Before Crafting Goals Become a Butterfly Fish and Watch Whatever You Wish Come to Life

The Butterfly Fish by Lidia Kenig

You are clear and excited about your aspirations, and you created awesome intentions, or what I earlier called a roadmap, that you feel strongly about.

Now you must establish Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound (SMART) goals to make your intentions manifest.

To prepare for the goals you will create, you must be able to detect what may get in the way of seeing it all come to life.

To do this, you will need to first cultivate four states of mind. Presence, Trust, Patience, and Inner Peace, the unbeatable fertilizer.

Since the mind is constantly creating thoughts, and considering that the average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day, and that of those thousands of thoughts, 80% tend to be negative, and 95% are exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before, being present to what you think, enables you to consciously insert new thoughts.

Inserting a singsong or mantra about trust, such as, I trust that my vision is a blessing to all, and repeating it over and over again, is a good way to counteract the nefarious effects of the ego-mind always looking backwards to “past failures”. The mantra makes way for more expansive and rhythmic breathing, and it heightens your vibration.

Staying fiercely present also leads to noticing what shows up and how it affects your alignment with your intentions. For example, if one of your intentions was to generate sufficient income to offer a free class to underserved populations, because your aspiration was to inspire these people to feel creative and broaden possibilities, and you find yourself all of a sudden scrambling to make a living as you promote the class, you must re-examine if working with this group aligns with your intentions at this moment.

Trust in yourself and your intended path enables you to look closely and dispassionately at the targeted population, how you view this group, the timing, and the intended methods, and your willingness to allow for the intention to align with your aspirations.  Allowing implies patience.

“Rushing into action, you fail. Trying to grasp things, you lose them. Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe”, said Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu.

From Patience, inspired action flows and leads to attracting unforeseen opportunities, synchronicities and mind shifts that beget positive feelings, helping you to look at both the aspiration and the intention from a broader perspective.

Perhaps you may consider starting with a smaller group, maybe changing the age level. Or you may receive a call from a client needing your services just when you were going to promote the program. In the end, you realized that you helped the clients broaden their range of possibilities. In a later assessment you may realize that your initially conceived program will require you to spend more time developing it, and the new job will fund the redesign.

Presence, Trust and Patience provide a sense of security. You realize that you manifest goodness because you no longer put up walls, nor are you trapped by the past, or compare yourself to others. In fact, you are beginning to like yourself!

The fish in the painting above depicts the last and very important mindset: Inner Peace.

She exudes resolve derived from feeling comfortable in her own skin. Her clear eye of wisdom guides her to flow with grace and ease. An encroaching caterpillar urges the fish to get on with her transformation, and even demonstrates the process of disintegration and transformation. But the magenta-colored fish remains unperturbed, breathing joyous bubbles and spilling her happiness into the water. This fish has achieved a peace that will never leave her, regardless of the circumstances.

Flowing with the river of life, fish understands that whatever happens, no matter what appears in front of her, it all happens for her, accepting it all with eagerness. She notices the floating wings behind her but they are not yet part of her. She is present, she trusts her connection to Spirit, to her guides and protectors, and her inter-connection to all that is. She trusts that by being absolutely present and alert, she is at peace, she is happy. She patiently allows the wings to come to her.

She will transform into a Butterfly Fish because of her constant baseline of inner peace and happiness. She is now ready to craft her goals and watch anything she wishes come to life!

The Butterfly Fish Framed in a Sample Room

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.

Seeing Peace

Seeing Peace by Lidia Kenig-Scher

After I consciously invited divine light; it simply happened.
I began to see peace as far as my eye could see and beyond it.
I breathed quietly and absorbed what I now know was the here and now.
______________________

Although when I painted this work I did not know it, the art signaled a turn in understanding my life and my path. It is decidedly different from the abstract works I had been creating for the past decade where I was guided to play with colors, textures and random shapes to explore thoughts, beliefs, actions and emotions and grow from the process.

I liked the finished canvas, yet I set it aside as an interesting event, trusting that in time, I would understand its purpose.

Meanwhile, the past holidays yielded all sorts of interesting commissions along with a nasty fall. Sustaining a concussion, all I could do is lick my wounds while embellishing several orders for Door Protector prints while chanting the mantras.

One morning, and after nearly four months of the art sitting in the corner of my bedroom I was drawn to contemplate it. I admitted that the concussion-induced confusion ushered in mostly positive outcomes. Finances were good, I received high praise for my new works, was invited to stage a successful solo exhibit and I felt buoyant. Most interactions with others where rewarding and I was even able to release the painful grip that an important relationship had on me trusting that in time, I would be able to understand the gift embedded in the difficulties I have long experienced with it.

