God is on the Runway

I am hooked on Project Runway. It's a reality TV show produced by Heidi Klum showcasing fashion designers competing their clothing designs against each other.

The show's fascinating to watch because it's all about creative manifestation in action. All the designers have to start with is just a concept and raw materials like fabric and buttons. Everything else comes from thin air!

Amazing. The competition is more of a test of mental strength more than anything else. Can someone be creative in a highly-stressed environment? Can they keep their cool and keep on working despite the clock is ticking? Of course, tempers flare, some break down, some cry. There's a lot of drama going on. But in the midst of it, they are all very talented designers, creators, manifestors.

It motivates me. It reminds me a lot of my archi days as well, where it's similarly that way: we get a concept, and the end product of which would a house, apartment or office is literally whipped out of thin air. And of course time is always, always a factor.

It also reminds me how designs are always fluid and the only constant about it is change. No one can tell what would come out of each of those ream of fabrics. No one can control the design. The potential is there, the creative energy is there - but whether it really meets the mark is another different story. There's no formula. It's all co-creativity. All these designers are catalysts and vehicles for that greater intelligence to bring forth a creative form. In the end, God is in the details.

My Body is My Temple

I'm here now at Tanjong Jara Resort for another travel writing assignment for the magazine. Didn't really expect them to forward an invitation to me so quickly after the last one to Bali. But I'm happy to have it anyways, and I consider it a birthday gift from the Universe! Thank you!

Spiritually, the highlight of this working holiday is 'honor your body.' For the past few weeks I realized I had been living in my head - I was overanalyzing almost everything in my life - especially relationships. Questions came and the Ego tried to answer everything, but of course I only ended up with a really heavy head most of the time. I could practically feel my head area fluffed with thought forms. Also, I was obsessively overanalyzing everything. Yet, I couldn't pinpoint what was bothering me - I was feeling dispassionate, lifeless and I wanted to sleep all the time.

So happened I got this book "The Power of I Am" by John Maxwell Taylor. I had began reading when I got here and I couldn't put it down. As I believe there are no coincidences, it was the perfect book for me at this time. Taylor's main message was for us to get out of our heads and get in tune with our body to allow the energy of I Am to flow through.

I have never been comfortable with the physical aspect of myself. I never liked sports, and I preferred to indulge in mindworks most of the time - thinking, reading, analyzing. And I wondered why I feel ungrounded most of the time, considering my head was constantly in the clouds!

This book brought me down to Earth - it was the wake-up call I needed. I realized I was really getting out of balance with too much upper chakra work. And this resort was the perfect setting to practice it all.

With tropical gardens and a beautiful beach surrounding me, you might think that it's easy to get into that groundedness state since Mama Nature was all around. But the mind/ego/personality was totally uncomfortable about that. When I first got here, I was experiencing frustration and slight depression. I couldn't really relax. But since there was minimal modern stimulation here, there was really nothing else to do. Except sleep.

I slept the entire day the day before. Right after breakfast, took a short nap. Right after lunch took another nap. Then I went to bed early. It was good. Of course it helped that the room interior was totally cosy. YTL has a way of doing their resorts this way.

It was like having sleep therapy. In between all practising the tips from the book on how to go out of the head and come back to the body, I feel more alive today than I was a week ago.

On the second day, there was a spa treatment scheduled, so that put me back into a relaxed state. The itinerary was actually really packed, but I canceled everything just to get a grip of myself. And it worked.

Frequent naps somehow de-cluttered my head and the grounding techniques and massages made me pay attention to my body - hands, feet, everything. As I type this I realized I was going through a mental detox. While I managed to get into a state of serenity on and off, in between that were other discomforts like stomach bloating up, nausea, headaches, eye irritation, dry throat and skin rash. I thought I had an allergy to something. But I realized now they were all symptoms of detox. After all, detox-ing shouldn't just be limited to physical toxins, right?

Nature was a big help. When those symptoms came up, I turned to the sun for recharging me, the Earth to ground me, the waves to help me release, the colorful flowers all around to cheer me up and the grass to refresh me.

The mind is calm as I type this now. So often that when we journey on our spiritual path, and unconsciously the ego can slip in to take over and fill your mind with plain clutter that is masked as spiritual studies because the personality loves being intellectual. We can easily lose our balance when this happens. And for me, it is important to come back again and again to my body when I get a tad too intellectual for my own good.

