Category: Creativity

  • #Dream Therapy – Dream Journaling With Alysse Aallyn

    The Shadow – Dissonance –

    Dreaming of reversals? Sudden surprises or a creeping sense of unease? Upsets? Do you wake with a sense of having forgotten something important you almost understood? Feeling lost?

      Some dreams just leave us unsettled, feeling “weird”. Something touched us, but we are of a divided mind as to whether it was pleasant or not.

      You Are A Sensitive Instrument registering seismic shifts and deep tectonic disturbances below the threshold of consciousness. Remember, what we call “consciousness” is many-layered. Beneath your conscious is your subconscious – the things you’ve put out of mind.. Below that is your unconscious –the things you don’t know you know – it is the unconscious that is accessible to us in dreams.

      The Subconscious is noisy, like a neglected child. It will occupy all your attention if you let it. But the Unconscious is a lot more interesting. Something always IS “going on” OUTSIDE YOURSELF and you are alert to the many warning signals! This can be exhausting. We have been dreaming of relaxation, peace and quiet, the clear blue sky with not a single cloud, and here are all these depthless mutterings.

      And there’s a deeper layer yet! The collective unconscious connects us to other people, living and dead, the memories of your relatives, of history itself.

      Challenge – We are not going to get rid of our spidey senses and we must refuse to numb, ignore or inflate them. The key to intelligent management of dissonance is to think of the world as an orchestra playing a symphony. The more able we are to distinguish the varied instruments and musical lines the more we will appreciate and enjoy the experience. Balance is always key. In this cacophony, YOU are the important one. We accept all the levels of consciousness without fear; they will not control us. They are asking us to control them. We will schedule regular periods of rest and renewal where we put problems far away from mind and give thanks for this body, this moment, this sense of appreciation and wonder.

      Danger – Avoid a “bunker mentality.” The universe has many bunkers, but is bigger than any single one. We cultivate a hierarchy of response. Get out of bed in the middle of the night for a fire alarm, not a phone notification. Don’t allow yourself to ever feel helpless but seek out advice and encouragement from others who understand a healthy growth process. All of us live in groups, curate your group to promote intelligent awareness in an atmosphere of hope. Dissonance is never doom.

      Opportunity – We each have a chance to spend our night on the watchtower, but you don’t need to spend every night there. Consider dissonance an invitation to maturity. We are putting away childish things. The sky is NOT falling, however the climate is under legitimate scientific threat. Strategize ways to band together to take useful action. This is an opportunity to show self-love, as well as love for the group, the environment, the world and the future. Open your Dream Journal. The attitude, “I care about you so I’m going to take care of you” keeps us sensitive to the message of Universal Love that is waiting to embrace us.

      Models & Mentors – Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to fads, trends and popular opinion”
      – Jack Kerouac

      “Better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation”
      – Herman Melville

      “If you don’t fit in, you’re probably doing the right thing” – Henry David Thoreau

      “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth”

      John F. Kennedy

      Mantra – “I Hear You”

      Meditation

      Haiku: Dissonance

      Nonsense;
      Clues disappeared
      Fragmenting circle
      Unsolvable
      Mystery

    1. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

      Peace – Serenity – The Power of Happy Dreams – Do you have a mental happy place to retreat to whenever you need a psychic lift?  It doesn’t even need to be a place you’ve ever actually been for you to dream about it. Multiverse proponents would argue that you’ve already been there. Do your dreams involve beaches, vacation, relaxation, memories of happy times when you hadnothing to do but enjoy yourself and revel in the moment?

      Happy Dreams are prophecies of all the peace and serenity that await us, greeting us whenwe first came into the world.

      Peace is Possible. Serenity is an Idea. Most of us are familiar with the “serenity prayer”  written by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr:

      “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference, living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; taking this world as it is and not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right.”

      It’s possible to maintain serenity, even when things are awful. The Serenity Prayer works as aninoculation against pointless worry, which is seen as “borrowing trouble.”

