On our way to the airport driving son cully who’s joining daughter Fonya in
Missoula Montana where she and her new hubby Kurt live. This is my first post using my iPhone. Testing you might say. Guess later I’ll upload some art but let’s try a photo from my phone okay? Here’s our christmas tree in St Augustine.
Friends,
the importance of what i spend my time doing the most of has been central in my thinking of late. y’know: you are what you eat, and you certainly become what you think. that’s why i haven’t been bloggin’ as of late. wanted to keep centered in my heart, and not just spew, at least for the sake of spewing.
i do this occasionally. withdraw and feel life living me, instead of trying to be so active, so concerned, so consumed with “other” that i forget this experience of life itself. here’s another way of looking at it:
the interconnectedness of All
all i have is my self, and my Self–the little me that squirms with responsibilities and worries, and the big Me that knows there is more to this life than i’ll ever know…and to feel the majesty, the magic, the wonder of it all is more than enough for me to be concerned about. certainly enough upon which to base my creative energies’ pursuits–my arting, as i call it, whether i paint, draw, make a garden, a cake, or sew a sail, write a book–or blog.
this feeling of being connected to all came to me as a child. then i lost it. then i rediscovered it later, mostly through working on getting rid of the garbage that my mind collected over the years. now i have trained myself to stay as much as possible in that simple place, that inner place, where the breath connects with even the movement of faraway galaxies, and the knowledge, the Truth of feeling connected is real–this is my daily experience.
the drawing i use as an example shows us all in our “Higher Self”… our so-called “angelic” bodies…that part of our nature that is connected to the Highest good for all. yes–we all have that in our nature, whether you are aware of it or not, whether you exercise that birthright, that ownership of your highest nature, or not.
living in the moment; accepting our sacredness, our divine nature–our Higher Self: this is the way of living i want to share with you, not because of any other reason but my humble offering to help make the world a better place to live in.
we are not all just scrambling around trying to get something to eat, or make happen, or elect, or conquer, or succeed, or even be good at. but yes, we all exisit as individual cells within the larger “thing” that makes up this known reality…what is called the Universe (and some call, simply, “God”).
we are all One, breathe, and feel: Truth
many other things have passed my mind, and of course i’ve been doing many (many!) other things since my last entry here. don’t worry. some of you who read my blog might think i’m just a holy-roller who only sits around contemplating my navel. but no—-i have a family, a job, lots of social duties, and creatively i’m consumed by writing a nonfiction narrative, illustrated, naturally, which i am debating about uploading here, so i can let you, friends on my web, read as i write, day by day. but…i haven’t decided to or not. ha ha! all i can say for now is…writing this book is certainly my immediate, and main creative focus, not this blog.
my garden has been covered with an entire truckload of mulch, delivered free by a tree-man who took down a big One over at my mother’s place. Carter and i’ve been doing lots of HOT HOT yoga, in our little yoga shed, which i call the santosa shack (santosa being contentment in Sanskrit). we chant, we meditate, we even attend his church, ahhweeee, diversity in God-liness! lots of cooking (made dosas twice this past couple weeks…a lentil and rice fermented east Indian flat bread, terribly exotic tasting, and terribly nutritious because of the legume and grain mixture). what else? oh so much biking, hiking, rehabing my knee, still injured from dancing too fiercely at daughter’s wedding way back in June. injuries take energy. life takes care. time is precious. do i use it wisely? i try to. when i lay my head down on my pillow, i feel rewarded by deep, comforting, beautiful sleep. what a gift, life is.
i will do a page next, i promise, on a subject i’ve been thinking a lot about: what to say to someone who is really, truly, either physically, spiritually, or mentally suffering. because recently i ran into an old acquaintance, who has all the world at her feet: she’s rich, successful, socially powerful and consciously humanitarian beyond measure—but—she’s absolutely miserable. the only outer proof, however, is that of her uncontrollable, mind-numbing, self-pitying drinking. of course she’s in denial about having a drinking problem. and i simply can’t share with her my own experience in that matter (being in alcohol and drug addiction recovery now for my third decade)…but i can post a page here. perhaps one day a chink will open in her tightly-bricked-up facade, and what a person formerly-miserable (me) has to share with another who still is (her), will make a difference.
a little light in the well of darkness, that’s all i attempt to do…with my art, with my words, and now with this public web-spew.
so look on the right hand side in a day or say and you’ll see a new page. those pages stay up, where this post side changes when i enter a new one.
whew! i finally figured that out! now, if only i can find my beautiful color paintings. let me see, let me try again. a treat for you, perhaps?
plants, animals, mineral--we are all One
i love each and every one of you, truly! lord flea
hello friend,
i’ve been sailing and motoring the inways, byways and channels around st. augustine this week! in between nursing others in my family, and attending to bizness as usual, i had to do something to blow out the steam, and … sailing, being on the water, is one of my passions, as well as laughing, dancing, being with great groovy people, traveling, learning new things, writing stories and making art. whew! so many passions.
st. augustine lighthouse seen from sailboat Ace Lady
my passions are many. some have more. some…only politics, it seems these days. whatever yours are, i hope you enjoy pursuing them. and if you haven’t, or haven’t made time to pursue them, i urge you to do that … like now!
