What's in the gallery?

We dissolve stuck and rewrite patterns. We apply radical playfulness to life (when we feel like it!), embarking on internal adventures (credo of Safety First). We have a fake band called Solved By Cake. We build invisible sanctuaries, invent words and worlds, breathe awe and wonder.

We are not impressed by monsters. Except when we are. We explore the connections between internal territories and surrounding environment to learn what marvelously supportive delicious space feels like, and how to take exquisite care of ourselves. We transform things.* We glow wild.**

* For example: Desire, fear, worry, pain-and-trauma, boundaries, that problematic word which rhymes with flaweductivity.

** Fair warning: Self-fluency has been known to lead to extremely subversive behavior, including treasuring yourself unconditionally, unapologetically taking up space, experiencing outrageously improbable levels of self-acceptance, and general rejoicing in aliveness.

What's in the gallery?

We dissolve stuck and rewrite patterns. We apply radical playfulness to life (when we feel like it!), embarking on internal adventures (credo of Safety First). We have a fake band called Solved By Cake. We build invisible sanctuaries, invent words and worlds, breathe awe and wonder.

We are not impressed by monsters. Except when we are. We explore the connections between internal territories and surrounding environment to learn what marvelously supportive delicious space feels like, and how to take exquisite care of ourselves. We transform things.* We glow wild.**

* For example: Desire, fear, worry, pain-and-trauma, boundaries, that problematic word which rhymes with flaweductivity.

** Fair warning: Self-fluency has been known to lead to extremely subversive behavior, including treasuring yourself unconditionally, unapologetically taking up space, experiencing outrageously improbable levels of self-acceptance, and general rejoicing in aliveness.

the chicken reflects

Friday chicken

Reflecting on both the hard and the good in the week that was…

Hello, week: we are here.

It is a Sunday chicken again, aka right timing o’clock, and I am in the same place I was exactly a week ago (literally, not metaphorically) but across the table (literally, but maybe also metaphorically), and I am happy to chicken

{a breath for being here when we get here}

Thank you, week!

This is the 412th week in a row we are chickening here together!

Or “checking in”, if you prefer to enunciate.

What’s been working?

SO MANY THINGS.

I think my favorite though was doing something palpable to release the week. Agent Sloan and I went and just immersed ourselves in the most luscious healing foot bath for two hours. We emerged with new feet, new eyes, and having experienced, at least temporarily, what it is like to just let things go. But mainly I think I finally understood to what extent ritual is a door.

I might try…

Ha, last week I said “be willing to abandon a perfectly good plan”, and this week I was!

Next time I might try remembering sooner that Shit Is Not About Me.

Naming the days.

I name each day the night before and I love how names change things and also how they become incantations.

This week was the week of the Italian heiress and reveling in freedom and these were the days.

Beautiful boundaries. Regal as fuck. Joyful day of joyful moments! Creative flow is mine. Revel in being free. Joy in this exact timing. Follow the compass.

Upcoming biopic if it were based on this week…

Undoing Conditioning: A Part Of Me Knows How To Luxuriate Like A Cat

If you feel drawn to comment on aspects of my week, I will take love, hearts, breaths, pebbles — I do not need advice or cheering up, though presence and sweetness are always welcome

8 breaths for the hard, challenging and mysterious.

  1. Everything takes between four to twenty seven times longer than I anticipate it will, and this is not news to me or to anyone, and yet it continues to take me by surprise. All plans are illusory, and we know this, and yet I am still taken aback when the thing that always happens is still happening. That’s the power of rigging. A breath for remembering for being able to laugh about it.
  2. I keep being in spaces that are not supportive for me, whether that’s twitter or dance spaces or learning environments or looking for a response where there is one and where one wouldn’t serve me anyway. A breath for deep trust and for taking care of my kingdom first.
  3. The world is too loud for me, and this is not news either, I just want to say that HSP life is work and I see other people being energized by things that drain me, and sometimes I have envy. Also: ugh politics ugh the internet ugh the way things that need to be called into question are just accepted as normal. A breath for learning to take care of myself in new ways.
  4. I was planning to spend this weekend first at the coast and then in Seattle, and neither of those things happened and that is probably a good thing, and also it is time to leave Portland, this is indicated, and I am kind of floating in between A breath for spaciousness and trust.
  5. I got in a fight at dance! This was exciting and empowering (it helps when you’ve been pretending to be Italian all week), but/and also stressful and draining. I don’t enjoy having to defend or explain myself. A breath.
  6. Always getting ready to go out and do something fun and wild, and then choosing bed instead. This isn’t a bad choice at all, and Adrianna the Italian heiress adventuress reminds me that there is great luscious power in the readying, in luxuriating in the readying, and that the actual going out is less important, and of course there is time, and all timing right timing. This can be hard for me to trust and remember, so let us have a breath for truth, for trusting and remembering.
  7. The pain of the moments when I seem to have no yeses, and also the pain of the moments when I have many yeses and sometimes these are not met with responding-yeses and this is probably just-right, I believe this, and I understand that the not-yeses I am receiving are in my benefit, this too. And sometimes I just have this craving for someone or something to say YES YES YES I CHOOSE YOU AND I CHOOSE NOW. So I will be this person and I will say it to myself, and all my selves, over and over and over again, I will channel love-source and be the glowing yes to my life. And also I want someone to kiss me across a table with passion and over-the-top feeling because it has to happen in this beautiful moment now. And it is okay to want this. A breath for all my wanting. May I always remember that wanting is beautiful.
  8. Inhale, exhale. May all misunderstandings and distortions, internal and external, dissolve in love if not in laughter. May peacefulness prevail. Trust-more love-more release-more receive-more. Goodbye (and thank you), mysteries and hard moments of this week.

