LOVE ANGELES

SENNA DOCUMENTARY

The Spirit of this man, along with the humility, purpose, courage and natural wisdom that poured through his words and presence, inspired so many. I highly recommend experiencing Ayrton Senna through the documentary which is playing at select theaters (LANDMARK in LA). You will be moved...

Before Gaga

Source: MTV - Aside from her meteoric rise to worldwide fame from seemingly nowhere, one of the most fascinating aspects of Lady Gaga's ascension to the pop stratosphere is how formerly unknown New York rock club singer Stefani Germanotta seems to have known all along that this was her destiny.

A just-published profile in New York magazine, written by Vanessa Grigoriadis and including an interview conducted in March 2009 — supplemented by recent quotes from people she knew during her early days, including songwriter/producer Rob Fusari, who sued Gaga earlier this month — the self-assured singer is depicted as already carrying herself like the pop icon she would soon become.

"I don't like Los Angeles," [frown] she told the reporter, insisting that she be addressed by her stage name and recoiling from the camera flashes of tourists taking pictures of each other than she assumed were meant for her. "The people are awful and terribly shallow, and everybody wants to be famous but nobody wants to play the game. I'm from New York. I will kill to get what I need."

Though her path to six #1 singles, millions of album sales and a massive stage show appears to have happened in a blink of an eye, Gaga, 24, said the process took longer than it appears. "I went through a great deal of creative and artistic revelation, learning, and marination to become who I am," she said in the article. "Tiny little lie? I wanted to become the artist I am today, and it took years."

It began on the Upper West Side of New York, where she grew up in a duplex with her dad, whose company installed wi-fi systems in hotels, her mother, who was a vice president at Verizon for a time and younger sister Natali, now 18, who has a cameo in the "Telephone" video. The sisters attended the small Sacred Heart Catholic girls school near the Guggenheim museum, where the Germanotta's were a solidly middle class pair mixed in with the outrageously wealthy and those attending on scholarships. She began taking day-long acting classes on Saturdays at age 11 and by eighth grade was landing the leads in shows such as "Guys and Dolls" and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" at Sacred Heart's brother school, Regis High. Friends told New York that she insisted on being called by her character's names even then, refusing to answer to Stefani backstage during rehearsals and performances.

Gaga also held down a job as a waitress at a diner on the Upper West Side during her school years, using one of her first paychecks to guy a $600 Gucci purse, a preview of her later dive into high fashion. Though some jealous older girls sometimes referred to her as "the Germ," the article says, most classmates remember her as being popular and not the awkward outcast she has painted herself to be in interviews. Continue reading at MTV.com

The Perfect Visitor

Last week, in the middle of the night, I found myself in what seemed to be a dream. In the "dream," I was in my bed, under my covers, in the middle of the night and I heard someone turn my bathroom sink on full blast. Being that I live alone, I was startled a bit as I was sure that somebody was in my bathroom. My next thought, however, was that I somehow knew my visitor was neither an intruder nor an uninvited guest. I felt that it was my grandfather, "Papa" (read more about Papa here.) Although it what comforting that a burglar was not inside my home, my anxiety only decreased a little. I could feel a warm light coming from the bathroom, just outside my open bedroom door and when I tried to call out "Papa?," I realized that my entire body was in some form of paralysis - no matter how hard I tried, I could not make a sound louder than a faint exhale of breath. I became nervous and frustrated, struggling to break free from my bondage so I could get nearer to Papa...

What felt like the next instant, I was in my bed and my heart was racing. The good news was that I could move my body once again. I was aware of my heightened pulse and thought to myself, what a dream? A few minutes later, I dozed off once again. And once again, I found myself in what seemed to be a dream, in my bed, under my covers. This time, directly in front of me, above my window, was a large fluorescent purple holographic flower which  resembled something that one would find in the film Avatar. I got out of bed to inspect the magnificent flower and noticed that my entire wall was covered with flowers, although none of them were as brilliant and radiant as the main one...

The next morning I called my father to tell him about my "dream." Five minutes later, my mom called me and asked "could you tell me about the dream you had last night?" I did. My mom said "well, you're not going to believe this." In the middle of the same night, my mom had trouble sleeping and for some reason or another began talking to Papa. She said, "Papa, it's been a few months now since you passed on and you have yet to come into any of our dreams. You know that I would like you to come into my dream, but I realize that I wasn't the nicest person to you in the last few months or so. Could you then visit Forrest in his dream tonight?"  

