Still There

The quality of our lives during and after the eventual end of the virus deterrent social distancing is entirely up to each of us. It is dependent on the thoughts and beliefs that guide our actions in the world.

Personally, this period has given me the opportunity to observe what has manifested around me and for me, engage in deep inner listening and make decisions to make significant changes where I noticed areas that seemed at odds with an existence filled with grace and ease.

 I call it an optimal state of thriving.

Worthy of examination was the physical condition I found myself in. Convalescing from a heart attack I rather welcomed the COVID-19 pandemic retreat just a few weeks into the healing process when I had to balance restorative practices with work-related activities. Forced to slow down, I focused more deeply on the spiritual meaning of a “blocked heart”, and wrote about it in the post, Un Unblocked Heart when I formulated a new vision to live by moving forward.

Buoyed by my committed intentions, I was thrown off when debilitating pain on my upper back overwhelmed me. Weeks of continued chiropractic and Reiki treatments provided temporary relief while trust provided balance.

I know not to force action yet stay grounded in the always alert, non-judgmental, loving, encouraging and solid gold awareness.

Our body-mind-continuum is prodigious at self-healing, pain is not to make us miserable but to make us alert.  Discomfort causes us to inquire into the emotions that hold the hurt in place.

Emotions do not respond to harsh treatment, yet it is important to not wallow in the pain. Inquiring involves embracing and gentle questioning. As to the pain behind my heart, it became clear that I had to learn to practice extreme self-care not only to stay alive, but to take care of my basic needs. However, I was unclear about how to demonstrate my commitment to self-care over and above honoring my skills and talents, taking my medicines, exercising more and reviewing my eating habits so I could lose weight.

My way to tackle a spiritual conundrum has been to meditate and paint.

Thus, in the process of creating and meditating with the art I call Still There, I realized that the densities accumulated in my physical body, simply mirrored what was in my heart and on my mind, and in all I was involved in. Underneath my usual optimistic demeanor, my need to be busy all the time, my perfectionistic tendencies and my desire to be acknowledged and loved, were very destructive feelings that eroded what manner of happiness I could experience.

It’s not that I hadn’t explore my densities. I actually worked on piercing them, as in the painting I call Piercing Densities. Yet, five years later, I was still carrying a deep sorrow, unrepentant guilt, shame and frustration at my inability to enjoy a harmonious relationship with a family member, and packed the pain in body weight.

The dark mass I had pierced in the previous painting was also in the new one, although less dense. Could I penetrate it or dissolve it? When I compared the two paintings, the new one shows more clarity. The pink light of love is still behind it but now interlaces it. Turquoise colored gentle waters swirl all around it and streaks of golden healing light wash over the mass. And it is no longer black! Instead it is covered with violet energy, implying that this time, we both have powerful divine forces helping us in dissolving the pain and releasing thoughts and beliefs that are unhelpful.

I was ready to surrender to this benevolent energy, but I had to focus solely on myself.

My wisdom files say that I cannot fix anyone, moreover, there is nothing to fix and much to learn. Trying to “fix it” repeatedly kept us both stuck in an unproductive and vicious cycle.

In a recent contemplating session with the painting I discovered two magical flowing “robes” dotted with gold and seeming to emerge from a blob that no longer feels ominous. In fact, as the robes move, pink confetti sprays unconditional love into the form.

For the last few weeks, I was able to visualize my loved one filled with benevolent lights. I embraced myself with the same brilliance. I let go of disempowering beliefs and know that in caring for my well-being I am creating a more powerful environment where in time, we can both thrive in grace and with ease.

The pain on my back eased and I shed a considerable amount of body mass. I feel healthy and whole.

If you are called to uncover your own densities, I suggest that you purchase this 9” x 12” acrylic on a canvas panel and carry out a similar healing process and in time,  come to dwell in an optimal state of thriving.

Get Still There now!

It Is Time!

                                    It Is Time by Lidia Kenig-Scher

A surreal landscape seen through unrecognizable greenery is crowned by heavily textured warm yellow and orange shapes. We are not sure if this represents a wall, curtains above a window, or if we are looking at a bright sunshine. Is it a landscape within a landscape? Could it be that we are looking at the past we are ready to release from a place where new growth is taking place?

I worked on this diptych over several weeks and nearly completed it during a 6-hours online art festival called Buubblefest, where artists of all disciplines created inside a 6 feet “bubble” while the general public watched. It was designed to keep everyone safe from contracting the COVID-19 virus in the Spring of 2020 and in many ways, it defines the art.

Meditating with the finished painting this past week, I immediately grasped what it was teaching me. In contemplating the flow of my life over the last 5 months, I saw that while physically and mentally unable to engage in seeking work, the work nonetheless showed up as wonderful clients, art commissions. original art and prints sold. Then, I found myself easily and effectively helping others in ways I had not previously acknowledged. The trend continued as the pandemic caused society to come to a stand still and retreat indoors 2 months into my recovery.

