Authenticity

What's true for you?

We come into this world as unique manifestations, 6.8 billion fingers on the hand of God. Our individual expression is the expression of Divinity. It's so beautiful. We come in such variety.

Tonight I went on my Week 2 Artist Date. I went to a free meditation class in town, hosted by a teacher I've met a few times. About a year ago, I went [also on an Artist Date] to this class, in a comfortable yoga room at a local gym. I appreciated the structure (40 minutes of silent meditation, by whatever method, or non-method, you choose; followed by 15 - 20 minutes of questions and conversation with the teacher) and the realization that this teacher seemed to be awake, at least as I saw it.

As I saw it: that's the key point in this musing.

We really do get to go for what resonates with us, as individuals. It is a beautiful thing. We don't always realize that we're not doing this, but many times the work/family/friends life becomes regular and routine, and we don't question whether we're really stimulated in areas that fill us and open us up.

One of the rules of the Artist Date is that you go on your own. You don't bring friends with you, even though you might meet new people in the course of it. This is such an enriching experience for me, and it stretches me to reach out and into things that I've been curious about but I haven't gone for.

I never regret an Artist Date.

My first time through The Artist's Way I saw that my life was already full of activities - many done solo - that a lot of people would consider Artist Date-ish. But I couldn't rest on those things. I had to stretch.

I did things like
- shop for Airstream trailers,
- see a moving dance performance about Harriet Tubman, and
- volunteer for the Inside Books Project, an organization that sends books to incarcerated people.

All so very satisfying. All things I wouldn't have taken the time or energy to do had I not being going through this course.

And all specific to me and my heart.

Life loves to come through us in all of our myriad of movements. We never know what's going to come next. It's a wonderful mystery.

Do what you like: it's what God likes.

Dig?

AW Partners

Had a great meeting with my AW partner, Deborah G., this morning.

Deborah, I couldn't do this without you!

And you are such an amazing partner for me: encouraging, straight-talking, open, willing, reflecting, fun, smart, creative, caring, lovely.

I'm humbled by our relationship and journey, and I'm very psyched. Week 2, here we come!

Who's with us?

Taking My Artist on a Walk

One of the things I love about going through The Artist's Way is that the activities are so intentional.

I take lots of walks. So I don't usually opt for the Week One task, Take your artist on a walk. However, today I did, and it was intentional. Usually when I go out walking, I listen to music or talks on my Walkman. It's a sweet experience, but not quite the same as taking the artist out intentionally.

I went to a different location from where I usually go (thank you Debbie Philips for mentioning getting out of a rut in a recent edition of The Spark) and I didn't take my headphones. It was great. I got to hear the crunch of my shoes on the trail while I felt the bounce of the action. My mind was given alll that space out there by the pond to spread out. Nothing holding the thoughts in. Nothing holding the experience down or in.

I don't know what all factors contributed to that being a turning point in my day. It may simply have been that my system was ready to leave the depression behind, as it does most evenings, or if it was the freedom of the walk, or what. It doesn't matter.

Imaginary Lives Come True . . . Magic!

One of the reasons I chose to go through AW again is 'cuz it's fun, and I wanted to have more fun! One of my favorite tasks is 5 Imaginary Lives. Happily for me, we get to do this exercise more than once in the course. Here's my first run-through from this journey:

1. singer on tv
2. actress in funny tv comedy
3. independently wealthy traveler
4. someone who tours Appalachia and learns music from the people
5. magazine writer who travels in my Airstream and writes from National Park campgounds

:)

The second part of the exercise is to chose an activity related to one of these and do it. Since I was in bed, about to fall asleep when writing, I chose to brainstorm a quick list of ideas so I could fulfill the task in the busy week ahead. Here's what I wrote:

- learn a new rootsy song
- or another song
- perform a few songs for someone
- improv class
- go to a park and write a piece while there
- choose a destination and read a travel book about it
- go to travel section at Book People or the library and read a story
- get a CD or DVD of Appalachian music
- read a book about Appalachian culture/music
- make up a scenario for a tv show
- make up my character from a tv show, in detail

Again, :)

The next evening, after a hard day of struggling with difficult emotions (day really = a few weeks), I had the opportunity to help out a friend who was stranded on my side of town and needed a ride back to his vehicle, which happens to be, well, sort of like a camper.

Within an hour I found myself in a cozy setting, in a camper-like deal (see Airstreams above and throughout this blog, I'm sure), listening to a new song ("We are allll in this togetherrrrrrrrrrrrrr") performed by my friend, and then teaching him to play and sing "Long, Black Veil." Can anyone say rootsy? Awe yeah.

I felt highly potent, as I saw how my ideas for these activities, penned just before sleep, had generously and gently manifested without me having to put effort in, mental or otherwise.

Imaginary lives come true . . . magic.

Go.

p.s. Here I am singing "Long, Black Veil" about a year ago, toward the end of my first trek through AW.