I always seem to experience a deep connection to source during the enchanting summer and winter solstices. Living in Canada we experience the four seasons so fully with winter being such a challenge to so many, myself the sun worshiper included. I have found it necessary to focus on cultivating inner light during the darkest period of year as a method in overcoming lethargy, irritability, and to prevent plummeting into an abyss of blah. Usually by solstice I find that elusive balance.
This year, during the darkest time of year I am feeling ever so *bright*. Earlier in the fall I dove deep into my subconscious, I listened to the sweet melodies, the ice cold terror, the intense laughter, I listened to it all. I observed my dreams, and I slowed down enough to listen to that inner song waiting patiently to be heard. I looked deep within the dark crevices, the places that we like to gloss over and pulled out some thorns. I recognized that some of my ideals that I thought were so noble were indeed holding me back and were ready to be shed, truly becoming aware of the limitations of my own thought patterns. I have been able to take my spiritual practice deep enough that it is not just keeping me balanced, I am actually feeling like I am finally making some progress on the path. If I can get through the holiday season feeling genuinely blissful, thankful, and totally abundant rather than feeling fried, frazzled, and overwhelmed then I think I am onto something or perhaps we have been graced with more sunlight in place of our usual autumn rain.
Who knows why we insist on being so complex. Thankfully I feel surrounded by the most amazing people and community and am inspired by all of the creativity around me. I am happy to focus on that. Spending time with people who make our heart happy, who inspire us, who nurture us can help keep us from being swallowed up by the darkness. If the darkness does manage to swallow you up, don’t be afraid to listen to what it is trying to show you, you will certainly re-surface with more sparkle.
The lack of daylight brings a longer night, in the absence of light there is still light that shines though in a more subtle form. I am so grateful the emerging darkness reminded me to travel deeper within myself.
Wishing you all a very happy winter solstice and infinite seasonal bliss.
From my ‘Yogi’ ginger tea bag: One of the best actions we can take, with courage, is to relax…
In an electric fast paced bustling world, I seek solace in anything hand crafted with love. I find these objects spark imagination and don’t over stimulate my already overstimulated mind. I especially find delight in hand spun fabrics, woven together on handlooms. On textiles I love traditional patterns with natural dyes developed over centuries by cultural traditions. Preserving these traditions from becoming extinct due to globalization is as important to me as buying organically grown food. So that is why I have been supporting the work of Maiwa Handprints since I discovered their existence on Granville Island years ago.
a handloom in a small village, Kerala, India.
Charlotte Kwon, the heart and soul that founded Maiwa and the Maiwa Foundation has been a part of the resurrection, preservation, and development of handcrafts from artisans across the globe. Touching base with Charlotte ensured my trip to India two years ago was filled with magic, from checking out natural textiles being dyed by hand with indigo and eucalyptus, watching hand looms in action, to spending a day at a Toda Hilltribe settlement in the mountains of Tamil Nadu. These experiences fed my love for natural textiles in such a refreshing way, added a deeper dimension to our travels.
Toda Hilltribe Elder, Tamil Nadu, India
Traditional Toda Hilltribe Embroidery
The Maiwa Textiles Symposium is one of my favorite events in Vancouver. This year, as the VIFF was wrapping up, the symposium was just getting under way. I attended a few lectures that informed and inspired my love of the woven world. Autumn in Vancouver is a good place to be with such inspiring events, I only wish I could attend them all… Today I watched Tibetan Monks dismantle a vibrant sand mandala that they have spent days creating and submerged the grains of sand in the ocean, symbolizing impermanence and allowing the sand to continue its existence in another form. These grains of sand are blessing the waters of Spanish Banks as they have been a part of a highly charged sacred mandala. In a reflective state I observe the impermanence in my life, ebb and flow, every moment infused with perfection, only sometimes not visible. Inspired from my environment, inspired from within.
I had been feeling a little less centered in my heart than usual, a direct effect from facing many challenges in a short period of time. We all go through difficult periods, though navigating our way through them with grace and ease can be slippery. Luckily for me I had the great fortune to be in the presence of the Dalai Lama, once again. Since his inaugural visit to Vancouver in 2004 then again in 2007 my life has gained great inspiration from attending events and talks with H.H. This year I attended Educating the Heart: Creativity and Well-Being and Heart-Mind Education, a part of the Vancouver Peace Summit.
