Politically speaking….

On Saturday, 4 days ago, I walked to my polling place and voted in an early Democratic primary.

I was happy. I felt that I rode a political wave. But, as I tracked the election returns that evening I realized that I was not on the political wave that was building.

Today, 4 days later, I sat at my computer at work and snuck a look at the days headlines (I should learn not to do this, it alters the mood too greatly), I wanted to cry. My candidate, John Edwards, was dropping out.

It is not that I could not support the two candidates who remain. Barach Obama is an amazing speaker and I could always go for a woman president. Politically, I trend progressive and so my first choice was Kucinich; after he did not seem a possibility I chose Edwards. I would even love to see Mr. Gravel in the white house, but, dream on….

And that is the problem. It seems that popular culture squashes our dreams. Popular culture, defined by television and corporate media, dumbs us down so that we don’t believe in dreams anymore.

Enter Obama, who somehow makes us believe in dreams again (Yes, we can!!!!), but I was dreaming a dream that was a little more specific to broad changes in our society (health care for all, the end of poverty for all, etc), and I felt that Edwards best represented that dream.

Last night, I dreamed strange things. I had left my bedside radio on, tuned to Air America and this may have contributed…. On Saturday, I was leaving my polling place and a young man handed me a flyer for the John Edwards victory celebration to be held that evening in my home town. In my dream, I was at the celebration and I was speaking with Mr. Edwards privately and begging him not to quit….

The thing that confuses me is the nature of our reality that does not allow for free discussion and decision making. Candidates for office who are not deemed suitable are not given the opportunity to express themselves in the mass media. It seems that our candidates are being chosen for us (this is a problem on both sides, note the lack of attention given Ron Paul on the Republican side).

As a crafter, I know that some things take time. What is facing our country is far too serious to have decisions made based on money and influence. We need consensus and this will take time. But, as I look at my calendar, I realize it is still January. Why are we (the collective we) being rushed to such an important decision. Why are people so obviously being shut out. So much of the country has still to cast a vote and their choices are severely limited.
This is a campaign flyer that a nice young man left with me last Friday. He was happy when he heard I already intended to vote for Edwards. I laid a broken bracelet that I made across the flyer. It is made of green chalk turquoise (heart energy) and silver. I intended to wear the bracelet on Monday but when I was putting on my coat it caught on the bracelet and the stringing wire snapped. ….

Permission Slips

I keep a lot of little reminders around me: stones, jewelry, trinkets, little cards with affirmations written on them, journals that are only half used, books, cd’s, emails from people on internet lists, websites I support. I used to collect stuffed animals, they bring out my inner child. I have given most of the little furry things away but my world is filled with permission slips, reminders that the true me, the higher part of myself wants to express in many different ways. There is Vera the poet that hasn’t been heard from in a while. There is Vera the artist that expresses through making things: jewelry, scrapbooks, crocheted or knitted things. All of these pieces come together to form my unique point of view.

I learned the term Permission Slips through a mentor. I had formerly thought of all of this stuff I surround myself with as toys. My playthings in this game of physical being.

We are free to choose the permission slip that excite us. These are the things that bring joy into our experience.

Sometimes I look at a stone or a flower or a piece of jewelry that I have made and allow that to be the thing that brings joy into that moment. Its very simple. Our work of creating our reality is done in the single moment. We create in the now. The single moments form a chain of more and more positive energy being created in our little piece of reality.

I look around me and see that I am surrounded by permission slips: things I have been collecting to remind myself of some aspect of reality I want to explore.

Today I made a crystal bracelet to match the necklace I made on New Year’s Day. I want to sustain the energy I spoke of then. This is a permission slip to do just that.

As I made the bracelet I finished listening to the audio book of The Secret.

http://www.thesecret.tv/

This is a very powerful presentation. It encourages me onward to use the permission slips which seem to show up everywhere in my life.

Happy New Year!!

My grandmother used to say that on New Years Day one should do a bit of everything one would be doing for the rest of the year. Well, I hardly will do that. I want to sit at my computer and think of new directions. My idea of New Years day is that it is an excellent day to set intentions.

I learned an interesting thing about the numerology of this year. I am not sure where I first heard this. Add the digits in the year:

2 + 0 + 0 + 7 = 9

2 + 0 + 0 + 8 = 10 = 1

In the numerology that I am using one always adds digits together then if the sum is not a single digit, add those digits together. Keep repeating this until you have a single digit. I went back and played with adding the digits of years together to look at this progression:

1 + 9 + 9 + 8 = 27 = 9

1 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 28 = 10 = 1

2 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 2

It seems that adding the digits of years together gives us cycles of nine with no zero year. So, we go from a 9 year (2007) back to a 1 year (2008).

I thought about 1999, it was the year I left my x-husband at the beginning of the year. I was very much in touch with the idea of new beginnings. 1999 was the last 1 year. Now we are moving back to the beginning of a cycle with another 1 year!

What does this mean? Change, new beginnings? The beginning of a new cycle?

I certainly hope so. I want to see a more positive world emerge from all of the negativity that seems to be gripping it right now. Of course, one person has a rather limited sphere of influence, some more than others, but we all have some and we never really know how far it extends. We can only control the thoughts of our own minds which direct the energy that flows through that sphere of influence. We can choose to reflect negative energy (fear, anxiety, anger, resentment, pettiness) or positive (love, helpfulness, enthusiasm, passion in all of its many forms).

Last night, slightly under the influence, I decided on my New Years Resolution / intention for 2008:

I will make the effort to be enthusiastic.

I have been exposed to “new age” thinking for over twenty years. When I watched the movie The Secret all of the ideas it presented were already familiar to me. Nevertheless, I allowed myself to feel resistance.

For many years, I have been involved in a dialog with myself and others about the use of the principles of mind action. I truly believe that what we create in our thoughts manifests in our world. But then the questions come: What about people who are in unjust situations, what about pain, handicap, exploitation? What if one finds oneself in a reality in which one is severely limited. Do we create that?

After having this dialog in many forms I will say that it leads nowhere useful.

I have allowed myself to feel resentment against those that can so easily seem to manifest a beautiful life. Yet, I have become lazy about practicing the principles I know to be true. I have become lazy about meditation, reading, study, some kind of practice that would keep me plugged into the reality that I really want to be in. Arguments about whether we create our reality based on some horrific condition are only delaying tactics.

Whatever we find in our world we must work with, we really don’t have a choice.

I have also been very resistant to the work of Byron Katie (author of Loving What Is and A Thousand Names of Joy). She speaks strongly of loving the reality in which we find ourselves. A couple of weeks ago I listened to the audio book with Katie reading A Thousand Names of Joy. It was painful for me to listen to. I totally agree with her but was spending a great deal of my own life force resisting my own reality.

So, in this new year I want to at least try to address this tendency. What is, is, there is not much I can do about that. I can visualize a more desirable future and in doing so help to bring it about.

I am certain that many folks have been plugging away for a very long time, working in small and large ways to make their personal world a little better. I think in this new 1 year, and the new cycle it is bringing, it may be easier to do this. Despite all of the evidence to the contrary, I still believe that we are collectively bringing about a better world.

Shine On

Today I made this necklace of swarovski crystal to symbolize the shiny new year. I am continuing my love affair with crystals and I am convinced that it is time to let our intentions shine.