Affirming the World We Want with Words and Heartful Art by Raphaella Vaisseau

Affirmations work. Words are powerful. What we affirm we can strive for until our believing makes it so. Words and positive self-talk became forever tools in the tool-box I use to navigate life in 1975 when I first read "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale. I was in Lowell, Massachusetts at the time and around that time I had a powerful change of consciousness and began my quest for spiritual knowing. I learned more about affirmation while reading the 1963 edition of Joseph Murphy's book, "The Power of Your Subconscious Mind."

Recently I've discovered the importance of feeling in the practice of affirmation. Yet this is not new information to the already initiated, as Thoreau wrote in his journal, vol. 3 on April 22, 1851, "It is not the invitation which I hear, but which I feel, that I obey."

In the old days I'd write an affirmation and repeat it 100 times a day for 32 days in a row. It was a powerful exercise. Now I simply live affirmations on a daily basis, loving the words that surround me as I work. I enjoy the quotations and color that fill me as I create positive, life-affirming art to assist you and everyone in having a great life and great relationships.

As Lewis Mehl-Madrona said, "Every thought is a prayer, and every prayer is answered". Remember, any thought can be replaced by a new thought in each moment. So, don't get hung up on challenges. Rather, switch your focus to something you love, and find a feeling that is the essence of that. Go with the flow, and your emotions will lift. Surround yourself with positive words and positive people. Abraham-Hicks teaches that fighting against something makes it stronger, so instead be FOR what you love - in your self, in others, and in the world. Namaste. - Raphaella Vaisseau

Find Raphaella Vaisseau's Heartful Art at Five Sisters, A Spiritual Journey - South Dade, Miami, Florida

Elizabeth Zosman first found my Heartful Art in 2007 online at wholesalecrafts.com. At the time I was still living and creating art in California at my Heartful Art Gallery in Sausalito. I was thrilled to discover her beautiful store was minutes away from where my parents live in Miami, so on my next trip home, my parents and I all packed in the car to go see this magical place for ourselves.

I learned there really are five sisters - they are her five daughters. The recent article (included here) by Bella Kelly of the Miami Herald, shares some of what they're up to. During my visit, I witnessed a buzz of shoppers, milling around with stacks of items in their hands. I had brought more of my Heartful Art to show her, and waited respectfully until there was a pause in the line at the register.

The shopping trend continued over the years where others have failed (fourteen stores on my list of vendors have closed their doors during the past two years), I believe, in part because of Elizabeth's knowledge of spiritual and metaphysical things, and in part simply because of her presence, and the ambiance she and her daughters have created there.

On my last visit before the new year I arrived at an unspecified time on a Sunday afternoon. Elizabeth was not there so I happily browsed and shopped while waiting for her return. After some time, it occurred to me I might ask the sales assistant at what time she expected Elizabeth to return. I never did get the opportunity to ask, however, because the lines at the register were ten deep and continued that way for over an hour.

Having been in retail for many years, having had my own gallery in Sausalito during what we now refer to as the prosperous times before the economic downturn, seeing these long lines at the register in 2010 was a feast for my eyes to say the least. I watched in amazement as I wished to myself that I carried my camera in my purse to document things such as this.

Every time I visit Five Sisters I am touched by Elizabeth's generosity, kindness, and wisdom. When you are nearby the art and warehouse district of South Dade near The Falls in Miami, do yourself a favor and visit Five Sisters. You can find my Heartful Art magnets, posters, matted quotes, and art there along with crystals, jewelry, clothing, books and many other uplifting things. Elizabeth also offers classes and events to support and nourish you on your spiritual journey.

Five Sisters is at 8805 SW 132nd St., Miami, FL 33176. Their hours are 11am - 6pm M-Th, 11am-9pm F-Sat, and noon - 5pm on Sun. The phone is 786.250.4170.
-Raphaella Vaisseau, Heartful Art

Thirty-Five Years of Devotion to Spiritual Inner Awareness: 11-15-1975 through 11-15-2010

I'm celebrating today. It was 35 years ago today, on November 15, 1975, that I experienced a dramatic spiritual awakening and consciously began my journey of walking the path of soul transcendence. It's taken many forms over the years, and my personal devotion to my continued inner spiritual awakening has not wavered since then.

Celebrate with me in whatever way feels right to you - prayer, glass of wine, dance, sing, take a walk in nature, think of me, congratulate yourself on your own chosen spiritual path, do nothing, or ... whatever works for you.

Enjoy! With Love and Blessings, Raphaella

The Old New Age

My friend Anja is organized. It’s one of the things she does well. It comes natural to her. It’s deliberate and doesn’t seem to be an effort. She’s a writer and has kept journals for decades. Newly retired, she’s continuing a process started a few years back to transcribe and organize her journals. Inspired by her, I took out a few of my own journals and leafed through the pages. Interesting. I found a journal this morning that I started two days after my spiritual awakening (which occurred on November 15, 1975).

Yesterday I stumbled upon the “Chrystalized Ahava528 Water” video (see 8-7-10 post). Throughout the day, I thought about my journey as an awakened being. In the beginning, in 1975, I thought the New Age was bursting through into reality instantly. Every day was like a lotus flower blooming in my heart, revealing greater spiritual understanding, and revealing the mysteries of the ages to me.

Gradually, as ten years passed, I came to think the New Age would manifest within individual people and not en masse. I lived my life with consciousness and continued my inner unfoldment, but I gradually dropped out of the New Age scene. I moved away from active outward communion with awakening beings, believing all beings awakening, conscious or not. I focused instead on my emerging art business. In 1999, while living the artist’s life in Ashland, Oregon, I attended a weekend festival and camped out with the other artists and festival goers and was amazed to experience the New Age was alive and well in the hearts and minds of the young people. A year later I moved to the SF Bay Area and opened my Heartful Art Gallery in Sausalito which felt, for the six years of its existence, that it was the perfect blend of the outward manifestation of my inner spiritual awakening.

Now, another decade has passed, and the mysteries continue to unfold, both within myself and in the outer world. I am pleasantly surprised to notice the attention to frequency and sound in the mainstream society. I think about how it was for me to live as the essence of the blooming lotus flower in those early days in the late 70s when I lived at Aurora Ashram with 18 like-minded souls on a spiritual journey. I’d like to recreate the freshness of thought and enthusiasm for possibility I had then. Sometimes it is easy for me to slip into the cliché of “been there, done that” when I hear about people discovering things we were doing thirty years ago as if it were new today. However, rather than stand in separation, I’d like to join in the celebration and participate again – on more than an inner plane. I’d like to, once again, embrace wonder and joy as a constant state of being. As I approach the coming days, I open my heart and mind to a fresh, new experience of the New Age now manifesting.

-Raphaella Vaisseau