I love confirmations, don't you?

Mastin Kipp and The Daily Love

Source: TheDailyLove.com - It's no mystery anymore, Love is in the air!!! I bumped into an amazing woman the other day in Venice who let me know about the "free daily e-multivitamin for the soul" known as The Daily Love. You can imagine how excited I got to know that people all around the world are truly opening up to Love and I mean the true Spirit of Love!! And as we step further into the powerful lovolution taking place on the planet, one by one, the love will begin to flow through each and every one of us, and Harmony will be restored amongst the human race and Mama Earth!

According to their website, "The Daily Love was created by Mastin Kipp in 2005 under the original name "Thoughts for the Day." Kipp, who is also the CEO of The Love Yourself Company (www.LoveYourself.net), embarked upon a journey in 2004 to find his true purpose and figure out the techniques to best manifest Highest Potential. Along the way he figured there must have been other people who have come before him who've were met with the same challenges he was facing to find true happiness and inner peace." Kipp went on a journey to find the fruits of unconditional love, wisdom, health and balance to bring to the world through a daily e-newsletter of inspiration which soon became known as The Daily Love. What's not to love?

Ms. Spider & The Case For Expressive Arts

Source: JenniferLothrigel.com - As many of you know, art is a very important part of my life. The creative process has always been one my most dear methods of transforming the unconscious material that can sometimes come up to 'bite' us. Last year I completed my certification in Expressive Arts and through that process I began to integrate art into my work more and more. When I say art, I speak of creative expression in all of its many forms. I view creative expression as an essential part of being a whole individual. Further, I would say that I view the creative process as a powerful way to obtain wholeness. It has certainly been so in my personal experience. I wanted to share an example of this with you from a recent 'Intuitive Painting' experience that I had. You will find the painting below (at the end of the note) along with the writing that I did about the painting (this is a way that I process what has 'shown up' through my intuitive creative expression.) Following, the writing I share an example of how I work with the creative process when working with clients and in workshops.

This is the writing that I did about her. What I do, is once I have painted I sit down and dialogue with the painting. I simply ask that the painting reveal why it has come to me. I don't try to 'figure it out' rather, listen to what it has to say as if it is a wise messenger who has come bearing valuable information.

This is what Ms. Spider had to say: "I have come creeping out of your unconscious womb space to let you know that there is debris down there that is getting in my way of maintaining a beautiful and vibrant web. I want this cleared because my web is being weighted down.

Please listen to me seriously, because if you do not, I will bite. And my bite is very painful. I am not afraid of dark places, or what I find there and this is how I am a gift to you. I do not fear what I may find or doubt my ability to face what seems to be too scary to look at. I do not doubt my ability to take on the largest of monsters. I can see in the dark. This is my advantage."

Additionally, I had been having dreams that mirrored the message of this painting. The process that I used with this painting is what I teach in my classes when we use 'Intuitive Painting'. Everything is energy and symbols hold so much energy for us. There is so much in symbols for us to dive into. In intuitive painting, I teach how to pay attention to energy and then the painting process becomes a listening exercise where we listen with our hands. In this process, we are following the energy throughout the entire painting. It is very exciting and curious to wonder what will appear. What symbols will reveal themselves to us? In the painting above, I had no intentions and this wonderful, very feminine spider came with such a valuable message for me.

I should add that prior to painting this, I prayed, I meditated and I did a ritual to connect with my deepest aspects of myself as well as my most Spiritually connected parts of myself. I use this process also in my classes and my individual session work. Following the dialogue with the painting there is much more exploration to be done. I often will use Voice Dialogue with painting and discover parts of myself or my clients that are similar to the painting and listen to what they have to say. I often will have clients dance the painting and discover how it feels in their bodies. Or write a poem about the painting.

By spending time with the painting we can see where there is personal growth that is beckoning us. And this gives us a place to work from. With this, I may then, use Shamanic work such as Soul retrieval. And I most always do a ceremony to initiate the arrival or the exit of what has been painted in or out of my life. Sometimes paintings are parts of us that are dying and other times, they are parts that are being born into our experience.

In individual sessions we don't do large paintings such as the one above due to time constraints but we will use watercolors or acrylics and then work much like what I described above.

Thanks for allowing me to share in my process. If you have any questions about the process or working individually this way I am happy to answer. For more visit www.JenniferLothrigel.com