system is working.

b.) We have expanded.

c.) We're just not taking the expansion.

I've just been doing that thing that I do that prevents me from hearing the call of source. I've been holding my hand on the hot burner of my negative thoughts. I've been way too focused on reality. I've had a bad case of what-isness. AREN'T I LOVABLE? AREN'T I PRECIOUS? That's me taking the expansion. Once again, if I let go of resistance, I feel better. If I feel better, I allow the solution to show itself to me. Here are two fabulous clips from Magiro333, whom I just found on YouTube recently:
http://tinyurl.com/BestPt1Response2NegEmotion


http://tinyurl.com/BestPt2Response2NegEmotion


Another thing I've worried about (I am so precious!!) is that I seem to run into some pretty negative people. In fact, right after I wrote the previous paragraphs, my fabulous partner and I went to a music festival. We sat down to eat our delicious meals purchased after wandering from booth to booth to appreciate the various choices and since I was in the Vortex, the wrap I got was just great. We sat at a large table enjoying our food and a jazz group led by a neighbor of ours, whom we were pleasantly surprised to see on stage. A woman with a plate of fettucine Alfredo approached a few minutes later and asked if she could sit with us. We welcomed her and as she prepared to sit, she struggled with her paper plate a little and made some very amusing noises as she righted it and prevented the meal from taking a tumble. She looked truly troubled by this and then began to complain about the "incompetent girl" that had served her. I ignored that and commented on the good music. She agreed the band was entertaining. A few minutes later another, younger woman  joined her and began complaining about the service. When I looked at them side by side, and heard their similar griping style, I suspected they were related. I commented on their gorgeous heads of hair and learned they were mom and daughter. They both ate their entire meals and the mom said that it was the worst she'd ever eaten, which I secretly found hilarious. They tried to draw me in to their negative rant about the bad service, and I repeated a line from a comedy routine about women from Texas. "Well, bless her little heart," I said. And bless yours, I thought, as I shifted back to seeing them through the eyes of Source instead of judging their judging.


Later, as we watched an entertaining band and I shook shoulders and stomped and yelled in appreciation, I was also impressed by the couple next to us who kept getting up to dance. They looked pretty darned good out there and seemed to really enjoy it. When the band ended, we chatted and I introduced myself and my partner. They began bickering a bit over who was right about whether there was more entertainment. It was soft and joky at first, but it began to escalate, so we excused ourselves and left. I wondered why I would witness yet another negative interaction. Of course, the minute I got home, I went to YouTube, and as usual, one of the first clips I found answered that question immediately. One of the most basic of Abraham's teachings is that we need all kinds of rascals around us to create the contrast that leads to our expansion. If we're seeing them through the eyes of Source, we're taking the expansion. Abraham says it so well and with such humor:


http://tinyurl.com/OthersCreateOurVortex


So, long story short, quit worrying so much. The Universe is on my side. Things are always working out for me. Thanks again to Abraham and all of you who work as cooperative components in the expansion of the Universe.

Abraham: Aftermath of Portland Abraham Workshop

A Portland cat.

This is less than 2 minutes long:

http://tinyurl.com/DidWeFindAbeDidAbeFindUs

I am so FILLED with love right now that it feels as if my Vortex is beating like a giant heart all around me. This is the feeling of complete and utter alignment with my Inner Being that sometimes feels elusive to the point of misery these days. It's so true what Abraham says: 


You can't go back once you've tasted deliberate alignment. Living in and around the Vortex is so delicious that once you've gotten used to it, being out feels worse than ever. 


So, feeling awful is really good news. Most of us have spent so much time out of the Vortex before we discovered Abraham that we got used to feeling bad, just okay, pretty good, and at times very good, but none of it necessarily on purpose. I, for one, had no idea that life is supposed to feel good, and that I could choose to feel wonderful by deliberately choosing to do so, thought by thought, and moment by moment. 


I learned some incredibly powerful lessons before, during and after the Abraham workshop in Portland on Saturday (June 18th). 


