ARE YOU INTUITIVE?

The journey of our lives follows a definite path when aligned with our Life's Purpose. Purpose is different from the concept of Fate. There, we are led to believe that we are "supposed to" have certain experiences, "must" arrive at some preordained destination. Purpose though, is more about choice. We all have our own, unique combination of values, beliefs, strengths; and these join together to define the overall meaning of our lives. We choose where and when we are going to pursue that meaning according to the desires and directions dictated by our hearts. Thereby, we become creators of our own destiny, always following the principles and ideals that attract our current interests.
Another important aspect of this personal adventure reveals itself at those special moments when, as we are living out our journey, we come across signposts or crossroads on the path - connecters that provide us with opportunities to make quantum leaps forward in our progress.
Our inner compass, the knowing Self, recognizes these opportunities and, if we are willing to take that "next step", chooses the meetings and experiences that will fulfill the ever growing sense of who we are and where we are headed. These meetings/experiences are brought to us through the spiritual principle known as the Law of Attraction whereby, elements specifically suited to our individual make-up are introduced into the energetic currents that cross and parallel the evolving flow of our Life Stream.

Perhaps as you read these words, you are reflecting that, at this moment - NOW, you find yourself standing before one of those signposts or are looking out at a puzzling crossroad and wondering what you should do next. If this accurately describes your situation, you may want to ask your inner intuition: "Is this true? Is what I'm reading here meant for me? Is there some deeper message waiting underneath these ideas?"
And, if your answer to these questions brings to the surface a powerful sense of recognition - a resounding YES, then I want you to know that I can help you find clarity in your search for answers.

“Taking time to assess, perhaps for the first time, what you truly want from life will bring you closer to your soul’s purpose – the one thing that your Knowing keeps prompting you toward, no matter what. “

“Focusing on what you want in any situation makes achieving the highest and best result that much easier. This process of inquiry and self-awareness will empower your Knowing so that it becomes a reliable, effective life guidance tool. Learning to read the currents of that flowing water on your Inward Journey to your Knowing Self makes you captain of your soul.”

Lauren Thibodeau, Ph. D.
From NATURAL BORN INTUITION

The Now is more appealing than all fantasies because
it bestows on us the talent for making a new creation.

Oscar Truitt, from His Intuition Journal

"Creativity is the key to the life you want. When we talk about living with a sense of purpose and fulfillment, we are talking about creating life. Within the boundaries of your beliefs, you can create your dreams and desires."

Carol Adrienne,
THE PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE

My Life Purpose

I am here to help find, reveal, inspire the vibrant beauty of the child in the hearts of others
and to help them connect with the naturally flowing current that will carry them to the meaning of their existence.

Magicspeak

I will ask you questions,
issue words, in chanted chain
- each, a ball of light, probing,
phallic lover to the heart,
your soul: vision-maker,
story teller, seat of Higher Self.

As you hear each tone
it blossoms, like a rose;
its fragrance overwhelms all fear.
You walk in steps that
lift you over clouds.

Back and forth, the dialogue
replays a dreamer's dance.
All of this is more than dream.
It is awakening,
the physicality of joy,
path of least resistance.
You are keen to go.

Let the listener believe.
Let the speaker tell of Godly things.
Answers are the messengers
of hope - of certainty.
Nothing is impossible.
This is who we are,
why we spin the turning wheel,
delight in sweet, discoveries
of us.

Dazzling and tremendous
how quick the sunrise would kill me,
if I could not now and always
send sunrise out of me.
We also ascend dazzling and tremendous
as the sun.

WALT WHITMAN

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one."
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Why do I call myself a Creative Purpose Coach?

Creativity, as we know, is a gift or talent for expressing the beauty we feel in our hearts and souls. And the work that we do, how we use the media at our disposal - this is how we engage our energies in the process of creation.

But, as artists, we also know that our relationship to the creative process is much less about "what" we do, and more about "how" we do it. This is where purpose comes into play.

I coach people - that is, inspire, encourage, challenge,and help them to find deeper clarity around the state of their complete being - body, mind and soul, as they engage in artistic pursuits. Together, we delve within the process, within the person - discover why they create, what drives them, what they most want to become, to say to the world (and themselves) through their work, and what is the fundamental meaning they are striving for, desiring to understand?