And from today, I HONOR MY BODY. I TUNE IN TO LISTEN TO WHAT MY BODY NEEDS. Simple and sorta cliche, right? I mean I have heard and read about it all the time. But funny I never learned the real meaning of it until now.

28 Candles

I received this beautiful angel figurine from my sis for my birthday today. Yeap...exactly 28.

Some astrologers say the ages 28-30 marks the Saturn Return where it's a time of endings and beginnings. There would be major questioning about life's direction as we come to the crossroads of life. Things take a 360 degree turn - every area of life from your career, relationships, etc. Identity Crisis. Growth. Frustration.

Why does all this sound so familiar?

I think I am already on Planet Saturn even before this birthday. The Void, the Transitional Space, the Nowhere Nothingness I have been experiencing sound sort of Saturn-y. I guess the Return landed faster when I embarked on an intensive soul-seeking journey. Uncertainty just upped its ante.

Is that why I am feeling sort of melancholy today? Saturn isn't really a destination of sunshine and daffodils.

But whatever it is, today is still a milestone! Happy Happy Birthday to me anyway! :)

Hear Me Roar!

This is a really cool site: Power Animals Unleashed... About finding your personal Power Animal. Kinda like getting a daemon (ala the Golden Compass).

I got the Lion. I was surprised. I was expecting a tamer animal, like maybe a grass-eating gentle creature. But it's the Lion. And later I realized that's exactly the energy I needed. I have been dealing with one of my biggest fears these days, and by visualizing the Lion I receive a sense of courage and strength.

So Leo would be with me from now on. I am bringing his energy in as it's inner strength I need most since I am working on things like personal power, security and divine fierceness.

Check the site out. What's your Animal?

1/1/2008 - Happy Highest New Year!

This year it's a private party, with me, my angels and my spiritual family. On the inner planes. Where we connect energetically and meditate for peace. The guest of honor is the Angel of Peace. It's after all a very auspicious date: 1.1.2008 = 1-1-1. Numbers that mark beginnings.

Yes, it's a different celebration this year. I chose to join other meditators to do this meditation. So many earthly parties are going on at the same time, yet this time around, I feel no pull towards that. I suppose it's because I (or really my soul) had already accepted an invitation to a party on another plane. :)

I could hear fireworks left and right outside my house as I travelled to another spot for that higher kind of big bash. There was dancing..with the light and our heartsongs. There were engaging conversations...with our inner god and goddesses of what our 2008 visions would be. There was fun and entertainment...when we joined in spirits. It was festive. I felt the energy of reunion, of peace, of connectedness, of familiarity. Such warmth. Mmmmm...

Anyway I made a list of my 2008 Soul Visions. Not resolutions - those are personality-based. These Soul Visions are continuously evolving and expanding.

• I am more of I AM.
• Soul growth is gentle, peaceful but profoundly powerful.
• I receive and give love with an open heart.
• I am living my Highest Purpose.
• I am living my Highest Lifestyle.
• I create and enjoy Highest Relationships.
• I am experiencing and enjoying abundance everyday.
• I am love. I am light.
• I am aligned with my Divine Blueprint, Divine Wills, Divine Plans and Divine Self.
• I trust the Universe and Spirit.
• I experience and strengthen my natural creativity, inner strength, courage and wisdom.
• My connections and natural bonds with my Angels, Archangels, Highest Spiritual Guides strengthens.
• My connection to all of my Selves strengthens.
• I am healthy and balanced in all my bodies - intellectual, emotional, physical, etheric and lightbody.
  
• I surrender my personality and let Soul and Spirit take the lead. The Highest Light guides.
• I bring more of my Divine Light to my Earthly Self.
• I co-create Heaven on Earth.
• Everyday I experience, bliss, beauty, self love and peace.
• I am doing my Highest Work. I am in a career that is aligned with my Divine Blueprint.
• I am enjoying yoga, mastering the art rapidly. I have high energy for bodyworks.
• I am create with ease and flow.
• I am writing, speaking and communicating more and more of my inner Truths with ease and flow.
  
• I create abundance wherever I go and whenever I do things with passion and love.
• I am loving to everyone, radiating Universal Love.
• I have a beautiful, radiant and loving aura.
• I master my inner spiritual abilities, bringing them into full mastery.
• I inspire love wherever I am, whatever I do.
• I love. I love. I love.

Happy New Year to all of you, my dearest Soulmates and Soul Family, Earthly friends and peers. May peace weave its way into your life within and without.