Mid-Week Creative Vision

Wednesday is my day to re-group and re-define my week. First I make a plan for getting over the bump of the mid-week, then I re-envision my emotional tone and perspective.

We are in the Waxing Gibbous moon phase, when I can settle again into the yin of Beingness. I will contemplate the big picture of my life as I practice mindfulness, self-care and trust. Now is a time to reconsider my intentions and make adjustments. It's a time to review and refine, a time to practice Being, and trust in the ebb and flow of the universe. 

Agenda today:

1. Re-group plan

2. Read "The Exquisite Risk"

3. Creative visualization

4. My receptivity project journal

5. Writing themes and passion plan

1. Re-group plan:

Today I will define my top priorities for the week, and make a plan for when to work on them:

1. Free plant project: I'm going to write a web page blurb today, and begin plant listings next week.
2. Clearing: My plan is to work on the studio paper cabinet every day, and also clear the food cupboards and the driveway this week.
3. Front porch: Today I will scrape the ceiling and prep to paint it; Saturday - paint around the door including the ceiling; and next week I will clean the gutters around the porch, and repair them a bit.

2. Read "The Exquisite Risk":

I'm reading this small book by Mark Nepo (2005), with the subtitle, Daring to Live an Authentic Life. I like his idea that integrity is Me allowing my inner authentic Being to shape my Doing - that I can practice saying "The authentic Me requires me to Do things this way," (but be careful that I'm not just being stubborn!) When I have integrity I can express my inner world, what matters to me, to the outer world. "In a daily way, the exchange of what matters is the dance by which we stay alive and true."

Chapter 7 is The Work of Love. He says that love is the fire and experience is the wood - the loving experience releases the light and warmth. Also, Holding and Listening are the tools that help us turn experience into love.

"There are quiet braveries we all need: The courage to wait and watch with all who are. The courage to admit that we are not alone. The courage to hold each other to the ear of our heart. And the courage to care for things that are broken."

We practice this by doing small things with great love (Mother Teresa).

3. Creative Visualization:

Every month at the waxing gibbous moon I call on the practice of visualization to help me to see the next steps towards bringing my goals to fruition.

Today I shine a light on my deep desire to clear out our house.

Creative visualization is a technique that uses my imagination to create change. (Because of my visual and auditory sensitivity, this is the best process for knowing what I'm feeling.) It has these steps:

• First, set an intention: Say, "Today I call on the Spirit of Love to bring me clarity and open my eyes to how best to remove a mountain of tiny things from my home that are burying me." 

• Center and relax each part of my body: With each breath, allow my awareness to deepen and become softer. No stress. No rush. I walk or float in an imaginary void. Open a connection to Spirit. Feel a soft warmth begin to grow and spread through me, until I am radiating quiet energy.

• Create a clear, detailed picture in my mind, as though the objective has been reached. Paint a vivid mental image of all our home, all our shelves, closets, and cupboards, clear and tidy, with a minimal amount of stuff, with space for breathing. Put as much positive energy into the images as possible. 

• Lastly, affirm that this is what I want with a short positive phrase in the present tense: "Today I will take the next step towards clearing my home."

• Give thanks and return: Saying thanks out loud is how I acknowledge the reality of the gift of my vision.

The thought-image is like a signal-flare that guides the physical thing or deed to manifest in my life (and it's a good way to keep my intentions in my mind). I will carry the vision of the completed goal with me, and focus on it often during the day, in a gentle manner.

4. My receptivity project journal:

Receptivity is the ability to be open to incoming information, ideas, perspectives, and emotions without immediate judgment or resistance. It's the skill of creating space to truly accept what is flowing in from others, from spirit, or my own heart, becoming a vessel first; but an active vessel, holding and caring for what I receive, and being willing to grow and change. I open to new perspectives and possibilities. I open to inspiration.

I ask these queries each day:

What is the something new I'm waiting to receive?

What have I recently received that needs nurturance?

Today I am holding my home (as a container), and I feel such an urgent need to care for it, and free it of the cancerous mass that it carries! I am building and receiving energy for this surgical effort. 

5. Writing themes:

I have finally fallen in to a steady, daily obsession for my writing project. Today I will set themes and topics for writing and research for the next week:

• W-Th: Plant a butterfly garden
• F-Sat: Advocate for a Homegrown National Park
• Sun-Mon: Leave the seed heads + Save seeds (and other fall cleaning hints)
• T-W: Make a Little Free Plant Library