In this version, the background and Good Fortune card are Photo-shopped in.

I wrote at –> Update from the art studio <– that I’m having a lot of fun playing with my paintings in Photoshop.  I can try out colors and backgrounds and even make the piece half painting and half digital art if I wish. That opened giant doors in my mind! When I have a new set of possibilities in front of me, I feel expanded and connected to the Universe.  I’m learning it’s fun to begin a painting in acrylic, then take a photo of it, and open the pic in Photoshop. I can draw on it and add to it layer by layer.  To the left, I Photoshopped in the sky, clouds and moon, and the Good Fortune card she is holding.  I made fine details to the eyes on one layer, to the necklaces on another layer. I Googled for an image of brocade fabric and Photoshopped it at 50% opacity as her robe on another layer.  But that’s not what the original painting looks like.   Continue reading →

We live in Florida. People vacation on our Florida beaches, so it’s not uncommon to have friends old and new invite themselves overnight while they’re in town.  Domino told me last night she got a call from someone she hasn’t spoken to in 10 years who wants to use her place as a crash pad for a week. She doesn’t know how to tell them no.  She doesn’t want to seem rude, but she runs a busy business from home and doesn’t have time for the interruption.  “What would you do?” she asked me.  I told her I’d tell them the truth.  My home is my office, it is not set up to have people stay with me. “You won’t even know I’m there” is never true.  Even if we’re each being quiet, my routine is interrupted so my attention is taken from my work every moment you’re in town. The fact that I have an extra bed or couch matters not. It doesn’t even matter that I don’t know you that well or you’ve never contacted me for any other reason. My home is simply not set up to accommodate guests, no matter how casual. Domino works from home and stays as busy as I do.  My truth is her truth as well.  When her parents visit, or her kids, she loves spending time with them but all work comes to a halt until they’re gone.  I love my friends and family and they understand staying with me is out of the question. If it is also out of the question for you, don’t hesitate to tell them so.

RELATED: Learn to speak your mind
It used to be hard for me to say No
It is easy for me to say no when it has to be a no

Instead of saying, “I told you so” when karma comes around and a friend gets their come-uppance. say instead a heartfelt thanks because:

1. There but for the grace of God go I; and
2. Another soul is awakening from the illusion.

A friend and I talk astrology and she has just gone thru what they call –> the Uranus Opposition in astrology, ages 39-43, what society calls mid life crisis.  During this transit, we experience unexpected events that shake up our old realities, messengers bearing synchronistic messages that jar us loose from old perceptions, feelings of restlessness and anxiety that disrupt old patterns.  The Chinese oracle the I Ching interprets crisis as an opportunity in disguise. In this case, the opportunity is for re-assessment and re-evaluation of our strengths and our weaknesses, an opportunity to delve more deeply into the emotional baggage or imprinting that we carry from the past.  Within three years, her life was completely different. She had a new home, she had a budding new career, her relationships had changed. She also gained over 50 pounds that she couldn’t get rid of.

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My neighbor’s mailbox came down in the weekend storm when the water crumbled the particleboard that fastened it to the post, then the wind blew it down. I synchronistically had a piece of 1/2″ plywood the exact size. Using my trusty Black and Decker electric screwdriver, I had it fixed in less than 10 minutes!

A friend wrote: “I have chipped a tooth. Just a tiny bit but still I’m upset. More evidence of my physical form crumbling away.” Thank goodness our consciousness and our essential self survive physical death, right? At 62, I look at my body as an ongoing biology lesson. When aches and pains and ills move through it, I know they come to pass and not to stay. Yay for the physical form crumbling away so more of the radiant shining YOU can blaze through. You look mahvelous, dahling.

Am author friend doesn’t like free books and believes they are detrimental to her as a published author.  I believe she can have a different experience, regardless of what anyone else is doing.  I remarked, “Changing your focus away from resistant thought on that topic will give you more success on that topic. Consider maybe your great good fortune wasn’t meant to come from your writing, but something else entirely. In that case, you’d write for the joy and sharing of the journey, and let the dollars flow from whatever other source it wants. If you don’t look at writing as a source of $$, the game changes, entirely. Writing is not your supply, God/Source is your supply. Everything you need will pour out of you, just as the oak tree pours out of the acorn. When I finally “got” that, my world changed. Don’t let the topic of free books make you think your books will get any less attention. It won’t unless you firmly believe it will.”