8 breaths for the good, reassuring, delight-filled.

the day of seven hours of dance

  1. This was a beautiful week of beautiful moments. So much joy, play, pleasure, panther-ing. A breath of delight in being alive.
  2. The walls and floor are painted in the secret studio in the basement, and it finally feels like a place where magic can happen, it reminds me of the playground. A breath for sanctuary and the many forms it can take.
  3. I don’t have a home and I am weirdly okay with not having a home, because I am Adrianna the eccentric Italian heiress and she doesn’t need a home, she needs adventure and quiet and inspiration and people to flirt with. This is new and fun, and a big healing for past-me who had no home for so long and napped in the park and was so deeply, painfully invested in passing as someone who wasn’t [without a home]. A breath for this adventure and for being able to be on it.
  4. DANCE. Seven glorious hours of it on Wednesday and most of today as well. Cha cha and west coast swing and dance epiphanies and heartbreakingly beautiful waltzes, and wildly inventive fusion, and I am a panther and I draw my power from the earth. Plus an hour that I spent with Sarah just focused on one tiny movement in the rib cage. All the training I have been doing is paying off: this week I felt graceful, grounded, balanced, at ease in my body and in in play. A breath for this embodied aliveness.
  5. This one is a keeper: I know what I want and I know what I don’t want. A breath of quiet trust.
  6. I just mostly feel good about this process. I am listening and learning and touching in. I am finding doors and passage. Staying in Rally mindset. A breath for appreciating this.
  7. Such amazing good fortune. A breath for this.
  8. Thankfulness. Treasure in the form of spending a week on stealth rally with Agent Sloan, meeting up with the right people in the right moments, saying no to things that are no, second breakfast. Everything is okay and so much is good. Nothing is wrong, even when I want to believe it is. Now is not then. All Timing Is Right Timing. Thank you for this grand adventure. A full breath of deep appreciation in my thank-you heart.

Superpowers I had this week…

Last week I asked for the powers of being my most embodied graceful powerful self who transmits in every moment that I am not to be messed with. And honestly, this one felt like even more of a reach than usual.

But actually I had brassy force fields this week and people respected them, and I stood up for myself at dance, and brought in clear anger to set boundaries when that was needed too.

Powers I want.

More of the same because it feels absolutely incredible, and also the powers of standing tall, deeply engaged with life, surprise ease, and taking exquisite care of myself for no reason at all.

The Salve of Luxuriating Beyond Reason.

These invisible salves are distributed here by way of internet magic. Help yourself! Take it in a bath, as tea, a cocktail, whatever works for you. Not only is there enough salve, there are also enough ways to receive it.

I was shaving my legs very haphazardly in the shower (because that’s the only way I do it), and Adrianna, in her inimitable way, found this enormously surprising. Like, if I have this opportunity to touch myself, why would I not revel in it and enjoy every pleasurable second of being with my legs. She doesn’t particularly care either about shaving or not shaving, she gets that I do it because I like smoothness and that I don’t particularly care, but it bothers her when I neglect an obvious opportunity for pleasure.

Anyway, she said something about taking time, really taking time, to luxuriate in touch, to luxuriate in the time-taking itself, not to neglect myself or rush through something that could be about love.

So this is a salve of intention, pleasure, presence, and self-adulation. And about time being a gift that I bestow upon myself with tenderness and wild sensual attentiveness and devotion.

It’s a salve of love, breath, being over doing (and doing-infused-with-being), deep sweetness, and it dissolves the monsters of “undeserving and unworthy and get over yourself”

Side effects include awe and wonder and wanting more of this

Playing live at the meme beach house — the Fake Band of the Week!

My brother and I make up bands, which are all just one guy. The Meme Beach House is the venue.

just-one-guy

This week’s band is:

Quality Distraction

Their latest album is Let The Revolution Begin, and this band is just one guy.

Photo taken just for us in Lubbock, TX by Jesse — thank you!

Announcement time….