      Challenge – Like meditation, serenity is a mental state that takes practice. Take out your your Dream Journal.Make a list of your most pressing concerns. Can you do anything about any of them today? If so,appoint a time when you will take a step towards resolving this concern. If you can’t do anything aboutit, put it forcefully out of your mind. Imagine your worries as a bunch of balloons. Now let them go, one by one. Put each useless worry on a piece of paper and burn them slowly, each by each. Give yourself a“mantra”; a word or phrase you find comforting and centering, and repeat it out loud to yourself. St. Julian of Norwich recommended: ”All things will be well”, Coué offered, “Every day, in every way I amgetting better and better”, some yoga enthusiasts chant a simple “Om.” You can use a phrase from yourown past said to you by a Beloved Person – “now you’ll be fine” “You’re safe” “You’re perfect”“Everything’s all right”or the tried and true: “I love you.” My favorite is from Revelation: “Every tear wiped away.”

      Danger – We are all worried about missing something, or someone. Often that “centering person”, that reassuring person from our past is not just the one who gave us the relaxation code, but is also the one who told us what to worry about: ie.”Make sure all the locks are locked” “Have you done yourhomework?” There certainly are things to be concerned about (“Are you registered to vote?”) but there are plenty of worries we CAN’T help with. Return to the serenity prayer and start weeding out – onpaper – your Justifiable Concrns. One of the best things about Anxiety – and I mean this – is it offers anopportunity to ask for help. Yes, I say “opportunity”! Because life is  all about RELATIONSHIPS. Soworries offer us a unique chance to forge a meaningful, worthwhile relaionship with Someone Else. Who? It depends. Get ready to experiment. As with every other relationship in your life, yourrequirements, tolerance, communication goals are unique. Many people want to speak to a professional– therapist or life coach – and plenty of professionals out there are auditioning for a little – or a lot – ofyour hard-earned cash. An excellent place to start is with Proven Gurus like Tolle Eckhart or Pema Chodon who can be accessed from any library. See what you think. Evaluate their assistance. Inquirefurther.

      Opportunity – This is a perfect moment to harness the power of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreams are INTENTIONAL. Imagine that! You could go to that happy place ANY TIME you needed it and, best of all, use your night time rest as an arena and your “happy place” as a vessel to anchor your subconscious. We have worries we don’t even know about yet! But we also have powerful forces onour side. Practice sleeping to “special music” with a mental picture of your “happy place.” Aaah.

      Models & Mentors – “Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.” – The Dalai Lama

      “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” – Reinhold Niebuhr

      “Serenity of spirit and turbulence of action make up the sum of life”

      – Vita Sackville-West

      “Enjoy the peace of nature and declutter your inner world” – Amit Ray

      Meditation –

      #Haiku: Wealth

      Peace to dream

      Play to share

      Health to dance

      Worlds to

      Explore

      Joy to

      Extend

    2. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

      Rainbow – Serendipity – 

      Do You Dream of Pots of Gold?  Magic transferences? Breaks in the laws of physics benefiting only you?

      You Were Born Lucky – Consider: What is the greatest piece of good luck you’ve ever had? Your parentage? Talents? Home town? Best friend? A piece of advice? A special teacher? Think about it. Have you ever been offered apiece of good luck you couldn’t take advantage of, but wish you had?

      How lucky do you NEED to be? Are you familiar with the faces of gamblers seated hour by hour at the slot machines, wearing special gloves so their skin doesn’t fall off? Seriously, who would want to be them? Is it luck itself that wegive thanks for, or our ability to recognize good fortune? Perhaps it’s our ability to take advantage of a piece of good luck when we’re offered it. These memories have one thing in common- i.e. “ability”, which is not luck, which is YOU. Give thanks for these abilities. Let’s learn to develop them. Open up your Dream Journal.

      Challenge – A different way of thinking about fortune is not all the wonderful things that didn’thappen, but the terrible things that COULD have happened – and didn’t. In other words, let’s tryadopting a “glass half full” perspective and see how far that gets us.

