Some of my Art

A water color I did a few weeks ago

I am working on this one today!

Here is the drawing I did last night. I like all the texture and the colors. It developed slowly with random colors, but it turned out to be autumn colors.

Art is an expression of one's self.

Thorn's in my heart

Yesterday I felt like this! Thorn's in my heart. One after another pricking each part of my heart. Well maybe it was the other way around? Now that I look at this picture.  I can see the thorn's are sticking out. So maybe I was the pricking everybody else. Either way it did not feel very good. When I was a kid in the 70's we had a few tools called cold prickly and warm fuzzy.  Of course I always wanted to be a warm fuzzy. How do we feel like a warm fuzzy? With love and compassion, cherishing others. I was so concerned with myself and how I was being treated that I turned into a cold prickly. Anyone who spoke to me would be pricked and I would get pricked too. How could I possibly turn from a cold hearted frustrated prickly to a warm cozy fuzzy? I stopped thinking of myself and thought about all the other people who feel like cold pricklies. They hurt being pricked and pricking others. Just causing pain wherever they go. Compassion built in me and I realized others feel the way I do. It feels horrible. If we all felt like this we would harm each other pricking with every move. Slowly turning everyone into a cold pricklies. This is how life in samsara can be one pain after another. Trapped to feel cold pricklies all the time. It is our mind that causes us to do this from bad habits. But we can change our mind! Is this how we really want to live? I don't think so. What we really want is Love, support, kindness, happiness. We want to feel like a warm cozy fuzzy filled with love and happiness. So why do we keep hurting ourselves and others. Maybe we are attached to feeling this cold prickly way because it has been a habit forever. Either way I know I don't want to feel cold and prickly. Warm and fuzzy is so much better. I just read the story for the first time since I was a kid.  You can too if you like.... Warm Fuzzy Cold Prickly Story What I learned from re reading this story was that we can become easily swayed to think only of ourselves. This in turn destroys our life, makes problems for ourself and others. But if we think about others, have compassion for them and realize how we are hurting them and ourselves with this cold prickly attitude, we can wish them happiness or warm fuzzies and all will be well. So lesson learned. Always keep a supply of warm fuzzies in your bag!

When JeTsongkhapa was Born

Buddha Shakamuni said that Manjushri would be born in The Land of the Snows in 1357 to 1419. JeTsongkhapa lived in Tibet, The Land of the Snows during 1357 to 1419. He was born in 1357 and a drop of the blood from his mother fell to the ground. A white sandal tree grew in that spot. There were one hundred thousand  leaves on the tree with images of Manjushri and Manjushri's mantra 

AH RA PA TSA NA DHI. 

The leaves were considered very precious, and when they fell in Autumn the people would gather them and grind them into a powder. Through tasting this powder many people have been able to cure disease and gain wisdom. 

Making Jewelry

I have so many beads and wire, yet I still get stumped on what to make. This week I made some bracelets, and earrings. It is a process of creativity to put colors together and make something wearable. Sometimes I sit with beads in front of me, hoping to get a creative streak. Eventually it comes and I can see the beads that go together. Here is one earring that I made. Silver findings with a glass bead that has white flowers and a black background. They are beautiful and small. There is a new fashion in earrings lately. One is shorter than the other. Mismatched is in. What do you think about this? Would you wear mismatched earrings?

Miracle's do they appear?

It would be great to make the theme of this year- Miracles. If you expect a miracle every day what would happen? The things we experience are here one minute and gone the next. Things that appear to our mind to be good or bad may be a miracle in disguise. If you expect a miracle you will see a miracle even in what appears to be a bad experience. There may be a miracle hidden inside ready to be discovered but if we are so caught up in the bad experience we will miss it. What kinds of miracles will we experience? Or miss because we chose not to see them? With the thought that we might experience a miracle every day we keep a happy mind always looking for the special experience to happen. What miracles have you seen in the Year 2011? What is a miracle and how do we see them? An unexpected experience good or bad. A friend of mine was driving and got a flat tire. Someone stopped to help, this person was meant to meet them and help them discover meditation classes. The classes changed their life in a positive way. Can you spot a miracle in your life or others? If you see life as an adventure, saying I wonder what will happen next? Let's see without any judgement. If you have a positive mind maybe the miracles will appear. Open up your heart and let the sunshine in, face it with a grin. Miracles happen weather your aware of them or not. It's your choice to see them or wear blinders and plug away at life. If you expect a miracle then maybe you will see one. It may not come in the way you would expect it to. It may surprise you. One day you will say wow that was a miracle. My theme of the year is expect a miracle!