More to come soon, but I left the monster manual in the place that used to be the the shop. So if you missed the closing of the shop, there is still something beautiful for you!

How was your week?

Come play in the comments. Share something from your week, take a breath, or just say hi! No rules, my format doesn’t have to be yours, we’ve been doing this every week for years now and there still isn’t a right way.

Everyone belongs. We let people have their own experience. We’re supportive and welcoming. We lovingly refrain from giving advice.

And of course it’s always okay to comment under a made-up name, whether for play and delight, or in the interest of Safety First.

Wishing you a glorrrrrrrrrrrrious day, a restful weekend and a happy week to come.

Shabbat shalom.

It’s fine if it’s not Friday anymore. There’s complete chicken amnesty — jump in whenever you like. Blowing kisses to the Beloved Lurkers too!

what if I can revel in this freedom

very personal ads

I write a Very Personal Ad (or a vision of possibility & anticipation) each week to practice wanting, listening, getting clear on my desires

the point isn’t getting my wish (though cool things have emerged from wishing), it’s learning about my relationship with wanting, accessing the qualities

wanting can be hard, it is easy to feel conflicted about it, and the reasons for that make this a surprisingly subversive practice…

this is the 362nd consecutive week of wishing, come play!

revealed

do we have convenient shorthand yet for this phenomenon
people reveal themselves immediately when they meet us
and then we either forget to file away that intel
or we neglect to give it the attention it deserves

— as maya angelou said,
with marvelous clarity, wisdom and sovereignty,
“when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time” —

though actually I don’t mean that phenomenon so much as
a more specific pattern: a person shows up in your life and
a) immediately reveals a truth about themselves
b) you observe this moment as it happens
c) not only do you believe them, you observe your choice to do so
but then somehow suddenly d) that surprising moment of frisson when you
find yourself mysteriously and irrationally astonished
when they are in fact exactly who they said they are

of course they are
they just told you they were

listening

and I don’t mean they hinted or implied
via metaphor or through their actions
I mean people will LITERALLY TELL YOU
like, “hahahaha I have paralyzing fear of saying what I want!”

and then later you find yourself wondering
how things got so messy so fast
(but, I mean, of course they did)
wondering where it all went wrong
when in fact nothing went wrong, it all went pretty much as expected
you’re just experiencing this thing I want to have a name, something like
Yup Surprised About That Thing Which Was So Clearly Indicated From The Beginning

what do I know about this or what do I want to say about it

I tend to focus so much on yes sparks but actually
a good clear NO is amazing
look at how that no just gracefully and elegantly extinguishes
all those other vague little distracting lights and
suddenly I see with enormous clarity
the beautiful path of oh okay this here is my spark right now,
and now I am free to follow that with no distractions

mmmm more about this amazing no please

  • what if any situation that gives me a strong clear no is not only useful but good,
  • actually: any new or additional intel on what I don’t want is good
  • NO IS GOOD!
  • ohmygod it is just now landing for me how true this is
  • mmmm thank you for these no moments which are so useful, how have I never seen what a total unexpected blessing a no can be
  • when everything around me is saying no or showing me my no, I think everything is wrong, but I can also think oh wow what big clarity about what I don’t want, aka Do-Overs Forever
  • what if I stop perceiving no as rejection or a sign that I’m on the wrong path, and begin to see no as a direct door to freedom
wait, no is good? mind blown!

NO makes SPACE

this past week — as a direct result of last week’s wish about
being an Italian heiress with a gang of metaphorical rabbits —
huge progress is being made on my secret basement studio
and I was finally able start taking things out of storage
after six months only to realize that I no longer
want or need most of my things that were big yes in January

Agent Spalding said:
“this is wonderful, now that you have space, you can make space”

Ways a no might make space!

  1. the no of chosen seclusion and zero input, for example when I avoid twitter, or hop on the bus to the coast and write all day
  2. the no of perceived rejection that is a gift, for example if I felt yes about someone who wouldn’t act on their yeses: this no reminds me that I am free, and being free means I don’t have to deal with that
  3. the no of releasing possessions I am no longer excited about makes literal space as well as energy/emotional space
  4. the no to running a business where so much of my work is uncompensated and to get paid, I have to constantly make stuff and put it in a vending machine, this no tells me it is time for a quiet revolution and I am glad for this no, because it inspires me to figure this out and try new things
  5. Esther Gokhale talks about rib anchors: you create length in the body not by sticking the chest out but tucking it in, which (surprisingly) makes space to soften your shoulders and you suddenly have so much more breathing room…

no sets you free

so rejoice over no
whispers wisest me
revel in your newfound freedom, she tells me,
whether it’s the no of someone else’s not-yes
or the no of things have changed, as they do
or any no at all
even the kind we are conditioned to believe definitely
says something bad about us
(like the kind that comes in an envelope in response to an application)
or the kind when you wish for one thing
and get something different
or even if you got down on bended knee and offered a ring
with a heart of PLEASE SAY YES
to a person or an experience or to a grand adventure in life
and you got something other than the yes that was the yes you wanted…

