Mojo Monday ~ Impermanence

Impermanence expresses the Buddhist notion
that everything is constantly in flux.  

Cultivating an acceptance of the transitory nature
of our current situation helps us deal with change and loss.

Sharon Marroquin

On January 8, 2010 Sharon Marroquin received a phone call that informed her she had breast cancer.  Twenty-six months, three surgeries, sixteen chemotherapy treatments and thirty radiation treatments later, she wanted to make sense of the journey.  Confronted with her mortality, angered and frustrated over her inability to handle the disintegration of her body, Sharon Marroquin begins to consciously deal with it through art and decides to create a dance called “Materiality of Impermanence”. Through the creation of the dance, Sharon escapes to another realm that is not confined by physical limitations, disease, childrearing, teaching and running a home. “Foreign Puzzle” is a visual testimony of the transcending power of the human spirit.

Please watch this brief video introduction about Sharon and the "Materiality of Impermanence."

Materiality of Impermanence from realtalkies on Vimeo.

“When I saw the photos they were beautiful,
it was a turning point because I realized that this horrible
thing happening to me had some beauty in it
and that’s when I started thinking I could make a
dance about this so that people outside of myself
could see both the ravages of what one has to go through
but also the beauty that’s within the human spirit”
~ Sharon Marroquin

Face to face with mortality - Sharon Marroquin

"I have to learn to surrender to this journey
and to use it as an opportunity for growth, for learning..."
~ Sharon Marroquin

Video clips from the performance
"The Materiality of Impermanence"

The Materiality of Impermanence (trailer) from Sharon Marroquin on Vimeo.

From Mandalas & Meditations for Everyday Living:
52 Pathways to Personal Power
by Cassandra Lorius

"Because nothing lasts, our natural reaction is to grasp on to people or experiences, but this can lead to emotional suffering.  It is more healthy to learn to remain open to what comes into our lives and accept the situation when it leaves.  We can become more adaptable and appreciative of the present moment.  To do this, try to drop illusions and expectations, such as the direction of our own life and career, how we have imagined our parents' and siblings' life stories, our relationships, the need for someone to love us unconditionally and take care of us, our religious certainties, the kind of people we prefer our children to grow into, or our assumptions about health and longevity."

Meditations on Impermanence

1 Think back to a time when you became aware you were holding on to an illusion.  Recall your discovery that it was just an illusion, and remember how that felt.

2 Think about the new awareness that must have created the conditions for your realization that it was an illusion.  What was the scenario that unfolded?

3 Relive the release when these illusions were dissolved.

4 Become aware of the spaciousness and sense of freedom you have when you live without illusions.

5 Let go of each and every one of your illusions, releasing them into the vast space of the universe.

Courage Doesn't Always Roar

Courage doesn't always roar

Sometimes courage is the quiet voice

at the end of the day saying,

"I will try again tomorrow."

Want to be part of makingdreams come true and 
sharing inspirational messages?  

Why Mary Anne and Applied Insight
Need Your Help

Mary Anne is ready to inspire future generations with fresh work and delightful new energy (because evidently a quarter century of art and verses and a dozen books later she hasn't even scratched the surface). So, she's creating a new studio and artistic space in her home where she can host retreats and workshops and artists (oh my!), and where she can birth another glorious array of ideas and insights, art and words, to inspire generations to come.

She calls the new space "The APRON-AERIE," where she dons boldly-colored aprons (often polka-dotted in nature) to create and inspire and to support others in doing the same. THAT's what Kickstarter will help her do. One of our fabulous Kickstarter rewards levels gives you and a friend a 5-night, 6-day opportunity to spend uninterrupted time in the APRON-AERIE with customized artistic guidance from Mary Anne, enjoying rest, relaxation, creativity, and million-dollar views from her lovely studio and home on Whidbey Island. But there are so many more ways you can enjoy and celebrate her work.

Because while she's doing all of that, the Applied Insight team will be busily bringing all of her inspiring new work to the world. In the form of cards and journals, art and affirmations--whatever touchstones will help people remember to act boldly, embrace courage, and live with intention. To do this, our Kickstarter campaign will help launch an exquisite new line of wall art, journals, stationery, and quote cards that people have been asking for (ok, demanding) for many, many months. Mary Anne creates. We bring it to the world. You love it (and live it) every day. Everyone wins.

Those who have followed Mary Anne's career know that she is far more inclined to ask for help for others (and often does so with grace and compassion). Applied Insight knows this about her and we are asking for help on behalf of this whole endeavor.

It takes courage

to change your style,

your opinion,

the path you walk,

your hat!

It takes courage to let go

of the weighty parts of your past.

It takes courage to find your own voice.

It takes courage to reinvent joys,

to reinvent opportunities,

to reinvent dreams,

to reinvent connections...

to reinvent hopes that you have set aside.

