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If you have trouble visioning your ideal job / business / mate / home / whatever, move into the realm of "fantasy" rather than "vision."

Vision can feel a little too reality-bound sometimes. We don't let ourselves see a deeply desired outcome if we can't see how it will come to be.

Especially in communities/cultures of "conscious creation," there's a lot of pressure around the visions we hold. It needs to be the "right" vision -- divinely guided, aligned with our values, of service to society, whatever allows us to approve of the vision.

With fantasy, there's more flexibility. There's no expectation that it will come to fruition, so we can play a little more freely.

The magic is that the fantasy reveals some of the ingredients of a heartfelt vision -- at the *qualitative* level. The qualities we imagine in our fantastical job / business / mate / home / whatever become ingredients of the vision at an *energy* level.

In fantasy, we also get to enjoy the flavor of an imagined experience without the expectation of making it reality. We can "try on" various possible visions to discover what we truly desire.

So to the "vision --> mission --> goals" triumvirate of conscious living, I would add the preface of "fantasy." Fantasy informs vision which shapes mission which translates into goals.

What are some of the qualities of your fantastical ideal job / business / mate / home / whatever?

Mary Oliver asks this question in her poem "The Summer Day" --

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

And I ask you the question now: What *do* you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Only you get to determine what it means to have lived your life well. Cast off any point of view that is not truly your own. It is not fitting to your divine nature to live a life that someone else validates but which you do not. It does not honor your magnificence to mold yourself to someone else's standards of success.

If, to you, a well-lived life means making oodles of cash, then do it. If a well-lived life means surfing all day long, then do it. If a well-lived life means following the path of love even if love takes you down through the mud and brambles, then do it. If a well-lived life means completing all the items on your bucket list, then do it. If a well-lived life means scrapping the notion of a bucket list, then do it.

It's your one wild and precious life.

And it's calling out to you.

You hear it. You hear it when you do those special things that bring you alive or satisfy you deeply. You hear it when you're not doing those things, but it sounds more like yelling than calling.

You don't have to strain your ears to hear the call of your soul. You already know what the next step is.

Take it.

Nine years ago, I decided I wanted to write a book. I made a contract with myself to write for three hours every day for a month. At the time, I was running two separate businesses, which meant I needed to begin my daily writing at 5am. So that’s what I did. I got up at dawn, made coffee, and wrote. I gave myself permission to write on any topic without editing, just to see what was in my creative hopper. The only rule was to keep writing. As fast as my fingers could fly across the keyboard, I wrote.

About a week into the contract, I renegotiated with myself for a shorter daily writing period. I simply couldn’t sustain the pace. Writing in shorter daily stints, I completed my month-long contract. In the process, I completed the content for two small works — a chapbook of healing rituals and a values discovery workbook — and generated a lot of text which I occasionally still draw on for new projects.

Over the years since then, I’ve written and published several book-like products, including Can Do Kit™ and Ritual Journal. I’ve written and produced two year-long web-based periodicals — a weekly publication and a monthly e-zine — and made regular contributions to my blog since my first post in 2005. And last year I released Seeds of Wisdom, what some might consider my first actual "book."

When I set out to write a book back in 2004, I envisioned a BOOK. You know, a tome. A hefty masterwork, presenting an entire body of wisdom. Something that might take me years to write. Indeed, my laptop holds an assortment of folders with the seedlings of BOOKS, including a memoir and a business guide for spiritual entrepreneurs. And buried somewhere in my storage unit are several bankers’ boxes of wild, untamed writings and 23 years of journals. (I imagine them to be composting in there.)

But I did not create the BOOK I envisioned. I created a book and book-like things. Chapooks, tools, workbooks, journals, periodicals, and a profound little paperback book. ("Profound, this little book is. Profound," said a reader of Seeds of Wisdom, and I was honored to receive that.)

I used to judge my written creations for not being BOOKS. At some point, I stopped. I think it was my mentor praising the value of my concise bits of writing in a media-saturated world that put the kibosh on my creative self-criticism. I began to validate my works for what they were, rather than invalidating them for what they weren’t.

