Catching Up: Arts 8-13

Part 2 of our chronicling the arts, feel free to jump into whatever looks interesting!

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08: Dyes and Colorants for the Body and the Teeth
You know where this leads: Make Up! and girlie fun for 5 posts.
Browse the aisles or head straight over to my reviews in A Good Foundation.

09: Mosaics
Playing with Mosaics was so much fun I did two projects over 6 posts.
The end result was my mixed media piece, Broken Ties.

10: Bed Arrangement
Here we traveled through home decor, feng shui and creative living for 6 posts starting with the basics of Bed Arrangement.
If you only have time for a nap, make sure to check out my Interview with a Do-Gooder: Bed Days.

11: Musical Instrument Made of Bowls Filled With Water
Have you ever played the Water Glasses? I tried my hand at making it work and we heard a bevy of beautiful performances over the 6 posts.
My own experience with the glasses can be heard in my Pruney Fingers Performance–it’s quite okay to laugh (encouraged, even!).

12: Water-Spewing Games
At first I had a bit of an issue with Water-Spewing Games but I found my groove in memories of summers past in a three-part series.
Jonesing for some water-balloon fun? Check out Water Wars, Part 2 for tips on hosting an epic balloon-battle.

13: The Use of Charms, Drugs, Magic Words
This one was a loaded subject but one I was so looking forward to, mainly because it gave us a chance to examine the ideas conjured by Charms, Drugs & Magic Words over 8 posts.
Need a little break from the day-to-day crazies? Find out how to get it with a peek into Deep Breaths and Shallow Thoughts.

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And that brings us up-to-date on the Arts so far. Did you find a post you missed the first time through? Maybe have a favorite that I didn’t mention here? Let me know in the comments!

Oh! And if you’re interested in hearing some fun music with a travel theme, head on over to my podcast, Random Acts Radio, and check out the newest episode: On the Road.

Catching Up: Arts 1-7

This week’s a little hectic for me and I’m not quite ready to get into the craft-heavy 14th art. At the same time, I don’t want the site to not update this week so I’m taking a little page from the SITS/ProBlogger 31 Days to Build a Better Blog missions and creating a “sneeze page” (I really want a better name for this concept) to make it easier to flip through the Arts we’ve covered.

Today’s post will cover the first 7 arts (Thursday’s #8 through #13) and showcase the first post of each art (sorta like a Table of Contents) and my favorite or a really good read if you’ve only got time to hit up one of them. After these two starter-posts, the list will be kept on a page linked to a sidebar and update each time we finish with an Art.

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Introduction:
A New Direction, in which I explain what I’m doing and how I’m going to go about it

01: Vocal Music
It begins with How Can I Keep From Singing and includes a total of 8 posts.
Just have a moment? Check out Singing in the Shower for fun and science all rolled into one!

02: Instruments
Staring with We Are the Music Makers, it’s another 8-parter.
Only want a clip? My favorite post asks the question: What’s Your Anthem?

03: Dance
Cliches are cliches for a reason and we start the dancing chapter with Dance Like No One’s Watching and go for 5 posts on the subject.
Need to get up to the getting down? Step right on over to Embrace the Insanity.

04: Drawing
A 6-post arc on art starts with a trip Back to the Drawing Board!
For a short-cut to drawing fun, point your pencil to From Stick to Chick.

05: Cutouts
At this point I started titling the beginning of each art with an ironically less-than-creatively titled post, like this: the 5th Art: Cutouts.
Of the 8 posts in this series an unusual–but fun–application can be found in How Ap-Peel-ing.

06: Carpets of Flowers or Colored Grains of Rice
Starting with Carpets of Color we explore sand art and mandalas in 3 breezy parts.
Channel your inner child with a little Sand Art fun.

07: Flower Bouquets
Did you ever wonder about making and giving Flower Bouquets? Now you can learn some basics and then some in these 5 posts.
Rather leave the arranging to the florist but still don’t know what to send? Here’s a short list on the Language of Flowers.

On a Spell and a Prayer

Magic words, huh?

A little abracadabra here… some wingardium leviosa over there…
Maybe an amen or a blessed be in the mix, too.

What’s that? Don’t think those 2 phrases belong in the same sentence? Ah… but that’s what’s so interesting about words… they are tools! What are you using your tools for?

An Unpopular Idea

I have a theory that occurred to me a few years ago and I’ve yet to be able to prove or disprove it. I’ve managed to make some people upset with it, but that’s what happens when you question a closed mind. It’s a theory based both on logic and feelings, of opening our mind to see our similarities amid the differences and a desire for tolerance, a common ground.

Basically, I think a spell is just another type of prayer.

To Those who Depend on Only One Way

I grew up in church. By choice (my mother did not attend) I went every Sunday and some Wednesdays as I got older from the age of 8 to 18 and then during various periods after.

I grew up understanding the concept of one narrow road, requiring sacrifice and strict obedience, that our way was the only true way. Even though the church down the road a bit was mostly the same and only differed on one or two points, ours was the only way.

I grew up and wondered just how arrogant that sounded to everyone else.

Questions Were Not Welcome, So I Asked Them of Myself

What makes one person’s method of asking wrong and another’s right?

Seriously, what’s the difference?

Both…

• Ask for something or are done in reverence–be it a request for physical health, in praise of something good, we’re all going to someone or something for some reason
• Appeal to a higher power–we can all use a helping hand; granted, some believe that power of a deity resides in them, but I find that on both sides of the Christian/non-Christian fence
• Can be free-form or scripted–spontaneous spell-work and prayer both exist, as do rituals that include lit candles, sacramental wine and bread, and patterned responses at either end of the spectrum
• Are part of a spiritual practice–I don’t see as this point needs additional explanation.

Is the Devil in the Details?

Yes, it’s true there is a commandment that states “Thou shalt have no gods before me.” As such, it’s a tiny leap (more like a silent shuffle) to the thought shared by many of my former pew-mates that all other deities were false, evil and wrong.

And, yet, I remember sitting in church several Sundays in a row as the preacher, our Independent Fundamental Baptist preacher, going through his series of the names of god–that there were different ones for different places and situations throughout the Old Testament. He was given the names of the Provider, the Healer, god of the battlefield and god of peace, among others. And then there’s the whole idea of the trinity, separate entities with different purposes but all, ultimately, part of the same whole.

Is it really a stretch, then, to consider the possibility that everyone is looking to the same force, just under different names? That having a god of the battlefield (Jehovah-Nissi) is that different from the God of War (Ares/Mercury)? That the duality of god and goddess is any more difficult to understand than that of the trinity?

Or is it a Dependence Thing?

Some joke that religion is an exercise in co-dependency. Some do more than joke.

Maybe the biggest difference I see between the two sides is the belief by one that we are not enough, ever, and that it’s totally up to that higher power to make it happen. On the other side is the belief that power lies within us all and that we have the ability to manipulate that power, that energy (remember we talked about energy being neither destroyed or created?) to our purposes with, maybe, the help of others whether they be in-the-flesh or of the spirit.

But, you know, the Baptists I know say you had to “put feet to prayer,” too.

One Destination, Many Roads

For the record, I’ve become quite comfortable with the idea of a Universal Divine–a creator force, a higher power, that goes by different names depending on the culture or situation you find yourself in. And that’s about as close to a label as I get, these days. I think any time the human mind–with it’s flaws and agendas that might seem well-intentioned but almost always go too far–tries to organize something so organic as beliefs we muck it beyond reason.

But that’s the wonderful thing: we have choices. Which road is right for you?

Because that’s what I’m after here, today: a little creative thinking, a little understanding, a little tolerance.

Why should the word–tool–we use to describe an action make it acceptable or not if it means the same thing? How do we presume (sometimes assume, with all the implications accepted) to know that our way is the only way. If we’re lucky, we do our best with the information we’re given and hope we’ve got it right.

We won’t know until it’s too late, after all. Might as well use this time the best we can, be nice to one another, accept–even glorify–our differences and use that mind that we were granted by someone or thing–that mind that is equipped for thinking and reason and making connections, and accept that there’s more than one way to live this life.

Let’s spend our time creating, not tearing down, the things and ideas that make this life special.

What common ground can you find with someone, today?

Affirmative!

Growing up, my little brother’s favorite movie was Flight of the Navigator. Granted, he was at that age when long, complex titles become garbled in the retelling and he would ask to see ‘Flyin’ of the Alligator’ with some frequency.

If you’ve never seen it (or it’s been too long since the last time), it’s about a boy who goes on an adventure in an alien spaceship. The ship is piloted by a robot and, like all stereotypical robots, it speaks in a particular manner. There is no yes, no, maybe stuff, it’s all negative, affirmative and–my favorite–compliance (robot pilot for “I’m on it!”).

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A teen of the 90s, when I think of the word “affirmations” I think of the SNL skit Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley. His affirmation?

I’m good enough, I’m smart enough,
and, doggone it, people like me!

This probably explains a lot about why I feel incredibly silly practicing affirmations in my day-to-day life. Well, whenever I’ve entertained the notion. That is to say not very often.

Don’t get me wrong! I’m all for the personal pep talks and keeping the good thoughts going strong–I just have issues with the must-do, regimental feel that they’ve been presented to me in the past. Combine that with the SNL memories and, well, yeah. Affirmations and I don’t go over so well.