take the owner of Ace Lady, for instance:
Captain Priscilla of Ace Lady at the helm
Priscilla is a single woman, an expert solo sailor, self confident and extremely capable, who is following her dream. priscilla puts everything she has into making sure that dream of hers comes true: owning and operating a sturdy, ocean-going sailboat. it’s not easy, what priscilla is doing, because the maintenance alone (not to mention the sailing) of such a vessel is … well, beyond comprehension to most landlubbers, such as we. but priscilla finds the time (in between a successful massage therapy business) to maintain her boat, sail it near and far, chartering it out as much as possible (see www.aceladysails.com for more info). i greatly admire people like priscilla. they defy the odds, and make sure their dreams become reality. bravo priscilla!!
this anchored boat, with its mast under repair, represents another sailor’s passion: as demonstrated by the bedazzling woodworking you see everywhere onboard, representing hundreds of hours of labor-intensive savvy!
every scrap of wood is passionately cared for
even this boat owner’s dingys are exquisitely varnished. he was down below, no doubt, sanding or applying his loving craft to another woody surface, whistling, happy. following his passion.
and you? what’s your passion? are you at least thinking of how you’ll be able to honor that passion today? even if, like myself, some days you just can’t. but no matter how stresed or strained we are, at least we can plan on how our passions will evolve some other day, if we’re busy with other things. because, as we all know, the unfolding of our realities all start with the thoughts we hold continuously in our minds.
as for my passions: this week i’ve had to put my love (honestly, it’s an out-and-out obsession) of writing and arting to one side to make space to care-take my mom (still recovering from her T.I.A.), and also husband Carter, who didn’t do what i did when i felt “the bug” invade my body last week (we both got it). i rested, he didn’t. i’m not as sick, he’s dog-dead-in-the-ditch sick. i chose to not do as much and he’s paying the price, poor baby (guys! what is it about guys?!). for a few days i had to put my passions on hold, to heal myself. and here i am now, nurse lordflea, nursing others, making sure mom takes her meds; making chamomile tea with honey and lemon in the middle of the night for carter, and yesterday, a big pot of chicken soup bubbling on the stove, with lots of homeopathic remedies at the bedside of the sick co-captain of our ship, called relation. for the moment at least, my passion for arting (which most definitely includes writing) is put aside for the good of the bigger picture.
but…my passion of being one with the Divine…is never put on hold. THAT i can do, whether i’m busy, sick, traveling, or involved with others’ passions, projects, or peculiar personalities:
Sufi Bird...flying as high as he can, as i try
here’s another shot of the gorgeous st. augustine lighthouse, which has always been one of my passions in life, and also, in my art:
the lighthouse, in reality
and here you can see how my passion evokes another way of “seeing” st. augustine’s lighthouse:
Buddha's Foot, from the lighthouse series
in this series, i take the st. augustine lighthouse, which has always been a personal icon of mine, representing a tower of strength and courage, and use it here to remind me to follow my passion, to do whatever i have to do to take my journey of searching for Truth to the next level. i use the lighthouse along with other universal, recognizable archetypes (painted in the small squares, surrounded by the matrix of space, time, and matter) as focus. these paintins are reminders, meant to evoke humankind’s aspiring to a greater good (this is MY political activism, folks!). just as we awake from a profound, prescient dream and only remember an image, a fragment of it here and there throughout the day, i attempt to portray in this series the remnants of a very real, very tangible inner remembrace: the images hint of who we really are, and where our spiritual journey (of the entire human race, mean) is taking us. we run into these reminders, always, but do we stop to notice them? bits and pieces of startling landscape, a word from a stranger, an angelic message on a bus ad, a glistening majestic river, a long road beckoning us to follow. this series is about our path. other places, other states of being-ness yet to explore. here’s another of my lighthouse series, this one depicting an altogether different landscape.
Moon Beach
for years i used to run along st. augustine beach, and watch the lighthouse as it grew steadily more prominent. i was always eager to see it rising over the sandy, sea oats-strewn dunes. the closer i came to the lighthouse, the more excited i got. my body would shiver, my breath felt sharper. i was sure i felt the same as, and fully understood the significance of being “guided” that desperate sailors out at sea must have felt, whenever they sighted a lighthouse with the surrounding seas rough, the night dark, and the way, treacherous. that’s my inspiration behind making this series. i chose the lighthouse as my main motif, along with more recognizable totems of great impact, both spiritual and cultural, to convey a strong a message of hope to others. this particular lighthouse, the one at st. augustine, has always been a beacon of inner strength in my own life. here’s another of the series.
Shiva's Dance
today, on blog lordflea, it seems to be: honor the Light Within Day!! yes, that’s a passion of mine! maybe you’ll feel the excitement i carry in my heart for the unseen Light we all carry within, by gazing at my lighthouse series. i hope you enjoy them. here’s the final in the series, as i wish you adieu, a very groovy day, enjoying whatever passion you happen to be engaged in at this very moment!
love from your pal, lord flea
Ghost Tree
hi friend,
why does it seems like there’s never enough time to do the things we want? instead, there are so many things we have to do that just fill up the hours of each day. i’m starting a new club:
make time for the things we need to do,
find time for the things we want to do!
wanna join? just follow the spirals, and come on in!
fly with me from here ...
to here …
earth energy with you-and-you-and all of we too R 1
how? you ask.
breathe. deep and long in, long and slow out. breathe from the belly. learn to be a buddha belly, breathing from the belly (belly pushes out gently when you take air in, and as you breathe out the belly contracts and tightens, going flat).
have fun, make time for you!
in the Light, much love, lordflea
L O R D F L E A 