“O—what a beautiful morning, O—what a beautiful day!” (Rogers and Hammerstein)

Today I had the marvelous good fortune to find two incredible videos in my inbox, one a meditative celebration on the Beauty of Earth, the other a meditative celebration on the Beauty of Higher Consciousness. Both videos took me on a Journey into Deeper Appreciation.

This first one, America the Beautiful — Sea To Shining Sea, was made by poet and photographer, Cdr. John J. Newlin, USN (Ret.); http://www.johnnewlinart.com/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwlhzrr_mtw

This second one, Return of Super Consciousness, was created by Children of the Sun. http://www.childrenofthesun.org/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf8YxDZz-Fo

And here we stand (float, swim, fly, glide), maneuvering between the two.

I leave you with this passage from Forging the Link by Nancy Seifer and Martin Vieweg http://www.whenthesoulawakens.org/

For the first time in human history, vast numbers of us are awakening at the same time to the soul’s reality.  Many of us are also encountering the perennial gap between the worlds of matter and spirit.  What lies ahead is the transformative task of creating the inner span of consciousness that will enable us—individually and collectively—to become “a receiving apparatus” for bringing light into this world.  The effort to accomplish this work of the soul, the wisdom teachings assure us, will invariably evoke a downpouring of spiritual light from the Kingdom of Souls into the world of human living.  (Read the whole article here: http://www.whenthesoulawakens.org/index.php?page_id=395 )

Namaste~~~~~~~

©2010 artists and ascension. All Rights Reserved.

I ordered a copy of this book today and am looking forward to reading it! Being a fire sign myself I’m very partial to titles with the word “Flame” in them. And while I’m not familiar with Torkom Saradarian, though I understand he is both a teacher and a student of the Ageless Wisdom and has written scores of books. So I’m looking forward to this introduction to him as well. Then I found this great review on Amazon and thought I’d share it here — to get us in the mood for our shows this month on Beauty. Please share your comments below!

Review by June Von Mazo of “The Flame of Beauty, Culture, Love, Joy” By Torkom Saraydarian

One learns from the title itself that each of these aspects of Life is a Flame, a Fire, a Fiery Essence; that Beauty, Culture, Love and Joy can be expressed in one’s individual life, in one’s family, group or nation. And the author very wonderfully explains how we can do it – how humanity can do it – to make this a much happier, more beautiful, more joyful planet upon which to live.

In the beginning of the book the author tells us that, “Inspired men tell us that God sings, and all comes into existence as manifestations of His Song. What a magnificent way to say that Beauty is the act of the manifestation of God’s Purpose!”

Torkom Saraydarian defines culture. “Culture is transformation, self-actualization. One can be educated, yet not cultured. Education is the collection of facts; culture is transformation of one’s nature. Culture is the manifestation of Beauty. Beauty is direct contact with love, light and power. When this contact is manifested we call it culture.”

The author says that, “Wholeness means that the parts are serving the whole, and the whole is serving the parts. This fact, if understood internationally would solve all our political and social problems.” Saraydarian goes on to say, “Culture breaks separative walls between people, walls made by prejudices, emotions, thoughts and traditions. CULTURE BRIDGES THE HEARTS.”

On goodwill Saraydarian tells us, “Goodwill always tries to meet a need. It does not take, but gives.” And he further says, “The Plan states that humanity must reach relative perfection, and this planet must turn into a sacred planet. But why? What is the Purpose behind it? Is it because this planet is going to play a role in the evolution of the solar system, in the evolution of the galaxy?” Very thought-provoking, is it not?

This entire book is thought-provoking, as well as inspiring and full of definitions of beauty, culture, love and joy to the point that the reader finds himself looking at life from an entirely different viewpoint, from angles, perhaps, not considered before. It is a book which encourages the reader to search, to seek and to find his higher Self; and to express the beauty, culture, love and joy of the Self, one’s Fiery Essence. It is not written only for individuals, but for ALL humanity. The book is about the ‘science of becoming oneself’ – the science of living – the science of reflecting on the three lower planes of expression – the Heart of Cosmos. If humanity, individually and collectively, will practice beauty, culture love and joy as this book suggests, we CAN become a sacred planet, we can come to recognize our essential ONENESS with ALL LIFE. I thank the author for the wisdom, love and joy expressed in this book of Beauty.

