I am reading Deepak Chopra’s book Power, Freedom and Grace. I recommend it and want to offer a quote about joy in connection to last month’s inquiry “what color is your joy?”

“Of course there’s always a reason to be happy. Somebody says, “I love you,” and that makes you feel happy. You win the lottery and make a million dollars; that makes you feel happy. This kind of happiness is an expression of object-referral: you’re happy because of this; you’re happy because if that. But inner joy is independent of the situation, circumstances, people, or things. When you experience inner joy, you are happy for no reason. Just the mere fact of being alive to gaze at the stars, to experience the beauty of this world, to be experientially alive in the miracle of life itself is your happiness.” p. 89

So this month’s inquiry is a question that has been offered to me from several places and I offer it here to you. This month’s inquiry is “who are you?”

In Power, Freedom and Grace, the second chapter is “who are you?”. I’ll offer the three key points summarized at the end of the chapter for you to hold as you explore this inquiry this month.

• You are a field of awareness; your real essence is pure consciousness, or spirit, which becomes both the mind and body
• The intellect mistakes the image of reality for reality itself, and this image overshadows the real you.
• When you identify with your real essence, you escape the prison of the intellect, and enter the world of the infinite, unbounded, and free. p. 23
  

Art-Making Process

As a process to work with, I would recommend journaling with this question. Repeatedly asking yourself “who am I?” and then writing free flow whatever comes without editing anything. Keep asking the question for 10-15 minutes or longer if it feels right for you. It’s OK to hit a “empty” place where there are no thoughts or words. Take a breath into your belly and continue. And continuing may look like staying in this quiet, empty, still place of presence for a few minutes.

Read over what you wrote. No need to edit any of it. Highlight anything that stands out for you and from the text gather a phrase to take to your art-making process. Work with the phrase in your art-making and see what more is offered through your images. Have fun with it.

My Art Work as Inspiration for Your Art Work

I share my artwork here to inspire you to create your artwork. It is through your art-making that you will discover more about who you are.

020510.jpeg magazine images on paper, 2010, 12″ x 12″	020310.jpeg magazine images on paper, 2010, 12″ x 12″	012710.jpeg magazine images on paper, 2010, 12″ x 12″

You can click on an image to see a larger version within the online gallery.

I always welcome a connection with you. If you would like to share about the inquiry, art-making or other things happening in life, please feel free to contact me.

Live in the remembrance that in all of time, there will only be one you. Your greatest gift to yourself and the world is the expression of your authentic self.

-Ryl

Who do you know that would benefit from reading this?

Please share it with them. Thanks

what color is your joy?

James Baraz’s, Awakening Joy, a ten-month experiential course to develop well-being and happiness, starts tonight in Berkeley (www.awakeningjoy.info). I am taking the course via the internet and am excited that it is starting. I got to be with James at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City earlier this month and get a taste of the course and his new book with the same title. I was touched deeply by the experience of his work.

I registered for the course last year and didn’t really participate and do the exercises. I was focused more on, Stephen Levine’s book, A Year To Live: How to Live This Year as If It Were Your Last, and trusted that joy would come when it would. And here it is <smile>.

I can feel it flourishing already in so many places in my life – especially in my current watercolor paintings (see images below).

So, I invite anyone intrigued to look at the course and in general where joy, happiness, contentment and well-being are present in your experience of life and give it color, form and texture as your art-making guides you to express it.

This month’s inquiry is “what color is your joy?“. Have fun with it.

My Art Work as Inspiration for Your Art Work

I share my artwork here to inspire you to create your artwork. It is through your art-making that you will discover more about who you are.

010810-2.jpeg watercolor on paper, 2010, 9″ x 12″	010810-5.jpeg, watercolor on paper, 2010, 9″ x 12″	010810-6.jpeg, watercolor on paper, 2010, 9″ x 12″

You can click on an image to see a larger version within the online gallery.

I always welcome a connection with you. If you would like to share about the inquiry, art-making or other things happening in life, please feel free to contact me.

Live in the remembrance that in all of time, there will only be one you. Your greatest gift to yourself and the world is the expression of your authentic self.

-Ryl

Who do you know that would benefit from reading this?

Please share it with them. Thanks

Happy Holidays! Happy New Year!
Wishing you all the best in 2010.

Ryl

when you let go, take a break

I am finding that I want to say that October was the last inquiry for
awhile and take a break.

Yet what I am really wanting and hasn’t manifested is a sense of
community, connection, shared values and contributing to each other
around the creative inquiries and using art-making and the creative
process to explore one’s experiences of Life.

So, this month’s inquiry is “what happens when you take a break? when
you let go or hold very lightly?”