Again, art is not about what a person does but about who they are in the doing. And, success comes not from an objective product ( though this is of enormous value), but from the feeling that drives the creator towards that product. Where this feeling comes from, and how it is identified with the artist - this is the stuff that coach and client place in the light of their combined inspection.

Creative Purpose is about a creator identifying his/her love for life; it's also about an empowering wellspring of energy, about vision - the knowledge of a person's interior dimensions, and the great gift that waits there to be given to the world.

I help people focus on these things, help them find the self contentment that comes from knowing and loving themselves more completely. Imagine the art work that can come out of such depth. That is when creativity becomes really,really interesting.

*

The space between is where the wind blows - like the space between leaves, causing weightlessness in the gap that is not a gap. There, where intuition informs, light arrives, in waves - washing through. We are one message for one another: breath is wind, silence is light - not glare, but lightness in the dark. Breaths carry time. Time is not real, not the way we imagine. Time is only opportunities in procession, a path to travel on. We are fairy-like, our footsteps barely touch the ground - grass that bends to wind. Wind, the voice of God, speaks to us now. Now - across beams electric, as we connect. Time and space. All in this moving, cool, caress of a game.

Affirmation

I am maker of beautiful things.
I have purpose.
I am not the only one;
There are many.
None are better or worse.
I do not compare.

We all have value.
Value burns our hearts.
The burning is the same.
We cannot stop it,
Do not want to.
It is love for life,
The search,
The journey.

I am content to be unique,
Content to know
That you are too.
We are fireflies in summer,
Ribbons of rainbow,
Notes in a symphony.

Come,
See what I have made
For you.
I made it just
So we could smile
Together.

Ritual

Here is what I'll do:
I'll stop
for a moment,
listen for
an answer...

*

*

*

Now,
I'll breathe wonder
out of my soul
and ask
the right questions:

Quote from a favorite book:

The teaching's voice
is total silence,
amid the
ringing wind chimes

HORGZHI

Intuitive Pieces

I walk to the beach
And my silence becomes
The ocean's roar.

****

In a forest clearing
Shade dapples light,
Oaks purify air,
I visit fairies.

****

The morning hour,
Before sunlight quickens,
Has special darkness,
Rich with guidance.

****

Inwardly,
I counsel myself,
Listen
To God's laughter.

The Six Internal Elements Necessary for Creative Success

We are creative people.
Being creative means that, to a certain extent, we will sometimes step outside the rules and expectations of the world - experiment, free-float through thought, let our hearts ride the rollercoaster of emotion, questioning, desire.
Yet, we are still bound by certain patterns, rely on working forms of media and tools of craft; words roll neatly into sentences, paint must dry before it is overlaid, a canvas needs the exacting fit of a measured frame. Though we may individually lean towards a Bohemian sense of the chaotic, still we want our creations to be moderately palatable - accepted by a culture that is regimented to norms of creative standard.

So, we adapt ourselves to outer circumstances - even as the urge to freely express makes us challenge the perameters of form and orthodoxy - we adapt. And we try to create honestly the things that we see and feel - translate them into an orderly presentation through color, sound, clay, ideas - brilliant music.

That's the peripheral stuff, the stuff of appearance and convention. Inwardly there are also elements that come together and weave a kind of creative design out of the psychic substances of our emotive and intuitive selves. The interplay of these elements produces the viable pattern of artistry. That pattern consists of six particular layers ( though sometimes fluctuating) of energy:

The first on the list is INSPIRATION. Who knows where this burst of agitated energy originates: Heart? Soul? God? Does it bubble up from the sensational brew of our value systems? Or is its appearance something random - magical?
It just comes to us - comes burning as a kind of belly fire that demands our attention. Do we have a choice about responding? Or, as artists, are we naturally born slaves to its primordial demands?

Who knows? Who cares?...

Because the second element in the creative pattern comes rushing in right behind inspiration and supplants all focus on rationale and question. We've been bitten by a bug, and immediately are hearts swell up with DESIRE.
Desire is that personal heart/gut investment that we add to the creative process. We get inspired, and then we want to do something about it. We make the "feeling" our own, say "I'm in" to the invitation. And then we begin moving with it.

But here we face the first challenge: because, once we acknowledge that we really want to be involved with this creative "thing" that has moved us so strongly, then we need to have the BELIEF that we are capable of pulling it all off. Can something tangible really be made from feelings and daydream, from the realm of invisibility? Do we believe in the power of possibility and in our own talents? Our yes to these questions is essential to our moving forward.

