Suspension of Disbelief

This is actually a picture of my son looking out the front window at the snow; I've had the picture of the window tucked away for a while and used it to create this fantasy image of PJ The Butterfly {waiting for his mommy to let him outside to play with all his little butterfly friends.}

**Warning... Warning... Long Post Ahead**

There is a story I tell my son when we meander through the neighborhood or park concerning the numerous dragonflies that seemed to be wherever we are: in the yard, on the fence, on the antena of my car, in the flowers, etc. etc. Dragonflies are always around me and if I am quiet and patient they will gently land on me, my finger, arm, allowing for some great photo opportunities!  One even let PJ touch its wing last year!

The story is about a kingdom of the past, a land that was inhabited by fairies of every shape, size and color. Beautiful fairies with huge glorious wings that were iridescent and when caught the light glimmered like jewels in the sun. These fairies were known for their wings which were very precious and worth their weight in gold.

This kingdom of fairies reigned in peace for hundreds of years with no enemies. Their leader was the Fairy King and he was kind, fair and good. The fairies in the kingdom got along perfectly well with the wood nymphs, the mermaids and the unicorns of nearby neighboring lands. Occasionally the elves in the next kingdom over could be a bit of a problem because they liked to play their harmonicas too loudly but it was nothing the fairies couldn't handle. They all worked together to create a sweet little life for themselves. There were shoemaker fairies and baker fairies and clown fairies and jewelry fairies and chocolate-maker fairies and market-owner fairies... in other words, a fairy for everything that was needed to make a kingdom run smoothly and happily.

During the day they gathered the harvest from the fields, crops of the tiniest most delectable strawberries and the sweetest of corn {it would taken 10 fairies to harvest one ear of corn and they ate it kernel by kernel because they were so tiny.} They took buttercups and used them to collect the morning dew to drink, and at night they would have mini festivals where they sat to celebrate the wonderful day they'd experienced together. They sang the song of the Fae and played their tiny lutes and good times were had by all. Every day was a celebration in the kingdom of fairies.

Until one day a darkness fell upon the land. A terrible and most Wicked of Wicked Witches learned about the fairies and their precious wings. She cast a spell over the fairy kingdom which placed an invisible net all around the land so no fairy could escape. Immediately fairies became trapped in the net, thrashing to and fro so their little wings were torn. Luckily their friends were able to help them escape but no fairy could flee from the kingdom. The fairies were terrified. All celebration came to a screeching halt and none of the wee creatures would even venture outside of their homes for fear of being caught. For fairies this is a fate worse than death- to be deprived of the gift of nature and freedom.

The witch's second spell was to coat all the flowers and fields with a stickiness that would capture the fairies, trapping them so the Wicked Witch could grab them and snatch off their wings to sell, leaving the poor little fairies to die. This witch didn't care at all about the welfare of the sweet fairies who had lived together content and peaceful for years. All that was important to her was selfishness and greed. She would obliterate a species of creature purely for the sake of capitalism, killing them off forever. Extinction.

How sad. Makes one feel a bit despondent, doesn't it?

But what the Wicked Witch didn't realize was her sister, The Very Good and Happy Witch, knew about her evil sister's plotting and would do everything in her power to stop the madness. She couldn't banish the spells but she could counteract them with white magic of her own. She plotted and pondered until she came up with a plan but it was a plan that would change the fairies' lives forever.

She would cast a spell upon this particular kingdom of fairies, transforming them all into dragonflies. They would be disguised so the Wicked Witch wouldn't recognize them. They would also be so small they could fly through the netting and escape to find a new and better land for themselves. After consulting with their leader {they were a democracy, of course} the fairies agreed this could be their only hope and asked The Very Good and Happy Witch to work her magic upon them. That night, before the enchantment was to begin, the fairies had the hugest celebration in the history of celebrations: The Celebration of Life.

And the next morning as they began to awaken... they felt different. Lighter, like air. Even more ethereal than they had been as fairies. As they threw off the covers and lifted into the air the first thing they noticed was their wings were even more beautiful than before. Shining and glimmering in the morning light they buzzed from house to house greeting one another in excitement. Inspecting themselves in droplets of morning dew they realized that while they looked different they felt the same if not better!

So the dragonflies flew off to find another kingdom where they flourished and lived happily ever after all the way up until today.

The End

So... whenever you see a dragonfly remember~ with those beautiful wings they are really fairies in disguise!

Smile!

Imagination, oh how I love thee. Remember when we were children and anything was possible? When we believed in Santa Claus and The Tooth Fairy? Oh how easy it was back then to *believe!* Just trust and believe. We really didn't know any different, did we? Blissfully unaware.

