The Art of Looking for a Long Time

“You have to give it a long time,” said my traveling companion, Alix.

We were in Paris, perched before Monet in the Musee de l’Orangerie at the Jardin de Tuileries. The Orangerie's twin oval showrooms display Claude Monet’s massive Water Lily panels (Les Nymphéas), four in each room with a long viewing seat in the center. They are huge, each painting measuring about seven feet high and 42 feet wide; it’s a surround-sound visual extravaganza.

I was burned out and tired from viewing art most of the day. We had gotten up early, breaking fast with croissant and cappuccino at the Café Voltaire on the Seine, then given most of our time and energy to the Impressionist masters at the Musee d’Orsay – the most beautiful museum in Paris, in my opinion. It was late afternoon by the time we got to the Orangerie to dive into Monet’s water lily masterpieces, and honestly, I was feeling less than inspired. My feet hurt, and I knew Alix’s must have ached, too. She was doing amazing for 85 years of age, determined to spend time with the Great Ones of the French Salon. I mustered my final hours of art-viewing energy for Monet, yet my eyes glazed over as I struggled to find the oomph in the oil and canvas. I began to see a blur of violets, greens, and pinks rather than any coherent beauty. Uh-oh, I thought. I've hit the Parisian point of diminishing returns. Art-intake threshold reached!

I had not only reached saturation point: I had been desensitized. Darling Monet, Monet, Monet has been marketed into money, money, money. We see his work everywhere: advertising, coasters for cups, coffee mugs, calendars, pens, greeting cards, bathroom art and shower curtains. Dear old Claude’s ingeniousness is a victim of overexposure. But my visit to l’Orangerie taught me that just because something is seen seemingly too much or too often, it still holds incredible, innate value. You just may have to look much closer, and more carefully.

Taking Alix’s words to heart (You have to give it a long time), I decided to put on my glasses, which I rarely wear since my prescription is so mild. I settled in on the sofa in the middle of the room and let Monsieur Monet be revealed to me. Baff! I started to see life emerge from the masterpiece as my eyes perceived new dimension. Then, I got up and down a few times, walking back and forth and side to side along the massive paintings, admiring Claude’s great work with fresh eyes. Slowly, slowly, the immense talent shone its light into my weary mind. After several minutes of letting the art seep into me, I began to see – really see – how each brush stroke was placed with consciousness, deliberateness, and skill. It was no longer just a painting of a pond with floating flowers in a country colony at Giverny, no way...

Genius is revealed when we look closer

Everything we see and experience is perception and subjective. We are the eternal subject. How does this apply to everyday existence? If we don’t like the way our life looks to us, we can try backing off a bit and looking from a greater distance, or we can zoom in closer. We may begin to see that there is a deeper rightness of fit, a resonant harmony to the placement pattern of each swath and swirl. We come to understand the underlying beauty of the situation, and how it all fits together, with sometimes extraordinary complexity. A seemingly haphazard concoction of events reveals a masterpiece.

Let depth and subtlety speak to the soul. Like contemplating an overexposed Monet masterpiece, we can ask ourselves: have we reached a point where an objet d’affection is lacking luster, or failing to inspire? Have we fallen out of love with something or someone simply because we think we know it already? Look again, and look deeper. As my wise artist friend reminded me, sometimes we need to look for a long time.

Monet's Nympheas Water Lilies (close-up), Paris

Für Alix und Fritz Rauh

Travel Magic

Did you know that Mercury, mischievous messenger of the gods, is the god of travel? He is also the god of synchronicity, just like his Greek counterpart, Hermes. As most consummate travelers will agree, the more you move, the more 'coincidences' occur.

One of my favorite aspects of travel is getting in tune with a much higher degree of synchronicity. Frankly, it’s fun! Little miracles pop up here, there, and everywhere while on the road.

In actuality, life is a bundle of synchronicities. Everything is happening perfectly, even when it appears to be out of sync. It is the duration of an event in time and space that gives it perspective. Most of the time, we can only perceive a tiny snippet of a ‘happening,’ and from that viewpoint, we judge it as good or bad.

If we were able to have a bird’s eye of the entire arc of a happening, from a universal view, we would see all of the ins and outs that make an event. An event, just like a thing or a person, is not static. It is constantly changing and is an appearance like a wave that arises and passes away. If we go deeper into it, in a micro view, or we back out to the ultimate macro, we see all the various facets affecting the appearance, and we see there is no good or bad. Judgment as bad or good is fallacious in the absolute sense because it never has the entire picture, the entire duration in time and space.

Life itself is magic. We do not realize the absolute precision of elements fitting together, so we forget that everything is synchronous. When we travel, and Hermes is having his field day, the synchronicities line up again and again – so we notice. We are also outside of our usual rhythm and routine. Since the backdrop is different, the way everything fits together so miraculously comes to our attention.