      Danger – The danger is always the same – giving control of our psyche over to some other entitythat may not (almost certainly doesn’t) have our best interests at heart. We’re usually not evenaware we’re doing this. But when you want to “be lucky” what does that mean? In whose eyes?Let’s put ourselves firmly in the driver’s seat and take a look at the path ahead. Do we want to gothere? Do we really trust these people? Are we the dog throwing away a real bone to reach theillusory bone we see pictured in the watery reflection of Aesop’s Fable?

      Opportunity – As we negotiate our mortal existence we have a unique opportunity to takeadvantage of chance appearances and encounters – that’s serendipity. If we recognize them. Thenwe can compare our steps to the immortal framework of eternity and ask, How am I doing?

      Models & Mentors – “Serendipity is when you find things that you weren’t looking for because what you are looking for is so damned difficult”

      – Erin McKean

      “Steer into the skid” – Alysse Aallyn

      “Here you are moving ahead bravely in spite of everything going wrong” – Rithvik Singh

      “Take advantage of happy accidents” – Vincent van Gogh

      “There are no coincidences” – Sigmund Freud

      Meditation 

      #Haiku: Rainbow – Serendipity

      Happenstance –

      Fortuitous

      Chance; we’re

      Born lucky

      We just don’t know it.

    3. Dream Group – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

      CREATIVITY  If your dreams are particularly imaginative and enjoyable, you are probably an artist. You have launched yourself already on the absorbing quest of reinventing the confusing realities that buffet us.

      We keep trapping ourselves in the maze but there is always a way out. Close your eyes. Breathe. Don’t we all possess inherently the goddess’ power of making Something out of Nothing? Think. Feel. Give yourself permission to explore. Look at the tactile world around you and reach out yourhands. You are the pilot of your own life. Create your own dream.

      Artists are immortalized by their own thought and effort. If their productions are intriguingly beautifulthe rest of us are drawn in and our critical senses – our rejection and our fear – are tranquillized whilewe allow the artist to work their magic upon us. Artists aspire to be magicians of the mind and soul.

      CHALLENGE  –      If you create something unforgettable you will never be forgotten. You have thepower to open hearts, minds and brains as yours were first opened, when you looked upon this amazingworld for the first time  and tried to understand what you saw.

      DANGER  There is possibility here for such overweening pride that you place your own psyche aboveCreation in importance.   If you seek worship your own soul will be hardened unto death.

      OPPORTUNITY  You will join the gods in creating something really new that the world cannotlive without. The joy of sharing, the rapture of being known, the ecstasy of expression, of beingunderstood, will be yours.

      Models & Mentors – “Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought.” – Albert Einstein

      “Creativity can’t get used up. The more you use the more you have.” – Maya Angelou

      “Creativity is just connecting things.” – Steve Jobs

      “There is no innovation, no creativity, without failure.” – Brené Brown

      “What’s so fascinating about life is the constant creativity of the soul.” – Deepak Chopra

      MEDITATION –

      #Haiku: Creativity

      You: Immortalized;

      Fireborne

      Force majeure

      Create

      Become –

      Exalt

      You.

    4. Dream Group – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

      DREAM CONTENT  RELAX – Take a deep breath as you face the content of your dreams.  

        YOU HAVE INNER RESOURCES – FOCUS your power by closing your eyes and – relaxing. Are youafraid you might fall asleep? So much the better – we need these dreams to be our map and guide.Dreaming of hot summers, beach, umbrellas, ocean, sand? You are longing for a “getaway” and the verybest and most refreshing vacation is to disappear inside yourself. Let’s learn to “see” with that Third Eye– the Wisdom Eye. Like every effort, it takes not just concentration but practice.