 On balance, I saw that I fulfilled my intention for last year; to embrace Grace and thus be at peace with what is, knowing that what unfolds in my life is what I need at the moment without guilt, regret, blame, anger, or despair.

And the painting vividly reflects it. There is an open and clear sky. Long vistas and new growth are evident in the landscape and serenity breeds trust. I know that even if on some mornings, heavy clouds obscure the sun; the fiery celestial body is still there shining brightly. If I am patient, after a storm I will see it in all its glory.

The images also encouraged me to ask what was after Embracing Grace. It presented me with the opportunity to hang in the quiet and fertile void of an open sky-mind clothed in resilient faith.

It was then that I consciously invited divine light and it simply happened.
I began to see peace as far as my eye could see and beyond it.
I breathed quietly and absorbed what I now know was the here and now.

In Seeing Peace I felt a Storm of Divine Light changing me forever!

Below is the painting in the current exhibit in Lexington, MA. It is available for purchase at LidiaScherArt

Gallery Opening Night March 2018

I Can Walk on Stormy Seas

I Can Walk on Stormy Seas by Lidia Kenig-Scher

I accepted this commission with much excitement from a client who had added a room in her home to be her new office. She asked me to use the colors and the inspiration from a painting of a difference size she had seen on my website. I did not know that in completing the painting, we would both learn to walk on stormy seas!

You know that I paint intuitively by focusing on the client’s needs; those spoken and those whispered by Spirit as it guides my hand. The acrylic pouring process used in this art is rather unpredictable and somewhat difficult to control. Trust tends to be the best approach to creating with the technique and it easily dovetails with my painting mindset.

It turned out that I wasn’t in a trusting state of mind.

The projected 2 to 3 weeks’ timeline took nearly 8 weeks, three canvases, a freak accident and lots of patience from the artist and the client.

First I snagged the last canvas locally available in the requested size and I was psyched. Next I sat in meditation. I waited; waited some more and I felt very conflicted.

Thoughts of my client danced in my head. I knew her to be a successful marketing guru and a warm and caring individual who did not have an easy relationship with abstract art or with spiritually guided works. I also knew that she loved my art, appreciated my creativity, had attended my classes and ordered this painting based on an abstract one she saw on my website.

With my ego fully in charge, doubts and fear popped up. By mid-December, the painting that I completed reflected anger and frustration. My ego wanted to “fix it” and I neglected to respect the truth of my work.

I did not entertain that this painting was not unlike the Door Protectors I create or the spiritually conceived art I paint when I consciously agree to be a channel for the creations that the Universe sends me. And I rejected the implication that the anger and frustration I painted was channeled from the client.

I later found out that it had!

The day before New Year’s, and with a car packed for a holiday trip, I slipped on black ice just outside my house, needed 4 staples on my scalp and was diagnosed with a concussion. As I laid on my bed that night, I recognized that I allowed my mind run the show.

As I healed, I considered that my client may have experienced the emotions now imprinted in the first painting and with limited use of my thinking faculties; I went about mending us both through another painting.

In the weeks that followed, I could not help but practice letting the ego-mind rest and recede to be the servant it’s meant to be. I went back to relying on the most trusting source of truth; the heart-mind. In between naps, I chanted, I prayed, I contemplated and did simple, mindless tasks.

I was also guided to start another painting, as the second one did not reflect the original model.

One morning I went into the studio, turned up the volume on a musical version of the Wish Granting Jewel mantra I chant and write on the Door Protectors and became a vessel for Divine Will. As I aligned with higher guidance I felt balanced, whole and filled with Light and Love and began to prepare the paints without expectations. I did not look at the sample, I simply allowed Light and Love to illuminate and guide my actions.

I called this final painting I Can Walk on Stormy Seas, after the second line in the refrain of You Raise Me Up, a song beautifully performed by Josh Groban, music written by Rolf Lovland with lyrics by Brendan Graham. It certainly reflected the process of creating the commission.

When I delivered the painting and shared the process with the client, she confirmed that prior to my accident, she had experienced anger and frustration precisely around the time I started creating her artwork. In turn, I shared with her how I surrendered to the healing process: I released my grip on trying to complete what was not ready. I became still and as expressed in the song’s lyrics; by just “waiting in the silence” I created an opening. I became a passage for Spirit to come and “sit awhile with me”.

In the end, I created a tool for us both to give up on the anger, forgive ourselves and the source of frustration and come, at any time “when [our] hearts burdened be”, to trust that Spirit will raise us up to walk on stormy Seas.

