This weekend was yoga training weekend. We spent some time on the throat chakra, the communication chakra that supports speaking the truth. It’s the deep truth, the one that we share with ourself. It is the knowing of who we are at the soul level. We sat in meditation for 45 minutes at the beginning of the day yesterday, practicing alternate nostril breathing. Somewhere toward the end, I noticed the quiet place of being inside this body. I noticed that no matter what the shape of this body is, I am there. I thought for a moment of someone who is inside a body that doesn’t work so well and the strength of their spirit, being of exceptional value to the world, large or small.

I am grateful for a very healthy and strong body. It has not yet reached its peak, though I am moving towards it. My work has not yet reached its peak and I am moving toward that. I am well supported in life, up or down. Lately the roller coaster of emotions has been active yet subdued. I’ve got an awareness that all is well, no matter how it looks. People who seek peace and love are becoming more vocal. It is becoming more and more clear that it takes us coming together with a common intention to get things done. People are partnering and re-partnering, becoming more aware of each moment. “Make today today.” (lyrics from a song by James Taylor)  It’s another way of saying live in the moment. Make now now and not the next day or the day before.

Maybe you have noticed that I have been having difficulty writing every day for the last few weeks. Apparently I am in resistance to digging a little further into the truth. In these early weeks of 2010 I seem to be having an identity crisis. Who am I? Am I the person I think I am? When someone asks me what do I do, I respond with a clutch in my throat that I am an artist, a writer, a teacher, and finally that I make my living through graphic design. And I wait for some sort of etheric affirmation that doesn’t come clearly enough for me to believe I am right. And then how could I not be? The measure seems to be where does the money come from. I can only settle into the last part of the statement, making my living through graphic design. Kind of my blessed little fall back since I haven’t been able to slug through creating my living through what I believe is my purpose, my calling. And so I write my blog, I illustrate Verbal Remedies and post them, and offer them for sale. Hoping something sticks well enough to create traction. What does traction look like? Traction is the number of readers of this blog growing exponentially, sales of the product line taking off and supporting me, teaching gigs at least once a month, having a consistent partner to work with daily. “Where two or more are gathered, amazing things begin…” Read the rest of this entry »

Click on image below to listen to Verbal Remedies podcast.

This weekend was full up with possibilities as the moon rose to full. Yesterday I went to Jubilee!, a “creation spirituality” church in downtown Asheville. I don’t go so much anymore, though when I do I am always touched either briefly or deeply. Yesterday was deeply moving. A friend I hadn’t seen in 6 years came up from Raleigh. When I knew him, he was sad because he wished his life to be full of love, a wife, a family. He came back yesterday with his family to celebrate his son’s 4 year old birthday. To see the peace and the joy on their faces filled me up with love like a rushing river of hope. Howard Hangar’s (the minister) theme for the day was magic. Seeing the magic. When we see the magic, we can have it. If we miss it, we cannot have it. Look for the magic this week. It is all around you.

Well, here it is. The Earthship is shaking some of the dust off…that would be us. Can you not hear the call to get busy? Sitting in your stuff twirling it around isn’t getting anything done. Get up, get out, do what you came here to do, be who you came here to be. Now is the time. What do you need to happen in your life to get your attention? Do you need some personal tragedy to wake up? Or can you take a deep breath, stretch out your legs, place your feet on the floor and get moving? Do whatever it is that comes to you as the most fruitful thing you can do with who you are. If it simply means being a nicer person, do that. Start there, in fact. However nice you are, however kind and loving you are, step it up a notch. Surely a song has been written about all this? We’ve sung it, we’ve danced to it, we hear it in our head. “There’s a place in your heart and I know that it is love. and the place could be much brighter than tomorrow…Heal the world, make it a better place.”

My mother sent this to me. My grandmother would have been the woman to whom this was addressed. Thanks to all the women who made things different for us here in the 21st century.

Here we are mid-way through the week and I am just getting back enough in my head to write some Verbal Remedies. If you’ve been reading, you know that last week I was in Phoenix filming a movie in Tent City. If you haven’t been reading, now you know. Tent City is part of the Arizona prison system. People who are arrested for DUI are sent to Tent City. Have you ever had a drink and then gotten behind the wheel of your car? If you’re like a whole lot of people, you have. If you are like the people I saw in the tents, you’ve gotten caught. You don’t have to be intoxicated to be arrested. One drink will send you to jail in Arizona and make your financial world turn upside down with fines cresting $10,000. Then for a year you are reminded (if not for other reasons) by the breathilizer installed in your car in order to make it start. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday was the first day on the set in Tent City at the Maricopa County jail here in Phoenix. It wasn’t what I expected. Is anything? Instead of scary criminal-types, I saw young women, older women lying around on bunks, bored. It seemed more like a boring summer camp than jail. Of course that is because I know I can leave. I know at the end of the day I go home to my friend the film producer’s home, crawl into a nice bed and sleep peacefully. I know I am free. I felt protected though I also didn’t feel much need to be protected. There’s a metaphor in this of course. A matter of perspective. I’ll write more tomorrow. Gotta go to jail.

Here I sit at the Charlotte airport and probably will for several more hours. I fly on a pass, thanks to my son the pilot. That’s the upside. The downside is that I fly “space available”. The flight I had planned on being on is overbooked and the next one as well, according to the woman at the counter. So, okay. I’ve got a whole bunch of time and don’t have a plan for it. My plan was to be on the flight, get to Phoenix and have dinner with my friend. What is that saying? “If you wanna make God laugh, tell him your plans.” I hear him or her chuckling. Over time I have learned to be easy with what I think is going to happen and, when it doesn’t, enter the land of possibilities. I’m interested to see what happens throughout this day as a result of the change. There isn’t a thing I can do to force my plan into action so I trust. I’ll keep you posted. (Hey, that has a new meaning with blog posting!)

Tomorrow I am flying to Phoenix to be in a film that is being shot in the Arizona prison, Tent City. The film is about being arrested and charged with a DUI. In Arizona, there is no way out once arrested. You are going to jail and your life will never be the same. I know, not firsthand but second hand. Two people very close to me have been charged with a DUI, a year apart. I spoke with both of them as they went in, during the days when they were given opportunity to call out, and afterward. One of the things that has come out of these experiences is this movie.

As I head into this experience, I am aware of the fear that rises up in me… Read the rest of this entry »

Agreement comes to those who seek it. Think on that for a moment. It’s so simple and so true.