About perspective... Or... "I have sent you nothing but angels..."
There is a saying, that is used often in metaphysical circles, in which the Universe says: "I have sent you nothing but angels"
Basically it means that EVERYONE who crosses our path in life, is there for our highest good.
It means that not one person we ever encountered, no matter how dark or difficult he may have seemed, was there to hurt us, but that ALL are here to help us.
Some people in our life, might help us directly, by offering direct help, like a new way of thinking about our predicament, or by offering love, support and good advice.....
But others help us grow, by providing to us, a negative example of what NOT to do......., what we need to notice.........., by provoking our anger, and our hurts....
Their wrong doing, motivates us to examine our own rough points....... Or to find
Forgiveness, compassion or greater perspective on life.
When we look at what they do wrong and how it makes them unhappy, we are able to see more clearly the pitfalls to avoid, and we can then assert to ourselves, what to be aware of, and what to adopt as a better way of thinking and believing,
The saying, "I have sent you nothing but angles"......... is also linked to the idea that we are here to serve one another.... But I have to state here, that most of us, do it without being aware of it.
I will now try to illustrate this point to you.
While going through painful experiences in my life, I was rarely aware that something that felt so horrible, or a person that acted in such an immature, vindictive and pitiful way, was actually 'working' FOR my highest good in the long run.
Usually, we are too emotionally involved in the current drama, to notice it from a bird's eye view.... Or to have any perspective on it.
But there was ONE exemption in my life, in which as it happened, I was both hurting AND clearly aware that everything that was happening was happening for my highest good.
Imagine this.....
It was a hot day in Miami, and we were sitting around a Mahogany oval table, stacked with divorce papers, in my lawyer's office.
My marriage was irrevocably broken and I desperately wanted OUT....
My husband, on the other hand, was determine to keep our marriage together....
Yet he was not trying to do so by charming me or by trying to convince me to love him again.... He did it by desperately stretching the divorce procedures, with the hope that I would change my mind...
He was mounting difficulties and presenting unreasonable demands, with the hope that lonely nights will remind me of our good times together......and would send me wishing for our intimacy together.
Nothing could be further from the truth.....
After being shrunk in a marriage that was way too small for my size, I was now having a fabulous time, dating great and intelligent guys, feeling adored and admired.... Traveling the country to do art shows....... And.........To be shamelessly honest.... I was dating five guys at that time.... all knew about the others..... and none of them minded.
My lawyer was charging me $500 an hour, and the arguments with my ex husband, were both painful to my heart and to my wallet.
My ex husband lived with me for the past few years and did not earn a dollar, from day one of our marriage.
He was living off my income as an artist and now, instead of backing off gracefully, he was demanding half of everything I had.... It felt so unfair and so grabby.
He wanted half of the money I saved from selling my restaurant, many years before we even met.....
Half of my house, which I paid for with my money, and half of my savings, and everything else.
I was hurting, but I was NOT fighting him.
I was willing to give half, because with my inner eye, I saw my future.... And it was bright and beautiful filled with joy and laughter and love....and much success.
But he did not just want half of my money and possessions, he wanted half of my art career.
This angered even my lawyer....who immediately instructed me to dissolved the corporation that I put also in my ex husband's name.
Then the long and expensive meetings started, in which both lawyers were arguing over the "art inventory" that I had in my possession.....Yes........ My paintings...that I painted and tried to sell....
They sat with long lists of my ex-husband demands and my responses....
The pain was almost unbearable...... I was filled with self pity and indignant feelings.....
And Instead of crying at the meeting, I started inwardly praying.....
I have been student of the 'Course In Miracles,' for MANY years before....and there is a saying in the Course, that says that whenever you are not fully joyous, or when you find yourself feeling deep pain, remember this: "There IS ALWAYS ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT THIS SITUATION."
I sat around that oval office table........ torn between two worlds...
What was actually happening, felt like emotional hell, yet my heart, mind and inner convictions, KNEW that there is a blessing here somewhere..... I just need to be receptive to see it....
I prayed and prayed for a greater understanding.....
And I felt a shift happen.... It even felt as if the room got brighter, and the clump in my heart was loosening....
I felt as if I was seeing this situation from a larger perspective and with a larger understanding.
An inner voice whispered to me: "Do you remember all those inner doubts you had when you started as an artist years ago?
Do you remember how you were not sure that your work is valuable at all?
That you felt as if you were just a scribbler....... sitting in your one car garage in front of a cheap easel......... and smearing oil on perfectly good canvases?.......