Lesson Number One: Loving What Is
I've gotten very good at ignoring reality. I loved the woman in the hotseat on Saturday who worried about being in denial when it came to relationships. Her question dealt with the deal breakers, as some might call them, in past relationships. She--like almost everyone in our culture--felt she was ignoring red flags about some of the men she had known despite the fact that she really, really liked them and appreciated much about them. She had come from an alcoholic family and had probably done some 12-Step work or some theraputic work, or both, in which denial of reality is pathologized. Abraham congratulated her on being in denial and guided her to look ONLY  at the positive aspects of her partners. I didn't identify too much with her situation at the time of the workshop. I, after all, am in a long-term relationship and I truly love my partner and appreciate him very much. It wasn't until later, when I'd lost contact with my Inner Being temporarily, that I realized that I'd been doing some very sloppy thinking in that arena (I love me very much; aren't I precious?) I'd been doing so well on other fronts, but I had been letting it slide a bit when too many moving parts got my attention the night before the workshop (driving in rush hour traffic, meeting an out-of-town friend who is unfamiliar with the Vortex, and pre-paving my whole busy day only up to the part that I assumed would be a lot of fun). Here's what I learned: my Book of Positive Aspects is an invaluable tool. It's just a cheap little notebook in which I've listed almost everyone I know and interact with on a regular basis. I have Post-It flags dividing up the sections (office supplies are very Vortexy to me), and I've taken the time to list the positive aspects of each person. I started with those who are the most difficult to see through the eyes of Source consistently. I wrote down EVERYTHING wonderful about them that I could think of. Sometimes I could only come up with a few things at first, but as I kept attempting to see my Vortex version of them (seeing them through the eyes of Source), I was able to come up with longer lists. I identified everything from physical characteristics to good taste in clothing, from strengths in personality to talents. Sometimes it was a stretch and I ended up noting a particularly nice pair of socks I saw them wearing. I review the lists occasionally and add to them. And here's the magic: If I take time to quickly read through the list right before I interact with the person, I have way more fun than when I don't. 


I hadn't made a page for our out-of-town friend whom I hadn't seen in a couple of years, so I was just winging it. Instead of loving him where he is and seeing him through the eyes of Source, I did some Step One work and observed things in him I'd forgotten about that I don't like and I focused on that instead of his numerous and wonderful positives. Not only that, I forgot to appreciate the contrast temporarily and completely forgot that I can jump into the Vortex any time I want to if I relinquish my focus on what is. I did have quite a bit of fun in and among the contrast-y moments, but my vibe took a dip that night as I used him as my excuse to ignore the call of Source. 


Lesson Number Two: Tell Your New Story Exclusively
Abraham often reminds us that getting to know someone should never include stories about where you've been. I'm often so amazed at how far I've come that when I meet a new person, I want to demonstrate the power of deliberate thinking by talking about the extreme contrast of my past. It's true that many of us deliberate creators who are enjoying the sweetness of the Vortex on a regular basis are also born teachers who seek to uplift those around us. I can easily fall into the trap of telling the old story, which is quite dramatic, and for which I am ecstatic at having lived, as I get to know a new person. So, fabulous and wonderful new person to whom I blah, blah, blahed the old story on Saturday morning, forget everything I told you if you please, because it really doesn't matter where I've come from. What I forget, at times, is that even though those things happened long ago, I am telling that story in the present moment and I have to lower my vibration to tell that story. And it's amazing how telling one part of the old negative story attracts other parts and pretty soon a trend has started. So I'm sticking with my new story; it's a much better story. 


The point of briefly revisiting those detours from the Vortex is that even though I spent all day Saturday in the Vortex, I had a little bit of a hangover from those Step One moments of focusing negatively. I had two very late nights Thursday and Friday and a very busy week in general, so when I got home on Saturday afternoon, I crashed hard. On the couch. Fully clothed. I think it's very common to download lots of information after seeing Abraham, as well as to make major vibrational adjustments. In addition, fabulous partner was working away on a plumbing project in the basement and those banging and creaking and watery sounds, I believe, figured into whatever was going on with my sleeping body and mind. Let's just say that when I awoke around 8PM, I had no idea where I was. I only stayed awake for a couple of hours and then trundled off to bed.