I am so grateful for my clients, my friends, my students, my neighbors and my family who reached out to help me heal with Reiki treatments, chiropractic care, prayers, texts, calls, love and laughter.

With all this help I Can Walk on Stormy Seas to be “more than I can be”!

The Wave Always Dies

Arising Wisdom by Lidia Kenig Scher (c) 2016

“There is a sea over which waves come and go, but the sea remains the same. The waves are not separate from the sea, but the waves are not the sea. Waves are only forms born of the sea, just appearances which take form and die…The sea is unborn, the wave is taking birth. The sea never dies; the wave always dies. The moment the wave knows that it is the sea, it goes beyond the chain of life and death. But as long as the wave believes that it is a wave it is within the possibility of birth and death”  Osho- Dimensions Beyond the Known, Chapter 2

In a week where many thought they lost their minds, I had to remind myself that life is a field of potentiality and that what is occurring in our world are just appearances which take form and eventually die.

This artwork started out as a demonstration on techniques for creating with alcohol paints on a surface called Yupo. Given the relative lack of control over the media, it is rather easy to see now that continuing to work on the piece over the next few days was a good choice. It mirrored the volatility and emotional content of what was happening around me.

Working with the colors and accepting the quickly changing nature of the inks every time I added an item, I ended painted a turbulent ocean, as in a Tsunami and topped it with both the sun and the moon, as in an eclipse.

Fire and water.

While eclipses are catalysts for change, they also provide portals of choice.

Tsunamis are ocean waves triggered by powerful undersea earthquakes. They bring about deep cleansing to the land, catching and forcefully moving everything in its path.

Both forecast lasting change.

Both eclipses and Tsunamis are natural occurrences.

Like the land, we sometimes need to create powerful internal earthquakes and will profit from deep cleansing.

Eventually the land and the water settle, the wind subsides and the sun provides nourishment to build anew.

It is hard for us humans to comprehend the magnitude of what we see and cannot control, because much like witnessing a huge wave, we can only glimpse the surface of the water.

In the end all storms bring goodness, both human and ecological because we work with what is instead of trying to change the storms’ course.

It is worth remembering that water is always moving seeking the low ground. When the land is high the flow is fast. As the terrain comes closer to the valleys, it becomes a nourishing gentle flow.

In these troubling and confusing times, we must remember that we are the ocean, and so is the wave.

When we begin to see the wave as indestructible, we create and unnatural Tsunami.

The sea never dies; the wave always dies!

Catch the wave of Arising Wisdom here!

Nothing But a School in Which to Learn

Untitled and Unfinished by Lidia Kenig Scher

Creating art always teaches me about patience, presence and trust. Today was no exception.

Rousing from a deep slumber and trying to remember a couple of dreams I know were troublesome, I heard an inner voice asking me to be silent. It urged me to “let go and let God”; for a quiet mind nourishes body, mind and spirit. After about 30 minutes in the cushion, I decided to continue being silent and allowing God to speak in the studio.

I set the canvas on the easel, pulled out some Prussian blue and Zinc white and filled a large bucket with distilled water. I grabbed a 3” flat brush and added plain water to some smaller tubs, to clean the brushes as needed. I picked some interesting papers from the shelf above the easel and placed them on another table, then…I let go.

With total presence and trust I put the blue paint directly on the canvas and played with the color, the water and the brush with total abandon. White acrylic was added and I saw how easily it glided, when the huge watery brush carried it throughout the surface. No fear found its way into the room as I picked up some alcohol and allowed it to alter the blue/white dance. I  grabbed a medium yellow color and allowed it to drip from the top, further exploding the drips by misting fine water through a spray bottle. I heard myself humming and noticed myself smiling. I felt wholly nourished!

Patience said hello when I began to feel the urgency to end the painting today; a sure sign that I became attached to a clearly premature outcome, as I prefer that the paint dry…naturally. I allowed Patience to guide me back to Presence and Trust that Spirit-Within-Me, or how I address God, was gently counseling me to quit. It was time to attend to some mundane tasks. As I turned the canvas upside down and liked it I knew I would use this unfinished symphony of blues, whites and yellows to head this week’s post.

I am not sure where this is all going. The muse and I have another scheduled session later on this week which I will surely share on the next post. What I know for sure, is that when we have a quiet mind, new ideas just pop…naturally. Creativity is at its highest. When we are fully present in whatever we are doing, the heart and mind work in unison and urgency disappears. We know what to do and when to do it. As we allow the heart to take the lead, the mind becomes an effective ally. For the heart Trusts and God’s grace comes through nourishing every moment of our lives.

