Wiping the Mirror

It just occurred to me : affirmations state the truth of what is already there and helps us, over time and with repetition, to see and know that it was true all along.  Our negative lenses are replaced.  So in my practice of Abundance I repeat a phrase : "I am an abundant being, Living in an abundant world, All that I need and want for my Highest Good, Comes to me abundantly and generously with love and grace, And I gratefully receive it and gracefully accept it, So be it and so it is."  And this made me realise this morning that I am already abundant and rich in many things, including money. I am rich.  In this moment I have everything that I need.  Danielle laPorte says "your wealth - of which there are many definitions - will start to measure up to your notion of freedom."  I love it!

Julia Cameron calls the process of a recovering artist, in The Artist's Way, "wiping the mirror".  It was there all along.

And I also think that working in groups (as we do on The Joy Journey - my take on The Artist's Way) also serves to "wipe the mirror" as your truth is reflected in the others in your group.  It is a very powerful process that has the effect of helping you to engender a sense of belonging and acceptance of self that I have never witnessed in any other forum.

"When I first published The Artist's Way I hoped that Artist’s Way groups —“creative clusters” — would spring into being, where people would serve one another as believing mirrors, uniting with a common aim of creative unblocking.

Having a place where you can share, support, and celebrate each other provides artist-to-artist and heart-to-heart help. Success occurs in clusters and is born in generosity."  Julia Cameron

And so I am learning so much in hosting The Artist's Way groups and witnessing heart-opening, softening and kindness that is authentic validation of Life as it is meant to be lived : Kindly, gently realizing your worth and place in the world and the pure, shining beauty of your unique expression.

Journey between lives - Dr Micheal Newton

Dr Micheal Newton ( doctor of counselling psychology and Master Hypnotherapist) wrote 2 books called Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls that I have read twice. (There are more.) He writes about case after case of what people experience when they die.  I find this very comforting to read as he is a scientist that never believed in life after death or any religion himself but stumbled across it in his work and he says the thing that made him believe was the consistency with which thousands of clients reported on what happened to them just after death and then between lives.  Their stories were all the same and paint a picture of our lives on earth and beyond that are practically spiritual.  And in this case, spiritual means that we are primarily spirits visiting earth in human suits for the purpose of figuring out the answers of questions we have forgotten.  We learn lessons and remember who we really are whilst living these physical lives.  There is no hell.  There is no judging, punishing God.  There is kindness, compassion, learning, patience, generosity, fun, joy and freedom.  And he says the 2 most common things that people experience when they die are a sense of freedom and joy!

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And if you are inspired to read his books, they are : 

If you want peace of mind and an alternative way of looking at the world and the worlds beyond this, then this may be the key for you.

Connected, expressed and open-hearted

I have been missing the past few months because I am living my dream of facilitating workshops, connecting deeply with others and sharing all those brilliant people's wisdom that have come before me.  It has been an adjustment; a series of adjustments, permissions and change to accommodate and acclimatize to the new dynamics in my family, my life, my commitments.  Little changes, gentle and consistent, have left me changed.  I am expressed a little more in my life.  I am sharing myself a little more.  With clients and with my family.

My theme this year, my intention this year is encapsulated in the word: Embody.  I wished to embody more of me, more of my life.  A lot of me was latent.  Wishful thinking. Etherised. Not quite solid.  I call it vacating myself.  Because literally, I can be there in body, but my mind would be involved in a whole different story, a whole different me, a whole different life.  Me, vacated.

I held myself in, in fear of possible rejection.  And the fear kept me stuck.

Gently, consistently I have come out of my shell a little more. Workshops. Taking my family to art exhibitions, Andre the Hilarious Hypnotist, coffee shops, chatting more about what is in my head.  Sharing myself.  And the response has been positive.  We laughed at Andre and his hilariously hypnotized volunteers and I felt like me when I took my family to an art expo.  It was fun!  I feel full. And my workshops give me such deep fulfillment that doing scary stuff like writing, choosing, speaking in public, holding groups, asking for money, receiving money, and much more, has become scary stuff that I just do, again and again.  Almost in the background, not the main focus.  I need to do this so I can do that.  And I desire that so much that I just do this, even though its scary. Get it?

It is thanks also to supportive friends and family and to my whole journey towards this point of fuller expression.  Danielle la Porte in her book FireStarter Sessions asks her readers to write down how they would like to feel in their lives.  A crazy dump of descriptive words.  And then to see a pattern emerge and chose only 3 words out of the bunch.  These 3 final words can be set as your daily intention, guiding you when you make decisions.  Mine are : Connected, Expressed and Open-hearted.  I have written them in my diary and when I need to commit to something, I ask myself : Will this help me to feel connected, expressed and open-hearted?  Its really works!  It brings clarity.  And clarity brings ease and decisiveness to me.  Check her out on this video talking about her book: