Thank You and God Bless You, Jose Fernandez - by Raphaella Vaisseau

My parents are grieving today, especially my Dad. As you may know, Jose Fernandez, the Miami Marlins pitcher, died this morning in a boating accident. Besides his talent, this young man expressed so much joy, on the field and off, it was infectious to fans, and in particular, to my Dad. Baseball has a huge piece of Dad’s heart. He recently shared with me he gets depressed when baseball season ends each year. Last night he spoke again about how much he loved the game, and told me he started playing when he was 3 years old by hitting rocks with a stick in a field in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Fernandez was his favorite player and he watched every minute of any game he pitched.

Both Mom and Dad loved the story about Fernandez coming over on a boat from Cuba when he was 15 years old. According to a story I read today in the NYDN, “Fernandez, who became a U.S. citizen last year, defected from Cuba to the United States with his mother and sister after three failed attempts resulted in jail time. He escaped by boat, leaving his grandmother Olga, a woman he called the ‘love of his life,’ behind. While crossing the rocky waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Fernandez jumped in to rescue a woman who had fallen overboard. It wasn’t until he reached her that he discovered it was his mother.”

My Mom and Dad are in their mid-90s so they have experienced a lot of grief in their lives. Even still, today’s loss of Jose Fernandez will be especially missed by Dad as he watches Marlins baseball and wishes he could see this young man pitch just one more game. Rest in peace, Jose. You have given much to many, not the least of whom is my Dad.

September 25, 2016, Raphaella Vaisseau

This means something: liberty and justice for all - by Raphaella Vaisseau

This means something: liberty and justice for all. Think about it. Liberty is “the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.” (… or religion, color of skin, sexual preference, handicap, etc.) Justice means fairness and “using laws to fairly judge” with impartiality and respect for people. All means “everyone,” the whole of us, every member of our society. Black lives matter.

-Raphaella Vaisseau

New 11x14 Worthiness Poster Now Online - Heartful Art by Raphaella Vaisseau

Years ago, early in my conscious spiritual journey, I did an exercise to increase my sense of worthiness. Not my worthiness, but my sense of worthiness. We are innately worthy. This was the 1970s, I was living in an ashram, and I was devoutly studying soul transcendence and higher vibrations.

The exercise was to repeat a phrase 100 times a day for 32 consecutive days. Doing this supposedly laid new track in the subconscious mind for the intended affirmation. A big fan of positive thinking and using affirmations to lift my vibration, this was one of my favorite exercises.

Here's how I did it: I sat at my dressing table with a mirror in front of me. (Note: This exercise can be done without the mirror, but in the case of "I am worthy" I felt it would be important to see myself and feel the words and meaning as deep within me as possible.) I gathered ten pennies and ten dimes and put the pennies in a pile to the left of me and the dimes in another pile further back, also on the left side of the table. I was ready to begin. Looking into my left eye, I said to myself, with feeling, "I am worthy" and moved a penny from the left pile over to the right side. As I said the words again, I looked in my right eye, and again moved a penny from the left pile to where I'd placed the first penny. Again to my left eye, and then my right. After doing this ten times, and all the pennies in the pile on my left had been moved to the right, I moved one of dimes from the left to a new place on the right of the table and began again with the pennies until I'd repeated the affirmation another ten times at which point another dime was moved to the right. Using the coins allowed me to not have to keep track of the number of times I said the affirmation. I could move them from side to side without even taking my eyes from my reflection in the mirror. When all the dimes had been moved from the left to the right, I had completed 100 repetitions.

Two more things about this process are (1) before beginning I would write out my commitment, date it, and sign it, and (2) after I completed the exercise each day, I would check it off on a chart I'd created and labeled for this purpose. I had learned the 32 consecutive days was important, and if a day was skipped, I was to start again at the beginning with a new agreement and new chart. This is a powerful, powerful process. Each time I wrote out a new affirmation and made a commitment to myself to do this to lift higher, I would immediately feel the results.

I highly recommend this technique and the "I am worthy" affirmation to anyone recovering from eating disorders, addiction, to anyone with self-esteem issues, lack of self-confidence, or simply for fun. It it sounds interesting to you, give it a go. We are in this together. I support you as I support myself.

-Raphaella Vaisseau