Author Archives: Jane Rothfeld

Saying Yes – Part 1

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I recently read Michael Singer’s book The Surrender Experiment.  I admire his intense commitment to discover the nature of spiritual reality and not live within the dictates of his ego brain (chatter). His willingness to say “yes” to whatever appeared in his physical reality is astonishing.

If something showed up in his life, he trusted it was sent by “life” and therefore worthy of his “yes.”  If his ego chattered about it (or anything), he would ignore it.

While I do agree it is useful or even necessary to say “yes” to more in life, I do not agree that everything that shows up in life deserves a “yes.”   If someone just up and started living on my land – which happened to him – they would encounter the most decisive “no” you can imagine.  However, as artists (of all kinds) how do we use his technique of ignoring ego/brain chatter?

First, we must identify what this “voice” is.  This is your first task.  You do this by observing, by listening to what is going on in your head.  If it helps to take a few minutes (o.k., maybe one minute) to write down every thought in your mind, do that.

Also, sensations invariably accompany thoughts, so watch what feelings are coming up.  Once you get the hang of it, see if you can trace the feelings to the thoughts.  Thoughts are very (very) fast, so you might need to work on this a bit.

(More to come…..)

Is it quantum or not?

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Is the nature of reality – including everything we see in the physical world – quantum or not?  If it is, then the basic “stuff” of Creation awaits our command.  It has no predetermined inclination, characteristic, preference or even physical attributes – like being a wave or a particle – until we show up to observe, i.e., direct, it.

This energy has no God-given attributes, other than to be usable by us.  It is not immutable.  In fact, it is highly mutable.  That is what it is there for.  It is there for us, not the other way around.  How would you like to shape Creation today?

Wallpaper

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Wallpaper by lilfairy

At times I have found it is easy to release on the subject of money yet still miss some of the fundamental beliefs.  It can feel so freeing (and delightful) to chuck out the whole subject!  But beliefs and reality constructs that have pain attached can stay unexamined, like wallpaper in a room.  They seem “just there.”
It’s necessary to drop attachment to (what seems like) the whole subject of money and identities related to it, but it’s also necessary to be aware of any hidden beliefs that appear to be “just the way it is.”  No condition or belief is “just the way it is.”

What beliefs might be your “wallpaper?”

 

The Carver

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hand_sculpture

“Words do not label things already there.  Words are like the knife of a carver.  They free the idea, the thing, from the general formlessness of the outside.  As a man speaks, not only is his language in a state of birth, but also the very thing about which he is talking.”

– Inuit Wisdom

Wealth

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True wealth exists within us.  It is state of being that is intact, complete and undeniable.  It lives in the present.  When thoughts enter they usually rob us of wealth.

The state of true wealth has no cost or price.  It is freely and wholly yours.  It is freely and wholly mine.  Its nature is love and therefore, you are that.

Talent is the last thing

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Chihuly Lilies photo by Thomas N Texas

Chihuly Lilies photo by Thomas N Texas

One glorious summery November day in 2014, I went to see the Dale Chihuly glass sculpture installation at the Denver Botanical Gardens. It was a gorgeous show.

After a brief stroll through the garden, I sat on a bench across from a cluster of white lily sculptures under a waterfall. A woman sat down next to me and after a few moments gazing at the sculptures, turned to me and said, “What talent!”

I felt the heat of anger hit the back of my throat, but appreciating her pleasure and our shared enjoyment of the beautiful sight, I smiled and nodded.

She left and my inner rant started. “Lady, talent is the last thing I think when I see this sculpture. In fact, I do not think ‘talent’ at all. What I think is: courage, persistence, faith, brutally early mornings & weary late nights, surviving a million bouts of anxiety and self-doubt; peanut butter sandwiches for dinner while the submissions were rejected and the pantry was bare. I see a remarkable man who has survived this and more.”

What I heard her say behind her words is “I am not an artist and have no clue what it takes.”

I’ll nod to that.

I suspect certain people who are veteran spectators believe in a mysterious force called “talent.” A kind of supernatural power each successful artist possesses. A magical talisman that protects and propels of its own accord.

Don’t feel able to put your work out in the world? Bogged down by a merciless sense of vulnerability? No problem, Talent will do it for you. As if it shields the artist from the innumerable painful, chaotic forces most artists regularly confront.

It doesn’t.

I am not even sure what “talent” is, but if it exists as some kind of singular identifiable trait, it does not have supernatural powers. Every artist must deal with the forces of doubt and fear and for that, they deserve praise. Praise from the bench and praise from the heavens.