The Art of Vibe : Pleasuring the Senses
Using VIBE as a Tool to Change the World
We begin to change the world by creating a vibe within ourselves. Then, we go bigger and begin creating Vibes within our immediate environment. We start to notice low Vibe situations and practice navigating through with our personal Vibe in tact. The next step is making bigger, bolder Vibe Moves by taking action in community spaces. This can be tricky in times of quarantine but it is not impossible. Here is a little story that was my big lesson in Raising Vibes for Community.
Christmas Mandala
Christmas season after the 2016 election had me, like many of us, feeling stuck in a global story that was hopelessly out of control. It felt as if the entire vibe of the world was lowered 10 levels. Everywhere I looked people were bummed. To make matters worse,
my city was filling up with homeless folks that no one seemed to want to support.
During this time, I often walked around a lake in my neighborhood and noticed more and more tent encampments emerging along the banks and in the trees. Seeing these, I felt my own privilege and ignorance reflected back to me. What was I doing to try and help these folks? Every time I walked the lake, I felt shame in my own inaction.
I needed something to lift me back up out of my dark hole so I turned to a prayerful practice that always does the trick. I embarked on creating a beautiful thing to share with the world. I set out to make a large floral mandala on the banks of the lake, for no particular reason than to add some visual beauty to a place where it would be seen and hopefully enjoyed by other people.
I called my local grocery store floral department and asked if they ever throw away flowers that they aren’t able to sell. They said YES they are constantly throwing away buckets and buckets of flowers that no one buys and they would be more than happy to donate them to any cause. This simple question raised the Vibe in my home in the form of fresh flowers, thanks to Whole Foods spoilage.
That afternoon I loaded my van with 6 large buckets of gorgeous and barely damaged assorted flowers. My stinky van was transformed into the freshest Spring day.
I drove down to the lake and chose my Mandala spot on a gently sloped hillside with high visibility very close to the largest encampment of tents on Green Lake.
I spent 2 hours cutting the blooms off flower stems, sorting them in piles. I removed petals from some of them to use to decorate different parts of the mandala. Once I was sorted and the flowers were stripped and ready, I began to create a large circular design
with the blooms. I didn’t have an end goal for what it would look like, I just let the inspiration flow. It started with a 4 foot in diameter circle of white roses, and then filled in with smaller pink and red roses, out of season daisies, cosmos and babies breath. An hour later, a floral crescent moon had been created inside a circle of colored flowers. I began to collect pinecones to encircle the design. I started a pile, which slowly grew as I gathered.
I was deep in my creative zone as I worked, not paying much attention to what was happening around me. At some point I looked up to see a group of people around me watching. Off to my left, towards the encampment I noticed two people who had emerged from tents, they were also gathering pinecones.
Someone asked me what I was doing and I said something like, “I’m making art with flowers for the world to enjoy.” I immediately felt silly and childish for it, but what else could I have said? They thanked me, smiled and kept watching.
An elderly man asked if he could help, I said yes and directed him to strip more petals off of daisies to fill in the crescent moon. He happily did, offering no conversation, just his hands and his time.
Another hour and our pinecone pile had grown huge! The two folks from the tent had fully committed to helping me create the mandala. Together we encircled the flowers in a beautiful edging of pinecones, and used the rest to define a trail that led from the path around the lake straight off-course to the mandala on the sloped grass.
As we worked together, we chatted. We exchanged names and pleasantries. They seemed happy to be creating something with their hands. I asked them what they needed, what might make their lives easier as they roughed the wet and chilly Seattle winter in tents around the lake. They said they needed waterproof jackets, warm meals and a belt.
After the mandala was complete with pinecone rim and little trail, I thanked the helpers and promised to return with some items to help them to stay warm. As they headed back to their tents, they thanked me for beautifying the space and for letting them help create it. As I left, I could see folks turning off Green Lake path onto our little pinecone trail leading to the mandala. I watched them standing, looking at the floral crescent moon, smiles on their faces.
I returned the next day with waterproof jackets collected from neighbors, a belt, and a warm meal to share between 4 people. I approached the tent my helpers were staying in and called to them. “Hi its me Roxie from yesterday, with the flowers! Delivering gifts for you.”
They opened the tent and I passed them the gifts. One of the women who had helped gather pinecones said that all that day people had been stopping to see the mandala. Our little pinecone trail was studded in muddy boot prints. She said more people had talked to her than in any place she had ever camped. People were being so kind! Asking questions about the mandala, asking her if she needed any assistance or support. She said even the animals that lived around the lake were coming to visit the mandala; ducks and geese, raccoons and squirrels. In her words, our creation had brought out all the best in humanity and beyond, in an otherwise dark time, and she felt sure it would have
a ripple effect. Hearing her speak about her feelings as a result of our creation raised my vibe higher than it had been in ages. Hers was obviously higher too. This act of public beautifying had raised the entire community’s Vibe.
I checked on her and our mandala every week through the New Year, bringing more goods and hot meals with me. I would listen to her stories of folks who had stopped to marvel at our little piece of floral art and struck up conversations with her and the other folks camping on the banks of Green Lake. I floated through the holidays on much higher Vibes, in the spirit of giving the Vibe to receive the Vibe.
