"Downtime" - Rod MacIver

A crucial consideration in creating a [creative and authentic] life,
 is downtime.  By downtime I don't mean just time away from
the work.  I don't mean time to run errands or time to watch TV,
but time for reflection and solitude.  Time to let your mind
just wander to wherever it wants to go.  Time to absorb whatever
messages the larger universe might want to send.  Time to give
the messages deep inside your inner world an opportunity
to bubble up.

Without downtime [solitude], and it does require discipline and
planning, you lose touch with yourself.  You lose perspective on
the challenges of your life, and they start to take over.  You lose
access to your creative juice.  You may think that what you are
doing is dealing with pressing issues, and that those issues are so
important that you can't afford time away, but the message your
inner world will receive is that it is not valued.  It will then
retreat, and your [creative] work, your life, will lose power.

All the major setbacks in my life have come after a protracted
period of addressing pressing issues and not taking time off to
relax my mind and gain perspective.

Rod MacIver
Artist 
Heron Dance

~

Photo from the Internet

Happy July :)

Has anyone got an igloo I can use ?

LOLOLOLOL

 

The Ancestors' Unlived Life - Matt Licata

Deep in the somatic unconscious, the ancestors continue to live
within us, emerging-into-now by way of their sensitivities and
gifts, as well as through the shards of their unlived lives.

Their lost joy, broken dreams, and unfulfilled creativity have a
way of taking up residency in our cell tissue, subtle bodies, and
in our bellies and hearts.

As we enter into the mandala of descent - downward into body,
mud, roots and Earth - these ones begin to appear: as symbol,
image, feeling and synchronicity.  They have a way of shifting
shapes in order to find us, through color, tree, water, and sound.

What is that we're carrying on their behalf?  What dreams remain
undreamed and unmanifested for them?  What are their deepest
longings?  What secrets have they never been able to share?

What keeps them awake at night?  What brings them alive and
unleashes their creativity and unique essence?  What visions are
not permitted to take form, of the divine within and of the divine
world?

What were they required to disown in order to fit in to a place that
had lost its sensitivity and soul?  What became buried in the
shadows?  What story were they unable to tell, what feelings were
they unable to feel?

In what way are we being asked to open a portal into re-emergence,
re-enchantment, and revisioning?

As we open to receive this offering, an inner sanctuary forms to
illuminate and transmute this transgenerational soul-material.  Inside
that structure, the seemingly solid lines between past, present and
future begin to fall away.

Being "in the present moment" we share this moment with the
ancestral ones and the spirits of the Earth who are with us.

In this way, past, present, and future co-emerge and interpenetrate,
opening a diamond-like passageway into the mysteries of self 
and other, being and becoming, and a new alchemy of
separation and union.

The individual self is an emanation, a manifestation, of the Totality,
a unified expression of the clear-light nature.  Unique and 
differentiated, while at the same time non-separate and one.

Matt Licata

~

Vortex Art
Mystic Meandering
Feb. 2024

 

The Mysterious Creative Unknown - a meandering...

Recently I watched a series called "Creative Energy Levels on
video by Donna Iona Drozda - artist/writer, and fellow blogger.
I watched the Intro and "0" (zero) videos, (there are 9 levels).
During the "0" video she talked of the zero being a symbol of
wholeness.  That was my Aha moment, and wrote in my journal -
"I need to come back to wholeness, come back to my Authentic
Being-Self!  My Natural State of Being.  I need to reclaim my
wholeness again.  So I started engaging in creating vortexes
with CrayPas oils.

~

Twenty years ago I worked with an artist/"spiritual teacher"
of the Kashmir Shaivism tradition who had a studio called:
"Art Iza Way."  He used creativity/art as a way of remembering
your True Self.  Now, I'm not an "artist", but I started drawing/
painting "vortexes" (top down) back then on pieces of poster
board with CrayPas oil sticks.  During sessions he would show
me how oftentimes figures would unexpectedly emerge in and
through the"art", depending on how you *looked* at it -
The Mysterious Creative Unknown.

He showed me how to *look* at art (life) from different angles,
turning it, or looking sideways at it, etc., and see what revealed
itself.  Interestingly my earlier vortexes didn't reveal anything
"mystical" :)  He was trying to show me through art, that
everything is a matter of perspective, which of course depends
on how you *see*, and from *where* you see. He would say:
"life is a play of perspectives."

He has since moved his studio, and calls it "Self Discovery Studio,"
and no longer offers "art" as part of his sessions, but uses
different styles of Self-inquiry through relaxed conversation, as
well as meditation, and sometimes chanting.

~

One night after listening to the "0" video in the Creative Energy
Levels series with Donna Iona Drozda, I decided I wanted to
revive doing vortexes.  So pulled some poster board from under
the bed, cut out an 11x11 piece, got the CrayPas oil sticks, picked 
the colors I was drawn to (usually 2 complimentary colors), used a
large piece of cardboard, which just happened to under the bed as
well, and just started rubbing the oil sticks in circles, one by one,
on a piece of poster board.  I worked on the floor on the piece of
cardboard.  It was 11:30pm.

It was exhilarating and calming at the same time - freeing, just going
round and round, creating circles with my fingers and thumb.  Then
I started blending the oils on the poster board with fingers and thumb,

also going in a circular motion.  The corrugated cardboard made
imprints as well, as I worked the oils together.

Working in this way there really was no intention.  There was no
expectation of what it will look like, other than a vortex, but
sometimes it surprised me.  It is the Creative Unknown that sometimes
emerges.  In the photo above a "figure" emerged.  It appeared to be a
hooded figure at first, then it seemed to be a cap with possibly a long
beard. I clearly saw a face with two eyes looking out at me.  I gasped,
and was excited.  I get excited when there is movement from
within; when "The Mystery" reveals Itself in some way, whether
through art, poems, or life itself...

The "far away" view here in the photo gives the overall look of this
mysterious figure.  In closer views the figure got lost, blended back
into the vortex.  It is seen better in person than what the camera can
capture, and you may not see anything at all, or you may see
something different.

It'z magical :)

Creativity can bring a new sense of wholeness and balance back into
life again;  and can "reconnect" me with my "Inner Life" - my Inner
Beingness - waiting to reveal Itself...

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 11, 2024

~

Art - Mystic Meandering
Vortex Art
Red Vortex with Figure
Feb 2024

 

The Creative Drive - Galway Kinnell

One can have a lot of time and yet feel one has very little.
A person who wants an inner life needs what you might call
"open" time - time that hasn't already been filled before one
enters it with minor concerns, little duties.  The more
conscientious a person is, the more easily small things force
themselves into the consciousness.  Precisely because they are
so small one knows one can easily take care of them.  I keep
finding in my pockets old lists of errands that in hindsight are
incredibly trivial.  It's the fact that the items are crossed off
that 's so pathetic - the fact that I actually worried about these
tasks and actually did them.  Tillie Olson has written an essay
on the penalties of postponing serious work for the sake of
things of this kind.  It's a fine essay.  She advocates going
straight for the real work and to hell with everything else.
And she's right.  The creative drive withers away otherwise.

I produce most and write best when I have no schedule at all,
when I'm able to wander where whim carries me - both physically,
through a city or a countryside, and mentally, in reading, talking,
scribbling, thinking, whatever.  Poems don't come to me often
when solicited.

Galway Kinnell

- from an interview published in the book Walking Down the
Stairs.

Downtime is the basis of creative time.  It is important that that
time not be filled with trivial things --  errands, doing the
dishes -- but rather time to day dream, [to spend time in
"The Silence"], to meander through the backwoods, to wander
around town, notebook in hand, just in case something bubbles up.

Rod MacIver
Heron Dance

~

Art - Mystic Meandering

Vortex Art 2024

Water Whirlpool
on black paper

 

Quality of Life - Rod MacIver

The tendency is to trade our time, our lives, on unnecessary
distractions...

Simplicity... - allows us the freedom to say no to activities and
projects [or to people].  Simplicity contributes to independence
from the dominant culture and its preoccupation with the extreme,
the ridiculous, the trivial.  Simplicity enhances our ability to
create a work of beauty, to be independent, to deal in truth.

In that way, simplicity contributes to the courage of conviction.

The spiritual life has always been the simple life, the reflective
life.  Simplicity enhances your relationship with your inner
world.  Reducing clutter and focusing on the essential [the Essence]
is an important aspect of slowing down.

The soul is simple; it doesn't relate to complicated.  It needs
simple pleasures.  Wisdom asks for simplicity -- the elimination
of unnecessary distraction...  What is the essence here?  What
can be removed without detracting from the whole?  Where's the
juice?

...

What can you cut out that you wouldn't miss?  What can you give
away without impacting the quality of your life?  Where's the juice
of your life? What can be removed to allow you to focus on that?

...

The thoughts offered above were originally written to myself in
my journal.

Rod MacIver - Heron Dance

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Trust...

Religion is a vehicle;
Spirituality is a vehicle;
Metaphysics is a vehicle;
A Guru/Teacher is a vehicle;
Quantum Physics is a vehicle;
Creativity and Art is a vehicle;
Yoga and Meditation is a vehicle;
and maybe Psychology is a vehicle;
tending to our traumas and wounds;
Maybe telling our stories of challenge
and difficulty is also a vehicle for us to
discover what is true for ourselves...

We don't have to follow a prescribed path,
or one teacher, or one way, or one story, but
use all "ways" to access the truth of existence;
the truth of your Being...

Life itself is the vehicle...

Trust your own way...
Trust your own experience...

Sometimes that means we have to go to the
darker places within for the truth to be revealed...

Mystic Meandering
Jan. 21, 2023

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Embrace the Day...

Rest Dear Heart, Rest...

Embrace the day with Rest,

with clarity, with ease of mind...

Feel the warm, fluid rhythm
of Life around you;
upholding you,

carrying you
through the day,
landing you safely
on evening's shore,
through the twilight
and into the night...

And out of the darkness
a shining light...

Rest , Dear Heart, Rest...

Mystic Meandering
Nov. 29, 2018

~

Photo - Wave Curl Mandala

~

In 2018 I did an "8 Day Challenge" presented by
Donna Iona Drozda, artist and educator from
Wren House Studio, on becoming aware of our
natural rhythms with life; how we orient ourselves
to the rhythm of each day.  The above mandala was
done as a part of the process, representing the rising wave
of my Inner Rhythm reaching outward to embrace the light/day.

The poem came as a result of drawing the image.

 

A Creative Universe - Thomas Berry

Empirical inquiry into the universe reveals that from its
beginnings in the galactic system to its earthly expression
in human consciousness the universe carries within itself
a spiritual as well as physical dimension.  Otherwise human
consciousness emerges out of nowhere.  In reality the human
activates the most profound dimension of the universe itself,
its capacity to reflect on and celebrate itself in conscious
self-awareness.

[we need to]...establish a deeper understanding of the spiritual
dynamics of the universe as revealed through our own empirical
insight into the mysteries of its functioning...

When we create, it is not purely out of ourselves, but out of
a continuation of the creativity of the universe...


Thomas Berry
From: Dream of the Earth

with thanks to Heron Dance

~

Intuition is the mainline to the Universe. It's how the
Universe communicates.  It's the flow of Awareness
that comes from the Universe...

my husband :)

~

Photo from the Internet

 

Divine Dissatisfaction - Martha Graham

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening
that is translated through you into [creative] action, and
because there is only one of you in all time, this expression
is unique.  And if you block it, it will never exist through
any other medium and it will be lost.  The world will not
have it.  It is not your business to determine how good
it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other
expressions.  It is your business to keep the channel 
open.  You do not even have to believe in yourself, or
your "work."  You have to keep yourself open and aware
to the urges that motivate you.  There is a queer dis-
satisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching
and makes us more alive...
Keep the channel open...

Martha Graham
Dancer/Choreographer

~

Befriend this perennial dissatisfaction while continuing
to unlock the spiritual electricity of creative flow.

Julia Cameron

with thanks to Brain Pickings for quotes

~

Art - Mystic Meandering

 

The "Art" of Recognition - Walker Percy

My theory is that the purpose of art is to transmit universal
truths of a sort, but of a particular sort, that in art, whether
it's poetry, fiction or painting, you are telling the reader or
listener or viewer something he already knows but which
he doesn't quite know that he knows, so that in the action of
communication he experiences a recognition, a feeling that
he has been there before, a shock of recognition.  And so,
what the artist does, or tries to do, is simply validate the
human experience and to tell people the deep human truths
which they already unconsciously know.

Walker Percy

with thanks to Whiskey River

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
"Sacred Shadow"
Shadows on a wall colored purple

 

Mystical Fog...

 

Unable to sleep, I pattered down to the living room
at 3:45 am and was surprised to find fog out the
window.  I haven't seen fog in a very long time...
I grew up in New England, but have lived in semi-
arid Colorado for more than 40 years.  There's not
often fog here...  So what a delight to find my
child-like wonder again! - on a sleepless mystical foggy
night; falling in love with the simple beauty and
magic of nature in the wee hours...

Here's a different view out the back window.
The chimney on the house behind us looks like
a lighthouse. :) A matter of perspective I know... 

And here I inverted the color for even more magic... :)

~

Regard everything as fantasy...

Regard everything as transparent...
See through everything...

See that everything is in transition...

Liberate concepts and beliefs...

Let go of the need for an "answer"/solution...

Rest in the nature of Essence ~ the Primordial
State of everything...

Be a child of fantasy...
Be curious instead of afraid...

Pema Chodron
Buddhist teacher

Pull Out Your Wonders - Nick Penna

When you listen you reach
into dark corners and
pull out your wonders.
When you listen your
ideas come in and out
like they are waiting in line.
Your ears don't always listen.
It can be your brain, your
fingers, your toes.
You can listen anywhere.
Your mind might not want to go.
If you can listen you can find
answers to questions you didn't know.
If you have listened, truly listened,
you don't find yourself alone.

Nick Penna - fifth grade !!!!

From: Poetic Medicine by John Fox

With Thanks to The Beauty We Love

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

~

What are your gifts - "wonders" - to the world that you could
pull out despite the weariness of existence that we
are experiencing these days with the COVID
hanging around - like a lurker in our lives?

 

Creative Entitlement - Elizabeth Gilbert

Creativity is the relationship between a human being and
the mysteries of inspiration...

You have treasures hidden within you... extraordinary treasures.
Bringing those treasures to light takes work and faith and focus
and courage...  and the clock is ticking, and the world is
spinning and we simply do not have time anymore to think small.

We are all capable of brushing up against a sense of mystery and
inspiration.  We may be able to draw nearer to that source than
we think, being gently propelled by some force.  Something
carries us along, something not "me."

"Creative Living" is living a life that is driven more strongly
by curiosity than by fear.

You will never be able to create if you don't believe that you
are entitled to at least try.  "Creative Entitlement" doesn't mean
behaving like a princess, or acting as though the world owes
you anything.  Creative entitlement simply means believing
 that you are *allowed* to be here, and that merely by being
 here you are allowed to have a voice, and a vision of your own. 

The poet David Whyte calls the sense of creative entitlement
"the arrogance of belonging" and claims it is an absolutely vital
privilege to cultivate if you wish to interact more vividly with life.
Without it, you will never push yourself out of the suffocating
insulation of personal safety and into the frontiers of the beautiful
and the unexpected.

"The arrogance of belonging" is not about egotism or self-absorption.
In a strange way it's the opposite.  It is a divine force that will
actually take you out of yourself and allow you to engage
 more fully with life.  It's not abut saying "I am the greatest", but
 merely saying "I am here" - to simply allow yourself to exist
 and express yourself. [to allow your Core Beingness
to express through you...]

Your soul will mobilize accordingly.  It will mobilize ecstatically,
because this is what your soul was born for.  Your soul [your
Core Beingness] has been waiting for you to wake up to your
 own existence [your innate Aliveness] for years.

Do whatever brings you to life.  Follow your own fascinations...
Trust them.  Create whatever causes a revolution in your Heart.

Inspiration is trying to send you messages in every form it can.
Through dreams, through portents, through clues, through
coincidences, through deja vu, through kismet, through inspiring
waves of attraction and reaction, through the chills that run up
your arms, through the hair that stand on the back of your neck,
through the pleasure of something new and surprising.  Through
stubborn ideas that keep you awake all night long - whatever works.

The work wants to be made, [whatever 'the work' is for you] and it
wants to be made through you.  [You Core Being wants to express
ItSelf through you in creative ways.]

Elizabeth Gilbert

From: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

[brackets mine]

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
photo of leaves on grass in the Fall, color digitally inverted.

Magic! :)

Waking up to your Aliveness - Elizabeth Gilbert

Creativity is the relationship between a human being and the
mysteries of inspiration...

We are all capable of brushing up against a sense of mystery and
inspiration.  We may be able to draw nearer to that source than we
think, being gently propelled by some force, something not "me."

"Creative living" is living a life that is driven more strongly by
curiosity than be fear. [But] you won't be able to create anything
interesting out of your life if you don't believe in "creative
entitlement."  This doesn't mean behaving like a princess, or acting
as though the world owes you anything.  "Creative entitlement"
simply means believing that you are allowed to be here, and that
merely by being here, you are allowed to have a voice, and a vision
of your own.

The poet David Whyte calls this sense of creative entitlement "the
arrogance of belonging", and claims that it is absolutely vital
to cultivate if you wish to interact more vividly with life.
Without this "arrogance of belonging", you will never be able to take
any creative risks, without it, you will never push yourself out of the
suffocating insulation of personal safety and into the frontiers of the
beautiful and the unexpected.

The "arrogance of belonging" is not about egotism or self-absorption.
In a strange way it is a divine force that will actually take you out of
yourself and allow you to engage more fully with life.  Because often
what keeps you from "creative living" is your self-absorption, i.e.
your self-doubt, your self-disgust, your self-judgment, your crushing
sense of self-protection.  The "arrogance of belonging" pulls you out
of the the darkest depths of self-hatred, not by saying "I am the
greatest!" but merely saying "I am here" -
the simple entitlement to exist and
express yourself.

Your soul will mobilize accordingly.  It will mobilize ecstatically,
because this is what your Soul [Being] was born for.  Your Soul
has been waiting for you to wake up to your own existence
[your Aliveness] for years. 
[Being wants to express ItSelf through you in creative ways.]

Elizabeth Gilbert
Author of Eat Pray Love

above excerpt from: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear 

[brackets mine]

~

Photo - leaves on grass,
color digitally inverted

Trust Your Vision - Ivan Granger

So often we pour ourselves intensely into life's purpose without
actually pausing to consider why we are doing what we are doing.
How is it a reflection of who we truly are?  How does it express
our specific qualities and role within the larger panorama?  What
does it imply about the fundamental nature of reality?

Rarely in the modern world are we encouraged to discover our
vision and dedicate ourselves to it.  To the prevailing mindset,
one's vision is thought to be intangible, suggesting something
that is a fantasy whose pursuit is narcissistic or even delusional.
The focus of life must be practical with goals that are approved
and easily measured.

That approach, while seemingly reasonable and safe, is
devastating to both the individual and to society as a whole.
While we certainly must live effectively within the physical
and social worlds that require a certain level of practical purpose,
we are not such stunted creatures that exist only on that level.
We are magical beings, here to embody immensity and love and
the will of the universe as it expresses itself uniquely through
each of us.

Vision is the way we discover our personal path through the world.
Vision is the way we come to know ourselves, allowing us to be as
we are, showing us how to act with strength and creativity in
service to our true [vision].

A vision is not the same as some fantasy or daydream.  A true
 vision is the voice of nature, the intention of the universe,
uniquely tuned to our soul.

The word "vision" can trip us up because we think of seeing
things that are external to our physical bodies, so we often
consider a vision to be external to us.  But vision in the
spiritual sense is the conscious mind's way to assign meaning
to the deep recognition of self as a harmonious expression of the
self-aware universe. In other words, vision is not so much about
seeing as it is about being.  A vision is a challenge to ourselves
to be more fully ourselves.  Vision is a vocation, the calling of
the soul to its true role.

The first question is, how strongly do we want to see?  And then
we must answer the second question, do we dare live the truth
seen?  Then again, what's the point to any other path but our own?

Ivan Granger
commentary on the poem
"Trust Your Vision" by Stephen Levine
Poetry Chaikhana

~

Photo - Sunset digitally enhanced...

A Pause for Gratitude...

A Pause for Gratitude...

Gratitude for the Beauty of the Natural World

with its contrasts...

For the Joy of Imagination and Play

And Meditative Moments

For Moments with Mom - coloring

one of her mandalas

she is blind in one eye and losing her sight in the other
and yet she colors!

For Mystical Moments

And an unexpected November Rose

Whether you celebrate the American Thanksgiving or not,
may Peace, Joy, and Gratitude sit at your table today...
and every day...

Bliss Lotus Mandala...

“The divine manifestation is ubiquitous,
only our eyes are not open to it.
Awe is what moves us forward…

Live from your own center.
The divine lives within you.

The separateness apparent
in the world is secondary.

Beyond the world of opposites
is an unseen,
but experienced,
unity and identity
in us all…

I say follow your bliss
and don’t be afraid,
and doors will open where
you didn’t know
they were going to be.”

Joseph Campbell

Via - Love Is A Place

~

It’s amazing to me how such a little thing
like creating mandalas could evoke
such bliss and happiness;
could bring peace of mind
and the joy of Being…

That’s why I call this one
Bliss Lotus…

What triggers your Bliss!? J

I inverted the top photo color
with Adobe Fireworks,
and voila!

More Bliss! J

Shamanic Dream...