Once these three elements our brought into play, and we begin to accept the energy of the whole process - giving ourselves the permission to "go with the flow", then our bodies and spirits begin to fill with that energy. And this is when EMPOWERMENT happens. Somehow the magic of belief has bridged the gap between the unseen world and physical possiblities and we are alive with INSPIRATION, and a DESIRE to follow it to completion. We are ignited by the POWER of it all.

It's here that doubts sometimes begin to creep in. We're all shaken up with energy - from the inside out. The light of our vision is pouring through us and, as it does, it seems to wash to the surface all our deepest fears and sense of inadequacy. We think: "What if I can't pull this off? What if I'm not good enough?"

The answer, this next element, is very crucial to our continuing, but is often overlooked when discussing the process at hand: I call it AFFIRMATION. It is through affirmation that the most successful creators are able to cross roadblocks put up by life and feelings of insecurity. By affirming their intrinsic worth, either through reminding themselves of past accomplishments, or by reviewing their personal abilities- or, just drawing on inner will power and, much as a child would do, telling themselves "I know this might be hard, but I'm going to go ahead with it anyway - just because I can, just because I want to" (here, calling upon desire again), whatever the validating self talk might be, this is the place where the artist affirms his/her art, and draws courage from their inner reserves of energy to propel them forward again. Notice:
the river was flowing rapidly, then there appeared a log jam of emotion, but it was broken through by shear force of will.

Then, and only then, does the creative person truly prove his/her COMMITMENT. And this is the final element. Yes, commitment has shown up throughout the entire process (indeed, all the elements tend to energetically "loop" and repeat and mix themselves here and there), but only after resistance is powerfully overcome, is commitment fully realized. Here the creator is totally engaged, now he/she may commit their work to its medium in complete confidence.

These then are the six elements necessary for creative success: INSPIRATION (the mystical impulse, catalyst to the whole process), DESIRE (our engagement in it), BELIEF (how we traverse the unknown to the possible), EMPOWERMENT (when we fill ourselves with the life of this creative vision), AFFIRMATION (our inner defense system for smashing roadblocks), and COMMITMENT (putting it all together and getting it done).

Why Am I Here?

That's a question that's almost cliche' these days. Sometimes we think the answer is about what we do - our careers, or how others see us. But really, life purpose is more of an interior thing: we find ourselves, our meaning, the answers to our deepest desires in how we express - not "what" we express. It's a suble difference because, certainly the products of our work are important. It's just that what fills these products has so much more value. If we create a work of art, we, as artists know that it cannot be truly great ( to us ) if that work is not infused with beauty - with love.
So, life purpose, the meaning behind the way we live our lives, depends on what's going on behind and beneath our outward actions. For us to be content, fulfilled, and satisfied with the direction of our journey here, we must know who we are, why we are, what we love, what we value. Then we must integrate these things into what we do. Doing is one thing. Being is quite another. Love is always the simple answer. Ah, but how we commit ourselves to love what we do, that's the zen of it.

Creatives

It is story that we love. We love to tell and to hear. We love to be caught up in the intoxicating spell of a vibrant culture and community - and pretend; we love to pretend. Words become vessels for self and for principle through the weave of our fancy. We love to share the love of our journey, our memories and awakenings. We also love to know what others have done, where they've been, what they felt like in the physical sense - and inside the heart. We enjoy song, color, tastes - drinking sweet ambrosia from a golden cup. There are characters and plots, humor and desire. We want to know. This is why we tell. This is why we listen. This is what we're all about.

Mini Exploration of The Wizard Factor

When I take a breath into myself - a deep, full, belly-inflating, body-infused-with-oxygen-and-energy kind of breath, I make room for the wizard: the image I have of the transformative, powerful, fearless, wise aspect of myself that I really want to incorporate. I inhale my Higher Self into myself and let it take hold of my present belief system. I am That because I believe That to be me. Oh! And another breath, and another, building on the confidence, the upright poise of who I am claiming as my inward/outward icon.
There is magic here. And with it I can summon golden light - swirling spheres of glowing beauty that I hold in my hands and cast towards the hearts of others. But, these are not missiles, not objects of attack. Instead, this symbol is the play of Love, the giving of an impulse of illumination, eye opening recognition, thrill, the blossoming of a creative bloom in its eternal moment of living Spring.
This interior sage, this weaver of brilliant patterns, is an empowering spirit with an attitude of levity and sobriety meshed in perfect balance. I am Gandalf. I am Merlin. I am the Hermit of the Tarot, standing with his lantern on the mountaintop. I find my way by the beacon and show it to others. This is strength and excitement and calm. I am a pillar of fire in the wilderness. Found.