{rejoice over no}
{revel in your new-found freedom}

this is (or can be) very difficult to do

grief is real, grief is legitimate
safety first, always
we take time to grieve each no as needed, always
I’m just reporting what wisest me wants me to know
that no can be beautiful, liberating, glorious, remarkable
if I let it

and this is (can be) very difficult to believe

our whole culture is so deeply invested in a fairy tale about
how getting the thing we think we want is good
while not getting it is bad,
and you see this everywhere but especially in
the online world of [self-helpery] where things can get very distorted

do you know how many years, my god, it has taken me to make clear
(with great love)
that these weekly wishes here are about
the beautiful process of internal exploration
and not about “manifesting” anything,
I will not take part in a culture that believes
a wish becomes valuable or meaningful based on if/when it is fulfilled
and something is lacking (in me or in life or in my wishing abilities)
if I don’t get the results I ordered
how absurd, how limiting, how heartbreaking

here we wish in qualities

we wish as a way of deepening closeness with ourselves
we wish because wishing is a beautiful way to glow
presence, curiosity and love

and more than anything I wish because
it is a way I can listen to my heart:
learning about my desire
— and meeting that desire
with acknowledgement and legitimacy —
is the most loving gift I can give me-who-wants
and modeling exploration-without-expectation
is the most loving gift I can give to someone reading this

I feel unbearably sad whenever someone says they won’t wish because they don’t get their wishes
I don’t mean to imply there isn’t grief about not getting what we wanted,
because there is, and grief is always valid and legitimate
we make space for that too
I just mean to say, oh my loves,
so much more joy becomes available when we
let the wish-process be the treasure
instead of thinking it only has value if it delivers a specific result

sparks

wise me says this with great certainty
and I am inclined to believe her:
in some ways a NO is almost as good as yes
and maybe even better than yes because of the way
a rich darkness allows a flash of light to really spark

Adrianna

Adrianna is the italian heiress and I think I just figured out her secret this week
her secret isn’t that she says yes to all pleasurable things
but that she says no to all NOT pleasurable things
she is so clear on her no
actually I think she ENJOYS no as much as yes
giving and receiving both

and while I may still have lots of (legitimate) grief around No
there is so much power in being able to see how she does things
how she approaches no
she thinks it is delicious
ta da, redirected, let’s go see what this new direction has for us

big magic

what if no is big magic towards yes, not just the cliche of
oh well at least your no tells you what your yes is,
what if no is like SPARKS LIGHTING UP YES PATHS,
what if no is something to get really excited about!
I mean, it’s so plentiful
even when yes is rare, my no is abundant!
I used to think that was confusing, so many places not to look
(the familiar chorus of ugh I hate everything right now)
but what if the NOs are lighting a very clear path
what if burning through some good no is very smart
what if I am a total genius for every time in my life that I’ve
made out with a stranger or put a book down halfway through,
I am after all someone who tries things
maybe all the NOs I have collected are brilliant
Adrianna thinks so

let’s take this to its logical conclusion then, why not

what are the biggest NOs I can go for in my life right now
no to living with not-yes people in a job I don’t want
in a city I don’t like
no to 99% of the internet
ah the no of anything that is Less Than Joy Sparks

no clears out the bullshit if I let it
will I let it
no to being away from water
no to not being able to see the stars
let’s undo some rigging while we’re at it

what do I know about my wish?

it is a wish about freedom and all the superpowers of freedom

  • the freedom of YAWN GOODBYE DELETE
  • being a panther means freedom from social conditioning, I don’t have to follow any of the perceived monster rules!
  • I can have Intensity and Smoldering and Lusciousness and not apologize for being them or wanting them
  • there is joy in this no, joy in this exact right timing
  • the superpower of “oh this is actually great for me, now I can take more time to savor my cake”, as Sarah said when I had to cancel our lesson
  • remembering that I am invariably wrong when I judge things as being “late” or “behind” for example, my basement is now months behind schedule and that turned out so beautifully because it got me to the most incredible places that I wouldn’t have found otherwise
  • do less and choose ease!
  • I let things take their time
  • wait, someone else did the thing I wanted to do? ahhhhhh the freedom of this is not my job
  • I am lightness and dark, quiet and spark, and I revel in my freedom
may it be so!

now

I went to a place Wild Abandon because I wanted
dinner but mainly because of the name
I ate with my fingers because cutlery seems downright inappropriate
when wild abandon is on the menu, literally

but then it became clear that everything about being there
other than the food and the name was a no
so let’s say thank you to this clear no
and follow a new spark

and now Adrianna wants to go drink wine
she says, “you can be someone who writes about reveling in freedom
or you can be someone who revels in freedom”
okay fair enough

the superpower of the next indicated step is revealed to me

months-June-VPA-2016
May was WILD with its wild door, and sexy fearless powerful presence