        DREAMS OF REAL EVENTS –  Is your brain flipping through its memories, disguising them, trying to make sense of them or imagining horrific detours? These are anxiety dreams. You fear that the causality of existence is basically nonsensical and cruel. The cure? Develop a “human flourishing” worldview. Use your models and mentors to investigate the requirements of life enhancement. What about love? When your dreams fear it doesn’t exist, you need to develop loving relationships in your daytime life.

        DREAMS OF FICTIONAL EVENTS – Are you trying to process fiction read about and seen (often dystopian). Your shy heart is shocked to its core and your inexperienced brain is trying to make sense of it. But we know much online fiction is a race to the bottom, trying again and again to go over the top.

        PRACTICE SELF-CARE – Prioritize your well-being. If you spend four hours a day watching or playing nonsensical vitriolic junk, you should spend equal time on your improvement and self-soothing regimens. Think of it. EQUAL TIME. Obviously you need to start developing self-care regimens that are way more pleasurable than passive viewing.

        CHALLENGE  Check your immortal soul. Don’t think you have one? No wonder you’re scared, if you reduce yourself to chaff like yesterday’s lawn clippings!  You are certainly aware that all of human history has been devoted to exploring whether we have souls, where they come from and what happens to them. Probably you like – everyone –  is turned off by the idea that in order to have a soul you need to follow some religion’s requirements, laid down for you by its boss.

        But seriously, think about it. If part of yourself is immortal, with supernatural capabilities, doesn’t it, by definition, exist OUTSIDE all that stuff? Who put them in charge? If your immortal soul is the freest part of you, set it free indeed.  Use your imagination to imagine THOSE possibilities, instead of scaring yourself almost to death. And then – relax. 

        Inside yourself is you find everyone you have ever known, everyone you have ever loved, is there. Ifthat’s a tough one – and I know it’s making you gulp – here’s one tougher – everyone you ever WILLknow is in there too. You can learn to reach forwards as well as back. No, it doesn’t come immediately. But the exciting news is – you have all the time in the world.

        DANGER – You fear you will lose yourself. The worst fear is that you have no self to lose. You areyoung at this, and fresh, naïve and simple. A beginner. Accept that power. It is a wonderful thing whenthe baby begins to see. But what about Evil?  Isn’t that a thing? If I have Everything inside, then don’t Ihave Evil, too. And the mystic answer is Yes. But it can’t hurt you if you don the armor. The armor isLove, and I recommend you begin to study the subject. It isn’t strong enough yet, but you can strengthenit by Will. You must educate your will.

        OPPORTUNITY – You realize now that our dreams are forcing a choice – it really comes down to thatone thing – you must choose between Evil or Love. Evil promises it will “get the job done”, it will offer“special” unique opportunities, single you out for goodies, bring you hostages and slaves. But here’s theFact about Evil – it breaks all its promises because IT BREAKS YOU. Love promises Eternity and Joy,and it takes effort. It takes discernment, knowledge, commitment and growth. Love asks you to enter aprocess. Evil says you can just “take”, or even lie inert and be showered with benefits. One choice makes you beautiful, an athlete of the Soul, the other makes you hideously ugly, a blot that sucks in lightand depresses all who look at it.  Will you make mistakes? Inevitably. But we have been assured by the greatest minds of all time that we cannot lose. So, relax. 

        Models & Mentors: “Everything you want is on the other side of fear” – Jack Canfield

        “What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you become” – Buddha

        “You can’t stop the waves but you can learn how to surf” – Jon Kabat-Zinn

        “It takes courage to say yes to rest and play in a world where exhaustion is a status symbol” – Brene Brown

        ‘You are the silent watcher of your thoughts. You are the stillness beneath the mental noise. You are the joy beneath the love and pain” – Eckhart Tolle

      1. Dream Group – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

        Danger – Risk –

        Do You Fear Sleep? Afraid of nightmares? Do you wake up gasping and trying to forget what you’ve just experienced?

        Nightmares mean you’re paying attention. Life is scary, but we need to grow, and growth requires we learn to cultivate risk if we are ever to expand and venture outside our comfort zone.

