I 
‘ve always believed in magic. Not the pulling-a-rabbit-from-the-hat kind of magic, but the real magic of our imaginations. I truly believe that we are the creators of our own realities (thank you Jane Roberts) and that our ability to do and to be anything is limitless. Perhaps that’s the reason behind my long list of jobs/careers (at last count there were 13) which includes everything from subsistence farming in Nova Scotia to promoting the jewels and designers of Tiffany & Co. in New York.
I grew up in Minneapolis, studied interior design, art history and architecture at the University of Minnesota and went to work as a display artist when I graduated. Convinced the world was coming to an end, I moved to Nova Scotia with my first husband, where we bought a farm and grew most of our food, raised chickens and goats, and kept bees. As idyllic as that could have been, I was miserable. So off I went to Maine where, with the help of a partner, I grew dry beans and wheat for the organic market, ran a food co-op, co-authored a cookbook and did runway modeling, TV commercials and voice-overs, and in my spare time altered clothes for friends and neighbors. Still miserable.
Then one day, I came across a copy of Werner Erhard’s book on EST. I’d heard about the training, but I didn’t have the money nor the desire to take it. But from that book, I got all I needed to know: I and no one else was responsible for my miserable state, my perceived failures, and my pain. What a revelation!
With a newly-found sense of exhilaration, I sold my rototiller for $700.00 and hitched a ride to New York with a friend. A month later I was working in the public relations department at Tiffany & Co. where I quickly learned the difference between publicity and advertising and how to get a lot done in a short period of time. Five years later, my beloved boss was deposed and I moved on to a Madeline DeVries, a public relations firm where I worked as Group Supervisor for a number of lifestyle accounts. I was no longer miserable, but the stress of living in New York was beginning to take a toll on my health and my psyche.
Then out of the blue, I got a call from the California Redwood Association, and after flying out for an interview, I was offered the job of publicity manager. For the next four years, I wrote countless articles promoting the use of redwood lumber, I scouted redwood applications, hired photographers to shoot them and styled the locations. I also spent a lot of time watching deer outside my window and seals swimming by in Richardson Bay. There wasn’t quite enough for me to do and boredom set in.
Are you still with me? I don’t know about you, but I’m getting exhausted just writing this. Anyway, after a year of freelance writing and photo styling, I went to work for friends managing their successful interior design business. I was responsible for client contracts, billing, payroll, insurance, product procurement, marketing, and much much, more. Four years of that and I was ready for another change.
Thanks to a friend I’d met in New York years before, I was hired to supervise the home team at a branding firm with major Fortune 500 clients. There was no job description, so I made it up as I went along. They needed a new CPA, a new payroll company and someone to handle employee relations. I tackled it all and more, but the scene was so chaotic and stressful that I was out of there in less than a year.
As I was wondering what to do next, a photographer I commissioned regularly when I was at the California Redwood Association asked me to rep him. I knew very little about representing artists, but with my experience in business management and my love of photography it seemed like a great idea. And it was great for the next 15 years. I had the pleasure of representing a number of wonderful photographers and the opportunity to work with many talented creatives across the country on ad campaigns, design projects, and editorial assignments. I even got to meet Dame Edna! But something else was brewing and I needed time and space to figure out what it was.
So I took a sabbatical. Free at last to do exactly what I wanted to do, I started this blog and I began dancing again after a 25-year hiatus. I studied meditation, hands-on healing, core shamanism and reincarnation. I learned to dowse. And I wrote a novel, a mystical coming-of-age story about the reunion of a 12-year-old girl and her seven missing soul parts.
It is my greatest wish that my stories will inspire you to listen to your heart and find the courage to take on new challenges. I invite you to leave comments here and to join me on Facebook.
Hearing some wisdom? Lots to chew on here. Waiting to hear more.
Angelika said,
” Discovering and awakening our true Sources …..”
How does one awaken? Can one know when they are awake? What is the true source? This sounds improtant.
“Enlightenment now becomes a journey of integrating and accepting all of life, our lives as they are….”
What is our lives as they are?
Charlene said,
” we’re still faced with mankind’s duality…”
What is mankind’s duality? It sounds as if is trouble.
Hearing what you both are saying but maybe need to hear more. Please help me.
Thanks you for your caring.
Hmmm . . . Perhaps I misspoke. Words do get us in a tangle, don’t they. It’s not just a matter of feeling, but of knowing in every cell of our being that we have unlimited abilities to meet any challenge, to create anything we can imagine, and to imagine things that have never before been created. Will this make us happy or wise? I have no idea. While we remain on this planet, we’re still faced with mankind’s duality. And I can’t say that enlightenment should be a goal for you; only you can make that decision. That’s what free will is all about, yes?
I think, Charlene, that the first step to enlightenment is indeed remembering who we really are, and the big question is how to wake up beyond the world of the five senses to find that inner light that connects us to our own spirit and the source of all things. Enlightenment in the last age of civilization was achieved most often by those who exhibited a rigorous discipline that required leaving behind life’s material seductions. Here, a practice of devoted mediation in austere surroundings not encroached upon by the chaos of the world was necessary. But in this current age of civilization, we must forge a new way.
Now we are meant to find enlightenment within our daily lives as they are. Sri Aurobindo aptly wrote, “He who would save the world must be one with the world.” We no longer can leave behind our normal lives, walking away from the imbalances in our relationships to each other and the natural world. Instead, we must enter life more deeply to understand its great mystery, and this is accomplished by simplifying our lives to get back in tune with the deeper joys and meaning of life. Lessening our distractions, turning off our TVs and computers is essential – buying our way through passing gratifications can no longer sustain us.
It is time to live a move spiritual life at home by walking in nature, creating gardens for food, sharing quality time with family and friends and reaching out to help each other. We must rediscover out real inner strength and tolerance, allowing us to treat everyone with equality and kindness despite their shortcomings, and to honor and respect the natural world in all its diversity. These things feed our spirits and can quickly awaken a light within us that empowers us to make changes to our material world, and this in turn creates a foundation for our spirits to realign with that inner thread of Source present in all beings.
Enlightenment now becomes a journey of integrating and accepting all of life, our lives as they are, and rolling up our shirt sleeves for the hard work not only to benefit ourselves, but all because we recognize that we are all inextricably entwined. The more happiness and gratitude we can find in our own simple spiritual inspirations and childlike spontaneity then bonds us with life to enrich it. We then spiritualize matter itself, this is our challenge and privilege in this age. Discovering and awakening our true Sources within pulls us along to more deeply understand all that we are meant to become by our destiny as a species.
Your story has only just begun. I can’t wait to see how things unfold!
So I would want to be enlightened to feel the power which makes everything. So will this make me happy or wise? Is this a goal for me? Why would I do this?
Well, Gary–that’s the question, isn’t it. Not having experienced enlightenment, I can’t tell you how it feels, but I can tell you what I believe it is. As I see it, enlightenment is remembering who we really are: spirits currently incarnated on this planet by choice. As such we are all part of and directly connected to Source/God/Whatever-You-Wish-To-Call-IT. And awakening to this connection allows us to be ONE with the energy of Source and to feel the power of that energy which makes any/everything possible.
This feels like Charlene. I intend to follow your blog. What is enlightenment?