June is WONDER which is so very perfect for recommitting my life to freedom, and this ie exactly what I need: the next indicated step is revealed to me

thank you, past-me, for being such a good namer and calling this into being

last week’s wishes

last-week-me wished a wish called what would the italian heiress do

this was the best wish I have ever wished because it turns out that she does some pretty spectacular things, and with so much style, and also she has an assistant who makes sure she gets fed

thank you, me who wished

invitation: come play with me…

you are invited to share many !!!!!! about what is here,
or share appreciation or anything sparked for you while reading, including any stories you wish to let go of, any adventures you wish to welcome

deposit wishes, gwishes, superpowers, qualities, ingredients, intel, possibly in code

safe space for creative exploration asks us to let go of care-taking and advice-giving

wishes are never late because whenever you wish is the right time for wishing

here’s how we meet each other’s wishes: oh, wow what beautiful wishes

a smattering of magic

What is needed?

Oh wow, this Monday is so Monday.

It needs an infusion of magic, some tingly-fluttery throb-hum in the energy field, a smattering of something good. I want to breathe deeper, sit up a little more, a general perking-up of mood and body, and I want this to spill over into every aspect of my day.

What if I could even get just the tiniest bit excited about whatever it is I might do next from my seemingly endless list of things instead of wanting to go hide forever….

Secret agent identity today.

I think I’m going to stick with being Adrianna, the Italian heiress who is unwavering in her commitment to vivacious aliveness.

And equally unwavering in her commitment to pouty red lips, decadent desserts, flirting with mysterious strangers, and approaching every single second of life with intention: heart open, receptive to whatever big wild passion and unexpected surprises this moment might hold.

Qualities & Superpowers for today.

  • Serendipity
  • Grace
  • Sovereignty
  • I Am A Wild Panther
  • Regal As Fuck and also playful at the same time, self-possessed as a cat, or a toddler who has figured out how to kick a ball…
  • I Remember That Nothing Is Wrong — and the timing of things I think are
    “late” or “behind” actually turns out to be flawless
  • Help And Support Is All Around Me
  • Beautifully Anchored

Clues.

“It’s my life and I do what I want!”

The music at this cafe is very much in support of Adrianna and her mission. Also, a song by The Animals is very appropriate for I Am A Wild Panther.

My (entirely made-up) mission for today.

Let’s see. Let’s say that Adrianna is doing some research on buying a car. Actually, she is probably outsourcing this and flirting with strangers in a cafe.

That’s the mission. Initiate research on [buying a car], outsource it, flirt with strangers.

I’m probably not going to buy a car. That’s a proxy for a bunch of things on the list, but I can pretend I’m buying a car. That way if things get stuck with the actual projects, I can solve for X using the car-buying metaphor.

What happens next?

Monsters say my list is A THOUSAND MILES LONG, so I am going to prove them wrong by naming all the things that I can think related to [acquiring a vehicle] that want doing that could also conceivably be done this week or next.

Then rename them so they sound less scary, finding out who can help, and asking Adrianna what’s next….

Wanna play with me here?

You are welcome to invent your own names, mission, superpowers and so on, or however you like to play.

You can also hide clues here, leave fairy godmother wishes, or wish Adrianna luck, not that she needs it but she likes effusive exclamations of support.

As always we remember that projects are complex beings, and being in project mode tends to bring up all of our stuff, so we go gently with ourselves and practice Safety First. We joyfully refrain from all forms of advice-giving and care-taking because People Vary, and because play is about Agency, Freedom and the very magical thing that is trusting our own process.

xoxox

chicken re-learns to play

Friday chicken

Reflecting on both the hard and the good in the week that was…

Hello, week: we are here.

Today is a Sunday chicken because I spent this weekend in workshops and just emerged, and I am trusting in right timing o’clock. It is good to be here.

{a breath for being here when we get here}

Thank you, week!

This is the 411th week in a row we are chickening here together!

Or “checking in”, if you prefer to enunciate.

What’s been working?

Breathing deep. Remembering that just because in a given moment everything seems completely wrong does not in fact mean that this is true. I can pause and wait and let the moment unfold. Trusting that tight things will unfurl, and do so beautifully. This is working.

I might try…

Listen to instinct sooner. Be willing to abandon a perfectly good plan.

Naming the days.

I name each day the night before and I love how names change things and also how they become incantations.

This week was the week of wild into wonder, and these were the days.

After-effects. New eyes. May this day bring great joy. Powerful re-entry. Asking for what I need. Calm + roots. I trust what I know.

Upcoming biopic if it were based on this week…

Hahahahahahahahaha.

