Intention Sisters and Friends

Judith Ashley

If you've followed this blog at all, you know two other women are my "Intention Sisters" and we talk each week on the phone and each day focus on each other's Intentions. When I first registered for the Desert Dreams Conference, my plan was to spend time with my friend, Lois who has started a business located at Melrose Market (more about that in another post).

But then, in December, one of my Intention Sisters moved from Washington to the Phoenix area of Arizona and later this spring, my other Intention Sister announced she and her husband were celebrating their wedding anniversary in Flagstaff and she'd be in Phoenix around the dates of the Conference!

Lois

I flew in on Thursday. Lois picked me up. We all met up at the Chaparral Suites before going off to dinner at Malee's on Main, a local Thai restaurant. After dinner we returned to the room and visited!

Sunday, Gimi returned to spend the afternoon with Lois and me. We decided to check out what was going on at Vision Quest, a metaphysical store, on Scottsdale Road. When I walked in the door, I immediately noticed a display about Sacred Geometry. While Sacred Geometry seems the most natural spirituality for one of the characters to rely on in my series The Sacred Women's Circle, it isn't something I know much about.

The Intention Sisters: Judith, Gimi, Connie

The Universe was watching out for me because I met Mikhaela St. John who has a vast knowledge of Sacred Geometry. Mikhaela was generous with her time and I learned a lot from her. I purchased the divination cards she's created using Sacred Geometry and I'll certainly rely on her expertise when I am writing Gabriella's story!

Another practitioner at the shop was Safeer Mahdi, who treated Lois and Gimi to a sample of how he uses musical auras as healing tool. Both women reported they felt better after a few minutes with Safeer.

One of my traditions when in Scottsdale is to eat at Los Olivos Mexican Restaurant and our dinner there Sunday night was excellent!

Monday it was time to pack up and head home. Here are some pictures I took of blooming cactus. If you look closely at the last two pictures you'll see a hole in the cactus. A cactus wren had just flown into the hole. Wouldn't that have been wonderful if I'd actually captured that moment?

Throughout my stay, I heard a bird singing. The bird turned out to be a Grackle. While I was at Desert Dreams, a long time client became critically ill and wasn't expected to survive the weekend.  I was also assessing where I was in my writing and wondering if I was supposed to write these stories for myself rather than for others.

Grackle energy is about emotions and how they can color our thinking process so that we see situations incorrectly. I had to laugh when I got home and looked up Grackle energy...if I was on the wrong path would I have won Bella Media Management's basket?

www.JudithAshleyRomance.com
www.RomancingTheGenres.com
www.FreeReadsFromTheGenre-istas.com

Connections and Intentions

Connections take time, effort, and energy. Whether it is a phone call, letter, card, email, or visit, to stay in touch with, to stay connected with someone takes Intention.

I've found myself sending the energy of unconditional love to people I no longer talk to or write or visit. It is my way of maintaining some sort of connection because these are people who have been very important in my life but right now I'm not expending the time, effort, or energy to have more direct contact. I don't really want to totally let them go, so I don't.

Relationships take everyone involved to keep the connection. Of course there are times when you call more or they write more, but over a span of time it needs to balance out. And who determines the span of time? We do.

If our Intention is to stay connected at a direct level (calls, letters, visits), we find the time and energy and we make the effort. If our Intention fades because our focus is diverted we find reasons and excuses instead of time and energy.

From my point of view, it is better for me to take stock of my connections and be purposeful, to set my Intention on those relationships I truly want in my life. I can always send unconditional love to those who have been important in my life, to maintain our connection on a different level.

It is the time of year when people send cards and notes to each other, or call to catch up. The Holiday Season ... think about your Intentions with your Connections as you decide whether to connect with anyone, everyone, or a selected group. See if the decisions you make add joy, effortless, ease to your holiday celebrations and let me know what you find out.

An Intention and Then What?

My Intention is to post once a week. If you look back at my last post, you'll see I'm within that time frame, however I started blogging on Thursday, then went to Monday, and then to Tuesday. Last week it was Thursday or Friday and today it is Wednesday.

Why is it so hard to follow through?
Why are things 'spaced' off? or forgotten?

If I had the answer I'd let you know, I'd write articles, I'd give speeches, I'd definitely share!