Osho taught that “life is nothing but a school in which to learn”. I learn through art. How do you practice your lessons? Chime in, I love to read your comments, and please, have a nourishing week!

Lidia

Trusting Like the Fool

Trust by Lidia Kenig Scher (c)

Trusting myself and my path most often takes great courage. Yet I do it because opening my heart and painting is what I do, what I teach and what makes me smile every morning and every night. I called this painting Trust, after noticing the clown-like face of a woman who had appeared on the canvas. Her shaggy hair and puffy nose bespeaks of her inner happiness. She is there and present to the winter’s winds with an utter sense of calm amidst a blizzard where she chooses to see golden blossoms instead of frozen puffs. With her thoughts and her gaze, she is able to transform icy stalactites into purple conduits of pure love and warmth.

There is light everywhere and the more she smiles, the warmer her breath becomes. She is clearly a witness to her purpose. She trusts her path, appreciates her value and embraces her worth, and so sparks of pure light bubble out of her third eye. Blessings of a fool one may say, for she keeps on painting, on teaching and on surrendering to the joy of creating.

Osho said “A fool is one who goes on trusting; a fool is one who goes on trusting against all his experience. You deceive him and he trusts you, and you deceive him again, and he trust you. Then you will say that he is a fool, he does not learn. His trust is tremendous; his trust is so pure that nobody can corrupt it…In the beginning it is going to be very difficult. The world will start taking advantage of you…let them…Even if you are cheated and deceived and robbed, let it happen, because that which is really yours cannot be robbed from you…And each time you don’t allow situations to corrupt you, that opportunity will become an integration inside. Your soul will become more crystallized.”

In the last few weeks I encountered situations that tested my path and my purpose. I let others think that they were hurting me, that they were robbing me, and deceiving me. Poor fellows, would say Osho. The more I became a witness of events, people and situations, the more I invited trust in my truth and joy in my worth. They thought I was a fool and snickered; I agreed.

This fool did not allow any situation to corrupt her. Instead I created this piece in true foolhardy spirit. I put the past and the doubts behind and became a happy clown now able to transform even lead into gold. My soul has indeed become more crystallized.

TRUST is a 20″ x 24″ mixed media on canvas. The original is well priced @ $300.00 and is ready to go on and transform a space into one of glee, calm and yes; trust. Be a fool, buy it now @ http://www.lidiascherart.com

Meanwhile, the work is now also on view at Chestnut Hill Chiropractic and Rehabilitation in Newton, MA until the beginning of Summer.

Have an awesome week.

Found On A Box of Cereal…Organic In Many Ways

“Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you”, said William James. I say…give it a go and follow your dreams. Paint your best picture. Create your vision. Tomorrow you may be in a different world…maybe Rob’s world? I wonder what he is up to?

Ton of bricks

As usual, I am going along happily, and towards the end of meditation class Lidia throws my weekly ton of bricks… as I am leaving no less!

The theme for class was, “Excuses Begone” by Dr. Wayne Dyer. I don’t think that I have this bit mastered, but I have made some pretty tough choices in life and made a conscious decision to live a life of passion and let go of what did not fit me. I left a lucrative corporate career, and now live in a space of authenticity. Do I make excuses and allow my “stuff” to get in the way, absolutely, but for big things in life, I’m all set– pretty clear.

As I am pumping my spiritual chest and visualizing myself patting myself on the back, this little comment halted me to a stop…. unfulfilled wishes are your handicaps.

Oh, yeah, guilty as charge. I completely obsess over what I have not accomplished or how it does not match my expectations of the goals I had set for myself. Going to jail for this one- lifetime without parole.

And yet, I was totally liberated by this statement. As if in that moment my soul said, Pay attention, girl, this one is for you. Indeed it was. I have to say, it has been less than a week since I have been obsessing (not just thinking, mind you) about this little statement, and something about the awareness of this set me free.

I got that I am planting seeds, and seeds take a while to germinate, sprout, and the plant then grows, and grows, flowers, fruit, well, you get it. There is a cycle, it does take… time, and yet how we water or feed the seeds is key. I can water with impatience or trust, I can fertilize with doubt or clarity. I have a choice, and I can open myself up to whatever the cycle of this planting takes me, knowing that the surprise is always good because of the intention and what I have been feeding the seeds (and myself too, to boot!)

Life is a cycle, and so are our manifestations. Sit back & enjoy the show, where you get to be a character.

Hugs,

Asha

p.s. and as a confirmation, I received a newsletter that talked just about that from Fabienne Fredrickson, check her.

Asha Ramakrishna is  a writer, business woman, wife & Mommy. Connect with her on Facebook, under Asha Stories or visit her blog @ http://www.ashastories.com