Using VIBE to change the world means intentionally raising VIBE for other people.. It is taking something simple and alchemizing it into a bold and courageous act of Love with the power of our intentions. Public actions that speak directly to our hearts through our senses raise the Vibe. During this time of quarantine, this might mean from your front porch or out your window, out on the street or in a park.
Here are some ways to RAISE VIBE in a public way that are sure to create some ripples in your community:
Making Bold Public Moves to Raise Vibes:
Bringing your Vibe to the next level is an act of transformation, a gift to community that will keep giving through ripple effects in the Emotional webbing of Vibe Connection. Let’s look at some ways that Vibe can be raised in a community setting:
Art in your windows for the world to see.
Make art that raises your personal vibe and put it where people who pass your house will see it! Raise the vibe with colorful and kind eye-catching artwork in your windows or on your porch. Use your imagination and dive into color and shape! This is a fun one to do with kids.
Songs and music in your home.
Make playlists of music that invokes a certain mood that you desire to feel, and bump it up a bit so your neighbors can hear it. On a sunny day when people are working in their yards keep your doors open. Keep it appropriate and of course, be considerate! But share a little pleasure through the ears.
Sharing Food.
Make food that smells great and share it with your neighbors. Fill your home up with the smell of baking brownies. Leave your door open and let it waft around your neighborhood. Then leave brownies on your neighbor’s porches. Edible vibes!
Dancing.
Dance where you will be seen. I have watched a person dance on a dock when I walked around Green Lake, and marveled at their not-giving-a-fuckness. I feel joyfully inspired to dance freely in my living room with my kids and the blinds open. Dancing out loud is
as infectious as any novel virus and it is a pandemic worth spreading far and wide to keep vibes high.
Art in public places.
Make art where others can see it. Go to parks, in the street, on a corner, in your yard. Create something interesting that will give people pause to stop and admire. Know that giving pause to appreciate any visual disruption from ‘normal’ raises Vibe.
Busking.
Play music in public (or in your front room with the windows open!)
Sing, play your flute. Set up on your corner with a guitar and just strum a bit, if you are learning a new instrument or desire to, do it outside, in public and share your process by raising the sound Vibe. If you sound like shit and are offending people, please make appropriate adjustments.
Random acts of Kindness.
Share a Vibe-y gift randomly like leaving flowers on someone’s porch. Random thoughtful generosity is definitely also infectious, and collective vibe can be raised one flower at a time.
Offer help to someone you don’t know but you see struggling.
Do you see someone who could use some help, support or assistance? Help them. This is Big time Vibe raiser for all parties involved, especially passing strangers who witness the offering of help to a stranger and make a note to themselves to be more compassionate too.
Clowning.
By all means if you have a natural talent for clowning, please let it shine when the world needs it most. Bringing humor and silliness to any situation raises the Vibe so much higher. We all know a good laugh can totally change a day for us, even more so when we laugh with others.
LOL in general
Laughing out loud reminds people around you that they too want to feel good enough to laugh too! When we hear laughter we are reminded that humor still exists and laughing it up in public is a beautiful release of high Vibes. Don’t hide your laughs from the world!
PDA.
Make a point to physically love your loved ones in public. People might roll heir eyes but don’t let it dissuade you. Loving out loud is a world-changing Vibe raising act. Show your love.
Blowing Bubbles.
Humor me. Who doesn’t love bubbles? If you are a parent you can especially appreciate this one. If you have access to a bubble machine, pull that bitch out and fill it up and blow it out your front door. The kid-Vibe will be raised so much higher and through them, parent Vibe will definitely improve.
Public Vibe Check
Take stock this week: What are ways you can contribute to the public bank of high Vibes? Make some time and space for it, and prepare yourself by doing a personal Vibe check first, then spending some time Vibe-ing out your home environment. Once you feel like your vibes are heightened through the nourishment of pleasure through your senses, set your imagination to ways that you could go public and do something bigger, bolder and more out loud.
This morning, I set my personal Vibe high. I cleaned and primped my home, watered flowers and burned incense. I made some tea, danced in my living room with my kids, and considered how we can use our time and energy tomorrow, as a family, to raise public Vibe. I decided that we would dance in the living room again with the doors and blinds open. Then we would get out all our construction paper, crafting supplies and scissors and make something beautiful to stick in our front window for neighbors and passersby, something to remind them that there is beauty in the world as well as people who love them and want to share their love.
There are countless ways to raise public Vibe, and it requires your imagination, creativity, will, and action. Start with something small, feel your Vibe raising, and plan something bigger for later.
Share your VIBE raising experiences with your friends and challenge them to acts of public Vibe raising.
Raising Public Vibe is so needed now, to keep morale up in our communities who are experiencing Pandemic and in isolation, because it keeps people feeling hopeful and a part of something in a positive way by bringing them together for a common moment of pleasure through the universal language of their senses.
What other ways can you think of to raise public Vibe?
Did you love this wisdom on VIBE? Please share freely and post your high vibe photos and tag me! Use the hashtag #theartofvibe to help create a vibe bank for the digital world.
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Once we are in the clear, come see me in the salon and experience the ultimate high vibe transformational hair environment. Thank you for being here!
