Category Archives: Jamie Ridler

Wishcasting

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In this last month of 2011, I keep getting reminded to reflect and celebrate the past year, as well as look ahead, dream, and anticipate the next. The newsletter I get from writing coach Cynthia Morris of Original Impulse Inc. came today and included a link to an end of year review, “Celebrate and Let Go: Take some time to acknowledge yourself for what you have accomplished and who you have become over the last year.” I went in my meditation room and lit the candles on my shrine with the intention of working with it, but I ended up taking a nap instead, honoring my need for more sleep. I did this because in the last year, I have become a better friend to myself.

Happily and coincidentally, Wishcasting Wednesday on Jamie Ridler’s site today is “What do you wish to celebrate?”

from Jamie's post

First, I wish to celebrate Jamie Ridler and her outreach to dreamers and wishcasters like me. Today is her birthday, and her birth, her commitment to being who she is and sharing that is a gift to all of us. She throws a wishing party every week, bakes a big cake, and invites all of us to blow out the candles and make our own wish.

On Jamie’s “about” page on her website, she includes this list:

I believe…

  • The arts belong to everybody
  • In finding the courage to be who we are meant to be
  • In experiencing life
  • In celebration
  • There is room for you, all of you
  • Our bodies are wise
  • The world needs our gifts
  • That having fun and working hard are awesome companions
  • That life is sacred
  • In the Universe

Jamie’s open-hearted and generous work helps me to believe these things too. On this day of her birth, may she be peaceful. May she be happy. May she be safe. May she be awake to the light of their true nature. May she be free. (See what I did there? Now when other wishcasters come, and finish the practice by wishing “As you wish, I wish also” it will send Jamie an even bigger birthday wish–maybe I should warn her about all the goodness coming her way? Nah, I think I’ll let her be surprised.)

I wish to celebrate the wisdom and kindness I practiced during this past four months, specifically at work. I was teaching, which is always intense, and working with a few difficult situations, but I managed it with grace, most of the time. As much as I could be, I was wise and kind, and at the very least, I managed to generate less suffering.

I wish to celebrate this blog, and all its kind and gentle readers. I started this blog on a whim, a “sure, why not” moment of inspiration that I described like this “I had my students set up blogs for a semester long blogging project they’ll be doing. One girl raised her hand and said, ‘Can I just say how excited I am about this? I have been wanting to start a blog for the longest time, and ever since you said we were going to get to in this class, I’ve been so excited.’ Hey, me too…I think I’ll start a blog. Why not? And especially, why not now?!” and ever since that moment, that first post, this has felt so right.  The Universe keeps saying “yes” to me, celebrating with me that I finally broke through and got unstuck and started.

from Hippie Dogs' blog

I wish to celebrate all the kindness being practiced by so many.
 There’s so much of it that if you are paying attention, there really is no time for criticism or negativity, there’s just no room. If you haven’t received your invitation yet, roll up your sleeves and get dirty.

I wish to celebrate all the people and projects who’ve made it easy for me to get involved and help do good: especially the Pine Ridge Holiday Project, Animal House Rescue, Heifer International, and the Larimer County Food Bank.

I wish to celebrate the choice I made to honor and love myself. This is one of the best things I have ever done, and I can’t stop thanking myself for it. I heard wedding vows the other day and it struck me that they are similar to the promise, the commitment I’ve made to myself: “I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.” Amen.

Wishcasting Wednesday

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Monday here at A Thousand Shades of Gray is “Something Good,” Tuesday is “Three Truths and One Wish,” and now Wednesday is “Wishcasting.” This is something I first read about on my heART Exchange art swap partner’s blog, Dryada Journals. When I followed the link to the site of origin, I realized it was Jamie Ridler, a creative living coach whose work I had already admired–just another case of synchronicity, auspicious connection, the universe saying “yes.”

Jamie started a blog devoted to wishcasting and made her first post there on February 14, 2007–Valentine’s Day. On her current website, Jamie Ridler Studios, she’s continued the practice.  She describes it this way, “What would happen if every week you made a wish? What magic might start to stir? Wishcasting Wednesday is a safe haven for wishes, a fertile field in which to plant wish seeds and have them witnessed and tended lovingly. It’s a place where magic begins. Make a Wish: Dare to dream. Every Wednesday here at Jamie Ridler Studios, there will be a wish prompt to inspire you.”

Today’s wishcast: “What do you wish to remember?”

Picture from Jamie's Post

I wish to remember my innate kindness and wisdom. I wish to remember my basic nature, the “real” me, the truth, my Self that is like the sun.  Weather comes, clouds and storms, and can make it seem like it’s gone, but it is always there, even when I can’t see it. In the same way that the sun is a universal truth, so is my basic goodness.

I wish to remember that I am enough, and I am whole. I am not a problem to be fixed, or a project to undertake. I am not broken. I am wholeheARTed. I am worthy of love, as I am. I don’t have to prove myself, be perfect, or put on a performance. I can simply be who I am.

I wish to remember to be here now, to remain present and mindful. This is where life is, this is where I can be with my breath and the steady beat of my heart. This moment is, it is perfect and it is always available.

I wish to remember that I am already awake. This is a theory I’ve heard about in my study of Buddhism–that we need not strive to become enlightened, but rather we simply need to remember that we already are, in this very moment, awake.

I wish to remember that gentleness is my superpower, (thanks to the beautiful and generous Susan Piver and her Open Heart Project for this reminder). It is through my kindness that I am strong, through my open and tender heart that I am courageous, through love that I am a warrior.

We already have everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds—never touch our basic wealth. They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake. ~Pema Chödrön

  • What do you wish to remember?