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Go on a date this week…with yourself!
In her book first published in 1992, ”The Artist’s Way”, Julia Cameron suggested an exercise called the Artist’s Date. She recommended going on a date with yourself as a way to spur creative energy. It works, and it does help with the creative flow of ideas. This concept also aligns with the law of attraction. I am suggesting that you explore the concept of taking yourself on a date this week, and see how it affects the creation of your own dreams and desires.
It is often much easier to plan a special day for others than for ourselves. That is interesting to ponder on for a moment. Have you planned a special date or party for someone, and wondered if you could provide the same amount of care and concern for yourself? How important is it, what others think about you? How important is it, what you think about yourself? I would argue, the second is much more important. Here is an opportunity to test this date with yourself thing out.
First, set aside a couple of hours for yourself. If you can’t do it this week, just book some time with yourself as soon as possible and get it in your calendar. This is your time. Do not cancel or change it unless there is a real emergency. Let me stress, real emergency. If you are already feeling resistance to the concept, expect some curve-balls to come your way to interfere with the date. Don’t cancel on yourself.
Now, think about something that you would like to do, a place you would like to go, a dream that you’ve had that you haven’t had a chance to act on yet. It doesn’t have to be complex, expensive or elaborate. Just the act of giving yourself the attention and importance is in itself empowering and can raise your vibrational energy.
Do make sure this is something different from your usual routine and supports your dreams. If you live alone and your typical routine is watching DVDs of your favorite movies, this doesn’t count. What does count is almost anything as long as it has the potential to allow you to move closer to your dreams. If you have something specific in mind that you would like to accomplish, then do something related to that. Here is an example of what I mean. Do you dream of being a professional photographer? Your date might involve going to a gallery with a photo exhibit. Or, it might involve going someplace with your camera and taking some great pictures. Follow intuition more than rational thought here. Keep the dream in mind and let it lead you to the perfect date with yourself.
Having difficulty with choosing something? Then, just pick anything that would be enjoyable for you that you can commit to. That is enough to get you moving in the right direction. Don’t let choosing the date become a reason for inaction. Oh, and make it fun. Catching up on chores like cleaning the bathroom don’t count.
It is important to do this exercise alone, as it will help focus any of the positive emotions you experience on yourself rather than deflect them to a companion, spouse, children or others. If your date is so great that you want to do it again with someone else, that is always possible.
If you are still feeling resistance about doing this, explore it, understand it as just resistance, and go for it anyway. Try this exercise. You may be amazed by the results.
Make note of your feelings as you plan and do this exercise. Was there difficulty, joy, playfulness, a surprise or two? Did the universe cooperate to make this a wonderful date?
Steps: 1. Schedule at least 2 hours for yourself 2. Decide to do something outside of your normal routine that aligns with your dreams. 3. Commit to do it. 4. Enjoy 5. Make note of how it feels.
Enjoy!
In an earlier blog I mentioned that there was something funny going on with the dates of my blog entries. I have now discovered that the time associated with my entries is 5 hours ahead of my time zone. I noticed it this week when I was learning about some of the blogging tools associated with this site. Now, I’ll have to discover how to fix it. I also might just check out what wonderful places are 5 hours ahead of my time zone. That may sound like a random thought. But, you see, I have been thinking lots about travel lately and intuitively, I wonder if there may be a connection.
And, did I mention, I received a new mobile phone to use that an administrative assistant set up for me. It was delivered yesterday and was set exactly 5 hours ahead of my time zone. The phone was delivered from an office just a few miles from me. I thought the synchronicity was worth noting here.
Time. I am thrust into negative thoughts about time, as I feel my vibrational energy slow and hints of annoyance build in the corners of my consciousness.
What is causing this sudden drop in my energy? I can blame it on time. More specifically, I can blame it on the time it takes my computer to boot up, very slow these days. There has been something ailing my laptop, not a virus, accordingto my software, but something that slows the speed to a crawl each time I turn it on. So, tonight I sit and wait for it to start up. I wait and I wait, so that I can check emails, surf the net, blog and work on some other writing projects.
I sit, a cup of iced tea and a journal at my side. And before me, a beautiful summer night. People stroll by me in front of the window of the tea shop I sit in. I notice the white flowers in flower boxes, the way the wind blows against the tiny branches of the freshly planted trees across the street. I pause to write some random thoughts in my journal. My journal is full of random thoughts, everything from my deepest emotions to drawings to shopping lists. I make a few notes about a screenplay I am working on. I look up and I find myself watching the people walking past on the street, couples dressed for fancy dinners, smiling kids racing ahead of there parents, lost on their own adventure, and a feeble older couple that shuffles along the sidewalk. They pause by each flower box, the man using a trash bin to steady his balance for a moment, the woman, arm clutched around the man, using him to steady her own balance. I notice the smiles on both of their faces. As others rush passed, they use the slowness forced upon them by their gait to admire those white flowers and whisper in each other’s ear. I wonder what they say. I imagine sweet things.
I am not sure exactly how much time has passed when my computer startles me with a beep and finally boots up. It pulls me away from the wonder right before me, nature and humanity and the time to think. In the process of waiting, the annoyance went away, I lost track of time and my energy raised. I think it is because I decided to focus on something other than the lagging computer, as the universe provided a wonderful slow down in time, a favor really.
Perhaps I will write about that older couple. I can imagine a love story with them as the lead characters. And, next time I face a distraction, a seemingly out of my control moment when I am forced to wait, I will appreciate it for what it is right away, a moment to adjust my focus and appreciate just being in the moment. I remember hearing the Dalia Lama speak once, and he said something to the effect that, “having to wait is a gift”. I think he is on to something with that perspective.
Anticipation can be a great emotional state. I am planning a summer vacation to Sweden. The photo here, is one I took in Stockholm last year. It is close to the image I have in mind as I plan my trip.
Sometimes with simple anticipation, you can extend the great feelings of a vacation to weeks or even months before the actual trip. It also allows you to plan and experiment in your mind different options about how you would like your trip to be. I am thinking now about a beautiful sunny day on this very street in the picture as I walk though the old town and explore.
Try this next time you plan to go somewhere. Travel books are a great way to get in touch with a place that is new for you. Think of a few specific ways you would like your trip to play out and then watch for those things to happen. You may be surprised how many things will work out exactly as you planned them in your mind.
Taking a walk tonight in my neighborhood, I noticed a couple admiring a house. As I walked past, the woman said, “Beautiful.” I stopped. “It is,” I said, looking at the gorgeous brownstone with a slightly overgrown hedge in front. “I love the color’” the woman said. Then, I noticed that she and I were admiring two different houses, next door neighbors. Both are handsome for sure. But, one looks so much nicer to me and is such a beautiful historic home that I just assumed she was admiring it too. She wasn’t. She was looking at the reddish stone house next door, the one I walk by often and pass a glancing eye towards as I admire its stately neighbor.
This was just a little reminder that each of us has our own perspective, taste, and lens with which we view the world. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder.
Try this 21 day exercise and you will see that it really works to bring increased happiness and allows more room for positive energy to flow in your life.
1. The News Holiday. For 7 days, do not watch any television news, local or national,. This includes news magazine type shows which often do in-depth type stories on exceptionally bad situations and the people involved in them. Also, do not read a newspaper or printed news magazine. Remember, going on-line to a traditional news media outlet counts too. For these 7 days you need to avoid the “fact” based negative news stories that surround us. Believe me if something truly important is happening, you will hear about it. You will also have some time on your hand to fill with more positive encounters.
2. Look for Good News everywhere. Without going back to your regular news outlets, it is time to spend the next 7 days, looking for the good news around you. This part of the exercise is about opening your eyes to the moment and the positive things that exist there when you awake to it. So, instead of looking to television, or the paper, listen to your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and pay attention to what you hear that is positive. Decide that you will see and hear some positive things and you will. It may be someone’s child who hit a home run in little league, the nice thing a neighbor did for someone in need, or almost anything that feels positive. And it doesn’t have to be abolut you. Let yourself feel the joy of other people’s happiness. Now, if you are having trouble with this part, plan a few visits to places like parks where people congregate for fun. Watch a ballgame, children at a playground, or just sit on a bench and watch for smiling faces and converstion as people pass. You will find something that fits the definition of good news.
3. Find Good News in the Newspaper. Now that you have had two weeks of limited bad news to read or watch, try going back to one of your favorite sources of news; television, Internet, or newspaper, and look for the good news stories that are there. The newspaper is the best for this part of the exercise. With a newspaper, you can skim the headlines for ones that sound positive, quickly moving past the doom and gloom. You will seldom find the good news on the first page, though it does happen sometimes. You should be better able to see the good news and distinguish it from the bad. This is a great way to enjoy your paper and skim the bad and focus on the good. I use this step every day that I decided to read the paper. If you find yourself focusing more on the negative stories as you do this, go back to step #1 for a few days and try it again.
With this exercise, you will be better able to see positive and you have now begun to train yourself to do just that. Don’t expect a miracle. Just be in the moment and open to the good around you.
Feel free and leave a comment. Let me know if you try the exercise and how it works out for you.
I have lived without a television in my place for over six months. I decided a long time ago that I didn’t want a television in my bedroom. So, I have had just one television in my living room for years.
Months ago, my TV broke. In fact, it went out within weeks of the warranty expiring. I was without a television and though I’d go out and buy one soon. I thought within a couple of days, I would get a new one. Well, I knew I could watch my few favorite shows on-line, so I did. And a few days turned into a few weeks. Occasionally I would think again that I would go shopping for one. Without television, I found myself reading, writing, taking walks, much more than when I had the TV. Weeks turned into months before I knew it. I finally found a great deal on a TV on-line. I was having fun researching what I wanted in a new TV. I ordered it and it arrived a couple of days later. The researching was almost more fun than receiving it at my door.
