The Valentine Gift

Part 2: Mind into Matter

PaintingFullSince we are having success and we’re only seven minutes into the mediation, it only makes sense to continue and go with the flow. After about 45 minutes I decide to lay down on the couch instead of sitting up, and Noelle is sitting in a chair in front of the couch, continuing to weave her tales of imagination – which I easily and willingly succumb to. Today’s session will last almost 2 hours – thank heavens for a long weekend! Normally I don’t feel that I have a surplus of time on the weekends – time is a scarce commodity these days.

Noelle had mentioned a painting/wine class on Groupon while I was laying on the front lawn earlier, but the details escape me. Perhaps I could say I didn’t think it was likely to happen and was just another random thought that breezes through the mind and is casually mentioned. I wasn’t feeling well – tired as usual, and had absolutely no plans at that time. It seems she was seriously considering the idea though, for as I am laying on the couch the guided meditation is somehow evolving into her directing me towards imagining myself painting a beautiful work of art. Traversing in and out of consciousness, albeit slightly surprised at the change of course, I go along with it and offer no resistance. I rather think it was intentional on her part, a specially crafted plan to take advantage of a poor defenseless man by injecting romantic imagery of vivid colors and creation. What better way to get a man to leave the house to do something romantic? We had gone out the night before, but it is, after all…Valentine’s day. If it really was a mastermind scheme then it must have worked, for we will find ourselves at the painting class later tonight.

A couple of hours is a really long time or no time at all. For me, this is really relaxing. Rarely do I have the opportunity to meditate while not exhausted and be able to maintain consciousness. Usually I immediately doze off to sleep. Today I am floating in and out of consciousness, completely unsure how much of the meditation I am listening to. Whether I am listening or not, I am obviously still hearing it. I must give her credit – Noelle isn’t trained in guided meditation, she is simply doing it for love. Given her minimal experience in these areas she did extremely well, and must have provided exactly what I needed. Feeling thoroughly relaxed and pleased with the results of the day thus far, I begin to tell her of the things I experienced while meditating. I tell her that I saw a woman’s face but it faded too quickly. There is one other thing I can also describe in detail.

Me explaining to Noelle what the picture was that I saw while meditating 3:30pm – transcript below (spirit on radio in the background)

“Talking about paintings, um, I saw a picture. There was a tree on the left and the right, which is square, I was trying to imagine where the sun would go. The middle of it had water, at the bottom was a square, like……(fades out, becomes indistinguishable)”

In the clip above you begin to hear me tell her of a vision. I saw water in the center of a square picture, with a tree on the left, and a tree on the right. The sun was hanging in the sky, slightly to the right of center. At the bottom of the picture was a beautiful green plant with flowers.

It’s 3:30 now and we’re in a hurry, my relaxed babbling has taken up much of the remainder of the afternoon. As we arrive at the painting class I am looking forward to it. I’ve never painted before, at least not that I can remember. If I ever did, it was likely in elementary school. My skill is in drawing stick figures of people, those are no problem at all. Still, I hope that I can come out of this class with something I am proud of. There are about 12 other people already here, and we sit down in front of our canvases – which are already laid out on the table.

4pmClassPaintingNoelle points to the small picture of a heart hanging on the top left of everyone’s canvas and remarks that is probably our subject for painting. I resist the idea, as the painting seems so simple, and I tell her so. It would turn out that she is right. (just don’t tell her I said that!) As the instructors begin the class and confirm we will all be painting the same picture, I become slightly annoyed. I didn’t come here to paint such a boring picture, I want to try to paint what I had seen. It seemed to be a great way to physically bring into creation something I had seen in meditation, and it would be beautiful if I can create it as I had seen it. Reluctantly I began to pencil in the outline of the heart template as everyone else is doing, all the while preferring to draw anything but. My mind was on water, trees, and the sun. I am battling this the instructor’s directive in my mind, contemplating how unhappy it will make me. I have nothing against hearts, and am certainly a romantic at heart, but this is too cookie-cutter for me. It isn’t until we are told we can erase the drawing we just penciled in that my submissive attitude changes.

Erase it? Why would I draw all over this beautiful stark white canvas and then erase it? For order and structure? It’s a heart, for crying out loud! My Virgo characteristics kicked in and I carefully and tediously erased every last trace of graphite from the heart outline I could possibly see without ruining the canvas. Never mind that they’re saying the painting will cover the pencil traces. My canvas has to be spotless now…..Ok, just forget it. I can’t resist my own willpower and desire…I’m going to paint my damn painting and nobody is going to stop me! I’d rather be embarrassed and have a sloppy painting (that might not even turn out) than suppress my creative urge. I may fail, but at least I tried. And so I begin painting. Let’s start with the background. They say put the dark colors on last, and trees are dark, so I don’t want to intentionally ruin it. So the background begins to take form and I paint the water and sky first.