What I do know is that when we beat on ourselves when we slip up, when we don't meet our expectations, we only hurt ourselves and we only increase the probability that we'll mess up again. And more than likely sooner because Anxiety is not a friend of follow-through.

Life is about experiencing, growing, living, changing.
Life is about joy, happiness, grace, and gratitude.

If you are like me, you have problems being perfect. You may know on some level you are perfect just the way you are, but ...

Welcome to Life, Welcome to the Journey. Remember to enjoy the process, be kind to yourself. If you are, you're more likely to easily and effortlessly follow through on those Intentions.

Rebooting

I think that is the term to use when the computer freezes up or stops working. We 'reboot' it and get it moving again. Right now that term seems to be accurate as it is now Tuesday and I'm just sitting down to write and post this blog.

When I started blogging in May, I posted on Thursday. Then I was unavailable for three weeks and had three guest bloggers. With some technical glitches, one post didn't make it on Thursday and one was posted on Wednesday.

So I began thinking about the day of the week I post and decided Thursday was not my best day as I have a standing meeting and work from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Friday. What day would work? Monday!

Last week I posted on Monday but this week - nope. It's Tuesday.

Looping back to the title of this blog: Rebooting. Another slide in my life is my daily practice of stating my Intentions first thing in the morning. I've had several days when I've not formally said them at all. I will admit the idea of them flits through my mind and some of them are mentally repeated, but the formal practice I kept up for over six months has slipped away.

So I'm "rebooting". I could continue to let it slide, continue to be haphazard about my Intentions and when I blog. That certainly is my choice. But, when I thought about how hectic my life has been the past couple of weeks, how tired I feel, and how rushed (one of the reasons I've procrastinated) I truly do know I've not been more busy than at any other time since late January.

There is a balance between being rigid, slavish even to a routine and being sloppy, lax even.

When I stated my Intentions each morning, my days were smoother, my busy life easier, there was more joy and happiness and my life did feel as if it were easier and more effortless.

It's 10:30 a.m. I'll post this blog and do my Intentions. I'll think about the Synchronicities I've experienced in the hustle and bustle, and I'll count the blessings and miracles that have been a part of my life.

I've 'rebooted' and recognize that life will be and time will pass and more than likely I'll 'reboot' again.

Have you learned to 'reboot' when your life isn't working for you? Are you able to remain in gratitude with yourself as you do it?

Communing in the Mystery

Hello. I am a guest blogger for Judith's blog, Michele Lauren. Actually, this is my first time blogging.

The Mayans have a saying that Life is Art and we are the artists of our lives. There is the similar saying that it isn't what happens in our lives that matters as much as what we say about what happens. For me, ultimately, Life is a Mystery and within the Mystery, I am an artist creating with the tools I have, to the best of my abilities, through my actions, thoughts and feelings.

I remember several years ago, walking the beach near Lincoln City and repeating to myself the single word "connection". It was a request of the Universe, of the Mystery. I wanted to feel more of a connection. I had several people with whom I shared a loving relationship. It was not a lack of love with other people that made me feel somewhat disconnected. It was a lack of conversation with those life forces or energies that swirled about in the Mystery, linking all beings together. I wanted to feel connected to the grandeur of Life. And so I continued walking, voicing my yearning.

Years later, I would say I was setting an intention. A wise friend of mine said that intention is informed energy and when our intentions are spoken with our total being, our mind, heart and soul, they are powerful and are heard. (And when others support our intentions with us, the energy behind the intention grows.)

I learned that intentions, however, are only part of the conversation we can have with the Mysteries. Conversation involves talking, listening and awareness. Listening to our intuitions is a very important type of hearing. Listening to what isn't being verbally said, we know the meaning of what isn't spoken but is felt; that hunch or natural knowing. And finally, the part I personally like the most, is being aware of what appears to be coincidence, unrelated turn of events which subsequently are known to be related;synchronicities. Once I began to be aware of synchronicities, I found that they happen within my life on almost a daily basis.(Is this partly because I have an intention to be aware of syncronicities daily?) Every time I am aware of one, I feel this awesome delight and I know I am connected...as the artist and as the paint within the artist hands. And all is well.

