Friday, August 31, 2007

Blessings and Inner Wisdom

I am so incredibly fortunate to live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I love looking at the mountains and seeing how they change. Being located near the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, we have an exceptional landscape.

While I always appreciate the view, and express my joy and gratitude at this blessing, I had a new experience today. I thought about how painters and photographers can capture this beauty and rather than being discouraged that I can't capture it in stone, it got me thinking about how can I capture that feeling in my media?

That thought brought back a vivid memory of my childhood. When I was a kid, living in Japan, we learned Bonkei. This is an art of building small landscapes in trays. They are designed to be temporary. I recall making mountains, valleys, rivers and lakes. This has me thinking that I might have a different theme coming up--just because I have chosen to work in stone doesn't mean that I have to work exclusively in stone. And even if I do, I can be creative in how I work with stone. One of the great things about art is that there really aren't any rules. Sure you start with rules, but then you also figure out how to break them.

I'm excited about the idea that I can broaden my work. Interesting to note that thinking about painting may help me to evolve my sculpture! And that I got this inspiration right "around the corner" from my own home! Not at a show, not at a museum, not through a "teacher"...through my own communion with my inner wisdom and the universe this inspiration came through!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Vacations and Rituals

Why is it that when I was traveling I allowed myself to get away from my good patterns as well as some of the less than good? What happened to my meditations, my visualizations, my grattitudes? My daily practice of brushing my teeth doesn't change just because I'm on vacation, so why do these?

I know that I am not alone in this and it is an interesting question. When we can use all our great tools the most, we leave them behind. Perhaps this is the sign of the novice. Or maybe I was just lazy. Or maybe it was because I only had a short time to plan. Whatever the "real" reason, I did not pack my SGR program.

There is something about changing one's physical environment that gives us great opportunities and challenges. It is wonderful to shed our schedules and it can be quite joyful to be "different" than we are at home: relaxed, playful, willing to spend our time and money more frivolously. At the same time we have other issues that come up when we travel: the travel itself, being away from home, with our familiar kitchen, bed and other niceties, strangers, lines.

So while it may behoove us to live outside our normal boundaries, it can also create additional stress in our lives. The beneficial tools we have like the SGR program can help us to maximize the potential and minimize the downsides to vacations, travel and family visits.

Is it enough to remember occasionally the lessons in the SGR? Certainly it is better than not remembering them. What I found is that because I was not immersed in the program on a regular, daily basis, I did not "remember" the lessons when I could use them the most!

It is easy to remember to be grateful while on the beach, playing in the surf and sand. Less easy to remember when things aren't going the way I want...even with little things like not having my coffee for two mornings in a row. Pretty minor stuff can really push out of alignment, if we let it.

Lesson from this vacation--pack the good tools in the suitcase. Things that help you "go with the flow" while at home, will assist you on the road as well. And really, how much room does a little MP3 player take anyway? Maybe I just needed this opportunity to experience the contrast of using the SGR program regularly and not using it, so that I can really realize how grateful I am to have it and the difference it makes in my life!

Monday, August 20, 2007

Joy At the Beach

I'm currently visiting family on the west coast. Helping my mother out with projects that she has wanted to have done for a while. Playing in the pool at my brother's. Going to the ocean.

Call it a "working vacation"! I am enjoying myself, getting some things done and playing, so it is all good.

One of the things on my list of "must dos" when I come is to visit the beach. Living in a beautiful mountain state is great, but we do enjoy the ocean when we are here. While in the water the other day a Harbor Seal popped up within 15 feet of me...he looked as surprised as I felt when our eyes met.

Another of my favorite beach critters are the pelicans. At home we have white pelicans. Here they are brown. The original Jedi fliers...tight formations inches above the water in the channels created by the waves.

When I got too cold in the water, I took a break and warmed up on the sand. I get quickly bored if I sit still with nothing to do, so I started sculpting in the sand. I created a dolphin, about 5 feet long. That was fun. Even when the water came in and started to dissolve my work. It all felt very natural, like the tides had come to claim one of their own.

The temporary nature of working with beach sand is an interesting experience. Very quickly done and quickly lost. Going into it, you know they are only for a short time.

What a great metaphor for life! We never know how much time we have. So, use the tools you are given (or you develop) even if the are "only" your hands. Take those tools, the ready material and create your life--not just a career, a real life! Give it dimension. Revel in the softness, the sensuous curves, the hard spots, and celebrate when nature takes its course. We don't know which wave will be the "big one" or when that big wave will come to claim us. We just know that there will be a big one with our name on it. Rather than wait in fear, not creating what we really want for fear that it will be lost, we create anyway, knowing someday it WILL be lost, but we are not creating for some day, we are creating for today, now, this minute.

How sad to live a life with no mourning because nothing was risked. I know that my life will contain mourning and in an odd twist, that makes me glad. By feeling the grief of loss, I prove to myself that I have lived, created and achieved something in this life.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The Universe Likes Speed and Time is Relative

Patience. How do we balance patience with speed?

Let's put it into perspective. That helps me.

Since I am a stone sculptor, let's use art as an example. Sculpting has been a great teacher for me. It has definitely taught me patience.

When I first started art school, I was a print maker. I really loved it--and I probably still would. I liked making multiple copies of something. I liked seeing results fairly quickly.

Then I was exposed to stone sculpting. I was carving in an abandoned limestone quarry in southern France. I was hit with the bug big time. I was in the quarry every minute not required by my many other studies. I even carved by moonlight. The sculpting was much slower than printmaking, but so rewarding and tactile. I was in love! I learned to be patient at the release of each piece. Not patient enough, it turns out. I carved so much and so many pieces that my hands were frozen shut until I pried them open every morning.

Over the years, my hands got worse. I had thought it was just muscles not used to such activity. Instead, it turned out I gave myself Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Two surgeries and a lot of physical therapy later I was told I couldn't carve any more.

I was devestated. I tried other types of sculpture but none gave me the satisfaction that I had with stone.

I stopped carving completely for more than 10 years. Then, I finally decided enough was enough. Once I made the decision, it seemed like things fell into place. This is where speed comes in! I went to New Zealand, carved with artists there and refell in love.

Once back home in Colorado I tried to figure out ways to make a 1940s house have a dust proof studio. Since that wasn't possible, I moved and now have a studio where I can work in my own home. This didn't happen overnight, but in the scheme of things, it has been fast. Our lives are like a blink of the eye for the universe...even when as kids we are lounging bored waiting for summer to speed by more quickly so we can see all our friends again.

The thing that I have learned is to act. But don't force it. Don't expect it to take a single day, week or even a year--unless it does, in which case that is fantastic! Act, none the less. For if we don't act (the speed part) then nothing changes and we will just be older and ultimately die without having done the things that we really wanted to but that would "take too long". Every day, take one little step...write one page...paint one color...and by the end of the year you have a book a painting, a sculpture, what ever it is. A baby may be conceived in an instant, but it takes more than 9 months for it to emerge.

One day, one stone at a time.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Learning to Not Push Rope

Pushing rope is a phrase I picked up because it so simply describes when we are working too hard at making something happen rather than allowing it to unfold at the right time.

Today I had moments of allowing and other moments of pushing a big heavy rope! The good news is that I was aware of the rope and was then able to sit back and change my thoughts and methods. Fortunately when I was not aware I had someone around who gently brought it to my attention.

Deadlines are a prime time when most of us push rope. When we just "gotta get it done" staying calm and even can sometimes be a challenge.

If you find that you are facing a deadline and you realize you are "pushing rope", take a break. I know that you think in the moment you cannot possibly take that break--there is far too much to get done, right. Take the break anyway. Breathe deep and get centered. Do what you need to do to find your inner peace and energy. When you go back to the project you were working on, keep that feeling with you. You will be more productive and get more done, at a higher level than you would have if you had just stayed manning the rope station.

Relax. You get more done.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Today's Gift was a Broken Stone

I am a stone sculptor and so life is frequently revealed to me while I work. I feel so blessed and incredibly grateful that I am able to be in my studio every day and have these wonderful stones surround me and teach me.

Today I was working on a small piece of marble. I have a big show coming up and I was trying to finish this sculpture to have it at the show. I had been able to do some pretty cool things with the stone and was pleased with it, but I didn't have a sense of real communion with the piece. It was becoming more of an exercise--not quite a chore, but not a joy either.

I put my chisel to the stone and gently tapped it. Suddenly I have 2 completely separate stones.

There had been a big fissure running through the marble and that tap hit it just right.

These things happen when you are a stone sculptor. It can be heartbreaking and discouraging if you let it. Today I knew that it was a gift to me. Listening to the SGR program over and over has probably helped. I could hear Jack Canfield's voice saying "That's good". I suspect that I was not really listening to what the stone wanted to be. Since I wasn't listening, it had to show me in the only way it could--it forced me to stop and reevaluate.