This painting was my “break through” piece during the recent art course that I took, and was a complete surprise.  I am not an “artist” by profession.  And this is my first ever attempt at painting.  It is not what I would consider my “style.”  It was an experiment as part of the course.  I just painted the images that emerged.  I wish I had taken pictures along the way, as it evolved from just markings on canvas to this.  The day that it became my break-through I laughed and cried at the same time, in a moment of letting go, as I danced around the canvas to music, painting hash marks, squiggles, zig-zags and circles…  Really, that’s how it started.  Sounds crazy I know, but it was very freeing.  I laughed and cried because something was *finally* happening – freely.  It was just a wild and crazy dance of paintbrush on canvas. J  As it turned out, those original markings created these images, except the big heart on the right.   And those images merged into this painting.  Sorry the photo is not the best. It’s a little distorted, and blurred at the bottom for some reason.

The original markings on the canvas were a repository for the paints I had been using on a previous canvas – not colors I would normally choose as the main colors – but there they were, forming hidden images. 

The center figure was the first image that emerged almost immediately.  I painted around it then sat with it for several days, wondering what to do with it – waiting for it to show me.  It didn’t want anything – at least for now. J

 As I looked deeper at the canvas each day, other images emerged around it: The Shaman’s profile on the top right; the all-seeing eye at the top; the bottom figures; and the cauldron and chalice up the left side.

I call it Shamanic Dream because it has the feel of a Shamanic journey/dream.  And one has to wonder, who is dreaming who?!  J

The other 4 canvases that I started during the course are at various stages of completion and all are very different.  Stay tuned! J

The art course I took was an online e-course called Bloom True
with artist Flora Bowley

Shift and Change = Flow ~

Last Friday morning all angst about life and living lifted – for the moment.  I know it doesn't look it by this photo. ;)  

I usually know I am going through some kind of internal shift when I need to start moving things around – like things in rooms around, or rooms themselves.  We had decided long ago to use the rooms of our home unconventionally.  We have a cookie cutter 35 year old home with Living Room, Dining Room, Den, and Kitchen with eating area.  You know the usual burb floor plan. We turned the formal dining room into a “reading room” with bookshelves, which is actually an “L” off the living room, so is very spacious and open, but out of the way and quiet. We could actually do without a living room or den, but they came with the house. J  We have used bedrooms as office/work/creative space for the two of us and there’s a small room, which is off the Den on the ground floor, that I used when I was doing therapeutic massage from home on a regular basis over 10 years ago, which became my meditation space.

But the meditation space has been feeling like a dark cave lately and I end up not meditating as regularly.  I realized Friday that I wanted a space that is more open and spacious feeling – allowing the light and air in.  And – I thought it would help to have the computer further away, less accessible, so I can hopefully break the computer – er cyberspace addiction - and not go there first thing in the morning to “check” for messages – but to patter down the hall and meditate – checking for messages there instead. J

So – Friday a new movement began to stir within, envisioning the two spaces and how I could switch them out – my office/creative space and my meditation space.  I had to get creative.  What I ended up with is making an “office” out of the meditation space (the cave) - with computer desk, computer, side table and printer cabinet in the small meditation room – leaving the massage table there up against the wall as a kind of day bed with pillows.  And bring my meditation space into what I now call my “creative space” which had been across the room from my “office” space, which is only a matter of about 5 feet from my creative work table.  Although it is a nice size room, we’re not talking huge space here. It’s not like a “STUDIO.” J  However, this room is more open and spacious (especially without desk and assorted office furniture) and has two archway openings on one side that overlook the den that has a skylight, almost like a loft, allowing more light in.  The idea was to create space to incubate creativity and bring more flow to meditation. J  Brilliant don’t you think.  Although am sure I’m not the first one to think of that one! LOL.

I am anticipating starting a 5 week online intuitive art course called Brave Intuitive You - True Bloom Art e-course, in September, and have wanted to create a “studio” since July 1^st, but could not see how this would happen in the space that we have.  I wrote “Create Studio” on a sticky note and put in on the kitchen counter. The idea was to remind myself to clean up and organize my then existing “creative/office” space in preparation for the course – so I would actually have space to work in. J  I did not intend that I would create a “studio.”  And yet… a creative “studio” of sorts is emerging…  You can see in the photo below that I’m not quite finished with the “creative studio” side of the room.  J

DH and I spent Saturday rearranging space. Oh my, the bod isn’t what it used to be, lugging stuff up and down two flights of stairs.  That “meditation” chair was a little tricky to maneuver.  I can no longer sit on a cushion on the floor.  But am lovin’ my little meditation corner. J   And my office is cozy and quiet, out of the way, and not on the way to the kitchen in the morning - tempting me. J   

Voila:  New Space! New Flow ~ ~ ~