©2010 artists and ascension. All Rights Reserved.

If you’re like me, then you hated that English class in high school when you had to write down what the theme was. Maybe you cheated too—peeking into Spark Notes or some such like. I must say that grappling with the theme of a novel hasn’t become any easier as I’ve grown older. It’s not really the kind of analysis I am drawn to. But there is much to be said for the benefits, for in order to come up with a theme you have to look at the piece as a whole, then analyze its meaning, then interpret its meaning through your own heart and mind. You have to get into the mind of the author and ask yourself what is this writer trying to tell me? What is the purpose of this story/novel? What am I supposed to be aware of in terms of big life issues (or dramas)? And how does this relate to the greater human struggle…etc, etc. No wonder kids hate that assignment!

Nevertheless, if we are going to turn our hand to writing stories, we need to have a theme. Maybe the idea of a theme is what propels us into writing in the first place. Or maybe the theme will only reveal itself later on. Meanwhile, for the past ten months on my blog talk radio show Artists and Ascension I have been conducting “RYSA Day,” or Read Your Stories Aloud day. The theme of these has always been that of Spiritual Awakening, though in recent months I have expanded on that to include any personal story of Transformation, awakening to Higher Consciousness, opening the Heart, and so on. We have the show on the last Tuesday of every month. It’s a ritual. And may I say a very rewarding one for those who participate, and hopefully for those who merely listen! For those who take the trouble to write out their stories, it’s a form of self-acknowledgment. Another way to say I AM. And the energy that goes into composing the story is of great benefit to the writer as it helps him or her bring together and focus on a particular situation or event, and thus bring more clarity to it. The sharing is something else all together. The sharing is opening yourself up, laying yourself bare in a way. And then there is the letting go process, whereby we let go of our need for approval, of getting it “right.” On Artists and Ascension radio we have a most loving and appreciative audience anyway! We are not there to criticize or judge, but merely to enjoy and participate in the sharing. The chat room is always full of hearts and complements—and love!

What I want to talk about now is my own experience with theme this past month. To begin with, as a conscientious show host who seeks different ways to bring variety and stimulation to the show, I found myself having to come up with new ideas all the time. Sometimes guests fell into my lap as it were, and that was great. I was looking for them, after all. And then came this particular summer when I was working on other projects and didn’t want to keep thinking of new ideas for the show. It’s been too hot to think of much! So I decided to make things easier on myself and just come up with one idea – and have it last the entire month. Like have RYSA day the entire month of August. This turned out to be a great idea! So good in fact, that I decided we would have one particular theme a month from now on.
What I like best about having a theme is that we can go into depth on a subject. We can hear from different voices, get a different take on the same subject. But I think the main benefit has been the single-pointed focus on a particular idea, or theme. It galvanizes the energy. There’s a sense of a build-up. Of the thing going somewhere. The where doesn’t matter. Just as long as it goes. So we feel a progression. This is so important in terms of soul growth, or indeed any kind of development.

August is a long month. We had five Tuesdays for RYSA day instead of the usual one at the end of each month. For me it’s been a wonderful opportunity to come up with stories I may not have bothered with before. It’s been like having a new assignment every week, almost as if I was in a writing class. And for others as well. I know there have been people who have wanted to write their stories and share them, and this has given them the impetus they needed to get on with it. Instead of having to wait till the end of the following month for RYSA day, the opportunity would come to them as soon as next week. I feel like I’ve been holding the energy for them. Not only me of course, but all the people who come to the show to listen—they’ve been holding the energy as well.

