Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Conspiracy Update

After the recent rebirth of the project, I have sent out 12 blessing packages and will be sending out another six tomorrow. Some of these blessings have gone to some people in real need: a woman fighting leukemia and a gentleman with an undiagnosed brain disorder. One went to a mother who recently left an abusive marriage. It brings my heart such joy to participate in bringing a little kind creativity into people's lives.

Random Kindness

Today I happened across this podcast project:

"Random Kindness is about the power of small gestures. In combination small acts of kindness can make an unbelievably profound difference in the lives of not only the recipients, but the giver too. Each episode will tell the story of a person/family in need of a helping hand.

Through this website you can help by donating the some of the money, goods or services that is needed. You don't need to give a huge amount. Little amounts will add up to big amounts. So give what you can and then pass it along. When we all do a little, we're actually doing a lot.Thanks for making a difference!"

Larry Genkin, Show Host

Friday, April 20, 2007

A Love Story

From today's Blessing Experiment Newsletter:

"When the power of love
overcomes the love of power,
the world will know peace."—Anonymous

There's an old story about a group of monks living with their master in a Tibetan monastery. Their lives were disciplined and dedicated, and the atmosphere in which they lived harmonious and peaceful. People from villages far and wide flocked to the monastery to bask in the warmth of such a loving spiritual environment.

Then one day the master departed his earthly form. At first the monks continued on as they had in the past, but after a time, the discipline and devotion that had been hallmarks of their daily routine slackened. The number of villagers coming through the doors each day began to drop, and little by little, the monastery fell into a state of disrepair.

Soon the monks were bickering among themselves, some pointing fingers of blame, others filled with guilt. The energy within the monastery walls crackled with animosity.

Finally, the senior monk could take it no longer. Hearing that a spiritual master lived as a hermit two days walk away, the monk wasted no time in seeking him out. Finding the master in his forest hermitage, the monk told him of the sad state the monastery had fallen into and asked his advice.

The master smiled. "There is one living among you who is the incarnation of God. Because he is being disrespected by those around him, he will not show himself, and the monastery will remain in disrepair." With those words spoken, the master fell silent and would say no more.

All the way back to the monastery, the monk wondered which of his brothers might be the Incarnated One.

"Perhaps it is Brother Jaspar who does our cooking," the monk said aloud. But then a second later thought, "No, it can't be him. He is sloppy and ill tempered and the food he prepares is tasteless."

"Perhaps our gardener, Brother Timor, is the one," he then thought. This consideration, too, was quickly followed by denial. "Of course not" he said aloud. "God is not lazy and would never let weeds take over a lettuce patch the way Brother Timor has."

Finally, after dismissing each and every one of his brothers for this fault or that, the senior monk realized there were none left. Knowing it had to be one of the monks because the master had said it was, he worried over it a bit before a new thought dawned. "Could it be that the Holy One has chosen to display a fault in order to disguise himself?" he wondered. "Of course it could! That must be it!"

Reaching the monastery, he immediately told his brothers what the master had said and all were just as astonished as he had been to learn the Divine was living among them.

Since each knew it was not himself who was God Incarnate, each began to study his brothers carefully, all trying to determine who among them was the Holy One. But all any of them could see were the faults and failings of the others. If God was in their midst, he was doing a fine job of hiding himself. Finding the Incarnated One among such rubble would be difficult, indeed.

After much discussion, it was finally decided that they would all make an effort to be kind and loving toward each another, treating all with the respect and honor one would naturally give to the Incarnated One. If God insisted on remaining hidden, then they had no recourse but to treat each monk as if he were the Holy One.

Each so concentrated on seeing God in the other that soon their hearts filled with such love for one another the chains of negativity that held them bound fell away. As time passed, they began seeing God not just in each other, but in every one and everything. Days were spent in joyful reverence, rejoicing in His Holy Presence. The monastery radiated this joy like a beacon and soon the villagers returned, streaming through the doors as they had before, seeking to be touched by the love and devotion present there.

It was some time later that the senior monk decided to pay the master another visit to thank him for the secret he had revealed.

"Did you discover the identity of the Incarnated One?" the master asked.

"We did," the senior monk replied. "We found him residing in all of us."

The master smiled.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

The Smile Mailer

I plan to start sharing other inspirational projects people are doing related to generosity and creativity again.

At Zaadz I met the Smile Mailer. She send greeting cards, entirely for free, to anyone having a difficult time in life. All you do is submit a request to her website. So wonderful! So kind!

Friday, April 13, 2007

The Conspiracy Awakens!

I am excited to announce that the Conspiracy of Blessings is out of hibernation* and energized to touch lives in creatively kind ways again. My inspiration for this re-awakening of the project comes from the funny fact that I have this huge collection of goddess paper dolls and altered cd’s that I made as decorations for a music festival that never happened. I’ve been storing them for two years, wondering what the heck to do with them. Last night I had the sudden inspiration to break them out and take a look at them again. They’re beautiful! The paper dolls are decorated with pretty papers, fabric, and embellishments. The cd’s are decorated with paints, papers and sparkling powders, have rings with color coordinated beads hanging from the bottom, and a hole at the top with a ribbon so they can be hung (I had intended to hang them from trees where they would sparkle in the summer sun). See pictures below.

My first thought was to take the goddess paper dolls to our local metaphysical shop (and maybe the cd’s to a local music shop) and have them give them away with postcards about the Conspiracy. But I realized that I like a more personal connection than that. I want to know where these little beauties are going. I want them to go where they will be cherished. I want to be able to send a personalized blessing energy to each of the recipients. And there is no better way to guarantee these things than to have people request them.

So here is the official announcement: please email me if you would like to receive a goddess paper dolls or altered cd (or both!) and I will send one out to you with a package of other little artful blessings. This is 100% free and I destroy your mailing address once I have sent out the package. You may also request these blessing packages to be sent to others if you so desire. Have a friend or family member who needs a little kind creativity in their life right now? Let me share a little artful love with them!

Woohoo! I can’t express how thrilled I am to feel the magic of this project flow through me again. At this time I have about 50 goddess paper dolls and 100 altered cd’s. If there is enough interest, I could easily make more.

*If you’re curious as to why the Conspiracy went into hibernation, the primary reason is that I ended my marriage at the end of last year and needed to focus on my own healing for awhile. I am very authentic about honoring my emotional spaces. This project isn’t about feeling obligated to give, it’s about being inspired to give from my genuine love for my fellow humans. I let myself take a break until I felt like I could give from my most authentic places. I’m so happy to feel like I can do that now!