Visualization

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These days have been hard for so many of us. Deadly storms, people still stricken with COVID-19 and now we have variants of SARS to deal with; indecisions about school openings, and vaccine shortages are among all of our problems as a nation. We are still under the threat of political strife after the insurrection of January 6th. 

I decided to block out many of these things. The visual contamination and pollution is all over the place on social media and cable news channels. Of course, we must keep ourselves duly informed but it is important to take a break from the excess noise and negativity. This is why I use visualization.

“Visualization is usually paired with meditation and mindfulness. What this process would look like is going to a quiet place, closing your eyes and calming your body, and starting to think about things that you want to experience in life. During this process, you want to get as detailed as you possibly can.”

I decided to go back to this practice which I started years ago. I reread my copy of Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain and renewed my objective to become more creative and to manifest a clear vision for what I want for me and my loved ones.

I truly believe that if all of us use these techniques the world would be a calmer, better and more focused on achieving the peace we all desire. When I talk to my friends especially those older and wiser than I, they express their hopes for precisely the same things I do. They all want their children and grandchildren to live in a safe and peaceful world. They all want a healthy environment. They want that their is less violence and that people simply learn to see their sameness and oneness. Perhaps like the song says, “I am a dreamer;” but envisioning a better world is what I hang onto right now. I believe we all want the same things. Therefore, peace can be achievable.

 

I found this quote that made me think deeply about love and our humanity.

“Take my hand and lead me to salvation.

Take my love, for love is everything, and remember

the truth once was spoken: To love another person is

see the face of God.”

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

 

LOVE

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Melba Christie (C) 2021

Today is Valentine’s Day. A day we decided to remember what love is all about. As we continue to suffer from a deadly virus, and deal with so much confusion, hatred, bigotry, and in some cases helplessness, we must remember that Love is always an option. It lives inside of you. It was born with you. It is the need we all have in common and connects us. It is what we all need to give in any way we can. Love is the most powerful human emotion and the longest lasting.

Rumi said, “That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full bloom beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful.” We are so connected. He also said, This is love: To fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. first to let go of life,. Finally, to take a step without feet.” I am posting this song in the hopes that you will be lifted up. God bless you all. Happy Valentine’s Day!

BlacK history month – Quotes

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“Through thickest gloom look back, immortal shade, On that confusion which thy death has made.” —Phillis Wheatley

“Wheatley wrote her first published poem at around age 13. The work, a story about two men who nearly drown at sea, was printed in the Newport Mercury. Other published poems followed, with several also being published, further increasing Wheatley’s fame.” —Biography.com

An excerpt of her Poem “imagination”

Imagination! who can sing thy force?
Or who describe the swiftness of thy course?
Soaring through air to find the bright abode,
Th’ empyreal palace of the thund’ring God,
We on thy pinions can surpass the wind,
And leave the rolling universe behind:
From star to star the mental optics rove,
Measure the skies, and range the realms above.
There in one view we grasp the mighty whole,
Or with new worlds amaze th’ unbounded soul.

I want to share the works of African American Poets in honor of Black History Month.

Remembering emily and watching the madness

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I was always attracted to the poems of Emily Dickinson. It started in the seventh grade with Mrs. Rice reading one of her poems that begins, “I’m nobody! Who are you?” I suppose as a pre-teen at the time, I was fascinated by someone actually admitting from the start that they were “nobody”. Perhaps a little simplistic thinking on my part at the time. But I became very motivated to delve into the meaning of her poems especially the more depressing and sometimes even darker ones. I read her biographies which always intrigued me. But don’t ask me why; they just did.

These days, I am somewhere in between feeling hopeful and depressed by all the madness that seems to be exhibited at all levels by so many of us. More maddening is that the paradoxes and ironies of the madness come from our so called leaders. I crave more thought provoking poems to help me understand and cope with it all. I read more about keeping faith and spirituality.

Here is a poem by Emily Dickinson I reread recently that seems to connect to what is happening right now. What do you think?

 

Much madness is divinest sense

Much madness is divinest sense

to discerning eye;

Much sense the starkest madness.

“Tis the majority

In this, as all, prevails.

Assent, and you are sane;

Demur, –you’re straightway dangerous

And handled with a chain.

What is the artist’s duty?

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What is the artist’s duty?

Is it to invent beauty?

Is it to envision the possibility of world peace?

An artist may believe that one duty might be

the realistic representation of our crumbling society?

Should the artist’s duty be to paint the impossible dream, the deferred dream?

Should the artist mutilate figures to shock us into seeing our true selves?

Some artists will focus on “lo que le dice la patria.” (what country calls you to do)

Others will stress nature’s everlasting fortitude and beauty.

Paintings could be the inquiries we all have.

They can be a thousand garbled words no one understands.

A painting could be grotesque?

It could be an illusion?

What is the duty of the artist?

For me, it is simple. The duty of the artist is to paint a poem.

It could be an illusion? Painting by Melba Christie (c) 2019

And so to say goodbye

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So simply sad, sorrowful

singularity outnumbered

souls still watching continued suffering

slightly furling flags waving goodbye.

Words dissolved by disappointment

spotlights dimmed

but the sun breaks through for the new

And so we say goodbye

hasta la vista somewhere not

and so we say goodbye

Praying for a new and superb future!

In Loving Memory — let us never forget!

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Over 3000 people on average are dying every day now because of COVID 19. We must never forget these souls. May their memories be a blessing to those they left behind. My painting below is dedicated to all those hundreds of thousands of souls. Many died alone unable to speak to loved ones. The hearts represent their souls and also the broken hearts of their loved ones. We are all one in all and one in all. The butterfly represents hope. In Spanish we refer to a butterfly as “esperanza” which means hope. I hope we protect each other and continue to wear masks to protect others. So much is happening right now. But let us focus on how precious life is and how much our loved ones mean to us. Let us not forget the essence of our oneness. Stay safe! God bless!

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