My True Self

Last month, I participated in another three-day retreat given locally by Sri Vast, the enlightened master I first met in India in 2005. The main thrust of his teachings is the use of Self-Inquiry to discover who we really, truly are and then, to find the right environment, company and activity for that True Self to thrive. It is a given that your True Self is a happy healthy and fruitful person, caring for the planet Earth and all Beings, no matter what your specific talents and interests are.

I have always been fascinated by the question "Who am I?". Through astrology, numerology, palmistry, tarot and art therapy, I have approached the question from many angles. Yet Sri Vast brings an added element. He asks us to investigate who we are without "domestication"! What is the pure essence of our Being before we were trained, subdued, educated and adapted by our parents, schools, social environment and media inputs? The dictionary says that to domesticate means to "make (a wild animal) able to live with people and work for them". So what is the unique nature of that animal?

Our next meeting of the Women's Circle will approach this question. I was asked what my genuine, authentic person would have been....if all that domestication had not gotten in the way! My first answer was that I would be exactly as I am now. Whatever I did came out of the person I was at any given time and led to the next step in life.

Now, a few days later, I am wondering if maybe, had I had the support and means to bring out a the talent and joys that were in me......... I would have become a comic strip author! My style would be a bit like Hilary B. Price's "Rhymes with Orange" (fresh and pulpy"). I also like Dan Piraro's "Bizarro" and Wise and Aldrich's "Real Life Adventures".

Laughing and humour are timeless, indomitable ways of experiencing and expressing the beauty of life. Sri Vast knows: he loves funny movies!

My Seniors

Today I went to visit my favorite senior citizens at a residence in a nearby town. For the first time, since meeting them a year ago, I took their pictures. Please meet Margery, Doris and Dorrit!

Margery asked me for some magazines: I brought her a pile of National Geographics from the 70s (that I had saved to cut out pictures) and she was delighted. When I dropped into her room she had the TV on and asked me to turn down the volume...she was so excited about having a visit! She is always concerned about my well-being!

Doris had just switched to a different room that she shares with a new room-mate. She seems to have adjusted well to this change. The door of her room was open (because she is interested in all the coming and going in the corridor) and she called when she saw me walking by. We always have a great laugh together because her mental state causes her to make up very fanciful stories. Her favorite theme is "I have to pack my bags and get ready to go home".

Dorrit does not look cheerful in this picture but she was not keen on having it taken. When I showed her the result on the screen of my digital camera she asked "Is that me?? Oh well..."
Since her son came to visit her at Easter, she has been in good spirits and today was willing to go on an adventurous journey...out the front door of the building. Due to her mental state, she has a difficult time understanding my explanation about how I get into the building....so I decided to show her. It was a bit chilly outside and she was anxious about "finding her way back" but, once we had returned to familiar territory, she had a big smile and said " I learned something today"!

I really enjoy visiting my seniors and I have learned so much from these women. They are about the age my mother would have been, if she had not passed away in 1990. Have you ever thought about where you would like to be and how you want to live when you are 85?

View from the Top

On Sunday, I took a walk to the top of Rigaud mountain. It has a cross at the top that is lit up at night, like the one on top of Mount Royal, the "mountain" in the middle of Montreal, which is about 60 km away to the east. It is a tradition in Quebec to place giant crosses on top of prominant hills.

I walked up with a friend and my dog, Trinkette. Although the day was overcast, we enjoyed the pleasant walk through the woods and over some rock-strewn fields, starting at the Sanctuary of Notre-Dame and reaching the wooden lookout on the peak about an hour later.

Here are some views from the top, looking northeast and northwest.

5 ways to end suffering

Today I want to write about the Art of Living Level One course I took from March 19th to 22nd at the North American ashram. It was the second time I took this course and it was very different and quite wonderful because it was intensive (3 days instead of 6) and Guruji Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was present at the ashram. All course participants had the privilege of meeting him personally and attending Satsang on two evenings.

