I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete
Oh simple thing where have you gone
I’m getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you’re gonna let me in
I’m getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

(Somewhere Only We Know – lyrics)

Ah, Keane, so right on! Do you relate to these lyrics too? If so, you are probably familiar with that frustrating feeling of stagnation. The truth is when you chose a certain path and you reach a certain age and you haven’t accomplished a third of what you thought you would, it’s not easy to find the motivation to keep on.  For me, the road has been dotted with lots of tempting parking spaces, but somehow, each time my mind says “give up”, my heart whispers “try it one more time”.

Dunno about you but, when September comes and I start looking back and making an assessment of what I’ve accomplished during the year, I always start this race with the remaining four months of the year, and I start taking the classes I have been pushing, sending the cover letters to apply for those jobs I don’t like but need, and reaching out to people I think could help me realizing what I really want.

But, here I am again “stuck in reverse” as Coldplay would say. Worn out by this final sprint, deceived by the so-called producers, the so-called managers, and other megalomaniacs that I came across, and quite confused about my movie project because each time I ask for advice, I get completely different opinions. The good thing is that I learned. I love to learn, in fact I enrolled in 5 classes : 1-The Avalon cleans workshop, with  Rachel Avalon, 2-Voice Over for actors @ Kalmenson & Kalmenson, 3- Accent reduction with Bob Corff, 4- The power of pursuit with Dallas Travers, and 5- a tele-seminary called the “28 days challenge to meet your guides” with Marilyn Popa.

Ever since I welcomed 2011 in a sweat lodge in Sedona AZ, and had the amazing experience of being guided through 2 dream journeys, one by a Shaman Rahelio, and one by psychic Nirup,  I have been wanting to go back to that place where my vibrations where so high, I think I left my body. Call it conditioning, call it BS, call it loneliness or despair. I don’t care, I saw my defunct Mother, and mystical characters in unforgettable scenarios. And that my friends, is better than any hallucinogen mushroom. Plus I have really weird dreams, so strange that I started recording them as voice memos on my Iphone, and this seminary promised to give some insights to elucidate “The dreams”.

The advantage of a tele-seminary is that you don’t have to drive, and if you miss a class you still get an mp3 of the recorded session. During 4 consecutive Thursdays at 7pm, I would call in a number and get connected into a collective call to hear the teacher’s seminary and follow her guided meditations lying in my bed. Hard work, ha? The goal was to begin trusting our intuition through feeling, hearing, knowing and seeing thanks to “challenges” but mostly, to connect with different guides thanks to the “channeled meditations”. 4 weeks, 4 guided meditations, 5 “challenges”/ week. Let me share with you my 4 preferred challenges/games and my 2 preferred guided meditations so hopefully I’ll tempt you to do at least one. Wanna play? Ready? Set>>> Go!

CHALLENGES

• Animals

Take out a piece of paper and cut it into 10 pieces (exact shape and size). On each one write down an animal (be specific, don’t just write “bird”). Fold the pieces of paper. Close your eyes, breathe into your stomach, and ask your higher self a question. Shuffle the folded pieces and pull one out. Open it, and look up the symbolic meaning of that animal. Did it answer your question? If not, has it brought you a clue? Check out this website www.animalspirit.com

(PS: I accidentally drew 3 because they were stock together. I drew eagle, shark & jaguar.  Sky, sea & earth, weird, no? During that week I kept on seeing those animals for real, on TV, on billboards, and randomly on the internet. Do the exercise, and drop me a line to share your experience, OK? )

• People

Write down 5 to 10 different people you admire and the qualities you like about that person. Try and use people that have been or are in the public eye. Then take a piece of paper and cut into as many pieces as people, and write down their names. Fold the papers and ask your higher self a question about a step you may need to take, or a personality trait you may need to possess to resolve a particular matter. Write down the question. Shuffle the papers and pull one out.  See if there is something that this person possesses that you can take on to move you along.  All the energy of the people we admire is accessible to us and we do possess some of their characteristics otherwise we wouldn’t be drawn by them. Have fun, don’t make it too much work, just have fun. Who do you admire? Come one, do it!

(PS: My question was “What traits do I need to have in order for me to attract the right people for my project?”. I chose 4 men & 4 women:

Woody Allen (writer, actor, director, musician, twisted, prolific, touching, funny, controversial) Christian Bale (disciplined, devoted to craft, chameleon, lead, magnetic, captivating, gorgeous) Allan Ball (writer, director, successful, daring, innovative, esoteric, polemic) Robert Downey Jr (brilliant, funny, sexy, overcame addictions, director, actor, singer)

Alanis Morisette (prolific, poet, musician, singer, intelligent, moving, wise, cultured, tormented)  Salma Hayeck (ambitious, entrepreneur, confident, sexy, driven, strong accent yet Hollywood success story) Sofía Vergara (funny, sex bomb, strong accent yet Hollywood sensation, charismatic, determined) and Madonna (writer, singer, actress, director, unapologetic, provocative, powerful, pioneer, self-made, visionary, generational icon).

I drew this last one. Hmmm… Does that mean I should interview my crew and potential investors sucking a lollypop in a lucky star T-shirt? Kidding, she just directed her second feature W.E., I’m in AWE.)

• Lyrics

Have an Ipod near. Quiet your mind and think of a question. Let the question be a question about your soul evolving in a particular area.  Ask your higher self the question then go to your Ipod and without looking, shuffle until you feel complete and land on a song. See what song it is, look up the lyrics. Did it give you some clarity? If you don’t have an Ipod, turn the radio on without the volume and just go to a random station…turn up the volume…if it’s on a commercial pay attention to what they are advertising and then listen for the next song…look up the lyrics. It’s fun!