Sunday was one huge long adjustment period. It took quite a while and a double dose of meditation to find my way back to the Vortex, but when I arrived it was VERY sweet. And today I started with back to back meditation again from the Vortex meditation CD and had a killer day in the Vortex. When I went to YouTube I found exactly what I'd needed to hear, starting with that very short clip at the beginning of the blogpost. Here is another amazing clip that addresses exactly the lessons of this weekend:


http://tinyurl.com/DontLetRealityTrainYourVibe


In addition, I found some new YouTube folks to subscribe to. Eventually, I'll get around to doing another homage to those generous YouTube uplifters. One of the hotseaters on Saturday mentioned how he visits YouTube often, as did a wonderful artist with whom I walked to Starbucks with before the workshop.


Abraham was FANTASTIC! I squeezed some time from my extremely busy week to make--very quickly and somewhat haphazardly--some Vortex Diary cards to pass out to folks at the workshop.  The cards read:


Vortexdiary.blogspot.com
A hardcore Abraham fan documents her experiences in the Vortex.


I was pumped about the trip and about seeing Abraham and in the Vortex and running on adrenaline, I'm sure, and the minute I got to the workshop began passing out cards--about 50 of them. I met so many extraordinary people. Gorgeous, generous, wonderful souls beaming the light of who they really are. Artists, writers, healers, soldiers, teachers and just regular folks who happen to be, one and all, on the leading edge of thought in this incredible Universe of ours. I spoke with several of the hot seat victims, as Abraham likes to jokingly refer to those select few who are called upon. It was a pleasure to interact with so many lovely souls and I invite any of you to subscribe or to email me if you'd like to be on an email list to be notified of new blogposts. I also post on Facebook and Twitter (Judy Corona and JudyFrida, respectively), so there are lots of ways to follow the blog.


I'm really rambling here, as is my habit at times. I will write more specifically about seeing Abraham in the future, I think. Suffice to say, it was amazing as always. This is the first time I've attended with friends and that was a spectacular bonus. Our Abraham group in Salem is turning out to be a wonderful resource for me, and seemingly for many others. Kudos to our wonderful organizer who heard the call of Source and created a space for us all to come together. She is so awesome! 


And a shout out to a friend who is going downstream on some health issues right now. I've been picturing her in perfect health on a daily basis because that's what is in my Vortex and in hers. Much love.

Abraham: Soothing and Loving and Feeling My Way Into the Vortex

A photo from my first shoot with my camera. I'm learning more about its operation and think I would have been able to get more detail in the worm's body if I took the same pic today, but I like it just the same!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, what a perfect, perfect day! This day follows on the heels of some fabulous contrast on several fronts involving the kitchen remodel which provided me with the opportunity to practice pulling back the thoughts that would stop the allowing process. When what looks like a sure-fire catastrophe, screw-up, perfect opportunity to blame someone else for what seems to manifesting in my "reality" (old news) happens now, I often am able to stop myself and say, "Hmmmm, I wonder what incredible opportunity has been created for me by this problem." I'm able to remember, often, that the very instant a problem arises there is a solution created and that the Universe has scores of solutions available to me. If I allow myself to remain in the Vortex by pulling back the "woe is me" thoughts and if I can ignore all those around me who want to tell me how bad this is going to be and just chill, the Universe will knock itself out to give me huge gifts. Here's yet another story:


We ordered our appliances from a local company about 5 weeks ago. Their normal delivery time is a couple of weeks. I started calling last week, because our contractor needed to install the microwave hood before he could begin working on the luscious glass tile backsplash. I found that our salesman was not available and BECAUSE OF MY SLIGHTLY NEGATIVE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS OF MILD FRUSTRATION, I created a situation in which the one appliance that we needed was the one appliance that had not shipped. I did that! I am so precious and I was having a Step One moment (asking) that would make my Step Three (allowing) even more delicious. Because I was not at that time a cooperative component, I was unable to attract other cooperative components to the situation. Long story short, as of yesterday morning, the story was that the model we had ordered was discontinued; there were none in transit; I was one of 9 customers who had ordered this model; I was not first in line if one was found; the owner of the store was being ignored by his sales rep; my salesman was gone for weeks and probably some other details I'm forgetting. I tell this story joyfully because as I received each piece of information, I pulled back the negative thoughts and made statements like, "Things always work out for me," "The Universe is on my side," "My only work is to stay in the Vortex," "I needn't worry myself about this because my beautiful kitchen is already complete," etc. I would not allow even fabulous partner to go dire on me. I would just say, "I'd prefer to tell a different story," or "I can't wait to see what wonderful solution lies ahead," or "I'm a deliberate thinker, so I'm going to think about something else right now," or "I need to get into the Vortex before I attempt to think about this."