        Challenge – Study risk intelligently. No point being afraid of dragons if dragons are only symbolic. No point being “afraid” of “foreigners” if the man telling us to be afraid has a reputation for befriending people and then fleecing them.

        Evaluatng Risk :

        1. Don’t rely on rumor and innuendo
        2. Dangers provably Real
        3. Dangers Historically verified by data: “How likely is injury?”
        4. Assemble Risk avoidance strategies that have performed well for others in your situation.
        5. What exactly is your situation? Quantify.
        6. Know who your friends are
        7. Be prepared to alter strategy to maximize success and to learn from mistakes

        Opportunity – You get to find out who your friends are. Friends want the best for you, but the relationship must be reciprocal. You have each other’s backs. Know the difference between a Team and a Gang. Gangs work to suck power from individual members and concentrate it in one individual. Teams work for the success of all. Coach can’t win if the team doesn’t win.

        Surrender is The Worst Alternative – Be alert to the danger of trauma bonding in which we try to pacify attackers by taking their side. Doesn’t work.

        Models & Mentors – “Extreme Fear can neither fight nor fly.”
        – William Shakespeare

        “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear”

        – Mark Twain

        “If you try to get rid of fear and anger without knowing their meaning, they will return stronger” – Deepak Chopra

        “We’re more often frightened than hurt, and we suffer more from imagination than reality.” – Seneca

        Meditation –

        Haiku: Risk

        Regret
        Fear of
        Fearlessness: Launch
        Wise adventures

      2. Dream Group – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

        THE GODDESS  POWER

          DO YOU DREAM OF MAGIC?  Magical people, animals, happenings? It is the purview of dreams to manifest supernatural happenings. The Goddess represents the power – the force – to get things doneand to bend unfriendly circumstances to your desire and will. If dreams are wishes, this is understandable, because isn’t that what we all want – a little magic?

          BEHIND THE WISH, LIES THE FEAR – Do we long to be the 8-ball, to control the 8-ball or to be under the 8-ball? Don’t we fear all these at the same time?

          RECOGNIZE YOUR POWER – You are iconic. The Goddess suggests your yearning to discover theinherent magic that is especially, irreplaceably You. You have a power no one else has, incorporated inyour being, your possibilities, your desires and your memories.  This takes a lifetime to accept becausewe all fantasize being Someone Else and experiencing existence through the armor of Having only an Outside instead of just the very vulnerable Inside in which we all feel imprisoned. Your dreams bring allthese passions together as psychic poetry, elucidating what you think you want, what you hope you wantand what you are afraid you want. The ultimate magic is to seize conscious control of this potent powersource. Invite the Dream.

          CHALLENGE OF THE DREAM  The challenge is to truly connect with others, reveal our worldInside, and avoid blasting their apparently impenetrable Outside with our terror, our longing and ourfear.

          DREAM DANGERS  We must never take hostages and we must never become a hostage. Freedom is afine line to walk. If we wish to reach out, we must treat others with respect and claim like respect forourselves. Accept your dreams as “experiments”; do not fear them but learn to look at them, impartially, as messages from the Other World. Allow them to take you where you need to go.

          DREAM OPPORTUNITIES  There will be stumbles and terrors aplenty, also successes that LOOKlike stumbles and terrors, but which we only realize on reflection were real leaps forward. This is whywe must carefully assess our daily efforts without being harsh with ourselves. You are your own MostBeloved Child. Speak gently to yourself as you would to a most treasured child.. It is not selfish tocommit to this belief, it is simply placing the oxygen mask over your own face FIRST so that you canadminister this life-saving force to others. Find someone with whom you can share your dream journey,without fear or judgment. This connection will teach us everything we need to know about how toconnect with others. Explore Models and Mentors – this is how we learn.

          “I awoke to find the rest of the world still asleep” – Leonardo Da Vinci

          “Marvelous the dream and great the terror: we must treasure the dream no matter the terror.” – Anonymous, The Epic of Gilgamesh

          “In dreams we betray ourselves

          In betrayal we discover ourselves

          In self-discovery we lose our innocence

          In loss of innocence we gain knowledge

          In knowledge we gain wisdom

          In wisdom we recover innocence.”