Wouldn't you love to revert back to that old childhood state of mind? To stop the constant questioning of motives, debunking of facts and overall skepticism of everything that is beautiful in the world? To readily believe in what some call the unbelievable: UFO's, ghosts, and The Loch Ness Monster?

To believe in... magic? 

And fairy dust? 

And low-calorie chocolate?!

If my Hungarian ancestors were alive and were asked about things that go bump in the night, like ghouls and vampires, there would be no rush of doubt; they believed. What made them wrong and us right? I'm sure they had their reasons to check the graves of loved ones close to sundown to assure all was well- making damn well sure to exit the premises before the sun fell too far behind the horizon. Who knew what lurked in the dark shadows of night? What did they know, believe, that we didn't?

Now too many us waste our time disbelieving.

What happened to the magic in living?  What’s up with all the doubt and disbelief?  Often we find ourselves living in the past or worrying about the future while allowing the glory of right now to pass us right on by and that's no way to live. God didn't bless us with the gift of creation and imagination to throw those wonders away in the chaos of constant questioning. Okay, so Santa wasn't real. Or wasn't he? For those few blissfully innocent years that you did believe, wasn't the old jolly fat man much more than just a figment of your imagination? Who says that just because we grow to become adults we must leave all the open-mindedness behind? I, for one, refuse to do so.

Santa sneaks in to eat all my Oreos. The Tooth Fairy and I have tea on Tuesdays, and that darn Easter Bunny keeps stealing all my eggs and hiding them in my house...

It's called Suspension of Disbelief. The cut and dry version goes like this: to be able to enjoy fiction we, as the audience, must be able to believe in the unbelievable; we must suspend what we would normally believe to be true, allowing ourselves to accept the fiction. If a person is unable to do this then she will have a hard time getting lost in a good book or really becoming engrossed in a film. Instead she'll notice things such as "dogs can't fly" or "cats can't read!" until she's ruined any possibility of becoming swept away by story.

Revel in the fantasy my friends!

So, once again- Suspension of Disbelief. We all have the ability to do it, and some of us do it more than others. I myself am a dreamer. I don't read a book; I live it. I don't watch a movie or listen to a song- I fall in love with it. Characters become my best friends. I don't just live my life... I create it.

I create my life, too.

Which leads me to another even more exciting fact- Suspension of Disbelief needn't be applied only to fiction.  Oh no no no NO no.  It can be applied to our everyday lives.  It's all part of the process of manifestation.  This is where the magic comes into play, see?   Manifestation is the art of being able to believe in something that may not be real to you right now.
 

We are told to believe, believe, believe.  Even Kristy has the inspirational word hanging in her office as a reminder.  But what happens when we allow ourselves to become locked in chains of disbelief?  Maybe you are so utterly and completely broke at a particular moment in life that there is no way on God’s Green Earth you could ever believe yourself to be wealthy.  You completely disbelieve the possibility of having enough money to be comfortable, or heck- to even pay a bill {been there so I do know the feeling!}

*Allow me a moment to step up here on my soapbox*

Fellow blog readers- this disbelief will keep you lacking the funds you so desire.  It will place a serious divide between you and whatever you wish for in life.  What you long for, dream about and aspire to.  Disbelief is just not worth it.  So stop it!  Suspend the Disbelief!  You must trust and believe that what you truly want and wish for in life can be yours!  You have to believe it or else you have one helluva time achieving those goals and aspirations.

You must stop thinking “But that could never happen for me” because you are allowing yourself to be overwhelmed with disbelief.  So knock it off!

I own a healthy and robust imagination, and I put it to good use not only in my enjoyment of fiction but also in manifestation. I abuse my imagination really... I love to read, and I'm a writer. As an artist {jewelry, drawing, photography... a dabbler of all and a master of, ah, ahem. let's just leave it at that shall we?} I enjoy being this way. I often heard as a child, "Oh get your head out of the clouds {or your nose out of that book} and face reality! But where's the fun in that?

Obviously, thank God, I didn't listen :)

A year ago I weighed thirty pounds more than I do right now.  I was, er, "fluffier."  And I didn't appreciate the extra weight, especially not when trying to play with my son.  I could tell I was headed to the point of no return... the icky place where soon there would be no turning back weight-wise.  So I decided to change this about myself, and one of the first things I did was to change this idea I had that I could “never be thin.”  I completely disbelieved I’d ever wear a single-digit pants size again.  In doing do I was just asking the universe to hold on to those extra pounds for me!

I made a conscious effort to change my thinking first, starting with suspending my disbelief over the idea I could achieve the level of health I wanted in my life.  Then I concentrated on believing.  Yes~ it can be two very separate steps.