By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try.
The world is beyond the winning.

– Lao Tzu

Noticing that I want to say I will write again in December or January and I’m
just not sure. My oldest son is having surgery mid-Dec so with that and
all the holiday time stuff I may not find my focus here again for inquiry.

I wish you ease, peace and happiness with thanks giving and holy days and the fresh start of a new year.

My Art Work as Inspiration for Your Art Work

I share my artwork here to inspire you to create your artwork. It is through your art-making that you will discover more about who you are.

111509.jpeg magazine images & paper, 2009, 11″ x 12″	111309.jpeg, magazine images & paper, 2009, 12″ x 12″	091309.jpeg, magazine images & paper, 2009, 11″ x 12″

You can click on an image to see a larger version within the online gallery.

I always welcome a connection with you. If you would like to share about the inquiry, art-making or other things happening in life, please feel free to contact me.

If you would like to work on the inquiry with myself and others in a supportive online group, I invite you to join the Art As Access yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artasaccess/

Live in the remembrance that in all of time, there will only be one you. Your greatest gift to yourself and the world is the expression of your authentic self.

-Ryl

Who do you know that would benefit from reading this?

Please share it with them. Thanks

If you would like to explore this inquiry with myself and others in a supportive online group, I invite you to join the Art As Access yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artasaccess/

gratitude, giving thanks

This month’s inquiry is “what happens when you see gratitude in all things and give thanks?”

I am in Canada now, celebrating the Canadian Thanksgiving with family. And the American Thanksgiving will be celebrated shortly in November so gratitude seemed like something to inquiry into again.

I am still working with the superego (reading Soul Without Shame book) and noticing how it often blocks out any chance of gratitude or appreciation for myself, my experience, Life and others by seeing things as problems to be fixed or avoided, something wrong, not right, or not enough!

I would like to bring a focus of gratitude to my next month and I invite you to as well, and see what happens for you.

How many ways can you give thanks this month? And what if it doesn’t mean doing anything more, nothing added to your schedule or todo list? What if it’s simply a matter of seeing all that you already do, give and receive as acts of giving thanks? What if art-making is giving thanks for creativity and cooking/eating/shopping are giving thanks for creativity/abundance/nourishment? What if everything you say and do is an expression of gratitude? What if everything Life offers is an expression of gratitude?

The wonder of “what if…”, the place of open curiosity where something new can be seen and experienced. Let it bring joy and gratitude to your inquiry this month and see what happens.

Art-Making Inquiry

A practice to play with this month – say “thank you” when you feel gratitude in your heart and not when you don’t. Practice being authentic and grateful for how life uniquely expresses iteslf through you. Notice and free up any “shoulds” you might have around “thank yous”.

Art-making – collage, paint or drawing (whatever medium works for you) expressions of gratitude. What colors bring a sense of gratitude for you? What lines, forms, textures, words?

Enjoy and have a great month.

My Art Work as Inspiration for Your Art Work

I share my artwork here to inspire you to create your artwork. It is through your art-making that you will discover more about who you are.

090609-3.jpeg magazine images & paper, 2009, 11″ x 12″	080209.jpeg, magazine images & paper, 2009, 11″ x 12″	073109.jpeg, magazine images & paper, 2009, 11″ x 12″

You can click on an image or its title to see a larger version within the online gallery.

I always welcome a connection with you. If you would like to share about the inquiry, art-making or other things happening in life, please feel free to contact me.

If you would like to work on the inquiry with myself and others in a supportive online group, I invite you to join the Art As Access yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artasaccess/

Have a great month and live in the remembrance that in all of time, there will only be one you. Your greatest gift to yourself and the world is the expression of your authentic self.

-Ryl

Who do you know that would benefit from reading this?

Please share it with them. Thanks

If you would like to explore this inquiry with myself and others in a supportive online group, I invite you to join the Art As Access yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artasaccess/

Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing

Rumi wrote:

Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’
doesn’t make sense any more.

This piece of prose has been working me for years now and still touches my heart and peaks my curiosity. My ego cannot make sense of it and my soul already knows the deep truth of it. I long for the freedom of an open heart, the spaciousness of being and the place beyond my ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing.

This month’s inquiry  is “beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing”. This month notice both your ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing especially in regards to yourself, your experience,  feelings, thoughts, and actions. Also notice the moments without judgments and expectations where it may feel empty, quiet and expansive.

Art-Making Inquiry

I am currently reading the book “Soul Without Shame: A Guide to Liberating Yourself from the Judge Within” by Byron Brown. I highly recommend it. It has been very helpful in understanding what I have been noticing in my experience, judgments of myself and others, feelings of helplessness when I am being attacked by my inner judge, a sense of power when I take the judging role and criticize someone else, and the pain my heart feels to watch it all play out over and over again.