(PS: That day I was stuck on the 405 on my way to VO class.  I thought about the exercise, and asked if I should pursue this crazy non-sense enterprise of wanting to produce, direct, and act in my own movie. Then I pressed “shuffle” and my Ipod tuned into Long hard road from Sade. I took that as a yes, silly me! Then when I excited my car, I noticed several white feathers on the sidewalk, right on my path to the entrance of the building. I picked them up and did some research. I found out white feathers are supposed to be “angel’s business cards”, how about that?! On top of that, when I looked at the cover of Sade’s Soldier of Love album, I saw that she is in the top of what looks like the pyramid of the moon looking at the pyramid of the sun in  Teotihuacan watching an eagle! Eagle.

• Personality and soul card

Calculate your personality and soul Tarot card. No worries, don’t have to buy a deck.

Personality card: Add your month, day, and year of birth:

Example – 05/ 27/ 1974 = 2006

Then you add each digit of the resulting number:

2+6 = 8

Keep any number from 1 to 22 corresponding to the 22 Major Arcana cards. In this case, the card number is #8, and the #8 Arcana is: The Strength.

Soul card: If your  personality number has 2 digits, add them up to reduce them to 1 digit and you get your Soul Number.

In this lifetime we are supposed to be specifically working on our Soul purpose. If it’s the same number for both, that makes you more focused and directed. You can google “Major Arcana” and read more about their meanings.  Come on, start your calculations. So? What number are you?

(PS: For the purpose of the class we were asked to buy a White Rider Tarot deck, but I didn’t like it and I didn’t want to spend on a deck I’ll never use, so instead, I downloaded an application for Iphone called “Legacy of the Divine Tarot” by an amazing artist called Ciro Marchetti. It has a feature called “card of the day” that you press and you see a magical animated version of a card and its meaning. Just sharing… check it out:)

MEDITATIONS

1st Meditation:

Sit comfortable. Close your eyes. Ground the room imagining 4 columns of light on each corner, going all the way down to the center of the earth and all the way up high to the sky. Mentally open each one of your chakras visualizing the colors getting brighter for each zone. Ground your body imagining roots coming out of from the parts of your body that are in contact with the floor that go all the way down to the center of the earth, then visualize a cord that traverses your spine and attaches you to the earth and to the sky from your crown.

Breathe. Imagine you start floating, going out of your room, up to the sky, seeing the city from above, then continue to climb all the way up to the clouds and see a door. Open it and see a garden. Notice what’s in that garden (flowers, trees, water, animals, what time is it?) See a path that leads to a house, (how is the path, ascending, descending,  how is the house, big, small, modern , old etc.), Go inside,  see a solar room, and someone seated on a chair that is giving you the back. Get closer, count till 3 and turn around the chair. Who is it? Male or female? Notice how he/she is dressed. Ask him/her a question. Then ask him/her to give you a word. Thank him/her. Slowly leave the house, go back to the path, to the door,  to the clouds, to your room, and call your name 3 times.

This can be your higher self or a guide. Depending on your question. Who did you see? Journal and look up the symbolism of all the things you noticed!

(PS: My garden resembled Peter Jakson’s garden from his movie “The lovely bones”, my house resembled the house from the movie “The Lake House”, and my higher self was a mix between the paint Ophelia by John Everett Millais and the Highest Priestess from Ciro Marchetti . The word was “trust“. The girl looked pretty much like me when I was young, only she was wet with lots of little white flowers in her long black hair… Does that I mean I committed suicide? Hmm… The character in my novel is suicidal… Oh, my!)

2nd Meditation:

Same steps as above to get prepared, but this time in your way up in the clouds, notice people that has passed away crossing your path. Who are they? Are they public figures? Defunct family members? Now, in your garden you are welcomed by a guide. What does He/She look like? Follow your guide to an entrance in the ground. He/ She is going to show you 3 doors. (Notice what material? size? handle?) First open the one on the left, see what’s inside, notice all the details and close. Then open the one in the middle, notice all the details and close. Then open the one on the right, notice all the details and close.

Then ask your guide to give you:

An animal, a city, a talent, a color, a number, a tarot card, a crystal, a flower and a word. Thank them, say goodbye, and slowly leave the garden, then go back the clouds, to your room, call your name 3 times.

Journal immediately. Now, here comes the fun thing: the people you crossed are people whose qualities you have; the doors are doors into how you perceive your past, present and future; the animal is your totem animal for protection; the city is a place you will be visiting in the next 5 years; the talent is a talent you should look into developing in the next 3 years; the color is the color of the chakra you have to open up more; the number is what you should focus on now (look up symbolic meaning); the tarot card is who you embody now; the crystal  is something you need to pay attention to; the flower is the flower to envision when scared; and the word is a block you are experiencing… Ta-ra! Fun, isn’t it? Now look up the symbolism of all the things you noticed!

(PS: For the “I see dead people” I saw Marylin Monroe, Lucille Ball and Amy Winehouse. Does that mean I am a sexy, funny, tortured…singer??? Who did you see?

My guide was a mix between Cleopatra and Pocahontas and she gave me: Koala, Seattle, singing, orange, 8, the hermit, Agathe, Magnolia, and the word was “Love”. . . Hey! I just realized, there’s another “singing” sign!

I guess for this kind of meditations it’s better if you have someone guiding you, but you can also record your voice. Another alternative is looking on Youtube, you’ll see, there are hundreds of guided meditations.

I hope you liked at least one of “the games” and do it. Have a blast, and if you have time, drop me a line!

PS: Gotta go now, my Guides are telling me I’ve spent too much time writing this instead of working on my project, ♩ ♬ “They wanna make me go back to work, and I say, no, no, no ♭♩ ♬  … eehhhh….