Writing a book is a common dream in my community. Colleagues, clients, friends — many of them wish to share their wisdom, their creativity, and their stories in written form. If this is your dream, I say go for it! Set out to tell your stories and share your gifts. Write. And in the process you may create BOOKS or books or book-like things.

Your books may turn out nothing like what you envisioned. That, my friend, is the magic of the creative process. Validate what you have created, even if you determine to edit it into something entirely different.

Hello! You're getting this blog post because you subscribed to my blog at elkavera.blogspot.com. 

Writing is not the same thing as completing a writing project.

(Visual artists, substitute "art" for "writing." The ideas still apply.)

If you desire to share your writing with others, think in terms of sharable forms. What's a sharable form? Something you can point to and say: here, read this. An article. A blog post. A chapter in a book. A whole book!

Instead of just meandering through endless free-writing processes and morning pages, give your writing some definition, some boundaries, some containment. I believe strongly in creative meandering. But this is different from completing a writing project.

Imagine a river. This is your writing *process*. The water flows and flows. You can wade into it. You can dunk your head in it. You can scoop up a handful and slake your own thirst. But if you want to share the water with the people in your village, you need a bucket, a bottle, a cup -- something to contain it, something you can carry it in. This is your writing *project*.

Craft a vessel to carry your writing to the people.

Say: I will complete a [ blog post or article or chapter, etc ] on [ x ] by this date.

Then tell a friend.

And tell them you will send them an email letting them know that you did it.

Then do it.

Ah! Glorious Spring! My favorite time of year. Flowers unfurl themselves in sweet profusion. The sun's light stays out longer each day. It's as if the Earth is awakening with enthusiasm.

Let this impulse of enthusiasm carry you forward into the second quarter of the year. If you and I are connected on Facebook, you probably saw my recent post on wrapping up Q1 and gearing up for Q2. If we aren't connected... well, why aren't we? Pop on over to http://facebook.com/elkavera.

Regardless of our social media status, here's a little something to reflect on while we're March-ing forward on the cusp of becoming April fools.

Draw a circle and divide it into four equal sections. This is the wheel of the year. Label the sections clockwise: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 -- for each quarter of the year. (There's a diagram for you to use at http://ElkaVera.com/download/Q2Wheel.pdf)

Reflect on Q1. What was your focus from the New Year till now? What did you get done? Write that in the Q1 space in your circle.

What are you focusing on for Q2? As Spring turns toward Summer, what's your aim? What is the single most important thing you could accomplish or manifest during this quarter? Write it all down, and repeat after me:

Sun gets stronger / Days grow longer / The season rolls / I reach my goals

Make your word your power by taking the actions needed to accomplish your goals.

If one of your Q2 aims is to deepen in your self-awareness or spiritual practice, here's a suggestion for you:

Use the 13 weeks from April 1 to June 30 as a structure for engaging each of the 12 archetypes in my Seeds of Wisdom system. Focus on one card each week, and use the 13th week for integration.

Here's how:

Starting on Mondays, choose a card for the week. (If you are using the physical deck, place the card on your altar.) Read about the card in the Guidebook. Journal on the theme. Notice how the archetype and its teachings show up in your life. Meditate on the theme. Gather symbols related to the card. (Symbols could be found objects, sacred items you already own, or even images from magazines.) Let the card be a mirror to you for the week. Then thank it for its wisdom, and start with the next card on Monday. In the final week, reflect on all 12 themes and integrate what you've discovered through the quarter.

If you don't have Seeds of Wisdom yet, you can...

Go completely digital -- http://ElkaVera.com/SeedsApp.html
Download the app free for the iPhone, then purchase the eBook version of the Guidebook.

Get the cards and book -- http://ElkaVera.com/SeedsLaunch.html
You can purchase the set from me online, or from the following retailers in the Bay Area:
** Sacred Well in Oakland
** Llewyn's in Berkeley
** Crystal Way in San Francisco
** Universal Connection in Willow Glen

Work with just the book -- http://ElkaVera.com/SeedsBook.html
If you just want the book -- in a form you can hold (and write in the margins!) -- you can get that through Amazon.com.

Remember, insight in the Guidebook is much richer than the synopsis in the iPhone app. (Pages of text for each card were edited down to just two paragraphs per card.) If you take on this 13-week process, the Guidebook is key.