I began to see that the universe was delivering clear messages about taking time to go inward, be more self-reliant, trust my instincts, allow for people and situations to come to me, be helpful toward others, and just be and do what feels good and right naturally and without trying to achieve anything.

As some parts of the country started the process of opening for business without positive health data, the inner work we have all been doing sharpened our consciousness, so that when we witnessed injustice and inequality we could no longer turn away; we found ourselves unable to ignore an old societal wound in need of healing.

Now we demand concrete change and are willing to work for it. Massive protests and demonstrations all over the world indicate that the oppressed are being heard and hopefully this will lead to positive changes.

Many readers may see themselves reflected in my experience and realize that in fact, these last few months bore many gifts. For what these events mirror back to us may begin the process of healing at all levels.

Personally, I realized that I was ready to let go of the destructive thought patterns and behaviors still latent in my life and that kept me from allowing myself to live life fully. If I take the painting as depicting a window, I see that it reflects my deep commitment to let go of past relationships that are not mutually enriching. I am ready to admit to self-sabotage, fear, sadness, disappointments, and sorrow and work to transform them into self-respect, trust, joy, hopefulness, and laughter. No longer do I wonder about what amazing feat I need to accomplish following my heart attack earlier this year, or ponder what a momentous shift I meant to go through to justify missing death by a thinnest of hairs.

From my “window”, I am affected by the current political climate and long overdue societal unrest and respond by creating work that will surely affect people and spaces in positive ways. When I feel physical pain and look into the spiritual jewels and teachings these bring, I see that I already released lots of densities from my body and the lighter me loves the way I feel and look. The self-love I bestow upon myself has already yielded acceptance, peace, compassion and understanding toward what I wish to change and enabled me to shift my perspective to trusting life’s rhythms.

I look into my inner window and my heart says, “It is time to live without inherited false mind constructs and allow for the truth of who I am to come forth manifesting what needs to come through me as me in benefit to all!”

If this resonates, it is time for you to purchase It Is Time. Layaway is available by contacting me via email!

A New Consciousness

Like many of you, I have been keeping social distance for the past 8 weeks and, while I miss the physical contact with my loved ones, I have not lacked the emotional connections. In fact, communications with family, friends, neighbors, and clients have become even more frequent and daresay, more meaningful.

The quarantine keeping us from contracting or passing on viral infection, is indeed difficult for the economy, but is actually a blessing in so many ways.

It is not hard to see improvements in our environment. This past weekend I passed a pond I walked by for the past 20 years. At this time in Spring it is completely covered with green algae. Last Sunday it was so clear, I could see the bottom! Frogs were singing and a family of swans with their cygnets were happily gliding on the glassy surface. The unusual photos of lions napping on an empty highway on Kruger National Park, South Africa and a herd of goats frolicking on deserted streets in Wales clearly points to the impact of humans practicing social distancing.

Families are learning how to spend their time together in creative ways and maybe becoming closer. Some of my friends tell me that despite some difficult moments, they are getting to know their families and children anew and see this as a positive development. At the individual level, we are all discovering new skills, grappling with new emotions, noticing what we miss and not, and discerning how we spend our time. Many of us are paying close attention to what brings value and joy to our existence.

As the world is undergoing a massive transformation, we are being stretched in many ways. We are exercising spiritual, emotional, and mental muscles we never knew we had in exploring ways to thrive at this time in history. If we perceive the pandemic as a gift, we are examining our goals, our vows and the intentions we set for ourselves, perhaps in January, and are now assessing their relevance in an attempt to envision our lives beyond face masks, 6’ of separation and lines at the grocery store.

With limited movement and fewer choices, we are forced to look inward, be more reflective and a new consciousness is arising.

It is in this environment that I created this 12” x 12” acrylic painting a few weeks ago and decided to alter the way I interpret and title my work after completion.  I offered the image to my good friend and coach, Kimberly Ward Manning. I asked her to meditate with the painting and come up with a title and interpretation. What follows are her words in italics.

As I look at the painting, what first comes to mind is a garden. In the foreground is a hedge with an opening that leads beyond. The greens and yellows look and feel like a celebration, and the energy rises in ecstasy, into the stars, the Higher Mind, eternity, wherever. It feels more than hopeful — it’s joyful.

 As I sat with the piece longer, another meaning came forward. The circles in the foreground are beings/souls. They are being called to the green/yellow area in the middle to ascend in consciousness. Some have already gone and are showing their ascension in the different levels of energy/understanding/love. Everything is shifting higher. Again, the whole feeling is powerfully positive.

 There is a calling with this piece. It is asking us to enter and do something — go higher, go inward and up/outward, join together in this journey. In both interpretations, the individual circles meld into pure energy. There is no longer separate self/selves. We are each part of this One, which in my meditation shows up as this mass of energies in the painting.

 Overall, it feels like an initiation, a calling, a rising up. Like a secret garden behind a manicured hedge — magical, mystical, marvelous, powerful.

I invite all of you to take in the image and see how view it, and how it may assist you in experiencing this unusual time in your life. What is in your garden? What are you called to move into? What shifts are you urged to undertake?