(From a recent workshop)

TRANSMUTED


In a shaded alcove
stands a crew-cut boy,
gangly-legged and shy,
trembling with emotion -
tear-red puffiness
around each eye,

who looks to me for comfort
as I peer into his dream
through the mirror's glass
and wonder if
this God forsaken night
will ever pass

and why
I find myself attracted
to the lonesome place again,
smothered by the darkness
of an ancient pain.

He seems so frail, so helpless;
as I study him, I know
that childhood wants an ending
and time has come to grow.
So,
I wish a wish for magic,
wish a wish for light
and see the child mature
to a wizard robed in white

who is standing like a statue,
totem staff in hand,
emitting great vibrations
that say: "now, I am a man."

And, shaken to awareness,
sobbing with release,
a change of tidal washing
mixing patterns underneath,

I strain to breathe this freshness,
fill my lungs with joy
to burn with new-found Power
from the Master
in the boy

The Mirror Makers

Recently I had a conversation with someone who told me how jealous she sometimes gets when reading someone else's work (poetry). I looked at her, felt her spirit, her vitality and creative aura and thought: "wow, it's really true what I've read in books and heard in various teachings - the things that we love, those creative works, or just casual human activities we witness in life, those beautiful moments are beautiful to us because we have a foundation of beauty within ourselves already."
It's funny how we tend to be motivated to always look for that beauty outside ourselves - and to measure our own creative expressions against the accomplishments of others.
You can't recognize something as 'good' or 'valuable' unless goodness and values have something to resonate against. Those impulses need mirrors in which to be seen. This is who we are: we are the mirrors, the source of artistic appreciation. But you can turn that metaphor around as well: Art is also a kind of mirror. We love art because it represents to us the parts of ourselves that we so yearn to validate and experience through our self perception. Great artists, indeed the Masters of any artistic medium, are great because of their skill as mirror makers. They show us reflections of what we feel within...
Human beings really are beautiful creatures - each and every one, unique in our individual, creative ways. It's just that our vision of beauty often gets shrouded under perceptual illusions and interpretations imposed by the pace of our lives and external attitudes of culture. So, art is here to remind us of who we are. Great art can bring us to moments of epiphany. Yet, simple folk art can also carry a fragment of the reflective glass - as can a child's giddy crayon drawing. Beauty truly is in the eye, and in the heart of the beholder. Our place here is not so much to take the position of critic ( or even self critic) as it is to enjoy this world and each other. Yes, some of our work will come out more refined, and thus be more celebrated by the public. But all artistic endeavors are worthy, all have beauty to share. We see ourselves in this art that we make because we are all, without exception, creatures who love to look in the mirror. This though, is not vanity, but is deeper. It is about that age old, very human story: us in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass.

Letter To My Guests

Being a creative person in today's fast-paced world can be very challenging - both internally and externally. Inwardly, it can sometimes be frustrating to find just the right way to express things we strongly feel and see. All artists, writers - all people who are creative, share that basic drive, that burning urge to bring something to life that will authentically mirror their highest vision. In the arena of commerce, the challenge can be even more daunting: How do we find ways to market the thing we love to do so that we may share it with a wide audience - and maybe make some money at the same time?
Clearly, as a creative person, you are doing what you do because you love it, because you are someone who sees the world in a very special way, and have a passion to share your wonderful talent with others. But, sometimes creative people feel alone in their journey. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone close at hand to acknowledge and validate who you are and what you're doing? What if there was the possiblility of a relationship that could take you even farther than that, beyond the "feel good moment" when you see your work being appreciated, and into an energized space where you would be able to improve that work and connect even more deeply with the source of your creative inspirations?

As a visual artist and poet, I have struggled with these questions myself. I know the kind of stress that can build up during long periods of creative block; I've also felt the pressures that come when that inner critic told me "you're not good enough, you'll never succeed." All of us wrestle with self doubt and high expectations through the creative process. But, beneath even these troubling feelings, there continues to burn a constant desire to express impulses that are foundational to who we truly are.

