From my daily reading, The Language of Letting Go.

“Times are changing for the better. Continue on the path of trust and obedience. Be open to the new.”

I am taking Polychrome Jasper along for this ride. Here are its healing properties:

Polychrome Jasper

Use it for:

• Stability
• Balance
• Grounding

All jaspers help balance the emotional energy in the body.

And here is the necklace I made to help me remember (for sale soon, but in the meantime visit my shop):

I drew stillness
From The Deck.
Her avatar?
A peace sign.

Right now,
I think my
Avatar is
A race car.

Zipping ahead
Without thought
For the energy
Being consumed
Or the loudness
Generated.
And all this
Speed and combustion
And noise
Is doing so little to
Improve on what
Was already
Here.

~ spontaneously composed (but not combusted) by Stan Stewart
Copyright © 2011 by muz4now, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. 182/1,000

The holiday season has arrived. It’s official. The frenzy has begun. This year as always, I am caught up with everything that I have to do, complicated by my return trip to PA and all that typically entails.

So painting these little jewels has given me a way to quiet my mind and focus my energy on one single thing.  At least while I was working on them.  They are magnets by the way.  And I had a lot of fun making them.  Of course, I thought that I’d be able to whip them out in no time.  But I should have known that would never work for me.  Instead each one is a little world of its own and each one took me to a different place and taught me different things.

They will be available at the Hope (New Jersey) Craft Market this Saturday, December 3rd, and at the Wellspring Craft show the following weekend, December 10th and 11th.

…..the money will follow.  Day 5 of interesting ways to use the InterPlay Inspiration Deck

I think that was the title of a book I once read or a quote I once saw somewhere and I have been carrying it around in my head ever since.

It is a beautiful concept and something I wish to aspire to (I know you sense it too? There is a BUT coming, right?) Let’s list some of the But’s:

1. I don’t know how.

2. It doesn’t come with benefits or health insurance.

3. I don’t have time to do what I love because I am too busy working my “regular” job.

4. The laundry needs to be done, house needs to be cleaned, bills are due, the family needs come first, I have to waterproof my boots (you get the idea)…

Making time for what I love is scary. Alright, there I said it. It is scary. Scary because (see numbers 1-4) if i go beyond the distractions of my above list I find number 5: I may fail, or at least become so vulnerable that I may not be able to function.

Since this is just a blog post (and the experts tell me not to go beyond 500 words), I will stop there and bring the tool of the day into the foreground.

Here is how I will use the Inspiration Deck today: I will start with a single focus for doing what I love and having the money follow.  My desire is to find ways to sell more decks and get more people interested in InterPlay as a life practice.

My questions (along with the cards that I pulled):

• What can I do to calm my fears right now so that I can move forward? EASY FOCUS
• Is there something that I am overlooking in my present approach? FOLLOWING and LEADING
• Where can I get more advise for my next steps? BABBLING

Depending on how much time you have you can keep going and going….

Today it makes sense to me to see what InterPlay teaches about these concepts and to take the wisdom from there.  In order to do that I have to go to the instructional booklet that comes with the deck. Once again, read on if you are interested in my process and how I make sense of these messages and apply them to my focus.

my first question is about calming my fears and the card i chose was easy focus. in the booklet i read, “easy focus allows our body to relax, helps us engage more of our senses, and puts us in the middle of our experience instead of observing it from the outside…” this helps me to see that the tension in me and the fear is coming from the place of hard focusing on the outcomes and not really being present to what it is the i am creating and working on. doing this blogging for a week has been an amazing and wonderful experience for me and the comments i have been getting awesome. i want to be able to breathe all of that in instead of just “zooming” to the next piece of productivity.

the second question is about something i may be overlooking in this approach and i chose following and leading. the line in the booklet that catches my attention is,”on occasion we get to have that wonderful experience where we are not sure who is leading and who is following…” because i have engaged easy focus right now i am able to see a bigger picture. i am not sure if i am leading and you are following or if you are leading and i am following. right now that produces a wonderful sense of anticipation and excitement. where will this blogging lead? how might this produce more interest and intrigue out in the world?  also, i want to acknowledge that i am following my own desires and leading myself on the path to manifestation.

the final question is where can i get more advise and i chose babbling. babbling is also free flow talking where we don’t have to censor ourselves (one of the gifts of blogging for sure!). “…we end up sharing information about who we are and what is important to us.” what is so great about this card is that i see that in the process of doing this week of blogging and babbling i have really learned more about how much i love this deck, love this life practice, and love sharing about it. AND i love hearing what YOU have to say about it.

I WANT MORE! more of you, and your process and what it is like for you to use the principles and practices of InterPlay and ideas about how to spread the word (and alright, i admit, sell more decks!). This is life changing, I swear it is!  But don’t just believe me, try it for yourself!