If you feel drawn to comment on aspects of my week, I will take love, hearts, breaths, pebbles — I do not need advice or cheering up, though presence and sweetness are always welcome

8 breaths for the hard, challenging and mysterious.

  1. Massively overwhelmed by life, the universe and everything. I love how my crises are an equal mix of existential and seemingly practical. A breath for remembering one step at a time and nothing is wrong.
  2. Oh Orlando. Heartbreak. A breath for whatever needs to be breathed here, I don’t even know, I am retreating into my bubble so I can breathe in my heart.
  3. Today is Day 42 of not having a home, and while Now Is Not Then and I can see and feel all the beautiful ways that this is true, I am not always able to maintain my adventurous spirit. A breath for healing.
  4. I know what I want and it is not at all what I expected. This is disorienting. A breath for spaciousness and trust.
  5. I want to be dancing and I am not dancing. A breath.
  6. The faraway beautiful cowboy is very far away. A breath for this.
  7. The neverending project is neverending. Where is my sanctuary. What does it look like. How can I work on all these things and also work on what I want to work on/ A breath of trust and safe passage.
  8. Inhale, exhale. May all misunderstandings and distortions, internal and external, dissolve in love if not in laughter. May peacefulness prevail. Trust-more love-more release-more receive-more. Goodbye (and thank you), mysteries and hard moments of this week.

8 breaths for the good, reassuring, delight-filled.

  1. Returned from the coast with dreams, plans, excitement. A breath of joy.
  2. Found a perfect simple solution to the neverendingness of the neverending project. A breath for grace and play.
  3. An absolutely incredible mind-blowing weekend of mad hot epiphanies while working on Panther Training aka studying with an expert in pelvis and posture, which are very panther-related things. A breath for how deeply I am breathing.
  4. Decadence. A breath for fully committing to this in the right moment.
  5. Again: I know what I want and I know what I don’t want. A breath of quiet trust.
  6. I feel at ease in my life a lot of the time, which is kind of amazing given that a lot of aspects of my life are not easy right now. A breath for pausing to notice this.
  7. I am so fortunate to have the amount of freedom, inspiration and play in my life that I do, and I am grateful. A breath for all the miracles involved in this.
  8. Thankfulness. Treasure in the form of the softest dog, the happiest cat, friends who are happy to take me in, surprise miracles, beautiful coincidences. So much treasure. Everything is okay and so much is good. Nothing is wrong, even when I want to believe it is. Now is not then. All Timing Is Right Timing. Thank you for this grand adventure. A full breath of deep appreciation in my thank-you heart.

Superpowers I had this week…

Last week I asked for the power of deep rest, I want to be so well-rested and peaceful that I do not miss any internal intel about how I feel, what I need and what needs to change in my environment. And beautiful sweet surprises.

I received all this and more, as well as the superpower of Everything Beautifully Orchestrated.

Powers I want.

The superpowers of being my most embodied graceful powerful self who transmits in every moment that I am not to be messed with.

The Salve of Embodied Grace.

These invisible salves are distributed here by way of internet magic. Help yourself! Take it in a bath, as tea, a cocktail, whatever works for you. Not only is there enough salve, there are also enough ways to receive it.

This salve is made of deep breath, awareness, deliberate movement, pleasure, and the total immersion in the commitment to not sacrificing physical and emotional comfort to attempt to please strangers.

Side effects include feeling a rush of love towards yourself and deep trust in the healing power of not-doing.

Playing live at the meme beach house — the Fake Band of the Week!

My brother and I make up bands, which are all just one guy. The Meme Beach House is the venue.

just-one-guy

This week’s band is:

While Wearing Shoulderpads

Their latest album is A Kingdom In Need, and this band is just one guy.

Photo taken just for us in Lubbock, TX by Jesse — thank you!

Announcement time….

More to come soon, but I left the monster manual in the place that used to be the the shop. So if you missed the closing of the shop, there is still something beautiful for you!

How was your week?

Come play in the comments. Share something from your week, take a breath, or just say hi! No rules, my format doesn’t have to be yours, we’ve been doing this every week for years now and there still isn’t a right way.

Everyone belongs. We let people have their own experience. We’re supportive and welcoming. We lovingly refrain from giving advice.

And of course it’s always okay to comment under a made-up name, whether for play and delight, or in the interest of Safety First.

Wishing you a glorrrrrrrrrrrrious day, a restful weekend and a happy week to come.

Shabbat shalom.