The trick is to remember that “travel magic” is available to us all the time, whether we’re on the road or not. All we have to do is take note. Hermes leaves us clues at every turn. Noticing the small synchronicities in life trains us to trust the grand play of life events. We learn that some things take a little longer to play out – even if it's seemingly bad or painful today, it may simply be taking longer to come to completion. As one saying goes: “It all works out in the end. If it hasn’t yet worked out, it’s not the end.”

I’m currently traveling through Germany as a companion to an elderly family friend, a lovely 85-year old artist-photographer revisiting her homeland. In the dining car on the train from Frankfurt to Berlin, we were discussing what makes an artist’s mind different than a non-artist’s mind.

“In my experience, one main difference between a non-artist’s mind and an artist’s mind,” I said to my friend over the sound of the train's clackety-clack with its lovely hum, “is that the artist notices the possibility in every moment. It is living in magical realism.There are no ordinary moments. Life is magic.”

At that moment, the waiter appeared at our table to take our order for post-lunch coffee. My friend ordered herself an espresso, and I ordered a cappuccino. After the waiter disappeared, I thought to myself, Oh, I wish I hadn’t ordered a cappuccino. I actually just want a normal coffee. Oh well, too late. I’m happy with what Life brings. And I went back to watching the green German countryside roll by outside the train windows.

Seconds later, the waiter reappeared at our table. “Wir haben leider keine Milch mehr, also koennen wir keinen Capuccino machen. Darf ich Ihnen etwas anderes bringen?” (I’m sorry, we are out of milk, and I cannot offer a cappuccino. Can I offer you something else?

“Oh, fine!” I replied. “I’ll have a coffee instead.

Everyday magic.

Try it for a while – notice how Life brings you everything that you need and you can’t really make a mistake. Now, perhaps that’s all perspective, too, but isn’t it a nicer way of viewing the world, given the choice? Sure makes for happier travels.

Erin Reese is a writer, astrologer, and intuitive consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. For readings and spiritual counseling by Skype, phone or email, contact her via email.

Show Me the Way: Allies, Teachers, and Guides

Click image to enlarge

I was recently invited to discuss India, Travel, and Following Your Dreams with a group of 9th graders. I was honored and excited to make this presentation at Marin Catholic School because I was strongly influenced by interesting adults throughout my childhood, those who did something totally out of the ordinary. I still recall the teachers and artists that touched my heart, and the non-traditional adults who told me, "Erin, you can do whatever you want in life, especially if you do well in school. Get the best grades you can and you can go far, far, far." So I did. I believed them, and I took it to heart. I busted my behind and got scholarships that paid my way through university. There, I learned how to focus, finish, and be accountable to an incredible amount of hard work.

The most influential teacher I had was Mr. Huber, my 7th grade English teacher. That very first day of class, he told us to sit down and keep a journal every single school day, and we would be graded on it. He promised not to read what we wrote if we stapled the page shut, but he would check our journals to make sure we wrote something each morning. We could write about a good meal we had the night before, or a boy we had a crush on, or a funny movie we saw last weekend. Anything at all. But we had to write at least a paragraph every single morning. Thus, my first disciplined "Morning Pages" a la Julia Cameron's The Artists Way began at age eleven.

Writing daily stuck. I never stopped! I have all those notebooks stuffed inside box after box, surely to provide fodder for something, somewhere.

Outside of school as a pre-teen, I read all of young adult author Judy Blume's books (Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, etc.). Blume's work touched me so deeply that I sat down and wrote a post letter to her via her publisher. Several weeks later, I received an actual reply in the snail mail, with her photograph, autograph and a hand-written thank you. I was so inspired I could barely breathe.

So, when requested to present to a Global Studies class of 9th graders on the topic of India, Travel, and Following Your Dreams, you can bet I showed up. I donned a traditional Indian outfit (salwar kameez), plastered a bindi on my forehead, loaded up my wrists with sparkly bangles, and toted along my Bindi Girl book and a short video presentation with stills from my upcoming sequel, which you can view right here...

Remember that our story and our experiences may inspire another, young or old, to take the plunge and live their heart's dreams. We must stand tall as examples that anything is possible. My current artist's motto is: "Don't listen to anyone about anything, ever." Sounds extreme, I know, but here I mean, ignore the naysayers. I mean that if someone says the economy is bad and we shouldn't try x, y, or z, ignore them. If they say that you're too old or too financially unstable to go off traveling, or you don't have enough credentials to apply for a job that sounds great to you, plug your ears. Sometimes we need to ignore rational, common sense precisely because it is common and we are being called to create something brand new. Nothing is impossible. As I quote Goethe in my book, The Adventures of Bindi Girl:

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

Align yourself with believing mirrors and pioneering folks who have busted out of the status quo to forge new territories. Sync up with those who put their faith in their vision more than the current paradigm. Let them be your allies, your cheerleaders, your teachers and guides.