Are you ready to emerge with A New Consciousness? Click on the link to see the painting up close and perhaps you will be called to own it.

An Unblocked Heart

An Unblocked Heart by Lidia Kenig-Scher

I did not expect it, but then again how could I have prepared for what life presented me 3 days into the new year?

I dedicated myself to leading a mindful life, seeing physical pain as holding gifts and unafraid of death, so when the pain in my chest and shoulders became unbearable, when I began to sweat profusely and no position I put myself in was of any comfort, I prepared to exit in style. I began to breathe ever so slowly and focus my attention on all the things in my life that I was grateful for. I thought of my family and close friends. I did not want a stranger calling to say that my body was found lifeless and in bad shape, a few days after I had passed.

As I reached for my phone, I called the first number that appeared and fortunately it was my friend Donna, whom I had seen the day before. She not only lives very close by; she was miraculously available to come to my house speedily. I thought she could bring me to the local urgent clinic, thinking that I had pneumonia. I was mistaken…

The intense pain forced me to give up control and allow a series of fortunate events to happen very quickly. My heart needed expert help to release the physical blocks it had accumulated over the years thus, a stent was placed in a main artery, medicines were prescribed, and monitoring devices were installed. While half dazed, I received extraordinary care and attention from the staff at the cardiac intensive care unit in Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA and was showered with the affection of my loved ones.

The next night, when visitors had left and my last tests and medicines of the day were given, I laid on the bed reflecting on the situation I was in. I couldn’t help but notice that an opportunity for a great shift was made available, I just did not know how it would unfold. Unworried, I saw a more interesting reality to contemplate: I was alive and pondered whether I consciously chose to live, or a more powerful energy decided that this was not my time.

Over the last few years, it had become much easier for me to live with a healthy dose of serendipity. I know that my best asset is to voice my wishes; some call it intentions, then go through the motions of planning how to manifest them, act on the plans, be present to what shows up, be patient with the timing and periodically review if the intentions are still viable, need a readjustment, or I best stop putting effort into manifesting them.

Most of the intentions I voiced and knew that were guided by the voice of my heart, have manifested when I stopped trying to mold my present and manipulate the future.  When I placed my consciousness in the now and trusted the benevolent energies that guide my way, what became manifest has always been perfect. This time was no different.

But now I had to admit that the powerful energy lives in my heart and it was divinely announcing that it was partially blocked to receiving love and in need of urgent human intervention!

How I knew this? I have never felt so loved and grateful for the affection and kindness that came from complete strangers, like doctors and nurses, and even the cleaning staff at the hospital. Nurses even clapped when I was discharged. I received torrents of love and physical assistance from my family in ways that I will treasure forever. I was cradled in unconditional love by my friends, my clients, my neighbors and my colleagues. Additionally, in being forced to let go of how I earn an income, paintings sold on my website while I was in the operating room and more were purchased soon after I came home. Former clients appeared and were willing to wait until I recovered my strength to continue working with me on their design projects. I also received a commission for a new Door Protector!

When I looked back on the journal entry I made on the morning of the myocardial infarction, it spoke of guidance I was being offered; to let the past hurts go and release the chains of fear, guilt and pain that imprisoned me. The reading beckoned me to be at peace with what was and use the past as fertilizer for my life to flourish in the now. It suggested that if I surrendered and allowed for a deep release to happen, I would be fully protected and receive great help. The writing ended with a Rumi poem I found,

Every cell in your body is created

to rise to challenges,

Your life in meant to confront

everything that holds you captive

I know that challenges expand our spiritual light, much like the pearl oyster reacts to an invader by secreting pearlescent layers that protect the treasure within. The jolt that my heart produced affected my entire system and helped me reflect on my light; the valuable uniqueness I bring to the world whether through my intuitive paintings or with the healing spaces I design.

I came away from this karmic experience with gratefulness for all who were involved in mending my wise heart.  I am particularly and deeply thankful for my dear friend Donna*.  She saved my life by insisting on calling the ambulance and knew that her hunch was correct when it arrived in just 5 minutes from the call.  She also stayed with me until I was out of surgery and in close touch with my grandson, who was on his way to join us.

I don’t have all of the answers that occupied my thoughts on that first night. Yet I fully acknowledge the very powerful energy that lives in my heart beckoning me to continue to live my earthly purpose, trusting that Spirit has my back. I couldn’t help to notice that my heart now unblocked is asking that I focus on loving myself deeply and celebrate who I am, just as I am.

A couple of weeks after the surgery, I cautiously entered the studio and created The Unblocked Heart, the painting portrays how honoring the powerful light within me allows me to see life without the murky filters of the past. In contemplating the image and listening deeply, it crystalized a clearer vision I can commit to live by:

• To always remember my uniqueness and interconnectedness to all. As written in the Hindu text, Upanishads, “when a blade of grass is cut, the whole universe quivers”, each of us have a very important role to play in the history of the world. Our thoughts and our actions make a difference in how society expresses itself and on the quality of our shared life.
• To endeavor to live life fearlessly and to the fullest always guided by the voice of my heart.
• To honor my nature and my yearnings by maintaining a healthy and reverent respect for my skills, talents and wisdom. In devoting quality time and attention to doing what I love and what I am passionate about, its magnificence will naturally blossom and benefit many and eventually all.
• To never force action yet stay grounded in the always alert, non-judgmental, loving, encouraging and solid gold awareness.