It’s fine if it’s not Friday anymore. There’s complete chicken amnesty — jump in whenever you like. Blowing kisses to the Beloved Lurkers too!

what would the italian heiress do

very personal ads

I write a Very Personal Ad (or a vision of possibility & anticipation) each week to practice wanting, listening, getting clear on my desires

the point isn’t getting my wish (though cool things have emerged from wishing), it’s learning about my relationship with wanting, accessing the qualities

wanting can be hard, it is easy to feel conflicted about it, and the reasons for that make this a surprisingly subversive practice…

this is the 361st consecutive week of wishing, come play!

wanting

all week I have tried to put
words to my wishes
and I can’t, so instead of asking my usual question
(what do I want)
let’s ask something new

what do I know

what do I know

my wishes right now are unbearably tender and vulnerable
I dare not even whisper them to myself

what do I know

today I passed a guy in the supermarket wearing a shirt that said
I am both bigger and smaller than my body
that is it exactly
whatever it is I am wishing for right now
the wish I cannot even let myself know about
it is smaller than a tiny sweet thing
and, clearly, it is also huge
because I’ve spent all day in tears
over the thought of writing about my wishes
and I don’t even know why

what do I know

re-entry is hard
it is so hard
I came back from an unplanned week escape at the coast
where I had everything I could possibly need:

water and sanctuary
joy and play
inspiration and freedom

morning walks down the hill towards my favorite view in the world
that echoing expanse of magnificence
and now nothing is right

what do I know

when I used to [verb] retreats and rallies
I would explain to people that sometimes (often)
when you return into the world that was your world
it can suddenly seem distressingly not-okay,
and we think augh why did I go on retreat
it was supposed to make my life better but now I feel awful

here is happening in this scenario:
you have made internal shifts that are not yet reflected
in your surroundings
and you are hyper-aware of incongruence around you
it isn’t that things are bad now
it’s that you hadn’t noticed before to what extent
the things that are no longer working for you aren’t working
and now you do and it hurts

it hurts

the thing that hurts is the dissonance
the awareness of the gap
but awareness of the gap is also
how you cross through

what do I know

a funny thing — in that moment, as I was thinking about re-entry
and what a great stirring up it is,
I was also watching Scandal,
and about ten seconds after I scribbled Re-entry Is Hard
on my notepad
a character said these exact words:

re-entry is hard
you were in deep cover
everything feels different and off now
adjusting takes time, and kindness

it was a deeply bewildering moment
but then truth gets delivered in marvelous ways sometimes

what do I know

I wished last week about sanctuary and finding
my peaceful place
and I found it of course
in the place it always is, inside of me, when I take care of myself
and also in the other place it always is, by the water
in view of my favorite bridge
the bridge that is devoted to my pursuit of pleasure
and whispers truth-secrets to me
when I listen

and then I returned to the physical place
where I am trying to build a sanctuary and
another sanctuary
and realized that something is off

alright

something is off
let’s talk about what I want
let’s talk around what I want

what do I want

I am having a very Day 4 meltdown
and so of course what I need is the very day four superpower of

Oh Right Of Course This Meltdown Is The Exact Right Meltdown For Me To Be Having Right Now Even If I Don’t Yet Know Why

aka This Moment Is A Blessing
aka Trust Life And Let This Moment Play Out And Unfold
aka Nothing Is Wrong and All Is Well

acknowledgment and legitimacy:
it is okay to be melting down right now
this makes sense
it’s part of re-entry and
I don’t have to like it

what do I want

I want to not be going through this alone
and, more specifically, I want a helper who is a rabbit,
oh something like a personal assistant
but not that
and not the highly branded virtual kind that
this internet world is full of or used to be at least

I said earlier on twitter:

“tinder, but for work dates”

and sure, that’s kind of what I want
someone to sit across from me and smile at me while I write
someone I can show my list of rabbit things
and they will say “ah” and “yes”
and then maybe do some of my rabbit things for me

rabbit things

I want a pretend work date
with a pretend rabbit
someone to to smile at me and not-talk while I write
and figure out the next steps for Operation Rabbit 23

rabble-rousing rabbits!

did you ever read those wonderful books about freddy the detective pig
a group of rabbits create a sort of secret ninja society to defend freddy
in times of need
of which there are many
the rabbit gang are inspired rabble-rousers with
high opinions of themselves and very tiny knives
that they don’t actually use
they call themselves the Horrible 10
and Rabbit 23 is their leader whose marvelous title is Head Horrible

yes let’s talk about Rabbit 23 and the Horrible Ten since
I am not ready to talk about my wishes
and this particular wish is a very good proxy mission indeed

what do I love about the horrible ten?

they are fierce and mighty (a mighty mighty rabbit crew!)
they are fearless even though they have zero reason to be
oh the fabulous braggadocio
and in rhyme

what is it called when rappers tell you how great they are?
the Horrible Ten were great at that
like the time they expanded their ranks and became the Horrible Twenty…

“We are the Horrible Twenty/ Of ferocity, boy! we’ve got plenty!”

fearsome!

nothing makes me happier than this image of these
very small rabbits getting all pumped to be FEARSOME
I also love how it is a secret gathering and clandestine agents
and how they are not actually horrible or vindictive at all
oh, and of course, it’s also about
challenging cultural assumptions
(yeah? you think rabbits are mild and meek?
we get to be how we want, dammit!)