Inspiration
I navigated my way through the morning crowds and the rain Tuesday morning super focused to get to the Orpheum on time and to be receptive to the forum and energy. After being on the verge of having my heart shut down once again it is sufficient to say that all traces of my angst have been dissolved into bliss. Enlightenment is infectious after all.
The morning forum on Creativity and Well-Being started with a half hour presentation by the Blue Man Group. Having gone to one of their inspiring and immensely entertaining performances in NYC I was thrilled to have them present on creativity at this event. Creativity and spirituality are two of my biggest passions that I relentlessly pursue. The Blue Man Group proposed the question worthy of some consideration: What is creativity? Is it a mystery or can some parts of it be understood? The Blue Man Group comically demonstrated how creativity is where we focus our mindset.
Maintaining and connecting to our innocence balances our ever evident hero mentality, they got the entire sold out Orpheum to go back to childhood, and re-connect with the feelings of insecurity, awkwardness, and irrelevance and encouraged us all to focus that awareness on red clown noses handed out to us when we arrived at the venue. With all of those feelings rekindled then channeled on to those clown noses protruding from our faces, we were encouraged to connect and interact with the people around us with their noses on representing that vulnerability. That state can be frequented easily, with or without a clown nose. Don’t suppress it!
As the forum on Creativity and Well-Being progressed I couldn’t help but swell up with warmth and fondness for the Dalai Lama. His presence seems to evoke a spiritual growth spurt every time I see him live. Some key points from the forum for me were in discussing education systems, the emphasis is on reading, writing and arithmetic. The delegates discussed the importance to expand the schools’ focus to adapt 3 other arms: reflection -a skill that enables the brain to keep growing beyond childhood, a skill required to train the mind and to liberate creativity, relationships – a necessary skill to develop in order for there to truly be peace on this planet, and resilience.
…Compassion and creativity are the ultimate in keeping the brain healthy…
Ekhart Tolle was an engaging speaker, as always. He shared a humorous story of a soccer statistic he read in the paper that morning. During a kickoff the player that pauses after the whistle is blown before kicking has a higher likelihood of scoring than the kicker that goes for it right away. This process fortifies the creative process, it redirects our attention to deeper levels of our being, where all power resides. Conceptual elements dissolve and we join forces with the power of stillness. From stillness comes universal power that can be put into form. Stillness was defined as non-conceptual intelligence. Though, relying on tuning into the stillness is not enough, it was noted that it takes 10,000 hours to master something… To get the humorous version, you have to hear Ekhart tell the story, you are not getting it here!
To cultivate creative power you need to ‘do’ something, this enables our imagination to work. Collaboration in schools is commonly considered ‘cheating’. Does this raise an issue of human rights? Has education become de-personalized? In problem formation creative thinking evolves. The school does this for the children, leaving them with an academic focus to solve problems that gives little or no opportunity to develop creativity or strengthen collaborative skills.
So what does teaching to the whole child look like? The Blue Men Group have started a school in NYC, the Blue School, that teaches to the whole child with an emphasis on creativity and compassion. With these conditions in place then the child is empowered to learn and has an innate curiosity that comes from deep within. A world with children that have been raised in this environment would be harmonious and sustainable I am sure.
The Dalai Lama said that the 20th century was a century of bloodshed and violence, millions of people were killed. May the 21st century be the century of peace. Intelligence is a source of conflict as we all fight to defend our views. I am down with focusing my awareness towards my heart rather than my intellect. Are you?
People who are the happiest are the ones who make others happy. Accept children exactly where the are at, do not be controlling and demand that the be successful in the world. To be happy human beings how do we deal with emotions inside such as desperation, fear and anxiety? We all have these emotions and for me I have a mediation practice that keeps that all in check. How do we educate our children to develop these skills? I feel relieved that H.H. addressed 16,000 students after the forum and discussed tolerance. Our children are our future, and they are receiving the empowerment needed to take charge and make this century the century of peace. He talks about how war is outdated. If we all had this message when we were young from a role model such as H.H. how would our planet look now?
By no means am I developing curriculum though the forum gave me renewed energy, motivation, and insights that I can bring home and integrate into my family. My heart is feeling nourished, swollen with inspiration and holds a feeling of gratitude to have had such an inspiring morning.