An Unblocked Heart is an original acrylic painting on a 12” x 24” x .78” canvas and needs no framing. It is available by clicking on the highlighted link, or on the art on the header. If you are attracted to it, it will surely assist you in unblocking your heart before it becomes an urgent matter.

Many blessings to all!

*Donna Brallier-Lincoln is an extraordinary massage therapist and Reiki master. If you reside in the Boston area and would like to take in a treatment with her, please email me through my website and I will provide her contact information.

Wind and Water

Wind and Water by Lidia Kenig-Scher

In reviewing this year’s news cycle and my personal news, I see a hardened, more entrenched societal divide at all levels. I also recognize that albeit not politically, I too experienced significant dissension in my life.

What about you? Did you find yourself consumed by outside conflict and did not notice it in your day-to-day life? Or like me, you looked in the mirror and realized that the “wars” were just as present in your world?

Even if we choose to hide in a cave, we are affected by what occurs around us.  Looking closer, we will see that we are affected because in some way, what surrounds us, reflects what is going on in our inner world. In other words, the landscape is trying to show us that the storm is also in our homes or businesses.

I call obstacles a growth opportunity.

Just as when we are in an educational setting, the quality and breadth of what we learn is marked by our readiness to engage in the lessons, our willingness to be challenged, our present skillset, and an explorer’s mindset.

I daresay that acknowledging our interconnection to all things and experiences brings about the most dramatic breakthroughs. And taking responsibility for our part in conflict is truly transformational!

How do we expand our skillset and the willingness to see obstacles as crucial to our happiness and the well-being of our community? We could quietly and intently sit outside by a stream and just watch and hear nature or focus our eyes with an open heart on the painting I titled Wind and Water.

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Wind and water immediately bring to mind a sense of flow or movement. Wind can be a gentle, caressing breeze or morph into a raging hurricane. Water can be a swirling eddy, a calm lake, a gentle stream or a killer tsunami.

Wind is caused by a difference in pressure from one area to another area on the surface of the Earth. Air naturally moves from high to low pressure, and when it does so, it is called wind. The “cause” of the wind is the Sun’s uneven heating of the ever-moving Earth’s surface.

When rain falls on earth, it either seeps into the ground or becomes runoff-water, which flows downhill into rivers and lakes, on its journey towards the sea. A small creek flows downhill until it merges into larger streams and rivers. Rivers eventually end up flowing into the ocean.

Wind patterns affect water currents. The larger and more spread out is a body of water, the more its molecules are exposed to air and are influenced by wind speed, direction and relative humidity, Water temperature affected by the sun and the earth’s curvature, determines how quickly the water particles are moved. A water molecule that is moving very quickly is more likely to burst from the water surface into the air, thus creating waves.

Understanding interconnection in nature offers us with a mirror into how all else, including our lives, can naturally thrive.

Wind is air in its active aspect. It represents the vital breath of the universe, or what I call Spirit or Source; the divine realm. It is the “fung” in the art and science of Feng Shui. Wind causes movement. Water is the “shui” and as shown, dependent on wind to move, but is also affected by the sun, the moon and the earth. It is akin to life itself. Nothing can thrive without it. It represents our life journey, the human spirit and our emotions.

Our breath is our “wind“ and how it flows is dictated by the available pathways or “ch’i” within us. Ch’i is our life force; it is how Spirit flows within us. A block in the flow of ch’i causes problems; when our breathing has a regular and easy rhythm we feel well. Thoughts and emotions regulate our breathing patterns and cause the biggest blockages. How we perceive a threat determines how easily we breathe. If we sense space, our inner channels are open and we flow like a calm stream.

Fear causes uneven pressure on our entire system. It is a thought not aligned with Spirit.

When fear appears as anger our system becomes blocked by heat. When fear shows up as depression, is like a weak wind gust; ripples appear on smooth water. As the sadness persists, we are overcome with emotional gusts that renders us powerless. The longer the wind blows on the open water of despair, the larger the waves of suffering.

The painting depicts the interrelatedness of the elements with a bright and colorful demeanor. We notice the winds’ patterns and acknowledge that they may change at any moment, but we do not fear it. The water flows smoothly in the middle ground offering a paradox. The bright colors in the foreground implying blossoms on swaying vegetation demand our attention. As we see the firm ground supporting the growth we can be amused by the movement and form created by the wind.

The more we contemplate Wind and Water, the alcohol inks painting on yupo featured here and that is beautifully framed, the more at peace we feel. In time, it becomes easier to look within but without fear, to explore what is behind our current divide.

Because we are interbeings, when we bring harmony to our world by using our thoughts to affect our wind and our water, we take a small step into bringing harmony to the entire planet!

