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Archive for the ‘Creative Expression’ Category

For Those With Ears to Hear, Let Them Hear It

I offer this video as an expression of the creative soul that is in all of us.  I know nothing more at this writing of Angelica, but will certainly explore more of her work.  It is within each of us that we hold amazing gifts to bring clearly, and without holding back, into this world –  especially as women.  Perhaps in my recent reading of The Book of Love by Kathleen McGowan, my perception is colored – but deeply and truthfully so.  Stories, no matter whether they resonate with our present knowing or not, can bring shifts in thinking, shake us up, delight us, or reaffirm our own Truth.   They always have the potential to open our hearts. “For those with ears to hear, let them hear it”.

It is in “coming as we are” in all of our glory, power and wildness that the masculine principles shift, joining us with their gifts.  Watching this video with tears streaming down my face at the beauty, grace, and expansiveness of Angelica’s singing I watched the men behind her.  It is LOVE and our soul’s creative expression that will light the lives of others that may be struggling in this moment.  How could anyone not feel the heart of what she is bringing?  How can anyone not have a smile break across their face?  How can anyone check their watch during this offering, instead of being enraptured with what is right before them in this moment?

What is your part in all of this?

Gaye Abbott

OTHER BLOGS:  www.BreathingSpaces.net

Category:

Creative Expression, Divine Inspiration

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Cut Loose!

What if there was nothing in the way of you expressing exactly what you wanted to in the moment.   Have you ever thought of that?  A multitude of examples have placed themselves in my path this week…so here are a couple of them.

I adore dancing in most all of it’s forms for to me it sets the body free to explore the boundaries of timing, space, limitations (or not!) and freedom of expression in our finite bodies expressing from an infinite source.  Besides that it can be fun!  For all of those non-dancers out there, do not despair…this video may entice you to wiggle just a little.  Just try to stay still!  I can see those toes moving!   For all of you dancers out there I am certain this will delight you…and I wish I had a video cam focused on you right now as I just know that you are movin and groovin – footloose!


Thank you to Cheryl Richardson’s weekly newsletter for this video.  I often find bits of wisdom from her newsletters and would recommend that you sign up to receive it.  Just click here:  www.cherylrichardson.com to subscribe and go to “Newsletter”.

Columbia River Gorge

The Columbia Gorge in Oregon is breathtaking (or should I say breath giving) especially this time of year in the transition season of Fall soon to come.  I am fortunate to be able to be in the heart of it within a couple of hours, and this past weekend found me there.

Being the wind surfing capitol of the world, Hood River is a spectacular place to have the experience of sailing along the water propelled by the ever present wind – or to merely watch from on shore and vicariously enjoy this “cutting loose” sport.

This is the sport

After being taken captive by a beautiful older woman (looking to be in her 70’s!) who was busily instructing a man about 20 years younger than her on “how to do it”, I decided that this was an experience that I just had to try (next season mind you).  Usually going up to people to connect with them I held back this time being content to watch this wildly free woman in action.  She was the “queen bee” of this particular area and seemed to have admirers everywhere….and what was she doing?  She was expressing every bit of herself and seemed to be savoring every moment of it.  She delighted and entranced me – a real life WildlyFreeWoman cutting loose.

And...this is the woman, earrings and all!

So…ask yourself this question one more time.   What if there was nothing in the way of you expressing yourself exactly the way you want in the moment.  Julia Cameron has you finish this sentence using your imagination:  If the best of all possible worlds were reality…….

Examples:

*My writing would be published and have an appreciative global readership
*I would be dancing with indigenous people all over the world
*I would have a home in Bali where I would spend part of my time each year

Now take this a step further and begin to make the best a reality by doing things a little bit differently every day.  Have fun!!  Cut Loose!

Gaye Abbott, A WildlyFreeWoman

Category:

Creative Expression, Manifesting Your Dreams

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Pivotal Points – You Are THE Creator

“I learn and love in the liquid flow of life standing in my strength and in my weakness, shining with the light of ten thousand moons over water…I flow with the lightness of the emancipated soul”. Marilyn Patterson from Wrapped in Sunrise

Breath coming in gasps, yet expanding to power you along the “straight up” hillside.  Instead of being weakened or drained by the climb you are strengthened and filled with more life energy.  Why?  You have decided that it is so as you show up as you are in the moment…. YOU are the creator of your experience.

