In Search of Self Love...

every artist should watch this 35 minute movie about life as a creative soul...enjoy

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

In Search of Self Love : 

A simple yet healing short feature video narrated by artist Rita Loyd. In this video, Rita, as an artist, tells how the creative process taught her to love herself. She also speaks about the true meaning of self-love and what she has learned in order to incorporate self-love into all areas of her life. Rita makes it clear in this video that true self-love comes from the spirit rather than from the ego. As she tells her story, the visual of the video is of her painting the image "Embrace all that you are with love." Be inspired by her simple yet powerful message.

the different ways in which needs can be satisfied...

"Besides the earth, man's principle resource is man himself. His intelligence enables him to discover the earth's productive potential and the many different ways in which needs can be satisfied." -- Pope John Paul II

in my dreams there is a banquet...and everybody i love, or ever have loved, or ever will love is there...and it is beautiful...and everyone is happy and there is enough food for each to have their fill...no one is hungry or in pain or sad...

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday...i love to get up early to bake the bread that has risen all night...and cook, and cook, and cook...pumpkin soup in tiny pumpkins i baked to the perfect golden glow...my turkey served with tiny ruffled shoes...homemade gravy and the inner parts turned into a feast for the animals...

this year is different...and i pray:

Lord, continue to fuel me with the desire to be productive...and understand the different ways in which needs can be satisfied...

pictorial essay...all photos taken this morning at sunrise...

for these i am thankful

natures' vignettes

a tiny feather in the sun

my great blue heron muse

a great splash photo

a chubby sanderling

a sunrise portrait session by the sea

rippled sand in the sun

surfers at dawn

pelicans flying low over waves

finding a perfect nautilus shell

a flock of sea gulls

colorful sea foam bubbles

haze over the ocean

watching a thanksgiving family photo session by the sea at sunrise

mostly i am thankful for the beautiful friendships i have found during the past 18 months...they have fueled my energy when i had none and filled my weary spirit with joy...you have given to me knowing that i had nothing to give in return... you know who you are and i hope you know how much i love you...and i say simply...

thanks

please read the post below about food banks and what they need this season...if you can help, please do...

wings...

"Find the wind that takes you where you want to go and your wings will take you there." -Arturo Mancheno (a comment on facebook)

i have been working on feather-inspired angels this week...this is the progress of the trio...these are part of my spiritual explorations as i believe the artist is a spiritual explorer...these angel paintings and prints will be available in my etsy shop soon...

hope (detail) - 2009 12 x 23-1/2" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

faith (detail) - 2009 12 x 23-1/2" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

love (detail) - 2009 12 x 23-1/2" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

===================

i just had to share this morning's sunrise with you...it was magical...the colors divine...these and the angel paintings will be available in my etsy shop soon...

lila tueller is having a fab giveaway here... one of her jelly rolls...

come sit with me by the sea my love...

come sit with me by the sea my love

in the rays of the dawning sun

and I will read to you softly, passionately

our minds, our hearts as one….

each morning I go to the beach…my beach…to walk in meditative prayer…often I find this couple who arrive before sunrise with coffee mugs and a book…she reads aloud to him as he gently holds her hand…when the sun begins its assent over the water, they pause and watch in silence…as most of us do who choose this special time of day to visit the sea…

note: this was my submission to somerset studio's life images magazine...the magazine has ceased publication...sad this won't be published now...

making peace with my today will improve my future…

vultures after my spirit

for some time now i have felt as if vultures were after my spirit...it seems that they are coming from every direction...yes, it seems that way....

Making Peace with My Today Will Improve My Future... It may sound odd, but the fastest way to get to a new-and-improved situation is to make peace with your current situation. By making lists of the most positive aspects you can find about your current situation, you then release your resistance to the improvements that are waiting for you. But if you rail against the injustices of your current situation, you hold yourself in Vibrational alignment with what you do not want, and you cannot then move in the direction of improvement. It defies Law. In every particle of the Universe, there is that which is wanted - and the lack of it. - Abraham

Excerpt from from Abraham Hicks, The Vortex Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships

so i make peace with my today...and i will do it again tomorrow if necessary...and each day that follows for my spirit still shines...it cannot help but shine as i choose to live fearlessly and consciously...and love...

may our collective lights shine brightly today....

"Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." -Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

those i call friend...

my life is so richly blessed by many amazing people....my love and spirit is magnified by those i call friend...