 

 

The Great Release

The Great Release by Lidia Kenig

I often liken painting with being immersed in God, because when I am in the studio, it appears that the Universe orchestrates a joyful dance with the materials and processes so that the right procedure, the perfect color delivered in the perfect way, lands on a canvas without my physical involvement.

It may sound otherworldly, but I often feel like a puppet on a string, except that the strings are made up of pure light, and as painting progresses, light pours out in all directions, but I become the one generating it.  If I were to describe the overall emotion, I would call it love.

The studio is my happy place where I love openly and where I feel unconditionally loved. It is where, with unabashed trust I allow colors, textures and images to appear on the canvas. It is where I practice trusting life.

Thus, I was not surprised at the images in the completed canvas when I began the post painting meditation. I saw a bright sunrise above a fiery earth, facing a deep blue ocean below. Perhaps there are buildings in the distance, but there are no people about in this slice of Summertime.

My slice of summer was bittersweet. Long held traditions ended and relationships shifted or expired, yet I had many rewarding experiences reconnecting with old clients, successfully designing residential spaces, serendipitously finding places to exhibit artworks, attracting painting commissions and receiving heartfelt testimonials about my art and my designed interiors.  Like when I create, I was deeply present to what landed on my life canvas and in meditation, I reflected on the emotions that emerged and the people and situations that provoked the feelings.

I felt like I was being carried into a new life cycle, and consciously allowed all of it to coexist by trusting in its inherent rightness. As such, on the second meditation, I considered that the “fiery earth” I originally saw in the painting, could also be looked at as the very precious antique cloth that is my life.

I can’t prove that we have had many lives and accumulated what in Buddhism is called karma, which ripens in each lifetime. I noticed that not all the experiences and people that show up in our present life are a product of our thoughts and deeds in this life. Some seem to come from some other place and time. We can see strong patterns operating in people’s lives that can either help them grow in a supportive way or challenges them to become stronger. In all cases, when we become aware of these threads, often through meditation, that seem to run our lives and take inspired action, we gain much wisdom and can lead very fulfilling lives.

In my first meditation with the painting, I saw a starry sky receding to make way for the light of the sun. The land below is still smoldering from ravaging fires above the great ocean. The wind helps the ashes and debris to fly off into the ether. The bits blowing away depict the things, people, relationships, thoughts, emotions and life patterns being released from the mind, which is represented by the landscape. The rising tide washes away the last bits of live fire as a new day begins. The sun shines upon the parched land, spreading bits of light to help the ashes transform eventually into fertile soil.

On another day meditating with the painting, I focused on the textured “land” and began to see it as precious antique tapestry. All my life experiences, my mishaps and my triumphs in this or any other lifetimes have given my soul much material from which to create the rich cloth that is my life now and that could not have existed without such journey. Yet, in time, some threads on the cloth wear out and must be discarded because they no longer provide a viable structure to the tapestry. A good restorer can seamlessly weave new threads, place the worn-out ones into the recycle bin and lovingly return the cloth to its original glory.

I looked at the difficult changes that occurred this summer as worn out threads that needed to leave my life. In emptying the recycle bin I saw an opportunity to release old emotional baggage and lovingly weave new patterns into my life tapestry.  I appreciate what I learned from the outworn threads and admire the beauty and power of the parts that remain. Its overall stability accepts the new strength being provided by new material and trusts that, restored to its brilliance, it will gracefully carry me into a new life cycle!

I recently shared this painting, but not my interpretations with several clients as a meditation. In most cases, the revelations were quite powerful; all had to do with letting go of old patterns of thought!

The Great Release invites you to look within and let go of what no longer makes your life tapestry strong. Isn’t time to weave the shiny new threads to carry you, as if by magic into your best life?

Call it self-love and take inspired action; find the painting’s purchase options here in, The Great Release.

 

Divine Nurture

Divine Nurture by Lidia Kenig-Scher

I felt quite content when I started this painting. It was the day before my birthday. The yellow gold strokes easily flowed onto the white canvas and later, reds blended into yellow to create orange. A wide brush laden with teal blue brought the undulating shapes we now see on the bottom. I don’t remember if at day’s end I had scumbled magenta on the upper right.

The following day turned out to be quite difficult, yet soon yielded a marvelous gift.

You see, sometimes our inner guidance leads us into darkness. Our consciousness constantly mapping our path, sets the stage so that we can learn something valuable. Perhaps we are stuck and unaware that we are no longer moving in alignment with our purpose. Or maybe out of pure unconsciousness, we either cause harm, or we receive it. Perhaps we face a traumatic situation and realize that we had been there before and felt as powerless.

In a sudden flash of insight, we could begin to see these conundrums as a way to heal old pain and past karma.  We could decide to mentally step away and hear our high heart, our connection to Spirit, asking us to integrate the lessons. We may be guided to heal ourselves by using the reappeared trauma as the fertilizer to enrich the soil where new seeds of love and light can sprout.