I got a call from the store owner yesterday. Not only was that particular model discontinued, the replacement model was smaller and less powerful, had lower CFM's (less sucking power) and wasn't available until August. (I was at that point deliberately pulling back negative thoughts.) But what he was going to do for me was offer me the floor model at a nicely reduced price!!! I should take away those exclamation points because I was not even surprised. I truly knew that because of my current vibrational level, I could not create a catastrophe. I HAD TO be creating an even better solution than buying that model at the very good price we paid for it originally. Oh, yes, the concierge was at work.


In addition to that evidence of my current vibration, there were countless other conversations, synchronicities, coincidences in my day. A person pulling out of a space in a full parking lot just for me. Feeling pulled back to my house during my busy day only to find myself arriving within 30 seconds of a tile delivery. Numerous interactions with friendly strangers, happy babies and delicious friends. And best of all, celebrating a fabulous friend's birthday with her and two of her fabulous sisters and ALL OF US are Abrahamsters! Who could ask for anything more????


So when I began my day today feeling a bit delayed and started to do things while slightly OOV*, I dropped everything and got to my computer to check out an Abraham clip or two. Following is what I found and what influenced the title of this blogpost. I hope you will love it as much as I did, for it moved me right into the Vortex where I remain and where I am milking it by amplifying my connection by doing one thing I love to do: writing to you all. Enjoy:


http://tinyurl.com/WhatIsInHisVortex


Also, just a shout out to all those from other countries who are finding their way to the Vortex Diary. I can see the pageviews in my stats in Blogger/Blogspot, so I don't know if people are actually reading posts, but some are, I'm sure. So hello, Latvia, China, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Canada, Romania, Australia! I've seen many other countries in the past, but I'm now noting new countries in Evernote so that I can acknowledge you all out there. I so appreciate all of you for being cooperative components in the Abraham experience. I love you all. 


*Out of the Vortex

Abraham: Just Groovin' In The Vortex/No Message

I put a toilet paper roll on Eve's leg when I was in the Vortex.

She loves a challenge, so here she is trying to remove it.

The triumphant in the Vortex feline!

I have little to say except:


"Get into the Vortex and then....."


I love you all for reading. I'm excited to go to the Abraham workshop on Saturday. But for now, I'm just in the Vortex and loving these clips:


http://tinyurl.com/LineUpWithYourDreams1


http://tinyurl.com/LineUpWithYourDreams2


http://tinyurl.com/BeLikeAHorse

From our garden to you.

Abraham: Manifesting By Pulling Back the Thoughts

This is what I manifested today.
I plan to enjoy this stove.
In our new kitchen.

I am really pumped. I spent the whole day in the Vortex. It was a very busy little day taking care of tasks associated with the new kitchen, cleaning, organizing, etc. I usually try to get dressed before the workers arrive, but today I didn't make it. I did all my cleaning in my robe and pajamas and I even wrote my earlier blogpost like that. The first time the doorbell rang, it was the paper being delivered. They had missed our house and fabulous partner had called and they very courteously brought it our way. The second time the doorbell rang, I had just published my blogpost and had done my Twitter and Facebook notifications. I was actually composing my little email to local readers, in fact. By this time, it's after 11 AM and I am getting a little self-conscious about being in my robe, but oh, well. 


Standing at my door is a man in a hard hat. Turns out he's from the local power company and he's here to tell me that in 15 minutes they're going to turn off my power. For about an hour. Wow, I tell him, I've got men in there running power tools and I'm planning to use electricity for the computer, the iron and the hairdryer. I start to go down the negative thought path and remember that I don't really have to. I hold those thoughts back and decide that I really do have time to tell the workers and do all that I need to do. In other words, I pre-paved a successful segment for all of us in this house and by George, that's what we all had. It was close enough to lunch for the workers that they could stop when the electricity did. It inspired me to get ready really fast, get out the door, go have some fun and to get back just in time to listen to the wonderful Peter Levine webcast. So, in the Vortex I stayed.


