It’s a beautiful use
of the best part of you,
and the process to enter
an extraordinary way of life.
State of Mind
Category: A Certain Way
Notice What You Notice
I have always had an affinity for quirky, unconventional heroes in cartoons, books and movies.
It has taken me years to understand why these heroes attract me so. The skill of using this type of attention and focus is the result of a system called reticular activation.
Imagine thinking of a special color, then slowly but surely starting to see that special color around you, and in many things you see throughout the day. The reticular activator filters and curates the pictures, patterns, and connections you are subconsciously thinking about.
Now I know that ‘as within, so without’, I use it now to help me notice what I am noticing – as a way to confirm if I am indeed moving towards the goals I seek.
My interest in cartoons and paladin-type heroes are that they embody a creative mindset, a never-give-up attitude, and ability to adjust with zen immediacy to whatever comes their way, all the while maintaining their autonomy and personal inner values.
My ‘mentors’ walk out on clouds without falling, stretch like rubber, find clothes and wigs wherever they are needed, and never give up, even if at first they seem to lose!
The reticular activator is also the visible language of the inner spirit. I enclose an inspirational piece from another mentor, Napoleon Hill.
A most beneficial use of time is silent meditation, while searching for guidance from within.
We all experience rare moments when a blinding revelation comes to us, when we suddenly see things differently than ever before. Usually, however, we learn the truth about ourselves gradually, over long periods of time, from quiet introspection.
We are all spiritual, but some of us have learned to tap more effectively into the great strength that resides in the spiritual portion of ourselves.
The spirit is not boisterous and noisy. Getting in touch with your spiritual self demands tranquility and solitude.
Make sure you dedicate a portion of every day to thought and study, to think and reflect upon your life. Choose a time and place that best allow you to relax your mind and devote your thoughts to reflection.
It is my hope that these thoughts and methods will help assist you in your search for purpose in your life.
All the best,
To Your Health
My personal portraits focus on enjoyment & contemplation.
I photograph people in their body’s ‘comfort zone’
and post-session remove canes, walkers, and aids for standing.
It is not a denial or sugarcoating of their age or health issue,
but a focus on a portrait that celebrates life
and a vision of wholeness.
Always to your health,
Dorothy Perry of Perry Portrait Art captures beautiful portraits that celebrate the best of you.
A Branch of My Own
I have been a photographer without a fixed location for much of my career here in Chicago. A permanent location never seemed in the cards for me.
As years went by, the vision of this passion would flare briefly when I displayed my photos in local coffeeshops, bakeries, libraries and other unconventional spaces.
I once had a charming space in a vintage building at a prime location in the Wicker Park area. As everything I earned was consumed by rent, I quickly learned the grown-up lesson about pricing my services appropriately!
Back to home base again, not only for financial reasons, but to do a deep dive into the inner self that kept sabotaging me, saying I did not deserve to be successful.
Seeking independence, going my own way, creating something different: the miasma of all these rejections seemed to hang in the air, clouding my picture of myself with my dream.
I did not know I had to keep seeing the dream in detail, no matter what my current situation said, no matter what painful memories I remembered, to eventually hear the clear quiet that guides my actions.
Part of this is going back to the experience with an opened heart.
There are many times life’s formative experiences are created on a misinterpretation or misunderstanding from times when you were very young.
That young mind creates the meaning, but it need not stay destructive: it can be a reserve of power and purpose if redirected.
Money is a powerful force, and can be positive, and life-affirming, but at times, issues around earning more money can bring up old memories of relationships ruined over money, unwanted attention, crime, and other situations that create unease and concerns that money is dangerous to have.
An topic that needs to be addressed regards the secret, sabotaging fears of how having more money will change life.
I love to share what helps open energy around me, and I share an original money affirmation I use that has been helpful for the ideas my inner self has expressed around making increasing amounts of money.
There are different ways to use this gem:
- Record it in your own voice and listen to it as the start to each morning.
- Gently sit with each sentence and let the images and emotions and experiential memories well up, allowing the emotion to move through without resistance.
- You can choose one sentence and use it as the inspiration to consider through the day.
- Say it out loud during your morning walk in the park in the strongest, most positive voice you have.