Now the 2 pieces are on the shelf. I am not sure what they will become. Probably something better than the original idea. When I next work on them, you can bet I'll be listening to the stones better.

In the meantime, I picked up another piece that I had pretty much thought I wouldn't get done for the show. This piece spoke to me today and the hours flew by. This was a joyful, calm, experience. It reminded me that this is why I am a stone sculptor.

So thank you for broken stones. Sometimes they help us find our bliss! It works this way with people, too. Sometimes we have deep cracks running through us that aren't visible on the outside. By listening, we can help each other to become the masterpieces that we are inside--cracks and all!

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Want Versus Desire

Have you ever been told that if you "want" something you will also be given the opportunity to "want"? In other words, by saying you want the thing you will not acquire the thing, only more wanting of it.

Many personal development "gurus" say that over and over. And I bought into it, hook line and sinker. I worked diligently at eliminating the word from my vocabulary.

This morning I realized something important about that statement--I had an "Ah ha! moment" as Oprah would say. While words are important, they are not the bottom line in this universe. More important than the word is the intention or feeling behind the word.

If you choose to "want" something, are you longing for it, pining for it, aching for it, believing it is out of your grasp? If that is how you want, then truly you will never acquire it, because it is out of your grasp. In this instance, you are wanting something but feeling the lack of it.

Or is your "wanting" a desire that you see coming to you, that you know is a part of your life? When you think about the thing you desire are you filled with positive energy and joy at the mere thought of it? That is anticipation, excitement. This type of wanting will allow you to manifest the object of your desire because you feel it already in your life.

The lesson I learned today is that emotions behind the words are much more important than the words. Don't allow your emotions to be restricted by the search for the "right" word or by the limitations of vocabulary.

This insight reminded me that this is not a "one size fits all" universe! Use your own mind and emotions when listening to anyone. You are the only one who knows how you are feeling about a certain thing. Others can help you, guide you, coach you, but you are the one in the end who is responsible for your thoughts, feelings and actions, and ultimately only you can decide what is right for you.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

That's Good

I've been listening to my SGR program while in the studio lately. I listen to one CD over and over again. For two main reasons: one, that way I don't have to change the CD and get it all dusty or scratched, and two, because I have only little speakers in the studio and I am chiseling and filing and have my exhaust fan running, I don't always hear everything on a conscious level. So I really hear something new every time I listen! Additionally, by listening over and over to the same lessons, it sinks into my subconscious and I absorb it rather than just "learn" it.

Yesterday I heard Jack Canfield relate the theory he learned from W. Clement Stone of "That's good". No matter what it is, say "that's good". Then, find the good in it.

This can be a challenge when we are faced with big issues. So start with the small stuff. Or not. Start wherever you find yourself. It is all good.

I decided to apply this to the big stuff in my life: life, death, disease. Not just from the intellectual standpoint of knowing that those who are no longer here physically are in a "better place", but how is that "good" for me? For those who have died, whether suddenly or through long illness, whether older or quite young, let me be reminded that they were a wonderful presence in my life. That is good. I can admire their best qualities and strive to be like them. That is good. I can live my life to its fullest now, because who knows how long we each have? That is good. And I can be true to myself, be the best me I can. And that is very, very good.

I don't know about you, but for me it has been easy to degrade myself. I easily saw the value in others, even if they didn't see it in themselves. But appreciating my skills, my uniqueness, has always been a challenge. Thank you to my many friends and loved ones, both present and past, who show me that being unique is a blessing and I celebrate all our quirks--theirs and mine. That is good.

One of the biggest lessons I am getting right now is that I am different from everyone else. And that is good. Wouldn't the world be a boring place if we were all the same? The fact that my sense of humor is different from yours is good. We may, or may not laugh at the same jokes, and that is okay, in fact, that is great! My goals may be different from yours. That is good. There is room for us all. All our different beliefs, dreams, wants, preferences. In fact, it is because we all have different beliefs, desires, and goals that there is room for us all! Otherwise we'd all be trying to exist on the same exact piece of land doing the exact same thing. That leads to competition. Instead, we can collaborate and have synergistic relationships where we each grow, learn, help and challenge one another. In this way, we can all become better individuals and better as societies and as a race.

The world is a wonderful place. I didn't always believe that. Now I know it. Partly because I have lost people I love. By losing them, I have really begun to appreciate those around me. And that is very, very good.