Self-help

Growing In The Waiting

Denny Daikeler

The reports are coming to me just like they’re coming to you.  Horrific storm, direct turn toward Delaware Valley, big winds, 10 inches of water. evacuatuation probably necessary.

I live on a creek that does overflow in extenuating circumstances.  Not comfortable!  So the reports got me.  Unrest inside, head spinnning into action thoughts.  Where will I go?  What if only power outages, what to buy?   Water? I have a spring, but electric is needed.  All the thoughts that  are rarely present are coming in; really  called to action, really hyped!

Keeping the weather hype playing, my own storm grew.  What needs doing right now, what will I grab if I decide to evacuate?   The voice inside of me clearly accompanying the  voice on the television.  We were dancing in frantic unison.

Thoughts moved me toward action.  Do laundry now, incase of power outage. Water plants,  cook a few things,  Even wash fruit and vegetables.  I don’t know who was moving faster, me or the announcer, but we truly were in the energy of the storm.

I decided to get in my car, get a  bit more cash at the ATM, fill up with gas, pick up a few more things at the grocery store.  When I got to the super market I was a bit struck with the slower tempo.  Not everyone was as deliberate as I moving through the aisles.  Some were even chatting or perusing the shelves as if they were looking for some tasty new item.  Hmmm. How confidant!

Leaving the grocery store I noticed how the air was nice, and the sky not so threatening.  Perhaps I’d get a cup of coffee, slow down a bit myself. Driving along more slowly, I heard a loud honk.  Hmm, my pace was too slow for him.

I couldn’t seem to satisfy his desire to go faster, so I pulled over, coffee cup in hand and sat there for a bit. “This is crazy!” I thought, “If anything the storm is now mirroring me!  I’m feeding the drama.  If everything is a mirror, there was no way that hurricane is going to dissipate at all.”

I pulled back out into the flow of cars choosing to drive differently.  I got home and turned on the meditation music.  I sat down and called a friend.  I  Looked out at the eastern sky and saw it was now really bright. “That may change this afternoon,” I thought, but perhaps my shift is  causing the respite,  But whatever, I feel a whole lot more peaceful and grounded in the moment.  Bet I’m far more ready for anything!”

You And Me As Artists

DENNY DAIKELER

There is as much art in creating  life, your life, my life, as there is to creating a beautiful painting, or a marvelous sculpture.  A life that is beautiful to witness is the life that has been filled with well thought-out choices of working, playing and loving.  The “work” becomes easier deeper and fuller when its’ master trusts his or her ability at artistry, their careful considerations,  the clear messages from their heart. It’s the call one answers when they hear the music and the message and have their own way to make it alive and powerful. And real!

This blog has been growing in me through a sharing I did at Del Val College on “Life As Art” to a retirement class.  Then the death of Gabrielle Roth happened, and it all began to come together.

If you don’t know her, Gabrielle Roth is a great example of what I’m calling an artist.  She brought dance off the performance stage and into life. She made dance self-expression, prayer, and a tool for freeing oneself.

As I understand it, Gabrielle  became  struck by dance as a powerful force early in her adult life.  In this awareness she kept moving and feeling  dance herself, slowly growing and understanding that pulling rhythm and music through all of her limbs, and feet, and hands  brought her huge joy and healing. She began getting a very clear personal message of dance as God.  She shared it, taught it,  lived and danced it all for her own expression, and certainly for our enrichment.  She was an artist at work, creating her life.  She didn’t just do it for us.  She did it for herself because it made her come ALIVE.  We were merely the benefactors.

It takes a lot of time to know your call; time to feel, experiment, and decide your own “artful living,” the looks, the activities, the expressions, the  messages that you are compelled to portray.  It takes years of honing, testing, and feeling your Truth.  And as one does that, lo and behold, healing happens because we move away the demons, the  ego, the resistance to expressing ourselves.