For me, one of the great challenges I faced in my artistic journey was finding the right medium for my creative talent. Would it be paint, pen, poetry? After years of pursuing that question, I finally came to realize that the unique medium that called to me most strongly was the energy of the human heart; and, I saw that I could experience that energy best when I became connected with other people. This has led me towards a career working with creative individuals. The art that I engage in now is an art of dialogue. Words have become my brush, my pen, my resonant instrument. I employ a specific form of conversation where I act as moderator in a drama and dance of human development. Through that interaction, the talents of my clients seem to rise to the surface, and they become able to utilize their abilities more fully and to excel in what they do. I inspire, and encourage them. And my personal joy is fulfilled by witnessing the products of their success.

I am a Creative Purpose Coach. I work with creative people - not only to help them find success in their careers, but also to discover things about who they are, why they're here; I help them identify their life purpose, the reason behind the doing.

If you've been feeling a desire to stimulate your own creativity, to integrate it more with your daily life, to increase your professional confidence, or simply improve your skills at marketing yourself, I can offer you tangible, expert help in any of these areas.

The program I offer is based on a process I call Coaching The Inner Light.
For more on this - and to share in my personal, interior journey as a Life Coach,
please, read on.....

COACHING THE LIGHT

When I read the book "Breaking The Rules" by Kurt Wright I was deeply impressed by the concept of "right questions" - how, when asking for information in a certain way, we might stimulate our minds to search with keen focus for particular goals - and, how these kinds of questions could be catalysts for personal enlightenment.
As well as questions, there were also various forms of instructions - or tools offered as methods to develop intuitive thinking. One of these employed the use of daily affirmations - personal statements that could be planted in the subconscious mind to later sprout as feelings of strong intent, attitudes of "want to" which have the power to counteract lifetime habits of pessimistic thought.
I've experimented with a number of affirmations that I hoped would propel me into the kind of thinking that I want to hone in on as a Life Empowerment Coach. For the most part, these have all been very helpful. But I want to tell you about one particular grouping of intentional words I have found that, like those "right questions", have created the perfect "right affirmation" for me.
It addresses all of my desires and goals around being a coach and has even helped me to bring the coaching mindset beyond the "session" moment and into all my daily interactions.
The affirmation is:

I SEARCH FOR THE SPARK OF LIGHT, ACKNOWLEDGE BEAUTY IN EVERYONE.

The imagery and symbol of "light" means a lot to me. I think of light both as the core energy of all existence, and as a state of being - a light heartedness, free from the heavy press of gravity. I search for this in everyone, knowing that each person, whether living in a catabolic or anabolic energy state, has at least a spark of this reality inside them. And, when I find it ( and the search itself has become a sort of "game" for me - an eager play at discovery), I acknowledge it either inwardly to myself, or outwardly by speaking some word(s) of encouragement and recognition to whomever I meet.
Of course, this is the ideal, and I don't always remember to be focused on my intent. But, it is my chosen affirmation, and the working goal that I have adopted for my life. The game continues to unfold, the challenges continue to play upon the screen of my observations - meanings shift and develop.
My hope is that, by using this affirmation as my daily exercise, I will continue to grow in the sense of what I believe a true coach should be - a light giver, light celebrant, light sharer, inspirer of light ways of thinking and feeling: a light magnet.

This blog will be a record of the illuminated path that is revealing itself before me. Focused on the intent that I have just stated, it will appear as poetry, journal, parable and anecdote. I'm offering my story as a form of inspiraton and encouragement for my fellow coaches ( and clients).

Of course, by presenting this, I'm not trying to say that my affirmation is appropriate for anyone other than myself ( though it may be). I just want to share the thoughts it has inspired. I think that all creative, life affirming thought, when shared with others, can help each of us to grow. It helps me to write these things. I hope, in the very least, that some of what you read here, will make you smile. That would make it worth the effort.

This is the introduction. More to follow....

Dance in the moment
even if the moment doesn't seem
to want to dance with you.
Do it anyway.
Choose a lighter heart.

Show me your original face, before you were born.

Zen koan

Session

Who is this
that I'm here
to see?

I don't know him,
what he does
- his beliefs;

why should I listen,
what could he say
that might sound new?

I stand and knock.
A door opens - and
I find myself inside.

