Dear Friend,

 

A number of years ago, Clarissa Pinkola Estes wrote an article (full text on www.wanttoknow.info/youweremadeforthis) entitled “You Were Made for This”.  Dr. Estes is a well-known Jungian analyst and story-teller, and the author of Women Who Run with Wolves. 

 

I often forward it when I know people close to me are having hard times, or simply need  inspiration.  I refer to it myself when my heart is wrenched by daily, disastrous circumstances and their consequences - the millions of gallons of oil pouring into the Gulf, the  Haiti earthquake and orphaned kids left in its wake,the animals everywhere at the mercy of how humans “run” this earth, the unending acrimonious political dialog, etc. etc. 

 

Her article is a call to arms in difficult times.  it is a caution”not to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world”, not to keep a chair for despair at your table,(paraphrased)but to know that we are strong souls, made for these times and to

 

“…mend the part of the world that is within our reach. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.  What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts…”

 

It is within my ability to  consciously offer good energy into my daily life, and as I

consider this, I move from overwhelm and sadness, to hope and creativity. 

 

First, I nurture my own good energy: sunshine, rest, water,  cook good food, meditation, prayer, and spiritual practices, delight in my creative life by painting and writing, walk in nature, plant flowers, love and attend to family, friends, work.

 

Then I ask, what small acts of goodness and positive energy can I offer to my world?  Give left-over change to collections for animal shelters in the grocery store, use those green cloth bags when I shop, change my light bulbs to energy-saving ones,water a friends’plants while they are on vacation, mentor my nieces as their lives unfold in their new jobs and college classes, use less water for my morning shower, pray for people knowing it does make a difference, stay cool in stormy conversations, give blessings for new ventures friends create, uplift what is within my reach. Finally, forgive. Everything.  As much as I can.

 

Please know that you already give lovely and healing energy into your world! Please join me in making this a fully conscious practice. Bit by bit, step by step we walk the path.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

1.  Nurturing Life commentaries will shortly be posted on the blog at www.judithschafman.com, and there you can share you own ideas, should Spirit move you.

2.  Beginning September 2010 I’ll be offering ongoing group and individual sessions not only via phone/Skype but in Kingston and New Paltz,  New York.  Please check www.judithschafman.com , or email for further information. 

3.  Dreamwork Lesson 12 called Further In, Further Up, will be coming out sometime before September 1st.

 

with warmest thoughts,

Jude

Good Day, Everyone! 

 

Welcome to the first in a series of newsletters celebrating the  juicy events and issues that occur in daily life AND in our ability as humans to navigate life with the pole star of Spirit, grace and our own hard-earned wisdom lighting the way. 

 

If you are receiving this newsletter, you have left your email address on lists found in the back of the room at Frost Valley Women’s Wellness Weekend, New Age Health Spa in upstate New York, Art Classes in Old Stone House in Hasbrouck, New York, and a variety of other venues where inner work- maintaining great awareness in life- has been celebrated in many forms.

 

These forms have included painting as a healing and awareness journey, dreamwork, experiments in consciousness, and a variety of spiritual and psychological practices designed to strengthen the heart as we journey through this life. 

 

Should you wish to share this with others, please do, and likewise, if you wish to not receive this newsletter, please let me know.

 

There are three energies or archetypes which help us understand daily life: Creating, Maintaining and Dissolving.  In the Indian pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, these are called Brahma, the Creative force, Vishnu, the maintaining and sustaining force, and Shiva, the dissolving or destroying force.  Here I will use their Indian names, as personalizing makes it easier to identify them as they reveal themselves in life.

 

In daily life we are in Brahma energy, creation- mode, constantly.   Perhaps we create directly as artists: paint, sing, write, knit, collage, or simply speak in creative and enthusiastic ways. Actually, the artistic energy shows itself in all aspects of life, if we can recognize it – we conjure up creative breakfasts on Sunday morning, family plans for the summer, work projects at our job, even  highly “creative”verbal descriptions of ourselves and others which to a great extent determine how we experience ourselves and those others! We ARE Leonardo diVinchi, Vincent Van Gogh, in our very own daily life. And, we either focus this creative flow consciously or unconsciously! 

 

The second life force is Vishnu energy.  This power sustains and keeps things already created in our life, going, It keeps the refrigerator stocked, the meals coming, the paper work in our job flowing, the taxes done each year, the house repaired, the bills paid, the snow plowed, etc.  This is the energy that receives the creative promptings from Brahma energy and brings it down into reality, into concrete steps or actions so that the ideas, action points, projects, to do list items, may manifest.  If not attended to, you know what happens!

 

The third energy is Shiva Energy – dissolving, destroying, or bringing things to an end.  Cleaning out the basement or attic, bringing relationships or jobs to an end, completing projects and making space for new projects, all of these are forms of dissolving.  Without dissolving, there is “life gridlock”!  Stuff gets stuck in gridlock, things stop working, just like old unrepairable cars,and one can experience not being able to move around much in life. A friend took a year off from her work to help her mother clear out her house. Mom had collected things her whole life, including newspapers and mags and had never thrown anything out. The house was utterly gridlocked to the point there was no room to move around.  So, it seems a good idea to take dissolving on, if we want to keep freshness and new beginnings flowing in our life. 

 

I recall my first art exhibit several years ago. As I reflect, I see that all three energies were present, as they are in all of our acitivites. With the help of my art mentor, I began the process of framing, and arranging the paintings stashed in my studio for hanging.  I also worked on invitations, publicity, opening day food, the guest list, wanting to create with my fellow exhibitors a particular look, a specific experience of my work.  When the day arrived, there were my paintings on the wall, properly framed, and the people wandering through making comments and sipping wine.

 

I had begun with my own creative voice sort of  floating in “potential- land”jumbled and hidden within my paintings, piled up in the studio.the work of organizing happened.  I ended up with a clear expression of my artistic vision by going thru this manifestation process. Only when this was done, could I begin to consolidate my own inner feelings as an artist. And of course, the third energy, that of dissolving, involved taking the show down.

 

 In What energy do we get stuck? 

 

Many of us generate tons of creative thoughts and projects.Do they remain in the realms of “potential”?  Like Peter Pan, who insisted on staying in Never Never Land, our creative ideas stay in our imagination and do not ever get born. Often we are so enamoured of creativity that we do not want to come into the more mundane energies of maintaining, managing, sustaining. 

It is also safer to hang out in the sweet sea of potential, than it is to take our knocks in reality land, where things take time, often do not work right away, and require lots of attention. 

 

Others of us  “hyper-focus in on the daily job of maintaining home,kids, work, current relationships, and somehow loose the larger creative focus of the Brahman energy. This is an overuse of detail, focused, energy, and often we don’t live in our own full potential or stay in touch with the delights of life. 

 

We also may not allow for a natural dissolving to happen. This involves “Holding On”.  Without dissolving of events, places, relationships, without giving stuff away, cleaning out attic and basement, the Vishnu energy gets stuck and so do we stay stuck. Where?  In detail and “to do lists”. Sadly, there is no real spaceh for life to deliver surpirses, or new beginnings. 

 

Until we meet again,try these energies on for size!  See what you come up with to loosen yourself in all three. Notice where YOU get stuck.  Email your shaings if you wish. AND,  Notice Nature, now in Her Brahma creation mode, and see how She goes thru all three phases with such refinement, loveliness and expression! 

 

With warmest respect,

Judy

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