So, there I was at 3PM, happy as a lark. We had been able to align with all of our stainless steel appliances (microwave hood, refrigerator and dishwasher) and to buy them from one store, so that was wonderful, but I still didn't have a stove. Long ago, I knew that I would find my stove on CraigsList. I found a beauty a couple of months ago, but it was too soon to buy, so I let that one go. I started searching seriously again last week, but the supply of stainless ranges online seemed to have dried up. Then on Monday evening I found an incredible deal on a dual fuel range with a convection oven in Lake Oswego, a town about 45 miles north of where we live. I called and the gentleman said that he would hold it for me. It didn't look exactly as I had pictured my stove, but it was incredibly inexpensive, the right size and it just seemed too good to pass up. This gentleman texted me on Tuesday morning saying I could come after 1PM to look at the range and I agreed to do that. Fabulous partner and I made plans to drive up as soon as he got off work. I called the man's wife as he had instructed me and she told me that they had already sold the stove. I started to argue and then simply thanked her and hung up. Aha, I thought, this little bit of contrast is making my Step 3 even more wonderful than I can imagine it. My stove is in my Vortex, I know it.


Flash forward to 3PM today and me taking a quick look on CraigsList to see if any more stainless steel gas ranges have shown up. None in my town. None in Portland, the city to the north. I check in Seattle, hundreds of miles north. We're planning to visit there soon so maybe it could work out. Nothing in my price range (I have also envisioned getting a really good deal on this stove, because that's very Vortexy to me). I look at the list of cities and notice that Corvallis, a college town south of us, has a CraigsList. Completely on a whim, I click on Corvallis and almost immediately I find a listing with 3 beautiful big pictures of a stove I could love. The address is on Canyon Way, which is the name of a street in Beaverton, a town up North, not down South. I excitedly call the number. Yes, they still have the stove and yes, they are in Beaverton, not Corvallis. I'm surprised, because at the listed price, this stove should logically be gone by now. And this is a store that offers a warranty on all their purchases. I begin to think.....and I pull back the doubtful thought. I call fabulous partner, tell him about it and tell him I'm going to drive up and take a look at it. The man at the store says he will hold the stove for me and won't sell it before I get there.


When I arrive, the man I talked to has gone and the stove has a much higher price on it than the price listed in the ad. (I pull back the thought.) The man who is there takes me at my word and says that I can have it at the price I quoted. Of course he does, I'm in the Vortex. When you live in the Vortex, the Universe is on your side. Things go your way.


I noticed in the picture that there were a few scratches on the front edge of the stove. I had brought my can of Never Dull (one of my favorite metal polishes) and a buffing cloth and I tell him I just want to try to polish up some of those scratches. He takes a picture of the can because I tell him that this product will remove a lot of things from metal (rust, water spots, baked on grease, etc.) and if you want stainless or chrome to sparkle, this is what to use. I got mine at an auto supply store and I've had my one can has lasted for about 3 years now and I love it. But wait, he says, if you want to remove those scratches here's what you need. He brings out a 600 grit (or maybe even finer) black sanding sponge and some furniture spray polish. He sands out one of the scratches and now I'm in my restoration Vortex, because it looks beautiful. I purchase the stove!


By the way, I mention to him that his ad did not appear in my search of the Portland CraigsList. I tell him I found the ad by going to the Corvallis CL. That's funny, he says, we never place ads in Corvallis. I have to assume that the glitch was simply for my benefit. It was a way to reserve my stove just for me. By staying in the Vortex and then following impulses while I was in there, the path to my stove lit up. The decisions to not be annoyed with the other stove people or the electric company kept me in the Vortex and kept me in Step 3, the allowing mode. 


I drove away from the store reflecting on the day and rejoicing. I decided to drive into Portland to visit my son. I would normally just feel my way back into Portland by driving down Canyon Way. But I had my Android and its wonderful navigation programs and decided to follow their directions. Of course I was listening to Abraham--I was in the car, what else would I be listening to? I took a different route with wonderfully clear traffic and ended up stopped at a light on Williams and Shaver. Abraham has just made a joke and I was laughing. A car to my right moved through the intersection and revealed a big sign leaning on the side of the building (a bike repair shop) which proclaimed:

"ABRAHAM FIXES"

I could not agree more.

Abraham: Just Swept In/Coffee in the Vortex

My shadow Buddha.