New You

All of a sudden
the fog lifts,
cobwebs are swept
from the attic,
people seem to bounce
instead of plod down the street,
there is optimism
where there wasn't any yesterday;
you feel like taking chances
so you do: go out and join
a Laughter Yoga Club
then laugh all day. Life
is rich, anything is doable.
You open up your windows,
dance around the house - and,
when you close your eyes to meditate,
see yourself on air,
flying over mountains,
brushing fingers through the clouds,
stealing sips of morning rain.

Most of all
you're not afraid the dream will end.
You've finally decided
not to let the gremlins rule your world.
You have choices - so,
you choose to cross the gap
from fear to hope. Every breath
brings gratitude, every sight - a gift.

It was in turning
that you saw this other way,
through a frame of new ideas,
looking at yourself -
what it is that makes you tick...

Now
you find that
all of life is wrapped in purpose.
When you open up your heart
there comes this giddy mood
of lightness smiling out - and,
every morning, in the mirror,
is a person that
you want to get to know.

Breath

Is it madness to want
And to want to tell someone what the wanting is,
To make noise about it,
Break something delicate,
Play music
Climbing and intense?

If I listen
And strain to see - or say
At levels no one else has ever reached,
Can I carve this wooden knot,
Paint this orange and red and yellow sun,
Cup the ocean with my hands
- Or heart,
Smell the incense of a lover's hair,
Understand
Why children laugh, then run away?

Is it wonder makes me search,
Is it love - or lust,
Or maybe something else? Can I bridge
These dual responses that I feel,
Come to find some balance in my art?
What is art, but hunger clothed as joy,
Action fleeing judgment,
Anxious thought exemplified?

This is what I do
Because I want to do it.
This is what I can't explain
But have to tell you all about.
Listen to the words between the lines,
See the colors,
Hear the trill of violin,
Take the pure refreshment
From this Muse that poses naked.
All of it flows in and out
Like breath.

Why We Do What We Do

It's like, there's this tide, this oncoming tornado, a great, rising blaze of unstoppable fire. And we have to go with it. We want to go with it. There's color, music, words - beautiful descriptives, a twirl and pregnant pause of dance. And we are in it. Our hands sketch, mold, express attitude. We say things - symbolically, or to the point. We make. It's all about the making, the interpretation of a Dream, the laugh and the cry. It's beauty; and we don't know how to say it any better than that. But we keep trying. We continue with this because it's fun, exhilerating, sensual - necessary. I understand what this means to you. I'm here because I know the light that's inside you; because it's inside me too. And I have to talk about it - with anyone and everyone.

To remember Light, to see Light, to inspire Light, to attract Light, to mirror Light, to be Light, to enjoy Light, to find Light, to give Light, to dance with Light, to sing Light, to paint Light, to speak Light, to hear Light, and join the Greater Light.

Laud

Beauty is the central seat of Joy.
Great things happen when you're there:
Colors happen, music - at a playful pace
of hearing. Heartbeats stutter. All the body
takes on warm, internal glow. There is sparkle,
there is smile, there is reverence as well.

Beauty is the pithwood of the Tree of Life,
Avatar and Saviour. It is feeling, it is
thought - risen to a lightness that
cannot be put to words. Words are only
messengers. Nothing can rephrase the
message that they bear. We are beings

with eternal souls, artists made of clay.
What we try to do, we do because of
Beauty. It is wonder, it is goodness,
it is half enough, but never really certain
- how we fuse desire to matter, try
to imitate the visions we conceive.

Beauty keeps ahead of us, runs a race
that tempts our feet to follow. We are glad
to chase the Dream, glad for bittersweet
and ache. If it hurts, it hurts for meaning,
hurts for true expression. We are hands
that squeeze and mold the elements
before us - voice of written word. Beauty
will sustain us through it all. This is why
we come together, what we live to say:
Beauty is the central seat of Joy