The topic “artists and ascension” is a winding road. Ascension is not a straightforward path up or across. And being an artist, a creative person, has its ups and downs, its fallow periods as well as its fruitful ones. They used to tell us in writing workshops that even if you are unable to write due to whatever, just pick up your manuscript and walk around with it. Hold it. Hold it in your arms and have it be your intention to get back to it. And you will. During these fast-changing times, I for one like to know that I have next week as well. It doesn’t all have to be done this week, or on this show. There will be another opportunity next week.
So, let’s let this be the theme: we have Time. We have Space. There is always next week. And in the time and space between this week and the next, perhaps we will come up with something new. Something different. Because we are holding that thought. Putting our focus on it. There is no time-table for ascension. The show here does have a time-table, a time-slot, but it has just become more elastic.

Today, August 31st, is our last RYSA day for the month. The next one will be September 28th. And meanwhile, the rest of September will be filled with thoughts of Beauty. Beauty is our theme for September. And for October? That will be the Shadow….

I hope to see you there. With Love and Blessings, and Trust that you will be Inspired ~

©2010 artists and ascension. All Rights Reserved.

July 11, 2010

Have you ever come upon a piece of music that you’ve wanted to listen to over and over? That you can’t seem to get enough of? A song or instrumental music that is exactly what you’ve been longing to hear? I mean, has this happened to you since you were a teenager???

Because it just happened to me again. About a week ago I was following links to you tube from my Face Book friends (which I’m so grateful for!), and balancing out frightening depressing scenes from the Gulf accompanied by ominous voice-overs predicting worse case scenarios—balancing this with watching beautiful uplifting peaceful pictures and words about love and higher awareness and unity and angels and so on… (Balance is key, now more than ever!)  And I came upon a lovely song. I don’t remember what video it was, what the images were. I just knew I had to download the music to play on my radio show. I was doing a bunch of them that day—all excellent and memorable and perfect for artists and ascension radio, but none of them pierced through so many layers of skin and muscle to resonate in my bones as this one did.

It’s called Sensing the Spheres by Enigma. I just now went back to you tube to try and find the video that I first saw, but none of them looked familiar. It was really the music, not the pictures, that got to me anyway. Please have a listen below if you like!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWJ6qBPIfZs

So, I downloaded it, and then uploaded it to the switchboard on blog talk radio. I made it the start-up audio. The beginning sounded to me like some kind of ancient call. It seemed perfect to start the show with, this kind of calling the listeners in. Then, when the show began and I heard the music through the blog talk system, it didn’t sound loud enough. In fact it didn’t sound impressive at all. I wondered why I had chosen it?

Oh well. Last week’s show was… let’s just say I wasn’t at all in the mood to do it. It was 100 degrees in New York and I don’t have A/C. Last year my co-host and I took the month of August off; I thought I would just take off July as well as August this year. It was just too hot!

But it was more than that too. Since the middle of spring I have felt in between things, unsettled. No doubt part of it was due to the Gulf situation. And then there was my son graduating high school and realizing his going away to college at the end of August meant an enormous change to the rhythm I have been accustomed to for so many years. There was also my acute awareness of the Shift occurring on so many levels. Just now I had a look in my journal, mostly neglected of late, to see if I had written anything recently. I had. On the Solstice I recorded a dream in which I forgot where I lived. I was on my way “home” to an apartment I lived in 30 years ago. I realized this while I was still in the dream and became very upset not to know where I lived in “the present.” What a relief to wake up and find myself home in Brooklyn! I immediately felt the need to get outside, out onto the streets with people and connect with where I was now. So I went for a walk and bought some groceries. I needed that grounding. I needed to get my bearings!

Anyway, it’s been an unsettled time. And in this time of shifting, of finding my bearings, and of saying good-bye to an old way of life as I prepare mentally and emotionally for the new, the radio show had begun to feel burdensome. I was unsure where I wanted to go with it. What my message was. I thought to give myself a break from it, get my bearings on that as well. Meanwhile, before the show began I took my laptop and headphones and notes into another room. A bigger room. A room that felt at least a few degrees cooler from my usual place of operation as radio host.