I lied to myself.  I refused to believe what my mirror showed me.  I changed all my passwords to words that emphasized slimming down {think about how often we type in our passwords... over and over and over again.  Intentions as passwords work very well, fyi!}  I no longer concentrated on not being fully pleased with my physical appearance... I just started ignoring it for a while.  Pretending the issue didn't exist.

I stopped telling myself it could never happen… and slowly but surely it DID happen.

Little by little I lost weight.  I took the emphasis off what I needed to change... and away it went! Now I'm not saying I didn't make lifestyle changes because I did.  Little ones.  I drank more water.  Increased my walking.  Ate smaller portions.  But it was all so much easier once I stopped fixating on the issue by not allowing myself to be convinced weight loss could not be achieved.

Sometimes we are our own worst enemies, are we not?  How often do you find your negative self-talk consists of words similar to the following:

I can’t ever be as successful as…

I won’t ever be published…

I’ll never have enough money…

I’ll never be good enough, or pretty enough, or smart enough or lucky enough…

Banish all those evil words of disbelief!  Stop the madness! Toss that lack of faith right out the window and let the breeze of belief blow in!

My wish for you, our dear readers, is to practice suspending your disbelief.  If an aspect of your life is less-than-perfect do not ever feel it can’t be changed.  Don’t doubt that your life goals and dreams can be achieved.  Concentrate on the positive and take the emphasis off what you lack- in doing so you won't be drawing the lack of back to you.  Got it?

Live like a child. Dream like a child. Believe like a child... love life like a child!

Appreciate the little things in life like you once did as a child.  Children don’t disbelieve- they don’t know doubt until we teach it to them {ponder that thought for a moment!}

My Little Man!

Once you begin noticing the wonder in the world around you {again because you used to do this- I promise you did} I guarantee you will thank me for it!

Let life be majickal.  Allow.

~Jennifer

Spirit Communication Through Dreams

Jennifer's Dream Land

Dreams. As humans we all have them, a common trait that links us together. Even animals experience dreams. Ever observed a dog while he's dreaming of running, those cute little whines- legs working a mile a minute as he chases a phantom rabbit through a field? Funny stuff! I am a very vivid dreamer and at times my dreams take me to places otherwise unknown in my waking life. The above picture I took in northern Minnesota {sans fairies although I don't doubt pixies are plentiful up in God's country, such beautiful magical land!} This shot, a lush emerald alcove of water, is reminiscent of my dream lands... although those dreams I will explain in a future post. My flying dreams are the most wonderful nighttime visions of all.

According to Wiki dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep; these nighttime images are seen as being a link to our unconscious mind. Yet dreams are so much more than our synapses randomly firing throughout the night.  No, dreams are a form of spirit communication. Dreams can be understood as a way for our normally crazed chaotic waking minds to relaxxxxxx and unwind.

I do believe there is a direct link between our brains and our souls although some of us *koff koff* {who shall remain nameless} battle that link. I, for one, have a bad habit of disputing the information my soul communicates to my mind. Question, question, question... hey- we all have our issues, right? Well at night my mind blissfully shuts up, I mean, shuts down... and this allows my heart, mind and soul to connect. It also allows my spirit guides and angels a clear connection to my unconscious mind, my heart and my soul.

And this, my friends, is what my post is all about. Dreams as spirit communication. Not all of us are blessed with amazingly strong abilities like Kristy but this doesn't mean we have no abilities at all, just different. More... subdued.  I used to lament over the fact that I don't readily see spirits or hear them whispering in my ear.  Now my guides know darn well that if one of them were to whisper in my ear, taking me- a, well, doubter- off guard I would probably wet myself... and I know they don't desire causing me any public humiliation! In short, they offer me guidance they know I can accept.

And believe. And TRUST.

I trust my dreams. I have no control over these vivid magical images I am blessed with during the night. There is no reason for me to question the validity of my dreams or wonder if they are “only my imagination.” I am fortunate enough that my guides choose to support me, nurture and love me, through my lack of faith. And one of the ways they do this is by offering me visions and messages through my dreams. I’d like to share an example of this with you now.

I kinda hit a life roadblock last year; we all experience them from time to time don’t we? I allowed myself to become derailed from my passions. I fell into a funky abyss from which I had a hard time climbing out of. My guides allowed me time to wallow in self-pity and a perceived sense of unbalance, feeling so very “stuck,” but only for so long. Slowly signs began making themselves known to me, signaling to me that it was time to get back on track both spiritually and emotionally. They’d had enough of my sloshing around in despondency and were urging me to become unstuck from my lack of conviction because we all have the personal authority to lift ourselves out of pain simply through the power of positive thinking and a concentration on joyfulness.

In other words, my guides were telling to to grab my Big Girl Panties and slip em' on, and now!