Personal Paradise

Here is the visualization: Let me tell you first, it is like a dance, a thing of play. I am walking down a street and "feel" the walk of others, sense the vibrancy of energy and am drawn to meet them at some inward place. I go searching for their light - see it in a smile, a sidelong glance, an optimistic motion as a person rushes towards a friend. Perhaps the light is from desire - a need to "get some place". Maybe I'll encounter someone that I know and I'll connect with them. The plan I have in mind is to remind myself to be engaged, to look for light and feed it with my own - maybe through the eyes, or with a friendly word or two. The biggest challenge that I meet in all of this is how to see a way to carry it into my place of work, or home, or in the church - anywhere where people look to me to wear a certain face and don't expect to see me as a being made of energy. There, I have to cloak my game in subtle form, probe discreetly for an opening - test my skills at building trust with words. I feel as if I'm in a hunt, looking for the proof of what is real: lightness in the way we walk and talk. It is coursing through my consciousness, elevating all my thought. All I want to do is interact with brilliance. Today, I breathe in air and watch it flood into my abdomen and lungs. I fill my body with a vision of angelic wonderment. Then....
I picture I am rising high into the air, where I collide and enter wave on wave, level after level of a pure illumination - going straight into the sun itself. I direct my astral flight to head into its core. As I do, I set aside my weightiness of body; flesh disintegrates - is replaced with sparkling atoms of a giddy blaze. I am growing lighter, brighter - feel completely free. Still, I travel farther, farther, and expand until I feel united with the perfect whiteness of this star. Ears have disappeared - yet, I hear the ringing pitch of joyous chords of my elation. As I enter deeper into light, direction loses meaning; everywhere I look, everything I am is omnipresent beauty.
Still, it grows and grows. How this is is far beyond my understanding. Wider, whiter, wilder, swimming like an infant's fretless giggle. Now, I am illumined. Now I am at oneness with this solar torch.
I know that I have traveled far and there is farther yet to go; but an impulse calls me back. In the twinkling of a moment, in the pause between my laughter and an anxious snatch of breath, I return to where I'm seated on my sofa, spread my arms and feel the titillation of a body filled with light. As I finger strands of air, it's like plucking on a golden mandolin. And I rise, to walk again, to enter in the game, give my light away and search for light in others - ask them if they've ever danced inside the sun.

Note3

At the morning watch I begin
to turn from thoughts of self to
thoughts of others. I seek the
many facets of humanity to enjoy
how smiles can be so versatile
and wear so many different forms.
I withdraw, to watch, study every
soul - how the center of each one
tries to hide behind a mask, protect
itself from harm. See, a tinge of
darkness covers everything with
moodiness. Yet, the light is at its
heart. We are rising from the ashes
of our yesterdays. We are throwing
off the wordly ways and and going in.
Here, I meet my brothers/sisters,
tell them it's alright. For the sake
of my integrity - what that means
to me, you can trust me with
your brilliance.

Note 2

When I ask you a question
I really want to know what
the answer means to you. I
want to feel what it is that
you feel, share in your sense
of wonder. How wide your
eyes grow as they open to
perceive the light of a fresh
revelation. See, it shines
through you! I observe. My
existence is a mirror for
your self knowledge. How
marvelous this is! How
Super Natural - yet, real
as the here and now. Angels
and beautiful mortals revolve
around your personal beacon
whenever you shine like this
and expose your inner Joy.

Note 1

Today, I look at people, linger, make full
contact, delight in their light. I am focused
on them, forget my own concerns, lay aside all
worries. I will speak honestly to them - encourage,
acknowledge, validate. Today, I go to search deeply,
diligently for the powerful beacon inside myself. Yes,
myself - so that I may use it to find mirror images
of flame and draw them out. I will speak words that
inspire because I know that this language that I use
exists so that I may connect with them. My purpose
here is bound up with the light inside others. I value each,
go out and dance to the individual music of their souls.
It is a game, a mode of play, a light hearted intercourse.
We breathe in lightness of being, breathe out lightness
of good will. Today, I greet each one who comes to me
as a spark, a messenger of illumination. I trade my glow
with their beaming smiles, appreciate the many stars
in this galaxy of human enjoyment.

A Poem About Magic

Through weavings of bramble and hedge,
shaded from the blue and sun, play salamander,
fairies, good and bad alike ( this,determined by
interpreters of Dream); these are mossy, dust,
limber - hidden. Their common element
is fire, sparked by magic, glimmered flakes
of mayfly wing, bubbling soup of phosphor.
I am scion of a line of druid priests. We were
angels once, beings of the golden chord,
til, thrown to earth for drowning in the cup of pride.
Some of us repented here. Others
have mutated into demon skin. I am
elven, airy brother to a scattered band of wanderers.

All who live here touch their limbs to sod,
walk in footsteps, pounded rhythm of erratic pulse,
heartbeat, energy in bone and clay - a temporary life
( everything material is only here for now
to play some whimsy's part
and then, we all return ).