On the dot of 5pm Sensing the Spheres began to play. I went to the chat room. No one was there but me. Good, I thought. No one will show up and I’ll be perfectly justified in taking a leave of absence for the rest of the summer. Then one person came in, then another and another. The first person wrote, “This sounds like a fun show.” The next person wrote, “It’s a blessing to be here.”  Yikes, I thought. I can’t possibly tell them I’m bowing out for a few months. And then a very interesting thing happened. Perhaps it was partly due to my being in a different room than usual, the living room / dining room instead of my little bedroom / office. It had a different energy. I felt myself talking louder in this larger room. But I also felt braver. I think because I had let go of wanting to get it right. The show that is.

Wanting to be good is such a natural impulse, but it can also be a drawback in that it stops you from being completely yourself. It’s like when you’re on a date and you want the person to like you. Or interviewing for a job. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always gotten the jobs I didn’t care whether I got or not! And dates, well, same difference. Divine Nonchalance. Non-attachment. Letting go of results. The list goes on. I went from dreading the show to loving it—in about two seconds flat. Afterwards, I was energized and already planning the next show.

Now here’s where we get back to the music. It was a few days later when I thought of synching some of the new music I had downloaded for the show to my mp3 player. That was when I started listening again to Sensing the Spheres. I have my player permanently on the looping setting because I mostly listen to headphones only when I’m at the gym, and I like to hear the same piece for half an hour. When I’m painting I listen to music all the time. But I haven’t been painting for quite some time. I forget how wonderful music makes me feel in general. I forget…

Then one day I find something new, something I haven’t heard before, and I can’t stop listening. What I love so much about Sensing the Spheres is what I said about how it sounds like a call in the beginning, and then it goes on into this very pleasant non-specific melodic rhythm that just keeps you moving. Or gives you a feeling of movement, like you’re going somewhere. Like you’re on your way. And that’s the beauty of it. Not necessarily getting anywhere or arriving, just moving along.

I went outside to do my errands and wore my headphones, something I haven’t done in ages. What a difference it made! The god-awful heat, the dreadful humidity—didn’t affect me at all! I was in a different mode. I suddenly realized I was not only going to get through this summer in one piece, but actually enjoy myself. And all because I had found some lovely new sound.

But it’s more than that really. It’s about resonance. Finding or locating what you resonate with, isn’t that what fish do? That sounding thing they do under water? I don’t know much about it and I don’t want to look it up right now. It’s obviously something basic, something natural, to humans as well as to other beings—plants too. We know that now. And I know that I have shifted into a different place. It’s ongoing, not necessarily permanent. But I have found what works – for me – a sound, a vibration I resonate with, that is allowing me not only to feel more comfortable with what is going on around me, but is allowing me to enjoy being in the movement. Being in the moment in the movement… Just being, really.

And it’s about finding your balance during these changing times, these often discordant times. Finding your flow, staying in the flow, staying centered and balanced. We know that if we feel stuck, what we need to do is take an action. And often that activity will be smoother if we’re listening to music. Because life is all about movement and rhythm and flow. From the first breath to the last.

Do you have a piece of music that does it for you? Do your tastes change every few months? What is it like for you?

We are living through such an amazing time of change. We’ve experienced the Solstice and then the partial lunar eclipse and now, today, the 11^th of July, another solar eclipse. We hear there is more to come. More openings, more energies coming in, more resonance. At this moment, all I am listening to is the hum of the fan and the bird chirping outside my window. It is enough.

© Nancy Wait 2010

©2010 artists and ascension. All Rights Reserved.

watercolor by NW

What is ascension if not expanding to the next level of consciousness?

What if, instead of your life being a journey in the usual ways, i.e., ups and downs, worries and fears, it was a fantastical, mysterious voyage through space and time?

It all depends on our point of view. Our perception. Perception is everything, as has been said by many. It is also said that we create our reality. I believe this to be true, in the sense that we create our perception of reality.

What is our main task in life?  Self-fulfillment? Satisfying others? Making a difference? Staying out of trouble? Causing the least amount of harm? When we’re small our task is to grow and learn and become strong so that we can handle those slings and arrows that will surely come our way. But whatever age we are, our task seems to be to discover who we are.  Some people don’t ask who am I? They just accept what society or the culture or the family tells them.

