Madame Joy

Beautiful Tumblr-ers,

I have had such a fun time sharing with you the little things that make me happy in this world, that I want to share with you a really big thing that is making me happy…and that I hope will make you happy too.

The Blessings is a new subscription service that explores the themes of creative process, healing from trauma and illness, and living a spiritually guided life. It is delivered directly to your inbox once a month, and chocked-full of goodies….my reflections on the topics, answers to your questions, and resources pulled from my own library.

Read a sample here.

http://damaliayo.com/pages/theblessingssample.html

I hope you will join me as it proves to be a rich and joyful exchange that will bring a personal connection between the two of us, and inspire us both as we walk this journey of life together.

Much love,

damali

I am one of those people who loves my birthday. I don’t mind growing older (most years) and I love to honor the moment of birth…that instant where so many things changed, that moment that allowed me to meet everyone I know in the world, that moment that I agreed to god’s plan, that moment that was the greatest risk I ever took in my entire life.

When i was 16 my friends in high school did the most amazing thing. Much like this blog (but in the days before blogs) i had a list on the inside of my locker of things that make me happy. That day my friends all showed up wearing my favorite color (yellow) and peppered the day with things i loved- other friends, vanilla cream soda, daisies, (i can’t remember what else). They threw me a little surprise party, at which i almost passed out because i had also donated blood that day. It was one of my best birthdays ever.

Most years, i have tried to make my birthday a perfect day. This failed miserably last year, and many years, because nothing can be perfect. and so this year, i am pleasantly surprised that I don’t feel that impulse. This year, i just feel like living the day the way i live most days. This feels great, because it makes me think that perhaps, most of my days are just perfect as they are.

Lately I am amazed every time i turn around that this amazing creature lives with me. She is truly a miracle. I adore every thing about her. She is warm, soft, smart, incredibly good, and she smells like popcorn.

This is the image of the Kali Yantra, I have a customized version of this tattooed on my right arm. I have been dedicated to her for 18 years, as of today.

I try my best to live a spiritually-based life. This means following God’s will for me, and making myself open to that will through prayer, meditation, pondering, open dialogue, and following the promptings of the spirit whenever they reach out to me. It means listening. It means being willing. It means saying “yes” to God as often as I can, and praying for the willingness to say yes, when I can’t. It means loving all people, and finding a kindness, a similarity, between them and me.

I was recently thinking about a new religious development in my life (more on that later, when it has settled in), and how sad it is that religions stand so divided from each other, particularly over minor details. I dislike these kinds of debates. I can’t imagine that any spiritual path would find a benefit in focusing on what divides us. To me, if a person is committed to following God, whatever they call that God, then we share the same religion- the religion of Faith.

Namasté, and Amen.

This isn’t a surprise to most of you. I seem to talk about tea a lot. It has always been a part of my artistic process. I have always loved tea, but then one day a fellow artist in Portland, Nikki, took me out and ordered a cup of Earl Grey. The fragrance changed my life.

Unfortunately, my body cannot tolerate caffeine. It makes me incredibly hyper and then I crash the next day. Even the most decaffeinated teas have this effect on me. So I have become a big fan of rooibos tea, and I found a great one with bergamot that approximates Earl Grey. I also grew Bee Balm in my garden in Portland and that made a great tea- it actually was the plant the US colonists used to replace their tea when they did the tea party protest. I love that little bit of history.

I often brew a cup or a pot in the morning, or take a tea break in the afternoon. Sometimes if i get stuck, a cup of tea clears things right up. But my most favorite way to have tea is with friends. There’s nothing like a wonderful conversation over a pot of hot inspiring tea to make the connection between two people that much more meaningful.

You’ll read in my memoir that during the summer of 2011 I was exhausted. I had just given up compulsive dieting and my body was downtrodden from years of abuse. Healing meant a lot of eating and a lot of doing nothing…or rather, for me it meant a lot of lying about watching hours and hours of British romance….i cannot explain why. But I am grateful for it. There’s nothing like a turn-of-the-century story of aristocrats and servants, replete with a deeply evil villain and a thank-goodness happy ending that comes just before the final credits roll. They absolutely transport me away from whatever is bothering me and let my emotions run wild. Nearly every time I am unsure if things will work out for the best…they do and I breath a huge sigh of relief.