So, I live amongst Diaspora of Abraham,
rub my shoulders with these men
and women, haggard denizens of
subway car and cafeteria. I, the stranger
no one wants to sit beside, watching for the spark
behind the scowl, looking for the special ones.
I recognize these ancient souls
cacooned in human sheaths. Most of them
forget the nature of the Dream: weavings of electric wire
and aqueduct, networks of computer pathways
binding up a global mind.

Once, today in fact,
I walked a littered pavement through
a gloomy scene of urban blight, saw a wino
propped against a shopping cart
pillowed by a wad of New York Times. He was elven,
I could tell; there were tattooed runes across his wrist.
I was certain, as our eyes connected,
that he knew me for his kin. He was drunk,
had drooping lids of yellow tears
and grit, together hardened in the slant.

"What's the point?" he asked. "Everything is gone.
Cities are no place for faerie folk. I haven't
seen a tree in weeks. Drunk as drunk can be
and nothing else is real. Nothing else is real."

"Who are you?" he asked again,
in language that began to swim with Celtic poetry.
"Who are you, in corduroy and super cut?"
"You have light," I said. "It's just a feeble flicker,
yet, it's still alive. You are meant for better things,
meant to cross the sky in chariot of rainbow,
meant for dance, and fantasy, and elemental lustiness."

"No!" he argued back. "This is not a speech
I need to hear. None on earth desire
our dance of light. Times have changed,
and Thomas Edison has put an end to us."

But
I could not let it go. Could not ignore
the truth of who we were
and what it was inside
that drew me towards the sun
that, even in that moment, strained to cut its way
through clouds above our heads. So,
I bent, and lifted him, bore him in my arms
across a dozen crowded avenues, walked for hours
until we came to Central Park
where we rested in a clearing
ringed by giant rocks, sat against a tree
to watch, as children sailed their model sailboats
on the pond. "See," I told my brother.
"There are sparkles on the water,
light in children's eyes. There is still a chance
that we might call the magic forth. Light is light
wherever it may shine. We are made from light
and - could it be that,
here and now, our race will find a working way
- some way to mingle with that human spark?"

Then, he looked me in the eye
with hungry, searing confidence. "Let us make
a circle in this place, form a faerie ring
of pebbles and of bottle caps.
Yes, we'll call the brethren here
and raise a different song,
forge another magic,
cast this age of shadow out
from dixieland
to Disneyland,
from China
to the glaciers of Antarctica...

Now begins the Time of Light.
I feel it in my bones.
The magic will return. "

Let Me Tell You About the Accordian Man

One grey and chilly Spring afternoon I was walking through a large park in downtown Boston. I had gone into the city to file for a business license at City Hall. Getting there had been a bit of an ordeal; parking lots near the commuter rail in my neighborhood south of town had been filled early and, on a whim, I'd decided to drive into town and park at the one relatively inexpensive municipal garage. Fortunately, that had worked out okay but, after a half hour of maneuvering through urban traffic and then facing the twists and turns of bureaucratic red tape, I was feeling way off center as I found myself heading back to my parking space. I'd been trying to practice my exercise of looking for sparks of light in the faces of people I passed along the sidewalk - but it just wasn't working; I was too frazzled.
Just before the entrance to the garage, I passed down a stretch of walkway that, for some reason, was completely clear of pedestrians. There was only one other soul around: a small, elderly man wearing a wrinkled suit and wide brimmed hat. He was standing on a park bench playing a lively song on an accordian and singing something about "happy, happy, happy". I didn't recognize the song, but I did recognize the light.
There it was - the spark that I'd been looking for. I wasn't in any condition to find it, so it found me.
I reached into my pocket. There was only one dollar bill there ( I needed the twenty for parking), so I dropped it into his open, black satchel. "Thank you" I said. And it wasn't the dollar that made me feel so uplifted for the rest of the day. It was that little, gentle man, his sweet song, the light in his smile - and the great burst of connection that had traveled from him to me and back again as we connected in that simple, five second encounter.
I don't think there was anything particularly unusual about the old fellow. I don't believe he was some guru or angel in disguise ( athough... maybe ). I just think that what it was all about was the search; I'd been looking for light. And there it was. There it always is.
This makes me think about the foundational principal I read in my iPEC coaching manual: "Each person we meet is our teacher and student."
How amazing it is when we are caught unawares by these obvious truths.