Finding myself at the receiving end of volatile anger, my instinctive reaction was to fight or fly. But something amazing occurred to me on that day amidst loud verbal attacks; I clearly saw the raw pain in the one hurting me and my heart opened up.

I became very quiet and tapped into the vastness, the place of potential, divinity’s abode and the realm of supreme wisdom. In the surreal inner silence, I prayed for guidance and expressed regret and bewilderment, as I can’t say that I understood then my role in the conflict.

What I knew for sure is that I did not want to manipulate or be manipulated. While I did not identify a perpetrator or a victim, I knew that I was no longer available to be unkind or be the recipient of unkindness. At that moment I perceived a bright light emanating from my heart and noticed that the other person had left.

The heart mind had done a great job leading me out of harm, however, over the next few hours, my body experienced what I can safely call “aftershocks”, so I began to practice Tonglen.

The next morning, I went into the studio and continued painting. I refined the shapes in the blue area and added the soft white layer between the yellow and teal colors, thus creating a foreground. The magenta hue in the upper right now became the background, green sticks were painted on the teal surface and, in the process, I felt divinely nurtured.

In such state I agreed to meet with the other person and lo and behold, we both came away knowing that the situation provided us both with profound healing. We each had faith in our bond, but saw that in order to move forward, we not only had to be fully present; we had to trust in that bond as we are now. We had to let go of thoughts and emotions based on the past, on fear, guilt and shame and we had to forgive ourselves and each other for past unconscious beliefs and behaviors.

In the end we both realized that the past is now the compost that will help us build a more wholesome relationship. We had grown from the harrowing experience and released the accumulated toxicity by surrounding it with pure love and utter compassion. We both remarked that this was a marvelous gift!

That afternoon I completed the painting I call it, Divine Nurture.

It is my wish that those who are called to purchase the original or a print for a home or business, allow themselves and all who behold the art, to be divinely nurtured.

Follow this link to purchase Divine Nurture.

Additionally, I will include a copy of Tonglen meditation with the original or prints, and I will be glad to personally instruct the person who purchases the original in the practice of Tonglen.

Instead of Living with Fear

Playing with Fear by Lidia Kenig-Scher

Today I like to focus on the elephant in the room: FEAR.

Unless you have been hiding underground, you will have noticed that a large segment of our neighbors, friends, co-workers and family are experiencing fear to such an extent that many are changing vacation plans, adding security systems to their homes, avoid large gatherings and make it a point to talk to their children about safety. In fact, ads for bulletproof school bags are again ubiquitous and demands for legislators to enact laws that control gun ownership and access to assault weapons reached a fever pitch while traditional and social media forums are filled with anger, fear and despair.

Here in the United States, we are a nation fiercely divided, with each faction blaming the other for their woes. It is all happening amidst a presidential primary election season where over 20 candidates vie for attention in order to qualify for the next round of debates and an incumbent president has chosen to fan the flames of division and fear as a re-election strategy.

It all got crystallized when once again, two unconscious individuals took it upon themselves and went to great lengths, to commit genocide inspired by the idea that some groups of people have more rights to live in this country than others. Both killers felt validated by the constant replay of divisive rhetoric.

While conflict is unavoidable and potentially enriching, how we think about it will determine if we become richer for it or are so emotionally and spiritually crippled that we fail to physically thrive.

On March 1933, a beleaguered nation heard president Franklin D. Roosevelt say in his inaugural speech, “So first of all let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes the needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” FDR himself had narrowly avoided the bullets of a would-be assassin, two weeks before he spoke these words to a country in the throes of the most severe depression the United States has ever known.

Many in the business community at that time, feeling pinched by the economic decline equated the nation with an invalid afflicted with a mental problem; a paralysis of action. This thinking somehow had to be turned around, toward positive confidence.

Julius Barnes, the Chairman of the Board of the National Chamber of Commerce suggested such metaphor, positing that by changing the “patient’s” thinking, the body would naturally recover its mobility. President Roosevelt became the much needed mental healer for the body nation at that time.

Current research suggests that Mr Barnes was quite accurate in his assertions.

I have no desire to run for president, join the shouters or deliver lofty pronouncements, and we have not yet found an FDR for our times, but I concur that the nucleus of our societal problem lies in WHAT we think and the actions that follow our thinking. Thoughts are real forces and this has been known for millennia.

Our thoughts affect our vibrational field and in turn we affect all who surround us in a viral contagion. Whether or not we accept that we are interconnected, all we have to do is look around; open Facebook or turn on the television, check in with suicidal hotlines and speak with psychotherapists.

Instead of complaining, I have taken the quiet yet industrious route, I create sacred objects that help people, slowly over time, to notice their life patterns, become conscious and shift their thinking toward a more inclusive, compassionate and benevolent existence. When I help people install their commissioned Door Protectors, I teach them how to use the art we co-created to derive the maximum benefit. I remind them that it is like a mirror they can rely upon to reflect their true selves. I suggest they aim their gaze inward and see that fear and anger arise when they imagine a future that does not exist or recall past occurrences that are long gone.