But they do help plenty of others, this much I know for certain!

Remember the story about the Little Engine That Could? His mantra of “I think I can, I think I can” sounds a lot like an affirmation with the exception of the potential for failure. Oh, sure, the Little Engine does and he learns his lesson, but the key between his phrase and a true affirmation is the difference between thinking and knowing.

Ideal affirmations are constructed in a very concrete, very  now sort of language. You wake up, you look yourself in the mirror and what?

Are you more invigorated by ‘I will be a productive member of society, today.’ or ‘I AM a productive member of society.’ Is your confidence bolstered more by ‘I think I can do this’ or ‘I’ve got this in the bag.’ What psyches you up better: ‘I will do my best’ or ‘I am the best.’

It’s a matter of degrees, sure, but it’s an important degree.

And it seems like there’s a certain amount of fake-it-til-you-make-it in affirmations. In a good way, of course, but it’s still there. It’s part Law of Attraction, manifestation, visualization and a little bit of Whistle a Happy Tune from The King and I.

DIY Affirmations

I know it sounds like I’m beating up on well-intentioned affirmations today, but it’s mostly because I think (scratch that! I know!) we can do better. For ourselves and for each other.

Who says affirmations have to be accompanied by tweeting birds and babbling brooks? Let’s affirm our awesomeness to the sound of a little Joan Jett or Lady Gaga if that’s what gets us feeling good. Affirmations spoken quietly to yourself so as not to disturb anyone still sleeping? Forget that, let’s shout it out in the shower while we wash away the grime of the day (or the one before)!

Let’s make our own affirmations that really speak for and to us. Here’s how:

1. Start with the ‘I.’ Just like you can’t change that guy that’s almost perfect, all you can change is yourself. Feel like talking about yourself in the third person? Sure, why not? But it really has to be you. The exception would be if you’re co-creating an affirmation for a group or organization–less of a mission statement, more of a Now-ism.
2. Future-tense verbs need not apply. Best is present but I can see some use for past-tense in the sense (hah!) of “I’ve got this in the bag”–you’ve confident because you know you’ve got the skills, have practiced, are prepared. Nothing passive, either. None of this ‘I will be…’, stick to the ‘I am…’ and ‘I have…’ statements. Future tense is great for goals, for planning, affirmations are in the current, the now.
3. Be objective. And be clear–no vague affirmations, here! Give a little thought to exactly what you’re fixing into place for the day, week or more.

Does this change your opinion of affirmations? Did you not have the hang-ups I did, before? Are you going to try out the affirmation habit?

Crystals, Rainbows and Healing Thoughts

So we’ve talked about crystals and we’ve discussed meditation, now it’s time to combine them and add a third element: chakras.

Chakras are energy centers that begin at the based of your spine and extend up to the top of your head, totaling seven (though there are minor chakras up into the twenties that correspond to other areas of the body). These centers correspond to areas of the body, have assigned colors and have been matched with certain stones. There are diets based on chakras and healing modalities focused on targeting damaged centers. Chakras are very big in New Agey woo-woo, but even in the non-woo they’re pretty interesting.

Here’s the cliff-notes version:

And that really is a nutshell-summary, but you get the picture, right?

Notice how the colors from the root to the crown follow the acronym for the color spectrum? Good old ROY G. BIV, learned it in childhood and find that it’s still useful!

One of the first guided meditations I participated in used this color progression and visualizing a staircase as it’s main vehicle. It was a lengthy meditation, nice and slow so that each color had time to become fully materialize in the mind’s eye before moving on. One of the more amusing parts of the meditation was at the end, in the 8th level (pure white light and the destination of this particular meditation) when the guide mentioned that once you were comfortable with the stairs you could hurry the process up–use the escalator or elevator on future trips.

This turned out the be useful because future sessions, on my own this time, I would move faster through the colors to my destination.  Sometimes, though, I would get stuck on a certain color. It wouldn’t materialize or I couldn’t hold onto the color with my mind and I’d slip into a different color, usually the one just before the troubled one.

Turns out, this is a way of finding chakra imbalances and, some believe, pinpointing areas of disease (sometimes mentioned and thought of as dis-ease to highlight the out-of-whack-ness of the body). Knowing where the problem is can help you work through it and resolve any imbalances or ailments.

Which is where the crystals and colors come in. Skilled chakra therapists can pinpoint issues, apply the right crystals and bring things into alignment through energy manipulation. Depending on your self-awareness (which, hey, you’re considering your chakras and travelling through them–that’s pretty well on the path!) you can begin to align your chakras, yourself, or at least have a clue where to start when you visit your regular doctor for a persistent issue.