I know you’ve been struck at some moment in your life when you’ve observed someone who is doing something with great care, great presence, and abundant energy.  It’s a joy to watch. Perhaps they were sweeping a porch, planting a garden, setting a table, cutting a head of hair, or yes, creative  parenting. And you saw how they were doing it as if the result was  meant to be their masterpiece, their best.

I remember a concert at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.  Andre Previn was the guest and I traveled to the city to witness this man whose music, romance, and creativity had always captured me (not to mention his gorgeous brown hair!) I bought a ticket and took my seat with great anticipation.

Suddenly a figure emerged from stage right, and the crowd applauded  brilliantly.  I strained to make out who the person was.  He was round, gray haired, walking with a cane as he struggled across the stage.  “Who is that?” I thought, knowing in my next moment that it was Andre Previn!

He sat down at the piano, raised his arms and began playing the most heavenly music, with great grace, energy, and power. He played as if he was 25.  I squinted at my program and saw that this concert was a celebration of his 80th birthday!

He raised his arms again, bringing in the full banquet of instruments.  He now divided this energy between his own magnificent rendering and the incorporation of all of the instruments, different parts, crescendos and melodies.  What he was doing was a feat for anyone, and he was embodying it all in his 80 year package of creativity, precision and practice.  Andre Previn was living full out! An artist of life, breathing the  power of Self into the hearts of all.

I want to be like Andre and Gabrielle,  sculpting all the feelings, thoughts, messages coming my way, into a creation of felt observation, illustrated message, and directed energy, modeling LIFE from the very source of my own being.  Then I will know I have lived my life as an artist!

Are You In Transformation Mode?

Transformation! What is it? How do we do it? We’ve been conformers. Do we want it?

I just finished reading Jack Canfield’s book, The Golden Motorcycle Gang. I absolutely loved it – it reminded me much of one of my all-time favorite books from years ago, Robert Pirsig’s, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Jack and Robert’s books are both about extreme dedication to high values and their beliefs about personal transformation. I was especially inspired by Jack’s story of his awareness of existence on the other side. Yes, he is aware of his life before his birth on this planet. This awareness formed his life purpose – that of teaching transformation. I’m not going to tell you more because it might spoil your read, but it’s impressive!

                                                                                                       -“Metamorphosis” by Alex Grey

I’m a huge believer in transformation and I’ve always considered myself a change agent. I’ve come to realize that I’ve never been happy with my work if it didn’t seem geared toward life getting better. It was my “itch” as an interior designer – to make people’s personal spaces “better.” When a client wanted my ideas for their spaces before I knew who they were in life and being, I’d scratch my head wondering why they wanted to forget their loves and needs. Why did they want what they thought I wanted, instead of what they themselves wanted? That has been typical of life in the past for all of us. We’re taught to seek out the “right dress,” the “right way of speaking,” and even “the right line of work,” all according to someone else!

Thank heavens we’ve moved toward healing that one. I think we’re doing quite well at thinking more for ourselves and choosing what we want personally. I never understood the “trend” thing in design nor in fashion or anything for that matter. I understood change in popularity, but I always hoped that trends had a personal side.

I heard Seth Godin speak at Beachbody’s Summit in Las Vegas last June. He’s an amazing speaker and presented on today’s picture of business and preferences. He brilliantly framed “where we are now” in the spectrum of “what we want.” He said that creativity is the sacred theme – we want things different, personal, inspiring, powerful, and innovative. We’re looking for the extraordinary and the clever. No more conforming. We want to think for ourselves, heal ourselves and feel good about ourselves. It certainly indicates movement away from authority.

We won’t settle for mediocre. We want “deep.” We want an indicator that we care about life and therefore about each other. At least this is what I hope we want. I hope for it with politics. I hope for it in business. I hope for it in education – in research. I certainly hope for it in relationships and family. I hope that we’re learning how to be transparent, full of integrity, open to possibility and willing to trust. I’m toasting to transformation. 2012 isn’t a finish line, it’s a beginning. It’s a time when we’re going to realize our magnificence, our responsibilities for self and our possibilities for life. Bring on transformation! The Butterflies are coming!