I would like to offer an exercise from the book and a couple of art processes to support the inquiry.

Exercise: Observing Judgments/Attacks

During the next week, make a list of all the attacks you are aware of – if possible, as soon as you become aware of them. Notice how each attack affects your energy, your awareness, and the physical experience of your body. Also, note how the attack affects your emotional state.

step 1: Write a phrase or brief sentence that describes the incident.

step 2: State each judgment in the second person, using “you” instead of “I”. “You are stupid” not “I am stupid”.

step 3: Write down what you observe about your bodily and energetic response to the attack. What sensations do you feel in your body? How has your relationship to the things and people in your environment shifted? How are your alertness and ability to respond to situations affected?

step 4: In as simple terms as you can, note your emotional state. What kinds of feelings are provoked? How is your sense of yourself altered?

Art-Making:the Emotional State

Create an image that expresses the emotional state. Notice your thoughts, feelings, body sensations as you create. Make note of any insights that arise for you.

Art-Making: the Place Beyond the Right-Doing and Wrong-Doing

Choose a small object that has a neutral affect on you when you look at it. There isn’t a sense of needing to hold onto it or throw it away, neither aversion nor greed – neutral. Good test is “is it something you could give away to someone?”

While looking at the object, create an image in response to it. Notice your thoughts, feelings, body sensations as you look at the object and create an image. Is there a sense of spaciousness without the pull towards it or the push away? What’s your experience through the process? Any insights arise?

Have a great month and enjoy the process.

My Art Work as Inspiration for Your Art Work

I share my artwork here to inspire you to create your artwork. It is through your art-making that you will discover more about who you are.

untitled watercolor on paper, 2009, 5″ x 8″	untitled watercolor on paper, 2009, 5″ x 8″	untitled watercolor & ink on paper, 2009, 5″ x 8″

You can click on an image or its title to see a larger version within the online
gallery.

I always welcome a connection with you. If you would like to share about
the inquiry, art-making or other things happening in life, please feel
free to contact me.

If you would like to work on the inquiry with myself and others in a supportive online group, I invite you to join the Art As Access yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artasaccess/

Have a great month and live in the remembrance that in all of time, there will only be one you. Your greatest gift to yourself and the world is the expression of your authentic self.

-Ryl

Who do you know that would benefit from reading this?
Please share it with them. Thanks

your heart’s desires – likes, longings and love

This month’s inquiry theme is “your heart’s desires – likes, longings and love”. What happens when you bring awareness to your heart’s desires?

What do you love in Life? So many things to delight in from a baby’s giggle to a beautiful sunset, a well cooked meal, a warm hug, your favorite sweater or a wonderful story. Part of this month’s inquiry is to notice what you like in Life without judging it or yourself. Discover your truth around what your heart desires and see what happens.

Also notice your attitude towards your heart’s desires. Where/when are you free to feel your heart’s desire fully with all of your experience, letting unbounded joy spill out and where are there conditioned ideas that get in the way? What are those ideas within you?  I shouldn’t want/need it. I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get it. I don’t deserve it. That’s not what I’m suppose to want. If I get it somehow I’ll have to “pay” for it. So many ideas, this month start noticing which ones are limiting your hear and your life.

Art-Making Inquiry

Working with the inquiry in the realm of art-making and creative expression lets you access your inner knowing that is not easily accessible in one’s normal everyday consciousness. There’s a part of you that knows everything that has ever happened to you, been said to you, where you have moved through the world, what you have said to others, everyone of your actions and reactions, your full experience including all of your heart’s desires.

When we make art with the intention of knowing ourselves more fully for our own personal growth and healing some of this unknown truth can reveal itself through the art-making process and the images. I believe that one is never shown more than one can see at the time and I trust the creative process as a gentle and caring force that cares for all Life and each human being.

Let your art-making support you in understanding more about “your heart’s desires – likes, longings and love”.

Start by making a list of what your heart loves and leave space in between items. Brainstorm a list without censoring any of it.

When you have a list, review it slowly and feel into each item on the list. How do you feel about it? -  frustrated that you keep saying “wait”, sad because you long so deeply for it, confused, or whatever arises in your moment? Make note of the feelings and let yourself feel them.

Choose one item from the list and express the feeling tone of it. Collage it, or paint it, or draw, or sew, or write poetry, or dance, or garden – whatever creative process inspires you. Let yourself not know what you will create and follow the images you are drawn too and the way the process wants to unfold. Notice thoughts, feelings, body sensations during the art-making process and write in your journal. Sit with your image and ask what it would like to reveal about your heart’s desire(s). Write in your journal what comes up for you.

