Go deep (into desire)

I am my deepest desire

So hum

I AM

my desire informs my intention + it weaves the energy of my life story

deep down i am lead by a radiant enthusiasm, deep down i am an adventurer on a discovery mission, deep down i am an explosion of colour + deep down i am connection + creativity. deep down i am the experience + the one experiencing + expressing what i unearth

I AM MY DEEPEST DESIRE...

to be | to create | to love life fully

oprah + deepak offer 21 day meditations... this is the first centering thought of the most recent series. ( the above image is the thought on top of a work in progress).

Always many gems revealed + synchtonicities in these experiences. I still have lots of mind chatter, but i still give it a go each go round because it provides new awareness. I encourage you to check it out.

what is your deepest desire?

Be Wonderful

♡

LaToya

Living in the NOW (embrace the moment)

Below are a few tips on living in the NOW gleaned from a book  I picked up several years ago, when back in San Francisco.  I visited a friend and she had this little gem on her table, “1,001 ways to live in the Moment” by Barabara Ann Kipfer. 

I was really drawn to the book, so I purchased it and at some point actually read every single suggestion while riding the bus to and from work.  It came to me at a time when I really needed it. It is one of the books I still carry with me as I have moved to another country and into a home on the road.

Here are 5 reminders from the book (as I have interpreted it) that I carry with me in my heart on this journey of Inspired Living + creating Sacred Space:

1. Accept yourself as you are! And keep moving forward.  Appreciate the precious moments and move on without regret. Embrace the process of your life. This is the foundation of self-love, and I am a believer that everything else will thrive on this.

2. “Say yes to the good life” and know when to say “no”. You choose. To make a change you have to change your awareness.  What point of view are you living from? Do you allow yourself to enjoy life and live fully on your own terms? Are you supporting your self by cultivating an environment that supports you? Say yes to living your INSPIRED LIFE.

3. Focus on one task rather than multitasking. Deepen your attention. Embrace small goals and baby steps in the process. I am still working on this one everyday, it is very tempting to try to do many things at once. Although I have a million things running at once, I know that focus brings presence.

4. Be fully engaged in the process...Deepen your awareness. Take what may have become a routine for you, i.e. making the bed, and really be fully engaged in the process.  Consciously smooth out the sheets in a particular direction, notice how it feels, be aware. This is a way to practice mindfulness. How can this be applied to other areas of life?

5. Embrace Self-Care. Give yourself a pat on the back. Enumerate your succeses and do good deeds for yourself. Self care is checking in with yourself and responding to what you hear.

Be Wonderful

♡

LaToya

p.s. i've had this list written up for a while now, and after listening to the meditation below I was inspired to finally post and add the meditation as a resource. As I find other resources I will continue to update this post.

Resources:

Awareness Meditation

CURRENTLY READING (long song + belonging)

CURRENTLY READING is a series of posts I will be writing about books I read. They are like creative book reviews. I will leave journal prompts at the end based on questions the books made me muse on. 

A Long Song + The Art Of Belonging.

Traveling in the bus means that some nights we stay in caravan parks with free book swaps + i pick up random books i would not normally read or come across.

Somehow the books I pick up tend to have a connection to one another even if they seem to be talking about completely different things

The common thread here is using research of factual events to tell fictional stories that allow unheard stories to be told.

The long song brings a voice to jamacian ancestors who were enslaved that have had their point of view cut out of history.

(writing as resistance)

Andrea Levy says : "But what I wanted to explore isn't in our history books. I wanted to put back in the voices of everyday life for black Jamaicans that are so silent in the record...I was trying to breathe back the life of ordinary peopleinto the skeleton of recorded events. And that requires imagination as well as research."

I am still reading the art of belonging, but a few standout quotes so far:

"We're tribal. We're social. We're communal. We need to BELONG."

"It's not only children: it takes a village to keep an adult sane and sensible, too"

"The way we respond to people who are UNLIKE us is the best test of our moral integrity."

Journal Prompt: How does my imagination change the story of my day, my life, my history? is my point of view basically run by my IMAGINATION?

be wonderful

♡

LaToya

Radiant Self (exploring my word of the year)

radiant light

dear me,

RADIANT SELF (I AM)

this year is dedicated to you.

You are the embodiment of the LIGHT. the LOVE. the TRUTH. you are my essence + unbounded

You come through my actions. my thoughts. my creations. my interactions + my being. (I AM ENERGY) - always expanding.

you are the AWAKENING. the arrival + the return. you are wholeness come to earth to express + experience self (oneness) in multifacited ways - the breaktrough

you are a mirror reflecting + shedding the layers so that i may see with my open heart - unconditionally. you teach me to THRIVE in the moment here + now -pulling me into the present when my mind wanders.

I channel you with gratitude from the heavens into the earth. you transform me into a tree spreading branches into the sky + roots deep into the crystaline structure* (I AM a BRIDGE). you urge me to follow the path i chose long long ago - and to sing my soul back into my body - DAILY

You urge me to change perspective again + again - letting life come to me. enjoying deep fulfilment + happiness. you urge me to embody the child. the mother. the goddess. + the infinite wisdom. you bring the unexpected - challenges included.

you are pure RADIANCE

(expressing the inside on the outside)

you call out ::

I AM a HEALER. I am a GRIOT. I AM an ARTIST. I AM the dancer. I AM the SONGSTRESS. I AM a RADIANT BEACON of LIGHT.

(stepping into my path)

Be Wonderful

♡

LaToya

Notes: 

*the Earth's crust is 57% silicon compounds - almost pure crystal. Silicone makes forms + relationships.