Who am I, why am I here, what am I supposed to do? These are not the questions for everyone, because we are all at different levels of development. The accepted thinking on the subject is that we have many lives and after a certain number of lives we begin to question the whole process of incarnating on Earth, of living in physical bodies, because we want more. What used to satisfy us no longer does. We begin exploring. Reading, listening, talking with others, meditating. Going within because the outer world has ceased to be such an adventure. The outer world has become predictable in its sameness. We know there is something else because we have awakened inside. We have become conscious of other levels of awareness that cannot be touched with our hands, but we see it in visions or dreams. We hear it with our inner ear. Maybe we smell it. It is something we know on a gut level. On a heart level.

Maybe we go through a phase now of withdrawal from the physical pleasures in order to stay close to this non-physical world. Or maybe we just chose our foods very carefully, or change our location, or just chose to live very simply. Everyone responds to their own call. What’s right for one isn’t necessarily right for another.

Feeling / feeling with all of the senses

My son was watching me whisk something the other day – olive oil and pesto paste actually, and he remarked how he hasn’t mastered the whisk yet. It’s all in the wrist of course, and hardly moving the wrist at all. I was whisking some eggs for pancakes this morning and thinking about that, how I have a feel for the whisk. Using a tool or an instrument is all about developing a feel for it. Even for the lowly wooden spoon. I thought about that, too, as I spooned away the batter from the sides of the bowl.

At various times I’ve tried to teach painting, but I’ve also taught pie-making. With painting I expected a novice artist to be awkward with the brush. To be shy of colors and what have you. I didn’t think making a pie-crust would be so difficult for some though. But then I realized again that it’s all in the touch. The feel of the butter or fat in with the flour. The feel of the rolling pin on the dough. Anything we do with our hands is about the feel of our hands, our fingers, with the material we are working with.

Of course not everyone is so tactile. Some are more attuned to sound or to smell. I have had the misfortune to be acutely attuned to everything, so much so that when I went deaf in one ear it actually felt like a blessing. Likewise my eyes being nearsighted, allowing me to relax into an impressionist painting as soon as I remove my glasses.  My senses have only become more acute since I have evolved. There were times when I prayed for an isolation tank to retreat to, or a sound-proof room with soft lights. Or better yet, darkness.

With age and experience I have been able to cope much better though. The curse of hyper-sensitivity is also a magnificent blessing. For some time now I have been taking my enormous power of feeling within.

English From Another Angle

Ascension:  Ascend – to go up, that’s the normal regular explanation. But what about taking that  word and breaking it up into two words, ‘as’ and ‘end.’ As in, to ascend to the end. Ascend to the end of conscious evolution on the earth plane of physical 3D awareness. That could be the meaning.

If we pronounce ‘ascension’ in a French accent, it becomes something else again. A-sonce-e-on. Well, sonce sounds a bit like source, at least it does if you say it very nasally.  So now we have a source. A source-e-on. Well ‘e’ is short for ‘he’ – at least if you’re a cockney. A source, he on. Or, a source, he is on.

He is on a quest to the source?  Or, perhaps he is onto the source. And that is his ascension. Or hers.

I also like ascend-see on… ascon-see-on… see more. See On…onwards… Go…

©2010 artists and ascension. All Rights Reserved.

What a week for celestial movement. First the Solstice, then the Grand Cross and partial lunar eclipse. It was the Solstice that brought my awareness to what is happening in the Gulf. I became focused on “D” words—Disaster, Debacle, Down, Dark, Depression… Words like that.  As everyone else I felt helpless staring at the footage and reading articles of current Devastation undoubtedly leading to further havoc, loss, and Destruction. I didn’t know how I was going to do my show last Tuesday. Art and anything to do with the arts seemed superfluous, meaningless. How can one go on creating in the usual way after coming face-to-face with the killing of birds and marine life, the killing of the Gulf itself? This is not even to mention the economic devastation that will only keep building, and the loss of a food supply… I could go on and on. It just keeps getting worse. Grief and sadness know no bounds.