Repeat as desired with other items on your list. Enjoy the process.

Art-Making Warm Up

Sort magazine images into two piles, likes and dislikes. You don’t need to know why an image goes into either pile.

Work quickly, without thinking too much about it. It’s more of an intuitive, “gut” level thing.

When you have 5-10 images in each pile, review them again slowly this time. Feel into what you like about the image – the composition, the color, a certain curve, texture, the way it reminds you of “home”.

Again it is not important why or even what it is about the image. What’s important is to feel the desire. How does it feel in your body? If you notice judgments about your desire, feel more into the body and what’s happening in the present moment.

My Art Work as Inspiration for Your Art Work

I share my artwork here to inspire you to create your artwork. It is through your art-making that you will discover more about who you are.

I haven’t been collaging much recently so these are older collages that spoke to me about this inquiry theme.

072809-1.jpeg, watercolors & ink on paper, 2009, 5″ x 8.5″	072709.jpeg, colored pencil on paper, 2009, 8.5″ x 11″	072809-2.jpeg, magazine images on paper, 2009, 10″ x 10″

You can click on an image or its title to see a larger version within the online
gallery.

I always welcome a connection with you. If you would like to share about
the inquiry, art-making or other things happening in life, please feel
free to contact me.

If you would like to work on the inquiry with myself and others in a supportive online group, I invite you to join the Art As Access yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artasaccess/

Have a great month and live in the remembrance that in all of time, there will only be one you. Your greatest gift to yourself and the world is the expression of your authentic self.

-Ryl

Who do you know that would benefit from reading this?
Please share it with them. Thanks

did I mention how much I LOVE being HERE?

inside my A Year To Live (AYTL) experiment Life HERE as I know it ended July 14th
a quite arbitrary date, the start of the AYTL book group at IMC my local insight meditation center

I joined to understand the tears that came every time I thought about dying (they are still HERE now )

some of what I learned along the way was how much I LOVE being HERE fully in my body, watching my mind and feeling my heart right HERE, right NOW within the chaotic soup of thoughts, feelings and body sensations, the wave of Life that moves through me

somewhere within the process I forgave myself and Life and many of you (there’s still forgiveness work to be done the process is a life long one)

the tears are tears for the thought “but I’m not done” when the truth is there never is anything to “do”, just be here open letting Life experience itself through me, living fully as a human life being

did I mention how much I LOVE being HERE? how wonderful it’s been to share some of my journey HERE with you thank you for all that you bring into Life and share with me and others

HERE or THERE, Life goes on and I imagine I’ll love THERE as much as HERE for the truth is there is no HERE or THERE, no me or you, then and now are simply the illusions of TIME and SPACE that BEING creates HERE

did I mention how much I LOVE being HERE? in this aging body with it’s aches and pains, with this confused mind so full of ruminations, with a heart that often feels sad, with a growing awareness and more wisdom and LOVE than I could ever have imagined

did I mention how much I LOVE being HERE? the smell of orange blossoms, the magnificence of a rainbow, the sound of a hummingbird, the warmth of a hug, the glow of the sun, the stillness when I sit quietly to fully be my experience

did I mention how much I LOVE being HERE?

when I am no longer HERE I’ll be THERE and THERE will be HERE somehow it’s more than this limited mind can make sense of

did I mention how much I LOVE being HERE? to be able to put into words some of the richness of my experience and share it with you, to know love and friendship and gratitude, compassion and joy, frustration and despair, and the whole chaotic soup of experiences

did I mention how much I LOVE being HERE? I do
and when it’s time to be done, I will be done

-Ryl

This month’s inquiry is “how do you respond – yes, no, maybe, later, something else?“.

“Respond to what?”, you might ask. For the inquiry choose whatever stands out for you in life. Here are some suggested places to look – your relationship with your partner, parents, a friend, your children, a pet; the news, bills, working out, eating, sleeping, working, intimacy, humor, shopping, the weather or traffic.

What are you thinking right now as you read this? It would be a fine place to start your inquiry. You might want to make a note of it <smile>.

Art-Making Inquiry

This month’s inquiry is “how do you respond – yes, no, maybe, later, something else?“.

Once you have something you’d like to work with, start noticing your responses – yes, no, maybe, later or something else. Do you move toward, move away or have a neutral response? How does it feel in your body?

Check in with yourself and see what the feeling tone is – happy, irritated, confused, hesitant or some other feeling. Is it an exuberant Yes or a begrudging Yes?