Hello from the Vortex, all you lovely Abe fans out there. At one time I pushed against using the term "Abe", but that was OOV and I'm laughing about that because today from inside the Vortex, I quite like it!


This is just a short blog today. I had pre-paved some loveliness today and then received an email about a free Peter Levine (inventor of Somatic Experiencing) webcast happening this afternoon! If you're interested and can listen today at 5PM EST, here's the link to register, which takes only moments (keep scrolling to the bottom of the page):


http://nicabm.com/treating-trauma/


So, I was already in the Vortex and doing housework and rearranging some of the packed-up kitchen things that are stacked in many piles in our living areas. I made more space and order and really enjoyed that. We have two lovely workmen in our home today and I decided that I fancied a cup of coffee and offered some to them. I don't drink coffee often but I sometimes love the coffee experience when I'm in the Vortex and it was absolutely lovely today. I used to drink coffee every day and sometimes extra cups to get my butt moving. Deliberately setting out to enjoy something, however, is a newer experience for me and this is just FUN!


And while I have things planned for today, I also felt the impulse to blog a little. I'm all about following impulses lately, so here I am. Mainly, I wanted to share another homebuiltindoorplane clip. I really love Dave's contributions to YouTube. He and so many others (like vibrationsrus, whom I wrote about recently: 

http://vortexdiary.blogspot.com/2011/05/abraham-cooperative-components-friends.html 


and who is a lovely woman) contribute so much to my expansion with the work that they do. And after listening to the following clip, I just have to claim responsibility for aligning with the information. I did that! 


http://tinyurl.com/TakeCredit4ItALL


I was writing this morning and reflecting upon the last year and the leaps I've made vibrationally and WOW!!!!! I got a picture in my mind--a Vortex-eye view, really--of the path that lit up for me in the last year. I realized that I was able to take all those next logical steps by applying the Abe teachings, especially "Get into the Vortex and then anything else you have time for."


Some of the things that have manifested:
 -A wonderful local Meetup group that focuses on LOA and a lot on Abraham.
-The Vortex Diary
-Lovely new friends and acquaintances.
-A trip to Europe.
-A new kitchen.
-Fabulous improvements in health.
-Improved relationships w/friends and family.
-Deepened understanding of the brain and nervous system, Somatic Experiencing and many other things I'm interested in.
-A calm in my solar plexus that is blissful.
-A noticeable raising of my vibrational setpoint.


And I could go on and on. Taking stock and appreciating all that and being flooded with a list way longer is a joyful experience. I thank all of you out there for being a part of that. The synergy is very uplifting to me.


Have a fabulous day, all of you lovely physically-focused spiritual beings out there. Also, please comment or email me if you're going to the Abraham workshop in Portland on June 18th. I'm referring to the workshop that will, no doubt, rock the planet with the new frontiers of thought we will cooperatively create!

Abraham: Cooperative Components: Friends, Brothers, Vibrationsrus,

A photo I took on Wednesday as I puttered in the Vortex.

After a delicious interaction with my friend last night, I have been mostly in the Vortex. I got to catch up with the wondrous life that she has created filled with love and exploration and expansion. And I got to relate stories I had not told her yet of the amazing relationship my brother and I have forged despite the fact that we reside thousands of miles apart. She helped me appreciate this huge gift with her reaction and appreciation of the stories I told. Really fun!


Today, it turns out, is the day we must choose the color for our kitchen and dining room. I started to do that thing that I do when I remembered that we can't get it wrong. I was in my car listening to the same CD (Mexican Riviera Cruise/2009) I've been listening to and, as usual, Abraham has sneaked in and added material that wasn't there before. I got swept into the Vortex and saw the most magnificent tree I've ever seen as if for the first time. It is gigantic and beautiful and it grows along a busy street and it's been there all along, I suspect. Or maybe I just created it (I did have access to the power that creates worlds, after all, since I was in the Vortex) so that I would have something gigantic and beautiful to appreciate. Either way, it caused a lovely swelling feeling in the region of my heart which I can feel right now as I see that gorgeous tree in my mind. I'm still in the Vortex, you see, because after getting swept in and after seeing such a gorgeous sight, I just milked it, baby. I milked it for all it is worth. 