“Excuse me, how do I get the colors of the sun?” I’m asking one of the instructors. She comes over and describes how I can mix yellow and white to achieve the desired effect. Then she says “You should come to the painting class tonight at 7, we’re painting a sunset.” “Oh really?” I said with mild disinterest. “Would you like me to show you what the painting is so you can see what it looks like?” she said. I paused. My ego spoke (in my head, thankfully) and said “Why would I want to see a painting from a class that I’m not going to attend? I’m here, now, and I want to paint my painting.” Then the conscious part of my mind kicks in and says “well, it might help me, and she is offering help – now who turns down free help when you’re inexperienced at something?” Finally I spoke and told her that would be great. She comes back with a small piece of paper just like the one that had been on the canvas for this class. As she extends it towards me, time begins to slow down, almost as if it were standing still. I am stunned.

7pmClassPaintingI have no idea if my mouth is wide open or not, my mind is too busy trying to process what I’m looking at. Coming closer and closer into my vision is a small template of a painting. It has water, trees on the left and right, the sun, and smaller trees and foliage on the bottom of the painting. This can’t be! It’s um, just a little too similar to what I have already seen and am painting. Instantly I have a feeling of knowing – it’s that sense of familiar recognition. Simultaneously I am tempted to ridicule the idea of the two paintings being the same. Perhaps its coincidence. I’m still in shock.

Analysis is a characteristic trait that defines me. Because of this trait my gifts present themselves in regards to troubleshooting, organization, and computers. As my mind flashes through all of the pictures of previous paintings hanging on the walls I begin to calculate the odds of this being possible. The sun – sure, that’s a staple that anyone can rely on. Water? Sure, everyone loves water too. No surprise there. None of the 25 or so pictures on the wall have the combination of the water and the sun but I could quickly cancel this factor out. But the trees figuring prominently on the left and right, in a symmetrical fashion in combination with the sun and the water? The odds just went down considerably. That was it – all I needed. It is far too coincidental, this is my confirmation. And I had wondered why I had felt such resistance to painting the heart. I’m not usually that ornery and rebellious for no reason. At that moment it no longer mattered because I had made the connection. As I picked up my brush and continued my masterpiece I smiled, knowing that I would be satisfied with the outcome. Perhaps I have Noelle to thank, leading me in a meditation in which I was painting a beautiful masterpiece, confident in that virtual world where my creative abilities were expressed to the world.

Keith PaintingTo clarify, I said I was analytical, and now I can prove it. In my vision I had seen a channel of water between these two trees, extending out into the distance. 3D, of course. And I had seen a beautiful plant at the base of the square, centered – which I had wondered how I could ever possibly paint. It seems having a vision didn’t make me Picasso, and my painting is scaled down to one dimensional due to my limited abilities. Having no idea how to paint a beautiful flower, and being pressed for time (last student to finish) I quickly added cherry blossoms on one tree and painted some kind of flower on the bottom center to satiate my desire. I almost regret the flower, as it was rushed and not a product of uninhibited creative flow – but it is representative of my original vision because – well…it is green and it is a plant. Are they the same pictures? Of course not! But if you look at it from the sense of 3 or 4 distinct geographical features and the synchronistic way in which it was presented to me, then it becomes clear that there is often much more than what we see on the surface. This is quite common when developing mediumship and our own intuition. It is normal.

All in all, it is a good day. Today I helped to change physical matter with the power of thought over radio, and then had the opportunity to take a thought and convert it back into physical matter by painting it. Some people ask “What came first – the chicken or the egg?” I say “neither”. There is no time, so how could one come before the other? It is simply a beautiful cycle. So when I meditated was I seeing the painting in the future? And when I painted it, was I painting something from my meditation in the past? Was it a self-fulfilling prophecy? The answer to all of these questions is simple: YES. We have destiny, we have free will, and we have a sense of the reality of no time. My meditation influenced my decision to paint (intuition) – which was in turn influenced by a picture of a painting (synchronicity) – which also influenced how I decided to paint (free will) – which produced the outcome. The end result is a painting (life) closely resembling a vision (destiny), yet crafted individually to be unique (free will). At least, that’s how I like to look at it!

This painting is symbolic of my work with spirit, and of my expression as a creative being. When I look at this picture from here on forward, I will not just see the first painting that I have ever painted – I will also see confirmation of my intuition and connection with spirit – which is one of the greatest gifts we can develop.

What would you like to “paint” today?

Do you have a story of communication with a loved one or validation through mediumship? Email us at [email protected]

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