Do you remember how often you felt that the unpainted canvases were MORE worthy than what you put on them....that your work was nothing special and that you were over valuing it?.....
Do you remember how you were surprised and delighted with every person who paid you to buy your art?....
Well, here today......your ex husband is putting REAL value on your art.
Two lawyers are arguing over the exact value of paintings that you wanted to paint over....
They are saying things like:
His lawyer: "Do not tell me that "Mud Men In New Guinea" painted in oils, and FRAMED, is worth ONLY $900.
The same year, she sold "Spirit of a waterfall #1", done in oils and UNFRAMED, for $1200 each, and she made a series of six.... All sold for these prices."
My lawyer: "You cannot compare the two.
"Spirit of a waterfall #1" is done in THICK oils which cost more and it is part of a series, while "Mud Men In New Guinea", is a one off, and it can be valued at whatever SHE says it is worth...."
I sat there as the inner voice was guiding me to notice, the three "P's"
The Past, the Present and the Perspective....
And so they argued, these three men wearing fancy suites.... Each writing with manicured nails and fancy pens.......hunching over and writing down names of my paintings and arguing over the size, medium and value....
The mediator was nodding his head with agreement, as he heard things that made good sense to him....
I sat there with my newly acquired heavenly perspective..... Recognizing that this was a turning point in my own appreciation of my art...
I knew as I sat there, that Never again will I be able to look at my art with dismissing eyes....
It is told, that in order to be successful in the art world, YOU, YOURSELF have to see the value in it....to FULLY BELIEVE in the value of your own art.... In the gift that you offer the world............and only after YOU believe in it, will you be able to convey it to others.... And to convince the world that it is worthy too....
That day, my ex husband was giving me that gift... (Albeit unknowingly)..... But does it really matter?
Last week, I read some of my poet friends on Facebook, fuming about a woman who was copying their work and passing it as hers.
I thought again to that day in Miami, in which my art got validated, BECAUSE of that conflict....and I thought to myself.... That this woman... That they call "a thieve" and curse in so many words...was doing the same...she was doing them a FAVOR...
She was seeing the VALUE in their poetry.... And she wished she could write the same....but knew that for now, she cannot.....so she stole what she loved.... Giving it value...
And since those Facebook poets are NOT yet published poets, with any recognition, they could choose to feel VIOLATED.... OR VALIDATED.......
It is all a matter of perspective.... A state of MIND....
Basically it means that EVERYONE who crosses our path in life, is there for our highest good.
It means that not one person we ever encountered, no matter how dark or difficult he may have seemed, was there to hurt us, but that ALL are here to help us.
Some people in our life, might help us directly, by offering direct help, like a new way of thinking about our predicament, or by offering love, support and good advice.....
But others help us grow, by providing to us, a negative example of what NOT to do......., what we need to notice.........., by provoking our anger, and our hurts....
Their wrong doing, motivates us to examine our own rough points....... Or to find
Forgiveness, compassion or greater perspective on life.
When we look at what they do wrong and how it makes them unhappy, we are able to see more clearly the pitfalls to avoid, and we can then assert to ourselves, what to be aware of, and what to adopt as a better way of thinking and believing,
The saying, "I have sent you nothing but angles"......... is also linked to the idea that we are here to serve one another.... But I have to state here, that most of us, do it without being aware of it.
I will now try to illustrate this point to you.
While going through painful experiences in my life, I was rarely aware that something that felt so horrible, or a person that acted in such an immature, vindictive and pitiful way, was actually 'working' FOR my highest good in the long run.
Usually, we are too emotionally involved in the current drama, to notice it from a bird's eye view.... Or to have any perspective on it.
But there was ONE exemption in my life, in which as it happened, I was both hurting AND clearly aware that everything that was happening was happening for my highest good.
Imagine this.....
It was a hot day in Miami, and we were sitting around a Mahogany oval table, stacked with divorce papers, in my lawyer's office.
My marriage was irrevocably broken and I desperately wanted OUT....
My husband, on the other hand, was determine to keep our marriage together....
Yet he was not trying to do so by charming me or by trying to convince me to love him again.... He did it by desperately stretching the divorce procedures, with the hope that I would change my mind...
He was mounting difficulties and presenting unreasonable demands, with the hope that lonely nights will remind me of our good times together......and would send me wishing for our intimacy together.
Nothing could be further from the truth.....
After being shrunk in a marriage that was way too small for my size, I was now having a fabulous time, dating great and intelligent guys, feeling adored and admired.... Traveling the country to do art shows....... And.........To be shamelessly honest.... I was dating five guys at that time.... all knew about the others..... and none of them minded.