And yet, and yet. If you believe as I do that we have incarnated at this time for a reason, to be here during these Earth changes, during the Shift, to bring the light of knowledge and understanding that will uplift our brothers and sisters living in fear and peril, then you know as well that we can’t afford to spend too much time reeling in despair. We must get on with it and do our jobs. Do what we came here to do and not wallow in grief.

After my Dance with D words, I connected with other lightworkers, resolving to stay in the light and find the positive to uplift, to be in courage rather than in despair. And it was then that I moved into “E” words from those Darn “D” words. I moved into Enthusiasm! I moved into Excitement! I moved into Eagerness. Is this bi-polar behavior? Or, is moving up into another letter of the alphabet, one with positive connotations—not part of what we mean by Ascension?

I never wanted to believe all those gloom and doom predictions of the shift, 2012 and what have you. That wasn’t the world I wanted to live in. And yet I found myself getting caught in the polarizing trap of Us vs Them, the good guys vs the bad guys. It’s hard not to be angry. Yet anger also has positive effects when it draws you into taking an action.

Now more than ever we need to stay in touch with our inner guides, our soul awareness. For me this has meant going within to forge a deeper connection to Purpose.

I give you this wonderful video of Bashar, who reminds us to…

“Use every single situation as an opportunity, as a blessing. No matter what happens it is neutral. Only if you define it as a negative do you get a negative feedback effect. But if you define it as an opportunity to do something positive then you will only get a positive feedback effect. It all depends on how you define it because nothing has built-in meaning. Nothing.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7B34YNWMd4

©2010 artists and ascension. All Rights Reserved.

Ascension by Kynthia

www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1ts3T9gy4w

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGzGqb-nVvE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugql6D4pFKM

©2010 artists and ascension. All Rights Reserved.

As those of you who listened to the radio show yesterday will know, I had some difficulty in keeping to the prepared topic. In fact, I could not even go there. Current events had started to overwhelm me. It is one thing to know the Earth Changes are coming, and quite another to realize they are here. As I have been learning and reading more about the dire situation and what it could lead to, my current program began to seem meaningless. Today I realized that I had to go within and make a stronger, deeper connection with my fellow Lightworkers who are not so overwhelmed as I am. So I offer you this wonderful article below! There is much more on their site to explore as well, if you have not discovered them already — now is the perfect time!

From “Vibration Is Key” ~ Children of the Sun ~ www.childrenofthesun.org

“Gushing oil and chemical sprays are two examples of what will continue to outplay for our human race through this very necessary “6^th Night Galactic Underworld Cycle”, as described by the Mayan calendar. So much is transmuting and transforming on a cosmic level and Earth, as a  plane still with dual natures, experiences the trickle down in a physical cause-and -effect karmic reality.

To endure this short lived cycle while remaining in heightened awareness to unhealthy energy bombardment, both intuitive and practical sensing must be utilized. This will help us to quickly make necessary adjustments from an illumined and grounded center of being.

VIBRATION IS KEY in all that we say, think and do. It is so important to remain above the increasing toxicity and not get distracted or delayed in the nets of emotion and material plane attachments. Gaia is ready to birth big and we must keep accelerating our vibrational frequencies in exact pace with her movements and quickening pulse. The alchemy of her love within us is to embrace everything that each moment presents. In this way, the inner debris is neutralized, body rhythms are calmed and transformation happens.

©2010 artists and ascension. All Rights Reserved.

There’s your life, then there’s the story of your life.

Watercolor by NW

“Everything changes once we identify with being the witness to the story instead of the actor in it.” (Baba Ram Dass)

Okay, what does that mean, being witness to the story instead of the actor in it? It means changing our perspective. Altering our perception. It means becoming the Watcher of yourself instead of only the player. Awareness of yourself on the stage of life, acting out the play, participating in the game, while watching the whole thing play out from a seat in the audience. So for instance if something upsetting happens, instead of tearing out your hair, you might say, oh, isn’t this interesting?  It’s the difference between feeling helpless over events that occur, simply at effect of them, and instead knowing you are at cause of them. That for some reason you created the situation to further your growth. It’s the difference between being conscious and being unconscious.