At a brief pause about half way up you see a blackberry bush just loaded with the largest, juiciest blackberries that you have every seen!  But…that bush… although a short distance away, is surrounded by tall grasses and potentially prickly things which you must traverse before sampling the sweetness.  Who knows what is lurking in the hidden depths??  You have a choice – chart new territory and take the risk, or walk on by perhaps regretting that you did not go the distance.  Both are possible actions that you can take.

At the top you reflect on a journey from the past navigating the Na Pali coast on the Hawaiian island of Kauai many years ago.  One day into the 11 mile one way hike terror reigns supreme in your mind and transfers to your body the night before crossing a particularly treacherous piece of the trail.  The full day’s hike had seen you in the back following everyone else, negotiating streams where, we were told, people had been washed away to the sea….and using every muscle, some of which you didn’t know you had.

Once at the evening camp site while reviewing the next days trail ahead,  the inner voices ask, “would they really miss me if I didn’t go ahead with them in the morning?”  Do you turn back…or do you, the next morning, get an early start and start hiking before the others so that you are first and they follow?

Well, here is the truth telling, as this was my journey today…..and several years ago.  I passed by the blackberry bush… satiated by the luscious berries that I had already amply and easily sampled on my way up.  Sometimes we take the challenge and learn new skills and gain awareness (or taste the sweetness in this case!), and other times we take our attention back to what is right in front or inside of us – resting easily in the flow of receiving.

On the 11 mile one way to Kalalau via the old Hawaiian trial along the breath taking beauty of the Na Pali coast on the island of Kaua’i…. I did go ahead of everyone else that morning turning a 90 degree corner on a very narrow trail with sheer drop off to the cliffs and ocean below on my right, a fierce wind blowing, carrying a heavy backpack, with nothing to hang on to but trust in my ability to breathe one breath, and take one step…. at a time.

The destination reached – Kalalau – with prawns in the streams, fruit on the trees, a waterfall for a shower, nightly sunsets painted by the Divine, a Hawaiian mythology story teller for late night entertainment, an astronomer to show us the magic of the night skies where stars and planets covered every inch of sky, a chiropractor to soothe our misaligned and sore bodies, and even a composting toilet!   We came together from varying parts of the world ,separately along the trial, to convene at pivotal points in our lives.

Are you at a crossroads in your life?  You are the Creator.  There are a multitude of choices…trust your intuitive creation!

Gaye Abbott – Catalyst, Guide & Creative Mentor

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE:  www.BreathingSpaces.net

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Creative Expression

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Come As You Are – An Invitation to the “Artist” In Each of Us

AWAKENING by Fran Bouwman (Please watch her video at www.franbouwman.com)

All right – I just arrived home from sharing breakfast with an amazingly creative, beautiful, naturally funny, and wise woman of 68 years.   Threw on my long gauzy skirt and a deep red silky camisole – my writing clothes for the day I have decided – and plunked a piece of rich dark chocolate in my mouth.  What could be better!

I am dedicating this post to you Sue, for you have inspired me to make an offer to my 50+ age women readers out there (or under if you find your way to this blog site!).   I dare you (and you first Sue!) to take me up on this!  Listening to Julia Cameron’s Walking in This World, the Practical Art of Creativity, read by a most wonderful reader, on my way home in the car…and reflecting on the conversations that Sue and I had this morning, I realized that WildlyFreeWoman has always been about supporting, encouraging, guiding, and at times giving a gentle kick in the butt, to women to bring their creative wild soul out into the physical world – NOW!  

It is not always clear how a woman can do that with all of the other pulls on her time and attention – but from 50 on we have a new perspective, tons of life experience, more “our time” than we have ever had, and the opportunity to say YES! to our unique and individual expression – whatever that is.  For me right in this moment it is sitting down at my Mac computer, or putting my favorite fountain pen in my hand, and waiting for the creator’s juice to move through me into my hands and on this page.

As Sue wove her story at the breakfast table of her recent visit to the Trappist monastery, I had very upturned mouth and tears of laughter rolling down my face.  I was able to see and feel her sitting there in the chapel attempting to connect with “the Divine” as an ancient monk shuffled his way (she knew which one it was by his walk) down the aisle and sat near to her, stamping his walking stick and making snuffling noises as he moved his dentures around in his mouth.  What a disturbance she thought to herself…and on the story goes to reveal some wise and profound observations – and great humor directed at our humanness.

I invite Sue to finish this story and have me put it here on the blog.  The worst that could happen is that no one will read it …the best that can happen is that no one will read it – but Sue would have put something out there for public viewing and said YES to her creative expression.  You can’t lose Sue!

