I know that God’s Love and Joy are inside of me. Wanting to experience these aspects of God within me I dove deep into meditation.

Sitting with a tall spine I closed my eyes. Keeping my gaze lifted I focused on the hearts energy opening and rising up and out through the spiritual eye, like a laser beam, very focused. I tuned into the song Channels during the meditation and subtle feelings in the heart. I offered myself up into the inspiration and listened for its reply and began to paint.

Channels

Each time I would paint, I would sit and meditate using the visualization above to draw my inspiration.

It is not easy for me to stay so focused on one thing for so long. Many times I started to feel the painting go in another direction other than my first intentions. It would have been easy to go with these whims. I can remember saying to myself, firmly, “No, I picked this to focus on and I will stay with it till it is done!” Although not easy, very well worth it! What a joy it was to paint this painting and more joy now to share it with others.
Words to the song Channels:

Birds sing of freedom as they soar lightly on the air.
So may our hearts soar, high above all curbs and care.
Mother, we thank You, Your joy shines in ev’rything!
Open these channels that the world once more may sing.

Trees, standing firm, hold the secret of inner pow’r.
Give us, when tested, strength to endure.
Mother, we thank You, Your joy shines in ev’rything!
Open these channels that the world once more may sing.

Stars send a message of light through eternity:
Lord, when in darkness, Your radiance we see.
Mother, we thank You, Your joy shines in ev’rything!
Open these channels that the world once more may sing.

Flowers so soft and fragile stay fragrant though pressed to the ground.
May we thus learn forbearance for in kindness love is found.
Mother, we thank You, Your joy shines in ev’rything!
Open these channels that the world once more may sing.

Mountains, remote and still, hint at higher worlds unseen.
So may our lives be: soaring and serene.
Mother, we thank You, Your joy shines in ev’rything!
Open these channels that the world once more may sing.

Rivers seek passage, unhindered by rock or tree
So may our lives flow, steadfast toward the sea!
Mother, we thank You, Your joy shines in ev’rything!
Open these channels that the world once more may sing.

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed this post.  Please feel free to leave comments, it is always nice to connect with you.

with much joy~

ashleigh

Lots of cute unique pumpkins for sale at the Harvest Festival - photo by Lisa Clark, thank you Lisa!

Jill came over to our booth, “Crystal Hermitage”, early in the day on Saturday.  Jill was so kind and sweet. She enjoyed the artwork and prints that I had for sale and said she was going to walk around and then be back.  Before she left to check out the rest of the festival, she took pictures of me,  I wish I had thought to take pictures of her, she is such a bright person, with much joy and light to share!

The booth where I served and watched, oh so many, children create beautiful corn husk dolls! I wish I had some pictures of the dolls to show you! Photo compliments to Lisa Clark

So much was happening all day long!  Live music, homemade root beer floats, (they sold out fast!), you could make your own iron hook, for only $5.00 and your very own corn husk doll for $5.00 too.  There was art work for sale by various artists.  Booths from stores in Nevada City, who support local artists, a wonderful chili lunch (this sold out too!), home made; jams, pies, sun dried tomatoes, a petting zoo, and well the list could go on and on. I think you get the picture.

Photo taken by Lisa Clark

Photo taken by Lisa Clark

After connecting with Jill and people like her I was inspired (finally) to make prints of these two paintings! “The Great Blue Herons” and “The Lotus Flowers”.    I am very pleased with how the print colors have come out, I think you will be too!  Click on the images of “The Great Blue Herons” and or “The Lotus Flowers” to see and purchase available print sizes.

"The Great Blue Herons"

"The Lotus Flowers"

I hope you have had a wonderful, beautiful Monday! Please leave comments, I would enjoy to hear from you.

With Joy and Blessings,

ashleigh

The other day, my husband found a little lizard in the house. This little guy was in the house for four days, and on the fourth day I decided I should at least try to help him get outside.

At that moment I remembered the lives of the saints and how they include God in everything! So, I stopped and said a prayer to Babaji, “Babaji, please allow me to help this lizard without hurting him. I want to help him get outside and I am worried that in doing so I might do more harm than good.” In gratitude I bowed to the alter after sharing with my “divine friend” my predicament.

Once free, I took a photo of the lizard who ran up my sleeve! This is him (or her:)

After a little time the lizard was in a corner and I said, “I am trying to help you.” As I put the stick out to block him from moving in one direction, wouldn’t you know, the lizard, afraid for his life, saw refuge and ran right up inside the sleeve of my jacket! At first I yelped, then I realized what had happened, and my yelp turned into, oh good!!! I closed my sleeve at my wrist and took the lizard outside and let him free. Now on the ground, outside, the lizard looked at me with just as much amazement and gratitude that I also had in my heart as I looked at him.

