Category: mindfulness

Affirmations, Creativity, inspiration, meditation, mindfulness, passion, Personal Development, Personal growth, spirituality

Out of the Darkness, Into the Light

Adele Satori

Greetings, all, and Happy Solstice! Some of us are celebrating Winter- a time to go within and nurture seeds to emerge in Spring. Some of us are celebrating Summer- long days, being outdoors, readying for the harvests of Fall.

There are festivals of light in many cultures around the world. Wednesday the 25th is the last New Moon of the year. Take a moment, light a candle,or a fire in a fireplace or under the stars, sit for awhile, and take in the light. With each breath, take in comfort, take in love. Imagine your most beautiful Self.

I did this the other night, and looked down the hallway into darkness. I imagined my future Self, and all that is asking to come forward. I walked down the hall and stood in the place of this part of me, and looked down the hall to where I’d been sitting, and acknowledged all the work, the successes, all I had seen as failure, which was really growth and learning. I gave myself words of encouragement and forgiveness.

For the first time saying and really meaning it, I said out loud, to my Self, “I love you, Adele.” It was a beautiful, tender, and most vulnerable moment.

And I walked back down the hall to the present, and played some music on my singing bowls, with my path seemingly more clear.

I invite you to try this exercise, or one of your own making.

Thank you for being a part of my journey. I love you.

Affirmations, creative block, Creativity, focus, goal setting, inspiration, meditation, mindfulness, passion, Personal Development, Personal growth

Minimum Viable Action

Adele Satori

There are times we want to start new habits, yet find it challenging to do so. Today I was introduced to the concept of “minimum viable action”- the smallest possible thing you can do to reach your goal.

I’ve already done this with some things, and advised others to do so. The act of just sitting in a creative space. Or committing to getting out one’s writing materials. The simple act of taking this first step, with consistency, will often lead to the next step, and so on.

One of my life guides recently suggested I start journaling again, as they feel I have a lot to get out.. both for myself and to share with the world. And I have been resistant these past few weeks. My private writing, discovered or sought out by others who snooped, became a betrayal and used against me.

But. I am in my own space now, and the likelihood of that happening is very small. Sitting with this resistance, I realize that the idea letting the thoughts flow from my brain to pen to paper is making me feel raw, and vulnerable, and making some of what is to be expressed… too real.

And I want to start a fresh journal, not in the one I last wrote in 13 years ago. and I need the right pen.. and.. and..

See?

But I got up, grabbed any pen, and any paper, and have begun.

One step at a time.

One stroke of the pen.

One breath.

At.

A.

Time.

And now, dear readers, I ask you this- what is your deepest desire? Does it seem overwhelming? Of course it does! Break it down, yo. What is the smallest thing you can do? Go outside? Simply sit in your creative space? Pick up your musical instrument and hold it?

What minimum viable action will you commit to today, and every day, until it is infused into your way of being?

Turn off everything, and go do it now.

Affirmations, Creativity, focus, goal setting, inspiration, meditation, mindfulness, passion, Personal Development, Personal growth, spirituality

I am passionate about…..

Adele Satori

” I’m passionately involved in life. I love its change, its colour, its movement. to be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, music, paintings- it’s all a miracle. I’ve adopted the technique of living from miracle to miracle.” ~Arthur Rubenstein

I invite you to write on a piece of paper: “I am passionately involved in life”, then add your own list. How will you adopt the technique of living from miracle to miracle?

Put it somewhere where you will see it every day. Breathe it in as your mantra. When you stop seeing it, take is as an opportunity to revise it, and move it somewhere else.

Make the invisible visible.

Attachment, inspiration, mindfulness, Personal Development, Personal growth

Appetite

Adele Satori

apetite

When things come to me, I try to get it into a notebook, but sometimes I grab any scrap of paper handy. This one resurfaced today. In case you can’t read my scribbles, it says “Appetite is not the genuine desire of the soul.”

I’m not sure if it was something I was reading, or listening to, or if it found its way to my brain through the aether!

So timely for this season, which for many of us is one of eating and acquisition.

Appetite is a curious thing. It can be easily awakened by external stimuli. We smell good food, hear a bottle open, catch a certain look from a person, see an ad for some new thing or other we never knew we wanted, but now do.

There is, I feel, nearly always a deeper, more true desire beyond the initial appetite. Maybe even clues to what creates meaning and defines who we are in our lives.
Satisfying corporeal desires in a surface way may indicate a deeper need for comfort, security, and love. For what are we truly hungering?

In acquiring objects, we might feel we are making a show of success, status, safety, avoidance of living in a place of scarcity. Of even existing.

By being aware of the first tickles of an appetite for something, sitting with it a minute and asking “is this what I want, or would I rather be…” without overthinking! I’ve been finding I will often choose something else, that in the end, is more gratifying and meaningful to me.

Wants vs. needs

And sometimes I just want that piece of cake/kiss/shiny new thing. The good old “everything in moderation, even moderation!”

My invitation to you this week, is to at least once, when you think “I want” to then ask yourself “what do I need?” And see if a more genuine desire of the soul appears.
Share in the comments below if you like.

Creativity, focus, inspiration, mindfulness, Personal growth, spirituality

Sources of Inspiration

Adele Satori
“Bond” Alex Grey, 2004

Alex Grey shared this image and quote from his book “The Mission of Art” on his Instagram feed this morning. This book, and quote in particular, have played a huge role in my vision for Crafting the Spirit.

“I”m going to go out on a limb and say that there is a lot of good for anybody in making almost any kind of art. Just as each of us benefits from physical exercise and meditation, even though we may not become professional athletes or enlightened yogis, making art is intensely cathartic and healing, and should be enjoyed by everyone, even those who don’t think they will become the next T.S. Eliot, or Picasso. The at of drawing, or painting, writing poetry, dancing, or making music brings us into personal contact with the creative spirit, and that has inestimable value for enjoyment and self-discovery. The health of the soul depends on whether we can express our creative energy freely of reel we must keep it hidden and suppressed.”