The mantra at the center of this Door Protector is the same mantra that the historical Buddha taught 2600 years ago when he was teaching about building a wholesome and fulfilling life. It’s called the Wish Granting Jewel Mantra.

The Buddha noticed that when his disciples learned, chanted the mantra and were present to its sound and meaning, they became enlightened on the spot. That is because each of the 12 syllables are seeds of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path; the most important tenets at the core of Buddhist philosophy.

The mantra was the Buddha’s way to remind us of our own light and the wisdom that we carry…always. When we look upon the mantra, or hear it, we feel its vibration at our core.

Everything has a vibration and an energy field.

We do not need to be Buddhists to accept Door Protectors into our lives. We simply need to connect to its vibration and through practice, deeply connect with its energy. It happens because what I paint for the owners is channeled through meditation and propelled by my conscious intention to be such conduit for maximum benefit.

I am a better person because I work with my Door Protector and the mantra every day of my life. The testimony of hundreds of clients and collectors for the past 12 years caused me to pause and take note of their effect on people and environments. Everyone has had amazing results in many areas of their lives. They tell me that above all, they are no longer ruled by FEAR and that it has become an easy practice to check-in when in the presence of conflicts, questions and the need to make important decisions.

Some feel truly enlightened!

Thus, I have committed to have as many Door Protectors as possible into people’s homes and businesses, as they affect the owners and all those who see it and pass under it. Instead of living with fear, click on the link in this paragraph, above to commission your own or go the the website Gallery to order a print of your choice and start working with its energies.

The commissioned sacred art carries us throughout our lives. Prints have shown to work for a period of time-months or a couple of years, and help with prescient matters. A print works because in instinctively selecting one, we make an important connection through the images, that will be helpful in our life at this moment in our life path.

Prints are a good way to experience working with Door Protectors.

Go on and order a print today!

Note: The artwork on this post-Playing with Fear, was published in a post in 2011. The original has sold, but copies are available. If you like it, just touch the image and check out your favorite size on the website.

Moonlight Rebirth Meditation

Moonlight Rebirth Meditation by Lidia Kenig-Scher

Awoke shortly after sunrise and as usual, I prepared for meditation. Instead of doing a contemplative exercise, I slid into the studio to make painting the contemplation. I picked a 40” x 30” blank canvas and as I sat in front of the canvas, some words and sentences bubbled up.

Arising, releasing pain, sorrow, guilt, shame, tiredness, frustration, danced in my mind’s eye. A certain pride for having persevered in spite of the many naysayers, including me; a visceral urge to break away, to say good bye to the past, without attempting to change it or squash it emerged, giving me a sense of peace and acceptance never before felt.

Eventually I was moved to pick up a jar of fluid Prussian Blue acrylic paint along with a flat wide brush. I loved how the inky paint flowed onto the canvas!

The last thing I remember was reaching for the cellophane that had covered the brand-new canvas and diluting thick Iridescent White acrylic paint with a little water and colorless polymer.

Twelve hours later I emerged from the studio and fell into a deep slumber. I awoke the next morning feeling lighter, smiling broadly and remembering a dream where Divine beings were guiding me to swim in loving waters of changing colors.

In the dream, the Bodhisattva Kwan Yin was showing me objects beaming with light floating in the water around me. I recognized some of my paintings, a home I had recently designed, students’ artworks, sculptures and photos of happy and grateful people. These were all things and situations that I created in my life and that coexisted with painful situations, interactions and sadness. I realized that Kwan Yin and all the other angels were showing me how blessed I am, as my past became the rich fertilizer that now helps flourish the life cycle I am sailing into.

For the next 10 days I looked at the painting before I turned in for the day and immediately upon waking. Each day I wrote in my journal, knowing that lessons and title would eventually come forth clearly. I noticed that the day I began to paint, coincided with a full moon and a partial eclipse, best observed in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Boston area the moon showed its fullness with alluring brilliance. It was easy to take in its beauty on a hot summer night.

The moon is a symbol of the spiritual aspects of femininity- intuition, psychic abilities, creativity and wisdom. Its phases remind us that all things on Earth have a natural cycle. Water evaporates from the ocean and falls down again as rain. Fruit falls from a tree, carrying a seed that grows into a new tree.

Because of the moon’s connection to water and the tides, it is said to represent our emotions and our subconscious mind – what we see on the surface often does not reflect what is going on underneath, nor does it reveal its vast depths. We must go deeper and explore.

When the moon is completely illuminated, it represents completion, the height of power, the realization of our desires and the peak of clarity. It is a time to celebrate our growth, take note of what progress we have made and reflect on how far we have come.

An eclipse invites us to see what is hidden and release it to the light; the art’s meaning and its title became clearer now.

Several decades ago I was privileged to learn a meditation called Moonlight Rebirth, from my most revered teacher, HH Lin Yun, Rinpoche. A few days ago, as I was again contemplating the painting, I began to practice it and immediately I knew that this is what I had painted!