"Theology is knowing truth about God. That's important, but not as important as knowing God; just as knowing things about your friend is not as important as knowing your friend." -Peter Kreeft, Prayer: The Great Conversation

my journey this past two years has been challenging, paradoxical and, at times, painful... oftentimes vexing and formidable...when i was flying very low and alone...it took a Herculean effort to remain my friend...to watch the path on which i walked each day...

and those who chose to stay and lead me through the fog...who took the head winds when i did not think i had the strength to fly....encouraged me to try when i wanted to retreat into myself...

have come to really know ME...the raw, unabridged, burdened me...not the persona...just me...the authentic me...

i stand today because my friends cared enough to listen when i needed to talk...to comfort me when all i could do was cry...to feed me and care for me when i could not do it for myself...to form a cocoon around me so that i could heal...

and start to soar again with them....

so that someday soon i will be strong enough and sure enough to soar myself once again...

Lord i see you through the love of others....and this is my wish for you my friend:

magnificent sunrises for your eyes to see...warm smiles when sadness intrudes...much comfort on difficult days...rainbows to follow the storms of life...laughter to kiss your lips with joy...sunsets to warm your heart...long hugs when your spirit sags...lasting friendships that brighten your being...faith to believe...confidence when you are in doubt...courage to know yourself...patience to accept the truth...enduring love to complete your life....

Yehudit...

dawn's early light

this is a continuation of the story from last post about a special woman from Jerusalem i met on the beach this week...her name is Yehudit (pronounced yeah-who-deet) Hebrew for Judith...of Hebrew origin meaning "from Judea"...have you ever had an experience where, during it, you knew you life had been touched in such a way that you would never be the same again....that is what happened to me this morning...

Yehudit walks on beach

Yehudit walked with me this morning...slowly as my foot is healing...she is very tiny with a gigantic spirit...she told me of her life and her mission...she is a Jew who believes in Christ...and her mission is to dispel hatred from the hearts of people all over the world...i believe in my heart of hearts i took a walk with Jesus this morning...

Yehudit's sky

she said, "one word spoken in anger can place hate in someone's heart...you may not even know that the seed has been planted...and this tiny seed thought causes damage to the world...."

has anyone planted a tiny seed in your heart?

God's Heart in My Hands...

i had a very spiritual experience on the beach last year...it took me a while to be able to share it with anyone because it was such a personal experience...but now i am ready to share...

i was praying and God told me that i held His heart in my hands each time i prayed...i looked down and my hands were forming a heart...a winged heart...He told me that it faced away from me because i need to share it with the world and that is why the reflection has wings...i had someone take a photo of the heart in my hands refection on the sand...it is the screen saver on my cell phone...i have a mission to share His heart with the world...

below are a few of the paintings that came out of this experience...let me know what you think...click the image to see more detail...

so many of you have dropped links back to my blog and it makes me very sad...last year was such a difficult time for me to even breathe...i neglected so many of you and i am sorry...i am posting agin at least 2 times a week now...when i get settled in california i will post more...so please come back often and link again to me if you find it in your heart...

please continue reading below for the dawning of the age of aquarius...it is worth it...

thankful...for you...

This is how I feel about those sisters and brothers that I have been blessed to connect with through my blog...I am more than thankful...for you...

"trio" - 2007 - acrylic, watercolor and marmarino plaster on heavy paper

Thou art my sister and brother, because we were born of the same great spirit; conceived from the same mound of earth; slept quietly together in the cradle of unknowing until He in his gentleness set us in the midst of humanity...you are my sister, I love you.

You and I are destined to be companions on the highway of life; together or apart, you are my sister I love you....if the color of my skin is different from yours it mattereth not, only let the beauty of our souls be kindred.

I will honor your wisdom and understanding, as you will mine, together we shall seek the seeds of truth in the distant rooms of the Great Spirit; the reflection of inner knowledge shall wear as beauty upon our faces...you are my sister I love you.

I will be human and fall down in rough places; but thy hand is near mine, I will reach for it. I shall not be alone. I will embrace you when the rains of sorrow visit you, I will visit your soul as if it were my own....you are my sister and brother, I love you.

If death takes me from the lamp of life, and the veil of sleep falls across my eyes before yours, I will wait for you। I will come to lead you across the bridge of night into the meadows of the Great Spirit....you are my sister and brother I love you.

adapted from a poem by Jean Humphrey Chaille