I would like to share with you some of Guruji`s wisdom. He gave us 5 ways to end suffering from problems.
1. Realize that all in life passes and this problem will also pass.
2. Look back on your life and see all the problems you have overcome. Also this problem you will overcome.
3. Look around and see that others have even greater problems to deal with. This puts your own problem in perspective.
4. Have faith. Believe in happy endings.
5. Give your problem to your guru, priest or counsellor and then let it go!

I took some pictures during the Satsang and decided to try out the video option. Being a neophyte, I didn`t realize that holding my camera sideways will also make the video sideways! Just before I began filming, a question had been asked: "What is the role of sincerity in spiritual practice?" It is simply no coincidence that I filmed just as he answered. At the level of universal wisdom, Guruji`s answer was like a huge gong vibrating into my deepest Being.

It was not until the course was over and I was back home to meditate on it all that I made a profound realization. Everything that happened was exactly what I needed to experience. I did not have an exstatic and joyfull meeting with the guru but I also did not approach him with joy or devotion. My mother once said to me: "The way you call into the woods is the way your echo will sound".

Thank you, Guruji, and thank you, Mother!

March ATCs

March 28th was the date of our most recent ATC trading day. There was a huge turnout, so I'm glad I made a lot of cards. Here is a sample page from my first series.

I titled my cards "Batik" because I used the classic color resist method. All of my cards were made with beeswax on card stock, but I used 3 different methods. For my first series, I painted designs with a #6 brush loaded with melted beeswax and I also made some finer lines with Windsor & Newton masking fluid on the ivory card. Then I covered the marks with a layer of "Arylide Yellow" liquid acrylic by Tri-Art. Step two was to make more marks with the beeswax and cover them with a layer of "Alisarin Crimson": these two layers created the brick red color. The third layer of marks was covered with "Indigo" acrylic paint. When I went to iron away the beeswax, some of the paint that had stuck to the wax melted down into the card and created the unusual spots.

My next series was made with an Indonsian Tjintang tool. The beeswax is poured into a little brass cup with a tiny spout that is attached to a wooden handle. I held the Tjintang over a candle to melt the wax and the wax flowed out onto the card stock. Careful! If the wax gets too hot it gushes out and if it's not hot enough, the spout is blocked. For this series I used watercolors: Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red and Prussian Blue.

The third series was done with the Tjanting and liquid acrylic paint. I thought it was the least successful but they turned out to be the favorites at the trade.

Wise Women's Circle

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of the Wise Women's Circle at Enrico's in L'Orignal, Ontario. We are a group of women, led by our loving Joni Elborn, who get together regularly to share our interests, find inspiration and support each other.

This time, I offered to lead our group with a creative art workshop. We started with "The Song of the Vowels". This is a healing ritual originating in ancient Egypt. Eight energy centers in the upper body are stimulated by singing a vowel; each center has it's own corresponding sound.

After this pleasant and refreshing meditation, we sat down to paint. Using Lascaux Resonance paints on an 11" x 14" sheet of 90 lb. art paper, I invited the 15 participants to spontaneously choose colors and make marks on the paper. After 1o minutes, the artwork was passed to the person on the left, who spent another 10 minutes adding their own creativity, inspired by what they saw. Then the paper was passed on again after 10 minutes. Finally, of course, the paper came back to the original artist, who could then add or delete any part to make it their own again.




It was a lot of fun and here are some samples of finished paintings. Mine is the one with the orange sun in the top middle!

It`s a Boy!!

A foal was born at Reto`s workplace two weeks ago. here you see him just 8 hours old.The mother, Smartie, is doing well. The little guy was wobbly on his long toothpick legs for a few days but is now growing in leaps and bounds. He has been given the barn name Moon because he has the same coloring as his blonde father.

Just look at how Moon has grown within a few days! He hasn`t been outside yet because the ground is still too slippery. The filly I wrote about on February 25th has been named Toots. You can see how she has grown in ten days. She went out for a few minutes on a sunny day and went wild....jumping and kicking and circling around. When she came inside with her mother, she was panting and trembling. The big wide world made an overwhelming impression on her.