A Good Friday :: Costume Cocktail Party

There is a trend brewing… more than a trend, a way of being. Of course it is not new. It is simply deepening and that has some breathing a sigh of relief while others are locked up in confusion!

A few years ago Darren and I started hosting these crazy parties called Good Friday Costume Cocktail Parties. It was an awesome way to capitalize on a holiday that most people had off en route to the Easter Shenanigans. The parties were a huge success and allowed my kitchen and photography skills even more room to play… as well as our friends to come over into a casual and creative setting to just be. The only ‘rule’ was to dress how you would dress everyday if there were no judgements at all. This was the beginning of the question What would I be… if I listened to me? A good question for a party theme… but is really poking at the bigger picture too…

I’m noticing within my circle of friends and beyond that collectively there is an equal willingness and stuck-ness in moving forward. I’m feeling an over lapping pattern associated with creativity which is in part why I began my Unlocking Creative Expression painting series. I didn’t know that so many people wanted to know about creativity… about being original. All the photography seminars are touching on it but not getting to the root of it. Why? In part it is a catch phrase  ‘be original’, ‘be yourself’… I even use it somewhere on one of my sites… ‘be yourself, everyone else is taken.’

Creativity, originality and non-judgement comes from a deep- SUPER DEEP place with in. It can’t really be taught… it is simply a will and determination on your part to go in search of it.  As an opposite example reading books and studying what others are doing and how they did it… is surface… it is copying and in it’s best form inspiration.

My favorite translation that I read from the Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra (Buddha’s teachings on enlightenment): When Buddha reached his enlightened state and began traveling to teach what he had learned… he was not planning for a religion, or a philosophy of his teachings to be birthed. In other words his goal was not to start the study of Buddhism but rather to teach everyone how to become Buddhas.

A few years ago I wrote a story about habit and the new paradigm that just arrived called Novelty. To engage and fuel it you are being asked to let go of habit… everything that has formed the way you are today. From the way you dress, the food you eat, the route you take to work… even the work you are doing. Novelty is about taking a risk… having courage to try something else… and in that courage feeling the excitement that sparks because you are creating a new reality for yourself… and at the same time this world we live in. When everyone takes a risk and changes something… any thing… mountains move in beautiful ways.

Right now selling information and systems are huge… why? The demand is huge… and it is easy to sell a quick fix in a fast food environment. Just like fast food there is no nourishment in a fast fix.  In order to learn about your life you have to get to know yourself. Ask yourself the hard questions. Why am I over weight? why am I comparing myself to other people, why am I struggling, why don’t I have trustworthy friends? I can’t, nor can anyone else sell you anything that will FIX what you have created in your world. If you are searching for a fix… you are not happy with what you have or where you are. That’s it.

Courage. To find it is a deep calling within… courage creates change. As an opposite example lashing out, sadness, revenge is the surface response to figuring out what happened and why. Courage is the deeper layer that changes the outcome all together.  How often do you think… I have the ‘courage’ to change my eating habit. I have the ‘courage’ to quit smoking. If you want change the best place to start is eliminating everything that distracts you and lulls your mind to sleep. You are the only person in the end who will know if you were successful or not.

When you begin to ask ‘yourself’ the right questions the truth will come. When it does… listen to yourself and DO what you tell yourself to do. This is the first step in trusting yourself which begins to open the doors to your inner world leading to peace, creativity and your heart. Sending BIG LOVE… always (the fairy frog princess).