Day 2 of interesting ways to use the InterPlay Inspiration Deck

Last week I brought the idea of connection to my InterPlay class.  Phil Porter introduced the idea of small circles of connection  a few years ago and I love to play with it often when leading groups.

Finish this sentence: I belong to a small circle of people who ________?  Some answers from last week’s class:

• wear hats all year long
• have my own website
• have red hair
• would not be caught dead without lipstick

From the ridiculous to the sublime these are the ways we connect with one another, find our intersections, or lack thereof.

Using the InterPlay Inspiration Deck, I asked the group to each pick a card. I invited them to hold loosely and lightly the question: Is there something that could help me feel more connected to myself and to others? Something that would aid and guide me when I am feeling stuck or scared in my relationship to myself or others?

Here are a few of the cards that were chosen:

• following and leading
• stillness
• improvise

I led the group through a variety of experiences using movement, noticing and contact.

Everyone had profound noticings about how to use their particular card to help them have more of what they want and desire in connection to themselves and those around them.

I will share some of my own. I used the closed eyes shuffle approach to choose my card. I got Following and Leading. The first exercise we did was a solo dance in our own small dance bubble. This was followed by a medium dance bubble solo dance and then a large bubble solo dance. The medium and large bubbles overlapped with other people’s bubbles which helped to begin the investigation of connecting with others. At first I was unsure about how to do following and leading with myself. Within minutes though I was filled with ideas: use my right side to lead and my left to follow, set up a pattern and follow it, take something in the room and follow that, use my feet to lead and my hands to follow. And when the dance bubbles overlapped I had even more fun following and leading with the bodies I came in contact with (whether they were actually aware of me or not!)

Some of my noticings about following and leading:

1. setting up something very simple and repetitive works best. (this is so helpful in marriage, child rearing, and most interactions)
2. it is impossible to follow and lead at the same time. (this is so helpful in marriage, child rearing, and most interactions)
3. when I am not clearly leading nor passionately following the dance falls apart. (this is so helpful in marriage, child rearing, and most interactions)

Now it is your turn. Get your own deck and explore the possibilities!

Somehow it all comes together, and keeps coming together.  My past, present and future.  The chance to share my art work, my ability to practice and teach Reiki, the deep need to stay connected with dear friends, the desire for jazz.  Feels so complete, familiar, safe.  But let’s not forget the humidity, the allergies, the poison ivy.  The reality.  It’s all here in Delaware Water Gap, all around me.  All OK.  Somehow it works.  Four times a year.  Coming back.  Time after time.

In the InterPlay Inspiration Deck, Grace says that she wants to be found.  Today is a day that I need Grace.  She wears red so that she is easier to see in the crowd.  This morning the crowd is inside of my head.  There seems to be a cacophony of voices a bit too loud to really hear what any one of them is actually saying.  This is making my chest feel a bit tight and I notice that my breathing is also somewhat labored.  Why?  Hard to say.  I am doing Debbie Ford’s , 21 day Consciousness Cleanse, and today is about giving up the old agreements that are keeping us stuck.  That could be it?

Then there is the fact that it is approaching the end of February and the next phase of “the card deck project” is not really underway.  Sure I have done a few things, but not enough to get something going in the wholesale market.  That could be it?

There is also the way that an artist has to be self-motivated and find some structure in her days.  When to eat, exercise, write, research the next step, make stuff, and most importantly, make space for the inspiration.  This could be it?

A female cardinal has just landed at the bird feeder right outside the window where I am sitting and writing.  She is a beautiful red-orange with a brilliant yellow-red beak.  Her head feathers are bouncing up and down and she bobs for her breakfast.  She is in one sense calm and in another on edge, ready to fly at any moment. I wonder if she has come to find me? If she is my Grace?  I do not hear the other voices in my head right now and I notice that I have finally exhaled.  This is it.

Stan‘s niece wrote and said that she pulled the card “HOLD IT LOOSELY AND LIGHTLY” and really needed that message yesterday. She is having a great time using the InterPlay Inspiration Deck which is making me realize even more the power of it as a daily practice. Whether you know InterPlay or not, these round cards are a way to get more out of your day, every day!

For me, this message to remember to hold things loosely and lightly is so important. I am SO NOT a technology person and the whole world operating on Facebook, Twitter, blogging, etc. is not really comfortable for me. Comfortable is this easy chair that I am sitting in right now. My morning coffee by my side, my dog curled up in my lap, the heavy rain and wind providing an awesome background for this Monday morning. Discomfort for me is the way I cannot figure out how to write this post directly into the blog, cannot figure out how to “tweet” people on a regular enough basis so that I would get hundreds of followers like my friend, Gretchen, and my complete inability to post things with pictures on Facebook or any other techy tool like that.
AHHHH, taking a breath as that was quite a long sentence.

That is what lack of comfort feels like in my body: one huge run on sentence!