The only way for us to find out and have faith in what the “wise ones” tell us is for us to experience what they experienced. To experience what they experienced, we have to be open to “try” how they lived.

The saints say that God will never impose His will on us.  We have to ask for His help and invite him to be part of our lives, even in the little things.  This is how dear His friendship is.  Yogananda said, “The minutes are more important than the years.”

By asking, better said, by including God in our daily life,  we allow ourselves to be open to the grace of His divine intervention and the opportunity to develop the best friendship we have ever had.

My conclusion to the question, “Is it important for us to ask for help from God?” (answering for myself) Ultimately if I want to improve my knowing and experience of life, then yes I feel it is vital for me to ask for help from the Divine, or our Higher Selves, or God, Guru, Divine Mother, Jesus Christ, Yogananda, Babaji..etc.. what ever you would like to call It.

I invite you too to make your life an experiment and try it for yourself. Actively practice the presence of God and start with the little things in life, the ones that seem like they do not matter.

I would love to hear from you about your experience, or any questions you might have in regards to, practicing His Presence.

Here is a link to an article, “Adversity as Opportunity.” by Peter Goering  (this article shares specific ways of how  we can, practice the presence of God.)  “Four Step Process” of how we can turn emotional upsets into opportunities to call on God.

The first was from me wanting to understand the deeper meaning of “Discrimination” and how one can perfect this quality within themselves.  And the second was a guided meditation called, “Land of Mystery.”

To help me focus on the quality of discrimination I practiced an affirmation  from the book, “Affirmations for Self Healing”

With perfect relaxation, we can behold the Truths of the Universe and the Secrets of the Land of Mystery. ~ painting of Paramhansa Yogananda

Affirmation:
“Resolutely I quell my inclinations, that my mind be open to the wisdom-guidance of my soul.”

As I repeated this affirmation over and over,  I found myself changing the words to something like, “resolutely I embrace my inclinations..!” I was a little shocked (and a little embarrassed) to find myself switching the words around.  After I got over my denial of what I was doing, I became more determined to get the affirmation correct, in my consciousness!   Not knowing how to change my consciousness, I shared my question with my guru, Paramhansa Yogananda,  and waited for a response. Quite quickly an answer came to me, “Ashleigh, you must relax your body, mind, and soul first, and only then, you can begin to practice true discrimination.” 

So I began to practice Savasana “corpse pose” (A yoga posture, where one lies on their back in deep relaxation.)  With each inhalation and exhalation I began to relax and let go.

A beautiful image, of  Paramhansa Yogananda relaxing into a flower bed of  iris’ then came into my mind.  This image represented the attitude I would need to have, to understand and practice discrimination.   It helped me to see that I needed to forget my littleness and offer all that I am (good and bad) into the hands of God, so that He may guide my understanding.

Prayer:  

“Guide me, Lord, that in all things I know Thy will, for I know that only by Thy will are all things led to perfection.”- Affirmations for Self Healing

The second inspiration came from the  guided meditation by Nayaswami Kriyananda, “The Land of Mystery” from his book, “Meditation for Starters”   If you  listen to the guided meditation, you will see how fitting it is to this painting.

From these two inspirations a painting was given to me.    A blessing for me to be the instrument of its creation and an even more,  joyous blessing,  to be able to share it with you.  I hope you enjoy!

“Break your littleness, you are so much more than you know.” -a quote from the guided meditation

Please feel free to comment, ask questions, or just say hello.   If I do not already know you, I would enjoy to meet you!

many blessings ~ ashleigh

This is the first painting I painted with a spiritual focus

Ten years ago, I probably would have thought my art was spiritual. Yet, looking back, I can say that it was not.

In 2006, my dog, Nanny, helped me to understand the concept of spiritual art and what it is all about. At that time, she was feeling very ill, and I was very concerned for her. I was lying with her in her favorite spot and sending her healing prayers, an image of a piece of art I had worked on a few days ago popped into my mind. I saw it was dark and had no clarity of purpose. Yet, this piece was one I had recently defended, thinking it great, when a close friend had tried explaining why it was not and in fact far from it.

Anyway, I did not want to share this image; I wanted to share light. With dynamic strength and will I refocused my energy back to the image of God’s Healing Light and continued to pray for and with Nanny.

It became crystal clear to me that if the art I create is not something I would like to see when I am praying for someone, then why would I want anyone else to see it, or for that matter create it?

I came to see that spiritual art has great purpose. It has the power to help people change themselves, that they may realize their full potential and in this process, inspire others.

From that moment on my art changed and has been changing ever since. More important than the outcome of the paintings, is the fact that I am changing. I am happier, less reactive and continue to grow using meditation and art as a tool to help me refine my emotions into true divine feeling. It has been an amazing process. It is a joy and blessing to be able to share it with you!

Thank you for visiting. Please feel free to leave a comment or any questions that you might have, I would love to hear from you.