This show is about being a few steps removed from your reality.  It’s a little like “being in the world, but not of it,” that famous line of the Christ.  Coming from that place of the observer.

I think though, that if you are not connected to the heart energy, feeling your oneness with the “other,” with the “all that is,” it can come across in a negative way as disassociation. We don’t want that. We want to be able to feel everything, but not get caught up uncontrollably in emotions. It’s better if part of ourselves can always be aware on the outside, observing, oh, this is what I’m feeling now. So as not to get swept up and go unconscious.
Yet this feeling of being swept has its uses and its time. There is getting swept up while painting or creating a piece of music. Just letting yourself go. Getting lost for a while in the feelings and emotions. I used to do that a lot when I was painting. Listening to music while I was working helped me get into the right brain where I was able to pull out all the stops and reach into my deep subconscious for feelings and ideas that were normally hidden from me. It was like going into a state of deep meditation, beyond the mind. Some of us have also experimented with psychedelic drugs at one time or another just to get into that state. The key word here is experimented. Using the drugs as a tool at a certain stage of the game in order to go beyond the usual borders of mind. Because  what we really want to do is to be able to get there ourselves, without foreign substances, even if our experience is only a fraction of what it was on drugs. It’s the difference between being drunk on life and drunk on alcohol.

“The conscious mind is not the decider of reality—it is the experiencer of reality.” (David Icke)

There are all sorts of tricks and exercises to get ourselves into that mode of perception. One is to look at your life as a research project. “I came here to study xyz, and now this is me, studying xyz.” You can only play this particular game if you have already perceived yourself as conscious on other planes, so already this exercise assumes a certain level of awareness. And even when we’re not there, not at the place where we would to be, we can always act as if.  What if I was here on a research project, given my particular set of circumstances just in order to see what I would do with them?
It’s the kind of thinking that takes away all thoughts of this is good, or this is not so good, or this is terrible. It just is what it is. And we take it from there, leaving behind judgments and the separation that judgment causes.
It’s the difference between thinking things just happen to us, that we have no power, no control to make anything different. It’s the difference between feeling helpless, and knowing that we have manifested our reality. That we are the creators of our reality.

So you might be thinking, I didn’t choose this! Why would I have chosen this awful set of circumstances? That’s what I used to think about my life. I always thought of myself as a good person. Someone that good things should happen to. I certainly didn’t wish anyone else any harm, so why should I have been so harmed?  Did God hate me? I didn’t usually think that. But I did get into the bad habit of thinking there was something terribly wrong and bad about me that I should experience so much emotional pain. About fifty percent of the time I had such a feeling of helplessness over my circumstances. The other fifty percent of the time I was alright and able to keep moving forward.

For me, painting became the tool that allowed me to get beyond my little self, the self that was buffeted about in the waves, thrown hither and yon with no capability of steering the ship. I found that when I could paint a still life or a landscape, I could feel in control of my circumstances. Before we can let go of control, we first have to experience a sense of control. You can’t let go of what you don’t already have.

Painting was the first step of the journey. It gave me the awareness of the conscious mind not being the decider of reality, but the experiencer of it, as in David Icke’s quote. I was able to observe reality and decode it for my own purposes. But in order to get closer to the truth of my own reality, I had to learn how to write. And then I had to learn how to make a story out of my life.

What I have termed Story-Me is the short form of “make-it-into-a-story.” It means taking an episode from your life, something memorable because of the emotions attached to it, and creating a story around it, a narrative that doesn’t part with the facts of the situation, but one in which you observe as a witness instead of as the main character, or the one being done to.

When you Story-Me, you take your experience to a different level. It could be an experience with painful memories, that we heal by changing our perception of what happened. How different things appear once we change the lens in the viewfinder!