In closing, I offer as a Spring blessing the pink blossoms of the Seeds of Wisdom "Beauty" card. (Download a 2-page sample about the card from the Guidebook at http://ElkaVera.com/download/BeautySample.pdf)

May this full moon find you basking in the beauty of the world!

***

"Swimming Lessons" Art Show
Through the month of April, I will be showing a series of my works at Snake & Butterfly in downtown Campbell. Come out on the last Friday in April for a reception. You can also view the work at your leisure anytime during store hours in April. Details at http://ElkaVera.com/events.html

Creative and spiritual entrepreneurs -- chances are you didn't study business when you trained to be a writer, designer, painter, massage therapist, angel healer, intuitive counselor, or therapist. If you were lucky, you took a business-practices class toward the end of your schooling.

So let yourself off the hook for not feeling competent at business development... and start developing your skills now.

 There is no magic bullet for anything. Pay attention. Learn from your mistakes. Study the way other entrepreneurs do it. Read books on business practices. Lots of them. Avail yourself of free resources. Pay for resources that seem valuable. Connect with colleagues in your field; ask them how they do it; share how you do. Cultivate a mentor. Document your process. Stay with the process.

Attend to the whole ecosystem of your business, not just short-term, gotta-pay-the-rent-tomorrow marketing pushes.

Your business is the system by which you make your services available to the world. It is the means by which you give value and receive value.

Being self-employed is inherently creative and spiritual. No one has your unique business. Love what you've created so far... even as you refine it.

Life is simple. Yet so complex. We dance between this paradox with every breath. Breathing is the simplest thing in the world. And yet it is underpinned by so much biomechanical complexity.

Every surface — kitchen table, mantle, bookshelf, even a vertical surface like a wall — can be the ground of an altar. Look around your home or office environment; you're probably surrounded in secular altars already.

Photos of your family, clustered in a corner of your cubicle at work, are an homage to home life. Funny refrigerator magnets act as mood-shifting affirmations. A plastic toy on your car's dashboard reflects back to you some aspect of your personality or your heritage. Chotchkies on your dressing table remind you of where you've been, what you've dreamed, whom you've loved.

A sacred altar differs from these secular altars only according to your focused intention. Those same chotckies arranged with a conscious intention become a celebration of your history. The dashboard toy becomes a personal patron saint, guiding you on your journey.

When you call your arrangement of objects an altar, it changes your entire way of relating to your life. What was once mundane, now becomes magical.

Tonight, stake out a tiny space on a surface in your home. Declare it to be an altar to whatever you are seeking more of in your life — peace, love, money, passion, fitness, self-awareness, community, whatever. Gather symbols that feel right. Arrange them slowly, with care. Include a candle if that makes it more sacred to you.

Sit in front of your altar. Light the candle. Pray. Give thanks. Or just breathe. Your loving attention at this altar consecrates it. It has now become a holy place, a psycho-spiritual sanctuary dedicated to your desire.

If you are using images of spiritual figures — either mythological or historical — to uplift your environment, be sure your paintings or statuary match the intention and use of your space.

For example, a tapestry of Sarasvati (Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art and science) would hang well in your study or near your favorite reading chair or above your collection of musical instruments. A wee sculpture of an angel could be placed on your altar or breakfast table or be nestled near your favorite houseplant to remind you that you are never alone. An image of the Buddha could preside over your living room or meditation area to bring a feeling of peace and enlightenment.

But beware the Buddha in the bedroom. This warning counts double if you are looking for new romance in your life or desire more sizzle in your current relationship.

Inviting Buddha’s peaceful ways into your boudoir may calm fights with your lover… but it can also dim your intimate spark. The same holds true for images of any spiritual figure who has a reputation for being celibate, untouchably pure, highly intellectual, or just straight-up solo.

Christ, Buddha, Mary, Saint Francis — they can ally be great allies to enhance your space in general. But leave them to the neutral or communal areas of your home. For the bedroom, think Krisha, Venus, Oshun… or even Pan.

It all comes down to matching aesthetics with intention to create a spatial narrative that aligns with your aims.