If you would like to increase your feeling word vocabulary, a list of feelings is available at the Center for Nonviiolent Communication at http://www.cnvc.org/en/learn-online/feelings-list/feelings-inventory. It is sometimes difficult to “name” a feeling. It’s not necessary and it can be helpful. I have often had a collection of physical sensations and no language for it. Finding a word from the list that fit helped provide some clarity and understanding to my experience.

What’s helpful is having your experience fully, letting yourself feel your feelings and have your thoughts.  So whatever supports you with being with your direct experience.

Also, notice whether you have any judgments of yourself for the response given. “I’m so ______ (fill in the blank). I should have said No.” is a judgment of yourself and not what’s true in your direct experience. Our mental judgments often pull us away from our direct experience. If you notice this, try sensing into your body in the moment. Is there tension? Where? What does it feel like?

An attitude that’s supportive to having one’s direct experience is one of openness, curiosity, and acceptance. Bring kind and honest with yourself also are supportive. For example, you might noticed that you often say Yes and really want to say No and you are afraid of losing something. That’s what is true for you – fear. Let yourself be afraid and see where it leads you and your art-making.

Find something that is true for you that you want to explore with your art-making or something that isn’t clear and you’re curious about. For example, “I keep saying No to taking an art class. What’s up?” Make art about it and notice your experience in the moment – body sensations, feelings and thought.

Hold it all lightly and have fun exploring your experience of Life with your art-making.

Art-Making Warm Up

I found when sorting some photographs this week that I got a real sense of Yes and No as I looked at each image and decided whether to put it in the keep pile or discard pile.

Try sorting into two (or more) piles with

1) magazine images (then create two collages one from the Yes and another from the No piles)

2) colored papers or photographs (create a collage in response to the process)

3) your artwork (it’s always great to review your work. Create a collage in response to a Yes or No piece)

4) my collages  (just as I looked through to find some that spoke to me about this inquiry (see below), you could too, which ones say Yes, No, Maybe?)

My Art Work as Inspiration for Your Art Work

I share my artwork here to inspire you to create your artwork. It is through your art-making that you will discover more about who you are.

I haven’t been collaging much recently so these are older collages that spoke to me about this inquiry theme.

121208-5.jpeg, magazine images on paper, 2008, 10″ x 12″	112808.jpeg, magazine images on paper, 2008, 12″ x 12″	070708.jpeg, magazine images on paper, 2008, 12″ x 12″

You can click on an image or its title to see a larger version within the online
gallery.

I always welcome a connection with you. If you would like to share about
the inquiry, art-making or other things happening in life, please feel
free to contact me.

If you would like to work on the inquiry with myself and others in a supportive online group, I invite you to join the Art As Access yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artasaccess/

Have a great month and live in the remembrance that in all of time, there will only be one you. Your greatest gift to yourself and the world is the expression of your authentic self.

-Ryl

Who do you know that would benefit from reading this?
Please share it with them. Thanks

Earlier in April I had an opportunity to meditate and make art in the same class format. It was quite powerful.

I have yet to find a yoga class that integrates art-making into the class format. And there is a power for those of us who are image makers to integrate our art-making with other activities. Many of the activities we engage in let us experience different states of being and gain new insights. Making art after other activities can continue the process and let us gain a deeper understanding of our truth.

Art-Making Inquiry

This month’s inquiry is “what happens when you integrate your art-making with other activities?”

So, you may not be able to bring along your oil paints, sewing machine or clay studio. And there will be a way to bring something with you that lends itself to creating images – drawing comes to mind since it’s easy and portable. Collage could work, watercolor pencils, crayons, modeling clay and more. So, you may need to get a little creative and explore what works best for you as a portable way to make images. Have fun with this exploration.

Using whatever works well for you, create images this month after different activities and see what happens for you. Enjoy the process and have fun.

My Art Work as Inspiration for Your Art Work

I share my artwork here to inspire you to create your artwork. It is through your art-making that you will discover more about who you are.

I messed up the artwork here editing the next inquiry for June. Will get back to recreate this when I can. Lots of wonderful images in the online gallery.

I always welcome a connection with you. If you would like to share about
the inquiry, art-making or other things happening in life, please feel
free to contact me.

Previous inquiries are online at www.artasaccess.com/resources/inquiries

Have
a great month and live in the remembrance that in all of time, there will only be one you. Your greatest gift to yourself and the world is the expression of your authentic self. By using art-making to connect deeply with yourself, may you find the courage and strength to share your beautiful, joyous self with the world.

-Ryl

Who do you know that would benefit from reading this?
Please share it with them.