Greetings, PP and all the rest of you lovely beings! I've tried to sit down and post to this thread so many different times this month, but then gotten interrupted, or distracted, or it got too late before I could ever make much progress. However, I've been keeping up as best I can with reading this thread, and I've missed writing to you all, so I'm going give it a better try tonight, even if this means I end up having to keep it shorter than usual (though I never really seem to have a problem with that, so I imagine this post will still end up being "another novel," just as you requested, PP! )PP, ages ago now, wrote:What's Aqua Deb up too????? time for another novel Deb....
We are apparently still recovering from this move, since we're still sleeping in late most of the time (though today we managed to get going a bit earlier, finally! ) and not managing to get around to doing much of anything until mid-afternoon most days , and we've been kind of drifting and feeling rather directionless, not quite ready to get re-started producing artwork again. We've now gotten library cards for the local libraries here, and I have been in kind of an introspective growth-and-study phase, reading lots and lots of books lately. I've read several books by Machaelle Small Wright in the past few weeks (who I remember Mo mentioning on this thread way back when, when we were talking about fairies. Where did Mo ever disappear to anyway?). She runs the Perelandra Garden in Virginia, USA, works extensively with nature intelligences, and is also consciously leading two different lives in two different physical bodies in two different "sister realities" at once, and has been involved in some really amazing projects and tells some mind-boggling stories! Like George's books, her accounts of all her experiences serve to really expand one's concept of what is possible!
I've also been reading a lot about flower essences lately. Has anyone here worked with them? If so, I'd like to hear about your experiences. Apparently, the flower essences heal the body's electrical system and the etheric body, addressing the various archetypal ways in which the human ego tends to take over and go against what the higher self knows and desires, resulting in the various emotional imbalances that tend to underlie physical illness or that, if left unaddressed, can eventually manifest as physical illness. The I Ching is especially in favor of the Bach flower essences for us, and seems to be saying we could both really benefit from using them, so I've been reading about them in particular at length. Before trying any of the actual essences so far, I got a Bach flower card deck that has a color picture of each flower on one side of the card, and a related affirmation on the other side. I've been drawing a few cards from the deck each day to see which ones tend to recur the most as an aid in helping me to self-diagnose which subset of essences would be the most relevant for me right now. It's been a very interesting process!
We've also managed to get into and maintain the habit of doing a chair-yoga video daily, for about the past month or so. It incorporates yoga with elements of tai-chi, chi-gung and Chinese longevity exercises that can all be done while seated in a chair. This is great for Ron with his mobility issues. At first, I started doing the exercises primarily to support Ron, but as it turns out, they are very beneficial to anyone, mobility-challenged or not, and are very relaxing and meditative, so we've both been getting a lot out of it!
As much as I'd like to be as positive as possible, and really follow Abraham's teachings at all times and stay focused on what I do want rather than what I don't want, I've found it difficult not to be at least somewhat concerned about the economy in its current state, which has produced a nagging inner conflict and "split energy" (rather exhausting in itself! ) in the back of my mind ever since we've moved here, where there's both a higher cost of living and a better job market. On the one hand, there seems to be a reactionary, "play-it-safe" voice inside that is saying, "Hey, maybe you'd better take advantage of the job market here and play it safe and get a 'real job' for a while, with a steady paycheck, in these bad economic times! " and there's also the adventurous, progressive voice who's saying, "You've finally gotten around to making art after a lifetime of hiding your real self; don't 'sell out' now and go back to your previous 'normal, boring' mode of existence -- keep on daring to live your dream!" For now, the latter side is winning out, and our current intention is to keep on moving forward with the art. We've been reading a lot about selling art in festivals and street fairs, and the art of booth set-up and such, as well as the equipment one needs (a canopy and display materials, etc.), and may start trying this, in addition to trying to get our work into local galleries, gift shops and so on. Of course, before we can do any of this, we've got to get busy again soon and rebuild our inventory first! Time to get out "Ask and it is Given" again and work on Abraham's "Processes" for staying ever increasingly more focused on what we do want! We are both at least amassing lots of exciting ideas for new art, once we can just get up the energy to bring them into physical form!
Sandy, I remember your comment about how it'll be interesting to see whether the birds and other wildlife keep showing up and "asking" me to paint them again in this new location, like they were before we moved. So far, this does, in fact, appear to be happening here as well! For example, there are lots of pelicans here, and right after we arrived here and were outside looking out over the water one day, a pelican flew right in front of me, then, as I grabbed the camera, circled around twice and flew past me again as if really trying to give me a good look at him/her. Then, a week or two ago, in our continued exploration of new restaurants and coffee shops in this area (which we've now started curbing at this point, due to both the caloric and monetary expense involved! ), we tried a new restaurant that was located in a somewhat rural area next to a creek and sat outside on the patio. Almost immediately,a blue jay (which we hadn't really seen since we'd moved here, since they don't seem to hang around so much right in the city) promptly showed up, hung around for a long time looking at us, then turned around in all directions to give us a good look at him/her before taking off again. In addition, the little brown birds that hang around the coffee-shop patios around here (I have some local bird books out of the library, and will have to look up what they are) seem to always stop and study me a lot too. I'm glad that this dynamic is continuing to show up here as well!
It's beginning to get late, and since I'm trying to start waking up earlier in the mornings, I'd best get to bed soon. But just a couple more things before I go, based on what I can currently remember from reading through this thread (I apologize for all the many things I'm not remembering at this moment; I hope to read through all the most recent posts again soon) ... Lilly, I'm so sorry to hear about your car accident! Sandy, I haven't forgotten about that account of my healing-circle meditation that I said I'd write up and send to George! And Laura, yes, I would love to make some art of our meditation circle once I can get started doing art again!
Sorry I still haven't yet gotten back to answering many individual posts and such, but to everyone here, and everyone I haven't mentioned by name, I love you all and you're all very important to me! Hopefully I'll find the time and energy to post again sooner this next time around!
Much love to all ,
Aqua Deb