Now that I have it all set up, I have watched a couple of movies and loved the TV. The screen is big enough and the picture super crisp, so that it made for a great movie experience. Then, I flipped around, channel to channel to channel. Well, I think the news channels are dangerous to our mental health with any prolonged exposure, so I couldn’t stay on them for long. I was one a TV news junkie and saw no appeal in a re-lapse. As far as the other stations go, sure there are some good things to view. But, honestly, most of what is on television is such a distraction to following our own dreams. So, do I love my TV? I don’t know. I like it. But, it hasn’t changed my life. I know how easy it was to live without it. I will sure enjoy some favorite shows and movies. beyond that, it just a television. It’s not my life and not the answer to my dreams. For that, I will stick to what this magnificent universe brings me, experiences much more significant than receiving a new television.
Have you ever remembered something one way and then found out it wasn’t exactly as you thought it was?
My Mother passed on last year, which leaves me with many wonderful memories. Today, my father, brother and I were reminiscing about my mother. There are so many great memories and indeed, though it can be sad that she insn’t here in the present, it’s a great comfort to talk about her and share familiar stories.
As we sat in the backyard, near a small garden my mother once planted, my brother pick a twig off of an unruly bush, a larger version of what once stood there. “You know what that is,” my brother said.
“Mint,” I smiled. ”Every summer morning, Mom would go out in the garden and pull a sprig off, rinse it and crush it into my orange juice.”
My brother started to laugh, “there was never mint growing there. That’s catnip.”
He explained in detail, how the catnip came to be. It turns out, my mother always thought it was mint. So all of these years I thought my mother put mint into my orange juice, it was catnip. Evidently the catnip had no ill effects. I’ve heard catnip is in the mint family.
There is some lesson there about things being exactly what you think they are. Was it mint because my mother and I believed it was? It’s something for me to ponder. And, if she were here now, my mother would have loved the humor in the situation. I’m sure of that.
Have you ever remembered something exactly one way and then later found out that one detail may not have been at all like you thought it was.
Early this week, I had a great “in sync” moment giving a talk to a group. Today, I had another talk to give of sorts, I had a meeting to lead, of about 45 people, with a relatively structured agenda. Though, as the leader, how I presented the information was up to me. I have been leading meetings like this with this group of sales and marketing people for about 2 years now, once every few months. I have more or less always thought of it as a meeting and presented the info in basically the same way.
Yesterday as I thought about today, I decided to look at it in a whole new way, less as a meeting and more as a presentation, a talk, a speaking engagement. In other words, I framed it in a way more in tune with my dream life. I enjoy speaking and presenting, more than say, hosting a meeting.
As a result of that framework shift, I begin to see the opportunities to make other changes. I changed the title of the meeting. I changed the way I presented the information, developing a new PowerPoint presentation. I added humor. I made it more interactive. I looked for ways to make it better for those participating.
I emailed someone I work for and asked him to take an agenda item. He always makes himself a vocal part of the meeting anyway, so i gave him a spot to make his points. This time, not only did I put him on the agenda, I asked him if he would provide some inspiration to the group. He responded favorably. I asked for the inspiration item, becasue this person is great when he is giving a positive message to people. That I have seen form him before.
When it was his time to speak, he surprised me. He was positive, and encouraging, which I expected. But, this is someone I have worked for for 4 years and for the first time, I heard him, in his talk, using law of Attraction lingo. It was thinly veiled as “visioning” and such. But, it was true Law of Attraction. I should mention, this is a group of business and clinical people in the health-care field and aren’t always initially receptive to such concepts. He was great.
The meeting was the best so far in the 2 years I have held them, based on the comments of those attending. As I altered the way I looked at the meeting and prepared for the meeting ,and even the way I asked for others to participate in the meeting, I saw a dramatic shift. It was a shift form good to much better, and the keys were in opening up to a new way of looking at things, and following the path of manifestation.
A funny thing has been going on with my blog. I write a post, publish it and then sometimes discover it has a posted date later than when I wrote it. You may notice that I referred to Father’s Day in an earlier post on what would appear to be the wrong day. I am not sure what is causing the discrepancy with dates.
One friend has suggested it may be due to Mercury being in retrograde, which I only sort of understand, though I will take his word for it causing its share of glitches in the world. It may be that the date stamp is set for the wrong time zone. In fact, that is the more likely source of the mixed up dates. I’ll let you know once I figure it out. I’m in no rush though, I figure like most things in life, this will get worked out how and when it is meant to. And, that will happen with little extra effort form me. Either I will be in the mood to figure it out, and in the mood to enjoy that experience of figuring it out. Or, the answer will come to me at some point when I am not necessarily expecting it. We have to let the forces of the universe help us out when it can.
So, as a simple law of attraction exercise, I shall put out into the universe the thought pattern and request that, “My blog dates match the dates I write them.” I will let you know when this happens on the blog page. In the meantime I’ll leave it up to the universe to get un-retrograded and send me the key to having correct dates on the page. By the way, I am writing this post on the 18th of June.
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