Rainbows were the first of my signs, and that is a topic for another post on symbols. But the second sign was my dream life became increasingly vivid, the messages undeniable. During this time spirit communication through my pendulum was strong and distinct with one of their main messages concerning getting back to my passions, my art. My creativity. For me a life without creativity is not truly living. If I do not create I may breath but I do not experience life, not really.

Recently I was staying overnight at a hotel, alone, reading Doreen Virtue’s book on how to contact angels and guides. In it she specifically explains that dreams are often visions given to us from our angels. She reminds her readers to ask for those messages via our dream world because, come on let’s face it, it never hurts to remember to actually ask for help instead of just assuming it will be offered to us on a silver platter. Another important aspect to receiving messages during the night is to request we remember those dreams and know them for what they are- important insight to our waking life.

As I lay down for bed I asked God and my guides to please use my dreams as communication and to help me remember those dreams… and that night I had an amazing dreamtime experience.

I was walking down a nature trail {nature, particularly water, is very important to me} along with a bunch of other people. I looked down and noticed I wasn’t wearing any shoes, thick nasty mud squishing up between my toes. I was not happy with the mud and wondered- where the heck are my shoes? The people around me were talking about this special land of frogs we were traveling to- frogs? Hm… I often see animals in my dreams and always pay special attention to these totem messages.

I felt continuously stuck in this mud and labored to keep up with the group but although I trudged along I was not left behind.

After walking for a while and dwelling on the mud that covered my feet we entered into a magical clearing; green, lush and deliciously beautiful it was filled with square-shaped pools of “hot spring” water. These warm pools were filled with frogs, frogs that were… singing with a sonorous music instead of just ribbiting. Everyone marveled over the frogs while I walked over to a grassy area to wipe the mud off my feet. I didn't want to take the chance of "muddying the water" by dipping my feet into it so rubbing them on the grass would have to suffice.  Misty steam wafting from the pools of water where the frogs resided floated to where I stood and led me over to the frogs where I clearly experienced their genuinely beautiful sound… and then my dream was over.

This particular night I had many dreams that I remembered upon awakening. I recorded them all to further analyze their meaning. I own a wonderful animal totem book that is one of my favorite spiritual resources for decoding the animal visions that appear in my life. As I researched frogs in my book I had to laugh because Frog means “transformation through water” and I was recently baptized Christian through immersion- an experience that was foreign to my past-Catholic self. Frog also means transformation through sound which is not surprising to me as I love music and can’t live without it. Also my guides have hinted that once I become more open and trusting I will be able to “hear” more clearly- meaning there is a possibility I will be developing clairaudience. Frog is associated with both land and water, just as dragonflies are- another strong totem for me. I equate “land” as being my mind/earth-based self and “water” as being my soul/heart-based self. I need to find a balance between the two, and Frog is being shown to me as a reminder of this fact.

And finally, a direct quote from the totem book concerning Frog asks if I have become mired in the mud of everyday life. The mud of everyday life- and in my dream I was getting stuck in that yucky thick mud, battling to arrive with the rest to experience the beautiful song of Frog.

But I did make it; success was mine!

Some more information about Frog: emotions are often represented or associated with water {hence my abundance of water dreams lately, and Frog represents water.} Frog means sensitivity to the emotions of others {right!} and metamorphosis… exactly what I am currently experiencing, a spiritual metamorphosis. Frog also means coming into one’s own personal power and the connection to water can be a reminder to “keep it fresh.” Am I becoming mundane? Afraid of my uniqueness? It’s time for me to dive into new fresh creative waters, and to sing the song of my soul.

Frogs are keenly attune to sound. A recent spirit guide message for me was “it’s okay for you to see, and it’s okay for you to hear.” Water is the best conductor of sound. I know that by introducing Frog into my dream along with the serene sounds, misty ethereal pools of water and especially becoming stuck in the mud {and not liking it one single bit} were all messages from my guides. Messages to get off my butt and become unstuck creatively. To banish the doubt and allow myself to clearly hear their messages, and also to learn that I have power over the “climate” of my life- Frog represents climate control too. Also Frog represents my love for music, how important sound is to my life, and the knowledge that repetitive songs and their content/meaning are messages from my guides.

So my challenge to you, dear blog reader, is tonight take a moment to reflect on your day and any issues you may have encountered, good or bad. Reach out to God and your guides/angels and ask for your dreams to be used as a vehicle to know their messages. To decipher the meaning will take some analyzing but once you’ve received the message via your dreams your guides will assist you in clearly understanding their divine intent.  Make sure to keep a notebook close by your bed!

Happy joyful dreaming to you all, and remember to sing the Frog song of your soul.

~Jennifer