          -Brother Antoninus 

          MEDITATION 

          #Haiku: The Goddess

          Manifest your

          Brave,

          Burnished; brutalized

          Carapace.

          Gaze.  Accept.

          Love.

        1. Dream Group – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

          FOREST DREAMS = THE LIFE FORCE, ENERGY

            ARE YOU LOST?  Do you dream of nature, forests, trees, overgrowth? As you you’re your eyes and fall into the moss, does the forest speak to you, become your friend?

            DEFEATING NIGHTMARES – In your terror, the forest is a hostile place, determined to punish you for invading its magnificence. Fear is a reaction, but courage is a choice. Speak to the forest, apologize for the cruelties of the past, and promise to listen to its song in future.

            JOURNALING –  You need to find yourself. Your own map is the only way through. These dreamspulse with an energy that is gathering within you as you ready yourself for some great task.

            YOU ARE A POWER – You struggle to find your force. You feel the power and strength of undefinedwishes and the longing to create your place in the world. No guide exists to this wilderness, you willhave to map this forest yourself. Be brave.

            CHALLENGE  There are plenty of traps ahead. Do not become discouraged. Accept that the flow ofenergy pulses with your every heartbeat, with your sleep/rest cycle, with the obligations you willinglyseek to smooth your path.

            DANGERS – Some of these obligations become too heavy, others seek to deter you from your setcourse. Still others offer false maps that seem to promise the ease of “I don’t have to do this alone.” Weare all alone inside our heads and you – and only you – must be satisfied with the map you create. If youaren’t there’s no fellowship or wealth that can compensate you for that loss. When the forest loves you, you must love it back.

            OPPORTUNITIES  We revel in and with our fellow travelers. There could be a soulmate among them– for a time or for a life. Accept the wisdom of others, the wisdom of the path, consult other maps indesigning your own. Be prepared to alter your map – joyously – with each new and fresh discovery. There will be many. Open your Dream Journal. Close your eyes. And draw your future. Salut!

            MEDITATION 

            #HaikuThe Life Force

            Energy

            Resurge

            Depower dread

            Repower health

            Refocus

            Aim

          1. Welcome to Dream Group – a Dream Journal by Alysse Aallyn

            Welcome to Dream Group

            Where we explore our dream together, uncovering meaning and enhancing psychic   and spiritual growth.

            YOU ARE A SEEKER – You are self-defining. You are on a quest. You wish to experience to the fullthe nature of having a self. You are becoming alert to the possibilities inherent in your particularmomentary incarnation and you wish to explore them.

            DANGERS – The danger of self-regard is that in turning our eyes inward we miss important signalscoming from other people and the world around us. Yet “retreating inward” is a vital path to self-knowledge and growth.

            CHALLENGE -The solution to this challenge is to set a Spirituality Schedule to reflect our needs andinterests. Appoint time to be absolutely alone, for meditation and reflection. If you cannot find a room toyourself, a closet will do. You can sit in the meditation position or assume any position that allows youto be comfortable enough to become physically forgetful.  Concentrate first on building a life that allowsboth inner and outer growth. Surround yourself with people who respect this decision.

            OPPORTUNITIES – This is a journey. Accept it. Begin a journal with 1. “I” and write down yourmeditation thoughts and desires. Tis can be a poem, a fantasy, a checklist – whatever pattern occurs toyou as supportive of your desires. Make a list of goals. Push shame away. This is about YOU. Of courseas you evolve, your goals will evolve, and your journal will reflect that. When you have completed yourTime Alone – ten minutes to an hour – whatever works for you – pat yourself on the back. What anachievement! You are started on a path of making changing Nightmares into Dreams and making dreamscome true.

            Get a notebook. We are starting our Dream Journal.