My lawyer was charging me $500 an hour, and the arguments with my ex husband, were both painful to my heart and to my wallet.
My ex husband lived with me for the past few years and did not earn a dollar, from day one of our marriage.
He was living off my income as an artist and now, instead of backing off gracefully, he was demanding half of everything I had.... It felt so unfair and so grabby.
He wanted half of the money I saved from selling my restaurant, many years before we even met.....
Half of my house, which I paid for with my money, and half of my savings, and everything else.
I was hurting, but I was NOT fighting him.
I was willing to give half, because with my inner eye, I saw my future.... And it was bright and beautiful filled with joy and laughter and love....and much success.
But he did not just want half of my money and possessions, he wanted half of my art career.
This angered even my lawyer....who immediately instructed me to dissolved the corporation that I put also in my ex husband's name.
Then the long and expensive meetings started, in which both lawyers were arguing over the "art inventory" that I had in my possession.....Yes........ My paintings...that I painted and tried to sell....
They sat with long lists of my ex-husband demands and my responses....
The pain was almost unbearable...... I was filled with self pity and indignant feelings.....
And Instead of crying at the meeting, I started inwardly praying.....
I have been student of the 'Course In Miracles,' for MANY years before....and there is a saying in the Course, that says that whenever you are not fully joyous, or when you find yourself feeling deep pain, remember this: "There IS ALWAYS ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT THIS SITUATION."
I sat around that oval office table........ torn between two worlds...
What was actually happening, felt like emotional hell, yet my heart, mind and inner convictions, KNEW that there is a blessing here somewhere..... I just need to be receptive to see it....
I prayed and prayed for a greater understanding.....
And I felt a shift happen.... It even felt as if the room got brighter, and the clump in my heart was loosening....
I felt as if I was seeing this situation from a larger perspective and with a larger understanding.
An inner voice whispered to me: "Do you remember all those inner doubts you had when you started as an artist years ago?
Do you remember how you were not sure that your work is valuable at all?
That you felt as if you were just a scribbler....... sitting in your one car garage in front of a cheap easel......... and smearing oil on perfectly good canvases?.......
Do you remember how often you felt that the unpainted canvases were MORE worthy than what you put on them....that your work was nothing special and that you were over valuing it?.....
Do you remember how you were surprised and delighted with every person who paid you to buy your art?....
Well, here today......your ex husband is putting REAL value on your art.
Two lawyers are arguing over the exact value of paintings that you wanted to paint over....
They are saying things like:
His lawyer: "Do not tell me that "Mud Men In New Guinea" painted in oils, and FRAMED, is worth ONLY $900.
The same year, she sold "Spirit of a waterfall #1", done in oils and UNFRAMED, for $1200 each, and she made a series of six.... All sold for these prices."
My lawyer: "You cannot compare the two.
"Spirit of a waterfall #1" is done in THICK oils which cost more and it is part of a series, while "Mud Men In New Guinea", is a one off, and it can be valued at whatever SHE says it is worth...."
I sat there as the inner voice was guiding me to notice, the three "P's"
The Past, the Present and the Perspective....
And so they argued, these three men wearing fancy suites.... Each writing with manicured nails and fancy pens.......hunching over and writing down names of my paintings and arguing over the size, medium and value....
The mediator was nodding his head with agreement, as he heard things that made good sense to him....
I sat there with my newly acquired heavenly perspective..... Recognizing that this was a turning point in my own appreciation of my art...
I knew as I sat there, that Never again will I be able to look at my art with dismissing eyes....
It is told, that in order to be successful in the art world, YOU, YOURSELF have to see the value in it....to FULLY BELIEVE in the value of your own art.... In the gift that you offer the world............and only after YOU believe in it, will you be able to convey it to others.... And to convince the world that it is worthy too....
That day, my ex husband was giving me that gift... (Albeit unknowingly)..... But does it really matter?
Last week, I read some of my poet friends on Facebook, fuming about a woman who was copying their work and passing it as hers.
I thought again to that day in Miami, in which my art got validated, BECAUSE of that conflict....and I thought to myself.... That this woman... That they call "a thieve" and curse in so many words...was doing the same...she was doing them a FAVOR...
She was seeing the VALUE in their poetry.... And she wished she could write the same....but knew that for now, she cannot.....so she stole what she loved.... Giving it value...
And since those Facebook poets are NOT yet published poets, with any recognition, they could choose to feel VIOLATED.... OR VALIDATED.......
It is all a matter of perspective.... A state of MIND....