what is Operation Rabbit 23?

this is my wish about getting someone to help me
do all the things that need doing
(or really outsource all the things that need doing)
on my various sanctuary-related ops
including the basement studio and possibly operation Wild Wild Nest

I need someone who can squeeze my hand
make calls for me
help me put lists in order and say wonderfully reassuring things like
“it’s all taken care of” and “we don’t need to worry about this”
ahhhh and it is like having my own Head Horrible
to be on my side
yes please

what would the italian heiress do?

so while I was in astoria, I needed a cover story
and somehow it came about that I was a wealthy eccentric italian heiress
who had fallen in love with the oregeon coast
fortuitously, I have a friend who is both a native astorian and
always up for hilarity, play and adventures (my favorite things)
who gleefully volunteered to play the part of a lumberjack-for-hire
who could show her the sights and introduce her to the locals

this turned out to be the best secret mission in the world
Adrianna Bradamante Rosabella Feliciana Saveria!
that is her/my name and it means
[Dark Wild-Lover Beautiful-Rose Fortune A-New-House]
which is all the things I want from life
and all the things I want to be
see? I knew I would share my true wishes
if I created enough safety for myself here

so what would Adrianna do

what would I do if I trusted myself to do what I want to do?

what do I know
Adrianna wears red red red lipstick
and loves argentine tango
she goes skinny dipping in the river if she feels like it
and never apologizes for being fabulous and luscious and alive
she does not dim her spark for anyone
she walks through doors like they were meant to open for her
she does not follow half-yeses
she lives in that delicious tingling moment that comes
two and a half seconds after
the whispered yes in your heart
to something you want that both scares you and excites you
the kind of wants that I am afraid to know about

Adrianna and rabbit 23

fearlessly showing up for full yes
and thinking (knowing!) that they are amazing
this is what I want

truth

part of this hidden wish then involves letting myself see
not only my yeses
but just how many yeses I have been ignoring
or how many times I have acquiesced to half-yeses
for lack of a better option
or lack of believing that full yes is a possibility

how can Operation Rabbit 23 help me with my secret wishes?

right now I am having trouble acknowledging my yeses
but once I do, logistics is where everything will get sticky
so having help in place with logistics
is what I need anyway
plus I need those qualities of wild fierceness and intensity
and feeling disproportionately capable and proud of how amazing I am
yes, this is in fact exactly what I need to
have more Adrianna in my life as well
of course how did I not see that

what do I know about my wish?

it is about being brave enough to want what I want
while creating safety and sanctuary to not have to say it until I am ready
it is about play and playfulness
and how these support both vitality and aliveness as well as
sanctuary, shelter, containment and Safety First
it is about being someone (me!) who is so deeply committed to both play and safety
that even in the midst of melting down
when I have no home and no plan and
find both my wishes and the prospect of wishing itself to be completely terrifying
I can still recite rabbit poetry
put on lipstick with Adrianna
remember how re-entry works
name something that I want
and trust that all this is good

may it be so!

now

I shared a smile today with a stranger
it was such a good smile
they were riding a bike
and I can’t tell you anything else about them
because that is all I know
just that we shared the most delicious reckless partners-in-crime smile
and then they were gone

I had a lovely moment of feeling grateful about being an adult
which is to say that I recognized the magic of the moment
as being held inside of
the sharing of qualities, the glowing of qualities,
instead of thinking that this particular person holds the magic
or that I need them in any way
source lives within me and
glows within me always
which means magical moments are available to me through
presence, pleasure, peacefulness, practice
aka showing up for life

the superpower of the next indicated step is revealed to me

months-June-VPA-2016
May was WILD with its wild door, and sexy fearless powerful presence

June is WONDER which is so very perfect for a mission about Sanctuary, and hahaha the next indicated step is revealed to me, yes yes yes, this is all I need and this is right

thank you, past-me, for being such a good namer and calling this into being

last week’s wishes

last-week-me wished a big wish about sanctuary called wild into wonder

this was a marvelous wish and exactly what I needed, and yes, if it brought me (which it might have, indirectly) to my current meltdown state of Where Is My Sanctuary and How Do I Find My Way To A New And Better Yes, then what a blessing, and what a reminder that sanctuary is also the answer to this melting down

thank you, me who wished

invitation: come play with me…

you are invited to share many !!!!!! about what is here,
or share appreciation or anything sparked for you while reading, including any stories you wish to let go of, any adventures you wish to welcome

deposit wishes, gwishes, superpowers, qualities, ingredients, intel, possibly in code

safe space for creative exploration asks us to let go of care-taking and advice-giving

wishes are never late because whenever you wish is the right time for wishing

here’s how we meet each other’s wishes: oh, wow what beautiful wishes

The Fluent Self