I just finished painting a drum and as in all artist endeavors, I had an intention to create. I had an idea of what I wanted to paint but once involved in the creative process, the creation seemed to take on a life of its'own. As I painted, I listened to my intuition and I followed. I used my best skills and then, when it was completed, I became further acquainted with what had been created.

My drum now had an owl, a fox, a dragonfly, hands, fire and a tree. The meaning of the tree was clear, it was the tree of life, rooted in the earth, reaching into the sky, family....a very ancient symbolism. The hands were the hands of creating, of healing, of completion, a bridge between the world seen and the invisible realms we sense. The hands were blue and in the Mayan symbolism, blue hands are the symbol of the power of creativity and mastery...to bridge, to mend, to support and to lend. I looked up dragonfly and fox in Ted Andrew's book, Animal-Speak. The dragonfly represents the power of light and the fox is the feminine magic of camouflage, shapeshifting and invisibility. The owl, of course, is wisdom... the mystery of magic, silent wisdom, omens and visions in the night. And fire is many things, including creation, passion, purification.

And then I was struck with the synchronicity of it all. Before I had start painting, I had been wondering what I would write about on Judy's blog. I had a general idea but nothing firmly in mind. I decided to simply live with the question and not push myself into finding an answer. As I looked at my drum, I knew it was my answer.

There are many wonderful stories I've heard through the years about intention, intuition and synchronicities or the way we commune with the art of life. What's yours? I'd love to hear.

More thoughts on vibrations

Where do you feel most connected to the energy around you? Some people swear it is by water, the ocean or waterfalls in particular. Others, find a mountain top their source.

Since we are energy, it is possible to be connected at any time, in any place. Do you have a place where you shift your focus and align with the energy forces around you?

Mornings I sit on my couch, facing south, looking out a small window next to my fireplace. The view includes the top of a tree that has morphed into the shape of a bird. My gaze passes through a selenite sphere and a glass ball I made myself. When the sun shines, the sphere becomes a glowing orb of fractures and compartments, drawing me into its mystery.

Where do you most often see energy? The aura of another living being. I was recently at writer's conference and watched one of the key speakers stride in front of his audience, conviction in his voice, his golden aura pulsing. His passion for his subject drew energy from his depths and from the audience around him.

Where do you most often feel the energy inside you expand and grow, reach beyond yourself to include the world around you? What are you doing when caught up in the passion of life? Figure that out and then concentrate your Intention to replicate that sense of connectedness to the source.

It can be done.

The Intention Experiment

If you have a desire to be part of something bigger than yourself, you may find Lynne McTaggart's work inspirational.

The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart chronicles her work to scientifically track the effects of Intention. The sub-title is Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life And The World. Ms McTaggart is the force behind the world's largest 'mind-over-matter' experiment. In this book the author talks about and demonstrates that our thoughts have their own energy and they affect the world around us.

McTaggart is not the first person to suggest that every thought has its own vibrational energy. We all have felt 'vibes' (good and bad) when we've walked into a room or met someone. That vibrational energy can impact something, change something somewhere else in the world.

What Napoleon Hill was talking about is that when we work with two or more people, we can connect with a Universal Source that is comprised of vibrational energy and our Intention will manifests in the here and now.

Do you have a story to share? Let me know if you'd like to be a guest blogger and share your story with others.

The Power of the Brain

The power of focused Intention, the awareness of Synchronicities is not new. I became aware of the power of these concepts in the 1970's when I enrolled in Lifespring, a personal growth program that grew out of the work of Jose Silva's The Silva Method. Practitioners of The Silva Method learn to master their brains, function at a higher level of consciousness, use the power of the alpha brain wave to increase mental activity, tranquility, inspiration, creativity, intuition, etc.

After Lifespring I became acquainted with the works of Napoleon Hill, Denis Waitley, and other's who espoused the idea that we can use the power of our brains to manifest what we want in our lives.

I'd love to hear who has inspired you to look at how Intention and Synchronicities play a part in your life.

An Intentional Welcome

Welcome to my blog. My Intention is to post once a week to begin with.

Were you intrigued by The Secret?

Have you read Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich?

Are you ever surprised when something easily and effortlessly comes into your life - unexpectedly?

If you answered 'yes' to any of those questions, this blog may interest you.