Practicing this meditation, we are able to touch oneness, when spiritual powers can reach through time and space. A profound physical and mental healing takes place enabling us to “wipe the slate clean”, so to speak and begin anew. Aware of the effects of the moon upon the earth, this practice can improve luck, spur new growth, diminish anger and increase the sense of peace and well-being.

The meditation, the intention, the creative process and the dream are all depicted in the art. Are you the lucky buyer now willing to summon courage, unflinchingly look in the inner mirror and feel Oneness?

Even if you are not ready to shift yet, Moonlight Rebirth Meditation, with its colors, images and textures will infuse any space where it is installed, with bliss, peace and joy. Purchase includes the meditation instructions and one practice session with me to “wipe the slate clean”, own your gifts and sail into a new life cycle.

 

 

Connecting with the Immeasurable Love of the Universe

Dangelbig Door Protector by Lidia Kenig-Scher

The newest Door Protector was created for a professional couple in their late thirties, whose new home located in a semi-rural town west of Boston I helped designed.

Like all Door Protectors, it started with receiving a written statement from each person, preparing the support and meditating. And while both partners expressed their desire to experience harmony and be aligned with all things, the art did not seem to readily find the images that would invite those sentiments.

I started by doing an intuitive divination, invited some crystal allies and animal spirits and consulted various oracles, yet I was unable to move the art forward for quite a long time.

After the crystals I ordered arrived and the wood panel was ready to accept paint, I began by applying a Prussian blue coat of acrylic paint and when dried, I mixed in different amounts of Titanium white to create a variety of curling swirls that stretched and moved in all directions.  A hot pink hue showed up on the palette and a soft brush helped them merge, twist and blend with the toned blues.

For the next 3 months and in spite of chanting the mantra, eagerly contemplating the canvas and summoning all my guides; nothing else showed up.  As I had similar experiences while creating other Door Protectors, I reached out to the clients several times to inquire if there was anything I should know, if there had ben any arguments, or events that may have caused anxiety, concern and conflict. Upon receiving confirmation, and still nothing was happening, I sent an email to the couple, offering a new way of thinking about the art we were co-creating.

We acknowledged that Lillie (not her real name) was expecting her first child and this was the last trimester of her pregnancy. Fears and doubts became hard to ignore, coupled with the physical symptoms of tiredness, irritability with a very demanding work situation and natural frustrations with the on-going renovations in the new home. The husband, Paul (not his real name) who maintains a strong spiritual practice was also struggling with his own feelings about the impending responsibilities while attempting to reassure Lillie. The email and subsequent phone call finally worked!

The next day, a pure zinc white area appeared where the Wish Granting Jewel mantra is inscribed and was crowned by a bright yellow hue lined with an orange ribbon. A deep red line now supports the hot pink spirals, as if it is keeping the confusion at bay and reassuring the couple that everything would be alright. The reassurance is aided by nuggets of Carnelian within the blue.  This is the crystal of trust, inner resolve and wisdom. It helps dispel background confusion like in the art, while in the foreground, playful Spring grasses sporting tiny blooms daintily reach toward the mantra and the sunlight.

A Lepidolite crystal is crowned by a raw Azurite stone and sits right beneath the syllables corresponding to ushnisha vimale, which translates as the “stainless lotus of Ushnisha.” This is the name of the Buddha in the manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of limitless compassion. The Ushnisha is the oval topknot often depicted in art on top of a Buddha’s head symbolizing the spiritual power of attaining enlightenment. The lilac Lepidolite crystal is an excellent stress relief stone. It contains lithium, which soothes and calms the body/mind continuum, reduces anxiety, stress and signs of depression. It assists in maintaining an attitude of acceptance of the present moment. Azurite is the stone of inner vision and insight, enhances intellectual functions and helps the mind retain information. It confers awareness to discern where we get stuck in outmoded mental constructs and self-deception, as well as alerts us when someone is not acting or speaking truthfully.

Each syllable in the mantra represents core Buddhist teachings that along with the pictorial symbols continuously emit positive and wholesome vibrations into the space where it is installed. As the people who occupy the space connect with the art, their door protector becomes a mirror of their souls and find opportunities to connect with the immeasurable love of the universe; the divine realm. Every time they see or think of their art, they are more able to abide in joy and gratitude, they come to know that everything is sacred, feel at peace and are protected within this love energy.

The more people intentionally gaze at the art they helped create, the more they recognize the interbeingness inherent in all things and begin to experience unconditional love. The art gives people who own it the opportunity to be conscious beings able to learn, grow and change and act and think as the spark of divine light on earth that they actually are.

And everything did turn out all right. A few days ago, a beautiful baby girl was delivered without complications and joined her truly joyous parents. Please join me in wishing that life continue to unfold for this threesome, with myriads of fortunate blessings!

You too can commission your mirror of the soul. Click on Door Protectors for more information on how to order one.

If you are not ready to commission a custom created art but would like to start working with this powerful energy, try purchasing a print that speaks to you from the Door Protectors Gallery and be on your way to connecting with the immeasurable love of the universe!