I had already visited the paint store and found easy answers to all my questions. I had all my art journaling "equipment" with me and I decided to go to Borders and play for a while. Last time I was there I was OOV* and couldn't find even one new art or craft book. Today I pulled a stack so large, I could not get through it in one sitting (abundance). The first book I looked at and the first project I saw in that book hooked me. It was a little birdcage with a painted cardstock base and painted galvanized wires for the bars. I had recently attracted a set of watercolor pencils from a thrift store and I happened to have some watercolor paper with me and I began to play with those cooperative component. I even decided that I was going to draw that birdcage somehow and write down the instructions. I put my earphones on and cued up "Beyond Words", an incredible album by Bobby McFerrin. The cuts with Chick Corea are completely and unutterably Vortextual. Those musicians have given me hours and hours of easy entry into the Vortex with the cooperating that they are doing to create music that had never been before. Listen:


http://tinyurl.com/McFerrinCoreaInvocation


For me, music and making art go hand in hand. There is a synergy that occurs and I'm just sure I'm opening up new territory in my neocortex as my axons and dendrites learn and teach and make new connections. I'm reading that book on the brain and discovering so many fun facts: Each neuron has one axon (root) and up to 100,000 dendrites (branches). The axon sends information (teaches) and the dendrites receive information (learn). There are more ways to connect the neurons in  one brain than there are atoms in the Universe! (1) 


What?!? 


This book is 10 years old, but is dedicated to Temple Grandin and seems pretty interesting. I love to think about such things as I'm involved in a task. I love to think about thinking. I love to observe or reflect upon how my own brain works. When I'm learning anything I've set out to learn, I'm usually in the Vortex. But that's a tangent--I was writing about the synergy of music and making art. And Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea made it possible for me to draw that cage once, see the problems with that drawing and, because I was already in the Vortex and because I was milking it and because I had added the music, decide that it would be FUN and CHALLENGING to draw it over again. The neocortex loves nothing better than problem-solving. If we can avoid frustration (negative emotion), our thoughts don't drag us into old patterns and the positive, directed, focused thinking can come on like gangbusters. I had one weak little negative thought and then I was happily drawing my second birdcage. Here's what's so cool!!!! There was a problem with that drawing! When I began to apply metallic watercolor paint to the wires in the drawing, the India ink I had used began to run. It was kind of a neat little drawing. Another weak little negative thought tried to get my attention, but I was appreciating Chick Corea's amazing chord structures and progressions, and it just couldn't take root. I searched and found the one truly waterproof pen I had with me and I started again. By drawing the cage 3 times, I could probably build it in my sleep. In fact, I may dream about it tonight.

Here's the little cage I will be building.

Another reason I feel wonderful today, I believe, is that last night before beginning my slumber, I thought about who I would like at my round table to help me learn photography. (See Vortex Diary: Esme and Sofie/May 25, 2011/Invisible Counselor Technique) I decided to invite Henri Cartier-Bresson, Annie Leibovitz, Ansel Adams, and my brother-in-law. I didn't use my new camera today, but I did take some pictures with my phone and they turned out well. 


But wait, there's more! My phone tweets when I get a notification (email, text, voicemail).  I received a nice surprise when I followed up on one tweet today. A wonderful YouTuber, vibrationsrus, had replied to a message I sent her about linking to her YouTube clip on May 18th ("OOVHissyFit" is what I called it in my tinyURL). It was a really nice reply and it led me to look at her channel and to find the following amazing clip that she posted today. I have actually heard a part of this excerpt before, or maybe I heard the whole thing, because I remember the question and the questioner. But today I heard it from the Vortex and it really hit me and answered so many of my questions:

http://tinyurl.com/WillNotLeaveVortex4Others

I'm loving being a cooperative component in your quest to get into the Vortex, to stay in longer, and to start noticing all the evidence of your higher vibration. Life is supposed to be good and it begins with making peace with where we are by appreciating what is and being eager for more. My fabulous partner is in the next room playing guitar and I'm really appreciating that.


I grow weary. It's 10:10 PM and I haven't chosen a picture for this post yet. It's been a fabulous day and I think I might have enough energy to take the picture I'm envisioning.**






*OOV=Out of the Vortex
**I did take the picture of the cage I drew. But I did it this morning.


(1) Ratey, John G. 2001 A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception,                 Attention and the Four Theaters of the Brain. Pantheon Books, New York, NY.