“Everything changes once we identify with being the witness to the story instead of the actor in it.” (Baba Ram Dass)

For one thing, life suddenly becomes more like play. Hmmm, you might be thinking, what will he/she do next? How will he/she resolve this situation? Life begins to be more interesting.

When you are able to create your life as a story, you are beginning to see your life as an art-form.

Bashar:  from the you tube video –   On Abundance and Trusting What Is:

“The first art form to master is simply being here, now, with what is happening.  Trusting that what is happening is happening for a reason. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be happening. So if you are willing to accept that whatever part of the process is happening, is happening for the purpose of putting you more in touch with yourself, so that you can expand, and get that reflection back of your expansion, then you’ll be excited about anything the process has to show you. It will actually be experienced as a piece of performance art. And by getting into it and diving into it and being the performance artist and the art piece itself, then you will allow it to move very quickly through you, to process it very rapidly, because you’re willing to accept everything that’s happening to you as necessary, as part of the piece, as part of the art. As something to look at, as something to investigate, as something that will increase your understanding of who and what you are as a co-creator. If you look at it that way and stay in that energy, believe me, very quickly, you will explode in many different directions, and your reality will explode towards you, with many different things that will support you. ”

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of Story-Me, the way it alters our perception, is the way we are able to change our view of the past. The past is not unalterable, written in stone. The past is a moveable beast, shifting with the currents of our present. The facts may stay the same, but the story is all in the telling.

The more you can story your past experiences, the more you will be able to create the story of your future. It will be a story of the soul, and soul lessons. Something that takes our self-understanding to a whole new level.

©2010 artists and ascension. All Rights Reserved.

Everything changes once we identify with being

the witness to the story

instead of the actor in it.

Baba Ram Dass

Story-Me is the short form of “make-it-into-a-story.” It means taking an episode from your life, something memorable because of the emotions attached to it, and creating a story around it, a narrative that doesn’t part with the facts of the situation, but one in which you observe as a witness instead of as the main character, or the one being done to.

When you Story-Me, you take your experience to a different level. We are talking about an experience with painful memories, healing them by changing our perception. How different things appear once we change the lens in the viewfinder!

Story-Me uses intuition, psychic abilities, creative abilities. Everything is used; nothing is made up. We use the experiences of our lives to create a new story. Meanwhile, in the process of creating story, we are removed from the center of the action. We are outside, looking in. We begin to see ourselves as a “character” in our own lives.

When you are able to create your life as a story, you are beginning to see your life as an art-form.  Perhaps one of the most important aspects of Story-Me, the way it alters our perception, is the way we are able to change our view of the past. The past is not unalterable, written in stone. The past is a moveable beast, shifting with the currents of our present. The facts may stay the same, but the story is all in the telling.

The more you can story your past experiences, the more you will be able to create the story of your future. It will be a story of the soul, and soul lessons. Something that takes our self-understanding to a whole new level.

As we move into the accelerated evolutionary pathway, the telling of our stories has never been more popular. Take a look at a sampling of recent links:

Marta’s Audition for Oprah.com (Please vote for her too!)

It’s All About Writing
The Blog of Nicole Humphrey Cook
for great articles and info on writing and publishing

How To Use Stories To Change The World
Weaving narratives about our lives is one of the things that makes us human

Writing to Change the World
by Mary Pipher
From Publishers Weekly:
Pipher talks about the importance of point of view in writing, and she has a definite point of view here, tilting to the left: the world is in a bad way, and writers can serve as a “rescue team for our tired, overcrowded planet” by “tell[ing] stories that connect readers to all the people on earth.” Pipher offers some good examples of how to accomplish this, particularly in a thoughtful and clever essay that presents the U.S. as a patient in a therapeutic case study (“Diagnosis: Post-traumatic stress disorder, multiple addictions”). And she offers useful advice in her sections on defining success (measured not in terms of sales but in terms of “giv[ing] our time and talents to help others”) and revising, which she compares to pruning and weeding.

Daniel Pink – watch this slide share on his Chapter 5 of “A Whole New Mind” – The Power of Story

©2010 artists and ascension. All Rights Reserved.