There are only 7 days left to reachthe Kickstarter fundraising goaland they are over half way there!

The goal is $43,700 and they have
reach $25,755 as of November 1st.
They must reach the goal by 4:52 pm next Saturday, Nov 8th

If they don't reach the goal
they will not receive any of the funds.

Giving is easy and a joyful experience.
Be a part of making dreams come true
and ensuring that Mary Anne Radmacher's 
inspirational words continue to be 
spread far and wide.

You can also receive beautiful gifts
in return for your giving,
come learn more by visiting
the Kickstarter page here.

 

It takes courage

to recognize that rigid habit inhibits

It takes courage to accept

that the way you "have always been"

does not determine the way you are.

It takes courage

to stand in a place you didn't know existed...

and learn from a view

you previously couldn't imagine.

It takes courage to let go

of your assumptions

and fly you dreams as a 

soaring invitation to become the best

version of yourself.

It takes courage to stand for your convictions.

It takes courage to give up control

and it takes courage to recognize

you are perfect just the way you are.

Change of any sort, requires courage...

Courage to write a new story of your life

with the pen of each day...

of every moment.

Tell yourself this little story when you need it - 

"I have the courage to stand in whatever

the weather brings...

and understand that everything is washable.

Everything is fixable

and everything is replaceable

but by time and breath."

Mojo Monday ~ What Every Salmon Knows

Photo by Michelle Fairchild - Battlecreek 10/22/14

What people have forgotten
is what every salmon knows.

~ Robert Clark

This past week I used a vacation day so that I could be a parent chaperone for a field trip for my twin daughters 3rd grade class.  It turned out to be a rainy day, but seeing as how we desperately need the rain here in California there weren't too many grumblings.  Instead we wore hats, jackets and carried umbrellas.  The first portion of our outing was to the Coleman National Fish Hatchery. The hatchery was established in 1942 to help curb the loss of natural salmon.  Our guide was soft spoken Jack Blanke who had many interesting facts and figures to share with us during our tour through the hatchery and the two mile nature hike that followed along Battle Creek.

Photo by Michelle Fairchild ~ Coleman National Fish Hatchery

We observed the Chinook Salmon, as well as Steelhead Trout in the various holding tanks.  The fish start out as tiny eggs and are fed and cared for until they are released.  While they are young they have their adipose fin clipped and a wire clip is embedded into their nose.  When such fish return to the hatchery years later they can be identified and it will provide biologists with useful information.

Photo by Michelle Fairchild ~ Spawning room Coleman National Fish Hatchery

An unexpected part of the tour for myself and my daughters was the spawning room.  Male and female salmon die naturally after they lay their eggs.  The fish actually quit eating during their journey to the spawning pools and their bodies absorb their own intestines to survive.  At the hatchery they speed up and mechanize the fertilization process.  The process begins with an elevator full of water and fish rising up so that staff can more easily grab them.  One of the workers then jams the fishes heads into a box with an automated hammer, that is intended to kill them quickly. A number of the fish do not die from the hammer and instead have to be beaten over the head with a club.  All of this took place while we watched.  It was after they were "dead" that a pair of workers would pick up both a female and a male fish and essentially force out the females eggs and the males milt.  One worker injects the female fish with a device that blows air into her, forcing her eggs to come flowing out, while the another worker presses on the male to eject his milt.  The eggs and milt mix in the tub.  The dead fish were then dropped down chutes, and then routed to a refrigerated trailer sitting outside the building, which would later be transported to a processing plant. The meat is primarily distributed to food banks and prisons.  Local Native American tribes in the area also have rights to put in requests to transport whole fish from the hatchery free of cost.

I personally was relieved to leave the spawning room.  As a person who gave up eating meat and adopted a vegan diet six years ago, seeing animals, even fish killed, was not a pleasant experience.  My daughter Maya was especially sensitive to it too and her teacher tried to explain that the fish would have died anyways.  That sound reasonable, though iI kept thinking about the difference between laying ones eggs and dying peacefully in a river or being killed by a slam to the head with a hammer or a club.  I tried to make some peace with it by looking at the bigger picture and how the hatchery is responsible for hatching over 13 million fish, and in doing so helps to ensure the populations of salmon and steelhead continue to thrive.

If I haven't bored you to tears with the account of the salmon tour and you are still bravely reading on I want to share with you an essay from The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo.  Not having read from this book in awhile I opened it and flipped to the latter dates of October.  I have to wonder if it is synchronicity or coincidence that is just so happens his essay for October 30th called The Art of Facing Things is about salmon.  Maybe this particular essay wouldn't have caught my attention if not for the recent outing, but I decided there might be a message in it that I should take note of more closely and I wanted to share it with you.  

"Salmon have much to teach us about the art of facing things.  In swimming up waterfalls, these remarkable creatures seem to defy gravity.  It is an amazing thing to behold.  A closer look reveals a wisdom for all beings who want to thrive.

What the salmon somehow know is how to turn their underside-from center to tail-into the powerful current coming at them, which hits them squarely, and the impact then launches them out and further up the waterfall; to which their reaction is, again, to turn their underside back into the powerful current that, of course, again hits them squarely; and this successive impact launches them further out and up the waterfall.  Their leaning into what they face bounces them further and further along their unlikely journey.

From a distance, it seems magical, as if these might fish are flying, conquering their element.  In actuality, they are deeply at one with their element, vibrantly and thoroughly engaged in a compelling dance of turning-toward-and-being-hit-squarely that moves them through water and air to the very source of their nature.

In terms useful to the life of the spirit, the salmon are constantly faithful in exposing their underside to the current coming at them.  Mysteriously, it is the physics of this courage that enable them to move through life as they know it so directly.  We can learn from this very active paradox; for we, too, must be as faithful to living in the open if we are to stay real in the face of our daily experience.  In order not to be swept away by what the days bring, we, too, must find a way to lean into the forces that hit us so squarely.

The salmon offer us a way to face truth without shutting down.  They show us how leaning into our experience, though we don't like the hit, moves us on.  Time and again, though we'd rather turn away, it is the impact of being revealed, through our willingness to be vulnerable, that enable us to experience both mystery and grace."

• Sit quietly and meditate on the last time you opened yourself to the life coming at you.
  
• In recalling this, try to focus on three things; the way that opening yourself caused you to unfold, they way that being hit squarely changed your life position, and where leaping like a salmon landed you.
  
• Breathe steadily, and invite the lessons of opening, being changes, and landing into your heart.
  
• Breathe slowly, and realize that you are in this process now.
  
• Relax and turn the belly of your heart toward the day.

Here is a brief video of the salmon attempting to jump and vault a controlled waterfall.  You can excitedly hear children cheering on the salmon as the launch themselves.  We kept hoping one would make it.  What we finally learned is that at this time of year the volume of water is increased to such a level that the salmon will never make it to the upper level.  This forces them to look for an alternate route, which happens to be a man-made fish ladder that directs them into the hatchery pools.  During the non-spawning season the water flow is reduced and fish can then naturally swim up and 

down stream.

I also ponder some additional questions and ask them of you too.

Is there anything that you are avoiding or not willing to face?

When things are difficult and challenging how do you handle them?

Do you think your methods and ways of dealing (or not dealing)
with challenges are healthy for you
or could you benefit from learning some new coping skills?

Suggested reading - Ten Things to Do When Your Life Falls Apart

Mojo Monday ~ From Here to There

You know that when it is only Sunday morning
and you are already dreading
going to work the next day
and you then begin to cry
that things have grown much too stressful.

This photo and quote Mojo Monday
is in response to the 
incredible overwhelm and anxiety
I am experiencing at this time.
I found transforming my feelings
into visuals and succinct quotes
was helpful and almost therapeutic.

Then to look for images and ideas
for helping one cope and deflate
the stress and overwhelm
also helped to bring
some present peacefulness
to the forefront of my mind and spirit.

When you feel overwhelmed or 
overcome by anxiety what do you do?

If you are struggling with someone
or something in particular
try turning the situation into a visual collage.
Look for images that reflect the problem.
Then look for images on how you would either 
like to resolve the situation or at the very
least how you would rather be feeling.

Shades of Fucking Gray or Delicious Ambiguity?

Come read my latest article called
Shades of Fucking Gray or Delicious Ambiguity?
in Cosmic Cowgirls Magazine

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition,
but certainty is absurd.”
– Voltaire

If you have come to read about obsessive love and kinky sex you have landed on the wrong article, though I am quite certain that via a Google search you can find references to that book or its new movie trailer.  This article is about something far more down and dirty.  I am talking about righteous certainty, black & white thinking, and arrogant belief systems.

Some of the words I chose are provoking and have negative connotations ~ words like righteous and arrogant, but I did so intentionally since we are exploring the terrain of that which is Taboo.  This is also why there is profanity in the title of this article.  I am not one to drop the F bomb in public, well not often, but those really close to me know that given the right set of circumstances I can swear like a sailor.  

Honestly, I almost faltered on including that particular word, but I use it with intention.  This is not the first time I have been drawn to write about the world of mystery.  Two of my previous articles, one entitled Do You Trust the Mystery?and another entitled The Sacred Space In Between have touched upon the topics of uncertainty and doubt.  I have shared about both my fascination with faith and the beauty of doubt, but also my struggle with trusting ambiguity. In the past I have taken a softer approach in my explorations of these topics.  This time I am pulling off the gloves and taking to task those things that make my fists clench, for you see when I look around I am finding much to agree with in Voltaire’s conclusion that “Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”

Art background by Maya Fairchild, 2014.

Continue reading over at Cosmic Cowgirls Magazine.