That goes for everyone else out there that is sitting on a creative expression – or is just tentatively beginning to get nearer to “putting it out there”.  Allow this to be the sacred container which births IT and YOU out into the world.  Julia Cameron says, “Doubt is a signal of the creative process.  It is a signal that you are doing something right…. Creativity is a spiritual issue.  Although we seldom look at this squarely the creative life features the same spiritual obstacles as any other spiritual path.” Doubt can then lead to the courage to go ahead and put it out there anyway,  no matter what…and yes it is a leap…and yes it is way worth it.  (Besides I have the power to monitor any comments that are made public on this blog….so again, you can’t lose…)

There are women (and men!) out there that need our stories, our art, our creative expression and example to take them one more step further along in their inside journey to letting loose and breaking free of the restrictions that may keep us bound up like a tightly closed bud that is doomed never to flower, or open at all.  The way I see it WE need US to do it!

So…here is the deal!  Write to me about your art, creative activity, or projects; give me a website;  or send me some samples if that is appropriate.   Allow WildlyFreeWoman to be your creative muse and the readers of this blog to be your adoring supporters.  We each have a unique expression to bring…and we each are a incredibly important part of the whole web of creative interconnection globally.  The creation is not complete without our unique and individual expression.

As Marilyn Patterson in South Africa wrote to me when sending her brand new book, “Wrapped in Sunrise”  in the mail – let yourself be “the kind of person that inspires others towards a greater more heart felt life expression”.  Bring it on and let’s play!

Gaye Abbott
A WildlyFreeWoman

SUE RESPONDS WITHIN HOURS!! Here is her courageous launching and she promises me that a picture will be forth coming.  WFW will be sending an official “Courageously Creative” certificate to each woman that brings her expression to this blog site!
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To a Very Special Wildly Free Woman and Dear Friend,

I feel as if I am being Published..me head is swelling.   Several times, I have had the exquisite experience of spending even a small amount of time observing these men in robes, who we define as Monks. Are they freaks of nature, recluse on the run from life, or do they actually contribute to the world in which we live?  The answer for me is a resounding, Yes they do, in ways we will never know.  I learned this from My Very Dearest Friend, Thomas Merton, Trappist Monk, who left this unruly world, far too young. So now, I have told you the name of My Mentor.  Now you must know my Funny Personality, so to speak, is derived from an Irish Family Background and as far back as I can remember the Exquisite need to laugh and give laughter to others.

Going to the Monastery/Abby is a place where you will actually see smiles on peoples faces.  Silence evokes quiet thought, which in turn, gives us all periods of thought you had forgotten and which later appear very funny, when measured against the Seriousness of Life.

A few weeks ago, I had again decided to drive up to Lafayette, just a little north of McMinnville, Oregon for a quiet time in their garden and some meditation regarding making a decision on a special matter. While there, I left the chapel and proceeded outside to the gardens and passed the private graveyard in their enclose.  Mother of God I thought, imagine sleeping next to all those dead people. Anyway, a quiet little monk came up next to me and asked, “would you like to share lunch with the brothers? “  I of course said yes.  Good chance some of them would be cute..know what I mean.  Anyway, we proceeded to the QUIET hall where they were all seated in SILENCE. I proceeded to go over to the table and serve myself, then proceeded to sit down and eat. I kept looking out over the tops of my glasses to see, as a lay person, what they looked like and were all about. After about 35 minutes I stood up and proceeded to leave, but not without saying,
” Thank you for the delicious lunch”.  With that one of them turned to me with his finger over his lips as if to say, faux pas..then out of the corner of my eye, I observed a little old monk quietly giggling at the end of the table. Sue I said…Sweet Victory!!!!!!!!

Hopefully, as he lay on his straw mattress that night, he had wonderful dreams.  Sue you Devil.

I have many such stories to give forth to those who would find them enjoyable as well as funny. At the time they happened in my life, they did not really have that much significance. In my looking back now, they were really funny and I will from time to time give forth some of these wonderful times of my life.  However, as I proceeded to say to my friend Gaye,  ” I cannot imagine anyone finding my stories and the Paths my life has taken as interesting.  The Glory of having Intelligent/Passionate about life friends, is how they are able to observe qualities you never saw in yourself, and they, if they are true friends, are quick to remind you, ” your talents MUST be shared by the many, in hopes they too can rise above it all.

Sue O’

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Creative Expression

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