So, for this moment, I borrow the Hold it Loosely and Lightly card, I grab my tight focuser and release it from my tight knit brow, take one long slow deep breath, and I exhale twice as long.

The wind and rain have stopped. Another Monday miracle reveals itself to me!

Angel Messenger: Hold It Loosely & Lightly

“There must be some kind of way out of here.”

Once again I’m sitting in my office wondering what the hell I’m doing here. Are you starting to see a pattern here? Don’t get me wrong: it’s not that I hate the work I do. I like making technology work.

“Too much confusion. I can’t get no relief.”

Trouble is that I see “making it work” from an incredibly idealistic vantage point. And I attach urgency to getting it working. In my original neurosis around this urgency, I left no room for genuine creativity and play.

“No reason to get excited…”

It’s taken me almost 30 years to transform this stressed out approach to my job into one that’s merely over-serious. To those of you who are easy-going, this will seem like no great feat.

Easy Focus round card from the InterPlay Inspiration Deck

“There are many here among us
That feel that life is but a joke”

To me, it was nearly insurmountable. Even after many years working and playing through this, I frequently have to remind myself about what’s really important. And none of it turns out to be “stuff.” In the end, I value my own well-being and my relationships the most. Easy to forget. Easy to remember.

“But you and I we’ve been through that
And this is not our fate”

Yeah. I get it. The call to easy focus really is … well, easy. Of course, today was my day to draw the Easy Focus card from Anita Bondi’s InterPlay Inspiration Deck.  Go figure.  The Deck knows me almost as well as I know myself!

“So let us not talk falsely now
The hour is getting late”

Is it ever too late to wake up to valuing what’s really valuable? No. But, the sooner and more often I wake up to it, the more time I have to enjoy it.

“Outside in the cold distance…”

I’m headed for some enjoyment now!

(Thanks to Bob Dylan for the still-relevant All Along the Watch Tower.)

It seems to me like life is full of transitions. Each day brings it’s own changes and these changes call on me to adapt or transition. Today: a former roomate’s step-father recently died; my best friend’s dad just got out of the hospital; my dad has a will-not-stop tear duct that may require surgery and my eyes are watering (on behalf of?); it’s my first day back to work after two days out with a cold; and I have unanswered questions about my future always on the back-burner these days. All of these call for me to transition along with them. Seems like my theme for the day is fathering. Step-father, father, dad, fathering myself.

Inner Authority card in The InterPlay Inspiration Deck

I’m not sure that the cold is gone yet. Maybe my self-care is lagging. How well is my transition into self-fathering going, then? Not as well as I’d like.

My dad was a Protestant (Christian Church – Disciples of Christ) minister and I guess he still is in his retirement. To me, it seemed like he was always there for other people. He’s been a great example to me of an open-hearted man. I still strive to open and soften my heart the way I’ve seen him do. And I would say that he’s done some great self-care in retirement: traveling to many places around the globe while continuing to work part time. I would say that both of these pursuits are dear to him and he does well to go after them with gusto — which is exactly what he is doing.

Shuffling The InterPlay Inspiration Deck

But, back to me… I’m looking for some inspiration to make today’s transition or maybe just to determine what this transition looks like. Yes. I’ll be pulling a card from the InterPlay Inspiration Deck to help me gain some direction. I notice that Monday’s selection “Inner Authority” with its yellow sun is still on top, so I shuffle the deck even more than I usually do.

Surprise! It’s “On Behalf Of” with the cool dragonfly symbol. The colors are enticing. The stylized body seated in lotus position frames the green dragonfly.

Okay. I don’t get it. Why would I get this card today? Don’t I just need to take care of myself at the moment? Guess I’d better read the story on the back. Here’s the phrase that most catches my attention:

On Behalf Of round card from the InterPlay Inspiration Deck

“She sees everyone who has shared their pain with her bathed in warmth and love.”  Nice.  That’s the kind of acceptance I observed in my dad and in the literally hundreds of InterPlayers who have done Dances On Behalf Of for me.  Now that’s music to my internal ears.

What if I were to approach myself the way On Behalf Of (from the InterPlay Inspiration Deck) does?  This small, round card has so much to teach me.  Not that the universe hasn’t tried to bring me this noticing before.  My dad modeled it for me.  All those Dancers On Behalf Of showed me the possibility of bringing this “warmth and love” to myself.  I created my mission in the men’s work in 2002 that incorporates this open-heartedness:  “I open my heart to create a world where I and others are enlivened to appreciate and co-create beauty.”  For whatever reason, I waited for this round card to be my real teacher.  I am grateful.  I am inspired.

I don’t even know what my current transition looks like.  And already it seems less intimidating just knowing that I can bring the open heart I long to bring to others to myself.  How cool is that?

May I bless myself with this kind of ease around my current transitions and adaptations to the changes around and within me.  I bless myself.

Creative blessings to you all.