Namaste,
Erin

AWARENESS - DURING THE DAY AND NIGHT

A piece from my teacher, Ramesh Balsekar, on Awareness.

When we are aware that we are unaware, there is awareness.

The greater the presence of awareness, the less the mind struggles to find peace.

This can lead to a more restful ease, both day and night.

Enjoy. Love ~ Erin

AWARENESS – DURING THE DAY AND NIGHT

RAMESH BALSEKAR
(A Buddha's Babble, Zen Publications, 2006) 

During the day when I am aware, what happens is that I am alive, living, moving, vital; in that state there is no question of any conflict, any choice to be made. When, however, I am not attentive, not really aware of what is, then I become self-centered, nervous, anxious, and I fall back into despair.

Satsang in Mumbai, India

When I see I have not been aware, there is awareness. To be aware that I am not aware is awareness. In awareness, there is complete harmony; harmonious and integrated, then there is no division between the me and the other, between the observer and the observed. When there is no harmony there is fragmentation and a big divide between the “me” and the “other” – “me” against the “other.” When there is harmony, when there is awareness, there is the total intelligence that every individual human being is an instrument through which the Source functions and brings about whatever is supposed to happen according to Cosmic Law.

Is there an awareness when one is asleep as there is when one is awake? If one is aware during the daytime in patches, then that continues when one is asleep, this is obvious. But when one is aware – aware that one has been attentive, a totally different movement has taken place. Then when one is asleep there is an awareness of total stillness. When the mind is deeply aware during the day, that awareness in depth keeps the mind quiet during sleep. When you are awake during the day and aware of your unawareness, then at the end of the day, there is no disorder. Then the brain does not have to struggle during the night to bring about the order. The brain becomes totally rested and quiet and the next morning the brain is totally alive and vibrant. All that is necessary is to be aware of the unawareness whenever it happens.

Erin Reese is a writer, astrologer, and intuitive consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. For readings and spiritual counseling by Skype, phone or email, contact her here.

Earth Day Readings by Donation and other news!

Day hike along the coast

Earth Day Readings by Donation

Just for today!

HOW: Email your single question (one question per donation, please) directly to me, along with any specifics about your situation that I might need to know. I will respond within 24-48 hours with a personalized write-up of your intuitive reading, plus full-color photograph of the Tarot cards drawn for your question.

You may also request your reading via Skype or phone appointment.

WHEN: Send your question/request to me by end of day (midnight) April 22, 2013.

I’m looking forward to reading for you.

Preserve and Protect

Yesterday, I celebrated new life and new beginnings by taking a long walk along the beach. It was a gorgeous California day in the old surf town of Pacifica. Kids, dogs, hippies and hard-working average folks were out in full force barbecuing, playing in the sand, watching the surfers, and just plain getting down ‘n dirty with the beloved Earth. I returned home Sunday night a much happier camper: my face slightly sunkissed with new color, my heart hopeful and more buoyant. I had been infused with a great dose of GREEN, the color of the heart chakra, the color of trees and other plants which provide oxygen for our planet, the color of healing.

Playing "Holi," Indian festival of spring

During my sunset stroll, I gave thanks for the California Coastal Act of 1976 and the California Coastal Commission (CCC), established in 1972 with the mission to “protect, conserve, restore, and enhance the environment of the California coastline." Of all California’s environmental laws, the Coastal Act has one of the most obvious effects on our surroundings. Without this Act we would be having a hard time enjoying the pristine shores and the splendor of the Pacific along Highway 1. Sometimes laws, boundaries, regulations do exactly what they intend to do: preserve and protect life.

How can we preserve and protect that which is good for our hearts and well-being this spring? Do we know when to nourish relationships and our bodies? Do we know how to regulate the fighting warrior energies within ourselves in order to heal and to grow a new leaf? I've done a lot of this lately: beach strolls, hikes in the forest, and celebrating the Indian festival of spring, Holi, with the kids in the park. Now is the time of Taurus, the earthy Bull, and spring is in full bloom. Let’s foster what is necessary to live a healthy, rich life.

News Flash!

Bindi Girl’s at Book Passage

My India travel book, The Adventures of Bindi Girl, is now available for purchase at the much-loved-by-local-authors Bay Area bookstore, Book Passage.

If you don’t have a paperback version yet, why not consider stopping by their shop in Corte Madera or the San Francisco Ferry Building to pick up a copy? (When they know people want it, they’ll keep it in stock!)

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Love,

Erin