It is hard to believe that summer is coming to an end but alas, the seasons must change. Here in the Pacific North West summer is too short, cliche I know. I must lament, many of the creative projects that I intended to work on or wrap up this summer simply didn’t happen. Though in my failure beauty emerged, beauty in the form of unscheduled spontaneity that resulted in amazing time with family and friends, beauty in the form of downtime that allowed a very deep and profound ancestral healing, the type that you cannot command to happen or schedule in. I feel so deeply calm and focused and although I crave more sun, as we all do, I feel ready to embrace autumn.
summer sunset
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Here is a teaser from the documentary END:CIV directed by Franklin Lopez of submedia.tv based on the works of Derek Jensen. During the winter and spring I had a ton of fun doing some post production on this project.
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Meat consumption is a significant contributor to global emissions, primarily beef and pork. The larger the animal, the heavier the footprint. If you are not vegetarian, consider going veg one day a week to do your part. If the whole planet stopped consuming meat one day a week emissions drop considerably. See if you can go to two days from there, and stick to poultry and fish, although it seems that salmon is not really an option anymore. When I think about how we can carry our existences and pursue our dreams while reducing our footprints on the planet it kicks in my creativity and I get a little buzz from it. Riding my bike around, growing food, consuming less, it has been fueling me as I discover little details that make my day more sustainable, and more magical.
The smooth round orb was called into action, it had been cultivating potent energy stores for its allotted season. This dense mass was masterful of fusing vital frequencies from the sun and from the rain, culminating a fiery juice that would leave a blood like stain where ever it landed, unlike the clear mark of water or the black scorch of fire. This mark resembled blood, but had a sweet aftertaste. The magical orb had great powers, whenever it was assimilated by one of the Earth creatures, it NOURISHED, restoring balance to the creatures that otherwise consumed too much garbage and excessive sludge. It infused these depleted beings with the elements, once again. A necessary fortification connecting the Earth creatures to their ancestral roots.
The umbilical stem that connected the orb to its collective pod docking structure, that enabled the orb to fuse the ancient and present dual energies with the earth, was being tugged upon. With a gentle force it was blasted out of its stem dock to begin its mission to infuse the anticipating lovecreatures’s existence on a cellular and energetic level.
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If you are a parent please, feed your children an abundance of this wonderful tree fruit. I grew up on Okanagan cherries and to this day eating them brings me back to my childhood where I spent many sunny days at a lake, eating cherries… I absolutely love eating them and had so much fun making them into jam last week.
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If you are experiencing intense summer heat like we have in Vancouver be sure to eat plenty of raw fruit and vegetables, the potassium they contain will cool you down. Stay hydrated, drink plenty of herbal tea. I drink hot tea all day long in this heat, ginger has been my favorite lately. Don’t let the heat bog you down, I parked my car and have been cycling everywhere.
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A super big thank-you to Patrick C. for the 1KG of organic fair trade super premium loose leaf Puttabong – SFTGFOP-1 first flush Darjeeling tea!
I had a conversation with my son today about the EARTH, and we concluded that because there are now an unprecedented number of us humans co-habituating on this planet that everything we do, every choice we make, has to be done with mindfulness. We have been using five planet’s resources, this has to change. We can do it.
I see the current state of the global economy as an opportunity for the less ethical structures to crumble, giving rise to the sustainably focused organizations to flourish. There are artists that are thriving now because their work educates, inspires, raises awareness… they are living in line with their souls purpose.
life blossoming
Earth is a vortex of LIFE, in a barren galaxy there rotates a ball filled with living creatures, large and minuscule. All lifeforms are what should be celebrated, all lifeforms have the opportunity to teleport us into bliss.
I had the wonderful opportunity to be a doula for my friends first baby’s birth. I have only slept for a few hours since Sunday, yet I am so full of energy, and love. As I held her this evening I felt so much peace, so much purity. When I looked at my friend’s baby girl, I didn’t just see a new born baby, I saw a mass of energy so profound, so pure. We all are born with this purity, we all have this vulnerability to us. Please, do your hardest to never harm anyone. And all life on this planet is precious, we must defend it. And yes, I am high from the experience.