After the affirmation, ’embody’ it –
Wiggle a ‘happy dance’ like a kid! Smile! Clap and shake out your body! Give thanks for the abundance you have now and already have experienced! Spread the good energy around in your world!
In my case, it took a few years to achieve, and meeting a terrific guy (attraction also happens when you begin to flex your abundance!)
who allowed the use of a beautiful big window on the side of his beautiful Victorian building that shows my artwork, beautifully visible to daily traffic of prospective customers. That window with its’ beautiful gold sign, makes me smile every day!
PS: I love to use the word beautiful! The word (used with the emotional feeling of viewing beauty) contains great energy in it!
As long as this amazing location of my dream exists, I read words of thanks over the picture window every day,
asking also for increased good energy for everyone who sees it, and encouragement for other people chasing their dreams of entrepreneurship and independence.
I share this affirmation publicly: may the thankful energy of a dream come true open windows of opportunity and increasing all that is good in your world.
All the best,
Dorothy Perry of Perry Portrait Art is dedicated to photographing the good energy of unique people throughout Chicago.
I welcome you to answer and send the completed Contact Page to talk about envisioning yours.
Generosity of Spirit
There is a generosity of spirit I continually refer to in dealing with others.
The best way I can describe it is intent, creation, and maintenance of a state of mind
that is flexible, open eyed, and playfully creative.
It trains itself to see abundance in the environment,
experiences simple, present-moment emotions of happiness,
maintains a grounded, connection with internal wisdom (quickly when needed)
and surrounds itself with reminders
to look upward and inward for its answers.
Old Car, New Car
This is a little story of the application of abundant thought to creating a new auto. In short, this is how I made my new car happen!
I am a fan of the Volvo 240GL car – it is a very unique and beautiful car to me, and I have already owned four!
My current 240 was classic and beautiful, had deep sentimental value, and ran like a champ. But 3 years ago, a motorcycle hit and run damaged its side, and my energetic pleasure for this car decreased when I looked at it. The quotes for body work alone were more than it cost!
I was reading a new book for creating abundant situations in daily life, and chose to test their ideas with my car situation.
In meditation, I felt how I looked and thought about it in a continual state of dissatisfaction.
I did not want to feel this way about this car, which was great in every other way.
So I began to really love the heck out of this car just the way it was,
seeing memories of its dependability and protection in my mind,
memories of washing and cleaning it,
happy moments driving in the beauty of nature, and talking with loved ones,
saying that it would resolve itself in an even better way than I can imagine,
and most importantly, leaving it alone, and not dwelling in doubt that my desire would be granted in its own Divine order.
I blessed the situation with this confidence and abundance mindset for four months to see a change in the situation. It happened quickly and happily.
The Fourth of July saw a rash of gunfire in the area where I was visiting, and my car window was shot out by a stray bullet. No auto glass places, even the ones famous for older models, could find a window for it.
I lost my mind a little in the energy of ‘fixing it’ – activity that often makes things more expensive or worse! – searching want ads, frustrated at the communications with strangers, while dealing with the realities of errands without a car.
I forgot I had to speak what I desired into effect.
Now with sanity restored, I looked at the photographs of my car and thanked it for its’ years of dependable, safe operation, the memories driving loved ones, and its dependability, and wished its next owner years of pleasure and safety in driving it.
I then began to describe a beautiful auto of the same style that had been well cared for, and would be a stable, good running vehicle for myself and my family.
The change in the situation happened the next day. My searches led to a new auto website, and the details of a car lovingly cared for came on the market four days ago! Within a week this lovely gold 240 was mine!
From stating my desire to seeing it in the energetic presence of a new car took about four months. It is exactly what I desired, and I enjoy owning it even more, knowing it came about in this manner.
I believe to send those you know and don’t know uplifted thoughts of love, acceptance, and abundance is a shift in mindset that assists that bringing about the good you desire.
Now the car is here, I have changed the statement that everyone who saw, heard, touched, or even briefly heard of my car and story would be blessed, enriched, and have doors opened for opportunity and abundance in their lives!
See you around Chicago!
Dorothy Perry is a Chicago portrait photographer specializing in custom family portraits, modern headshots, & personal branding for women and executives at home and on location.
Please contact her here for commissioned work.
PERRY PORTRAIT ART 