            Jung tells us that in your dream, you are everyone. You have dreamed of an Eye. The Eye is You. YourEgo is under threat. What does this mean?

            STUDY YOUR SURROUNDINGS  – Who? What? When? Where? And Why? We will begin mapping the people around you to determine whether you are in a growth or destructive environment, and building better patterns. Open your Dream Journal.

            WHO?  List the people around you and try to capture their chatter, their effect on you. It isn’t necessarily what they say directly to you, it is how they feel entitled to speak, it is what you are forced to hear. Sometimes we “correct” these oppressive effects with the conversation of dramatic personae in screen, literature & song. We flee into art to protect ourselves from the cruelties of existence. List these characters also – your heroes and villains – and what you like and need about them. We are going to assemble a ragbag team of defenders and collaborators for Dream Group.

            WHAT?   When you list what they say, note how that makes you feel. We are going to assume control over these emotions.

            WHEN?  At what time of day or night do these characters attempt to assume power over you? What is your state or rest or readiness?

            WHERE?  Where are you when this is going on? Work? Home? Friends’ place? Café? Bed? Inside your locked heart? Where do you feel safe? Where are you most yourself?

            WHY? How did you get here?  What was the plan? How has that changed? What’s the plan now?

            CLOSE YOUR BOOK – Close your eyes. Let’s end with a meditation.

            MEDITATION –

            #Haiku: Ego

            Pry:

            Beneath Eye:

            Compare

            My Shy

            Inside

            To your

            Wry outside. Cry.

            Why?

          2. Becoming a Goddess – the Goddess Oracle by Alysse Aallyn

            Creator Goddess –  Generosity

            Creator Goddesses Are Surrounded by Magical Possibilities. Are you dreaming of eternal bliss? Floating in connectedness? In Creation the boundaries of the other disappear in growth perfection. Obeying the call to flourish is the only commandment. Goddesses merge fearlessly, knowing you will be able to get yourself back any time, soothed, improved, and healed.

            Creation Goddesses Love – Love is the spirit that animates the empty spaces between humans.  Once charged, these spaces become a powerful force for human enhancement –  uncharged they are so much dead air. This is the space that goddesses protect. Love is the longing to be truly alive and to share life with the Blissed, Blessed Others.

            Our Yearning Defines and Connects Us – As children we thought we knew the meaning of life but it seems we have forgotten. As goddesses we fight for our ancestral memories of trust and closeness. How we long to be reminded of the ecstasy of selflessness, to re-experience the borderlessness between creatures that makes the dead universe come alive.

            Love Is The Creator’s Armor – It’s a spiral, our labyrinth, remember? We can’t go back, we can only go forward. We practice techniques and invent others as we design and redesign purposeful maps in a threatening and uncertain world. We have the collective confidence of all the brilliance of the goddess who came before us. Someone loved us once, eternalizing the golden moment, now we can re-create and perpetuate that magic.

            Goddess Danger – Danger lies in narrowing, exclusionary definitions. Answering the mandate of Creation, Love must ever open outwards. As soon as we turn Love into a zero-sum game with a shut-off valve focused on our own gratification, Love dies.

            Goddess Opportunity – The possibilities of a goddess are endless because we have chosen, in our flexibility and understanding, to be endless. Close your eyes and assume yoga’s starfish pose. We are open to what the universe longs to teach and once we commit to pass it on, we form an unbreakable chain, free at last from the bonds of selfishness. Clasp the hand (or paw) that generously, trustingly takes hold of yours. Let’s venture forth together.

            Models & Mentors – ‘to love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides”

            – David Viscott

            “Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get, only what you are expecting to give, which is everything” – Katherine Hepburn

            “Love gives you a piece of your soul you never knew was missing” – Torquato Tasso

            “Love is the gift of oneself” – Jean Anouilh

            “I love you for who I am when I’m with you”

            – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

            #Haiku: Love Transfer

            The secret of breaking

            Any bad habit

            Is to love

            Something more