Dear %$firstname$%, I think I'm going to switch it up here and start with the art and end with the wisdom today. ("Switch it up" - is that a Pennsylvanian phrase or does everybody say that?) It was a good week in the studio. I'm starting to get bolder with the final step in my paintings, the oil paint layer. Here is the same canvas that I gave you the detail of last week, "Saved by the Flaw." (36"Hx40"W) Transformed! Apparently I'm getting more comfortable with inflicting forms on the canvas. A good step for me - finding my voice. Which is the other painting I worked on this week. Remember "Finding My Voice" (49"Hx35"W) from a few weeks ago? Well, I reworked it. Below is a comparison of the old and the new. The blue shape in the middle pops out now and has more definition. I thought you might like to see that. So, why do you suppose we spend a third of our lives sleeping? Evolution-wise, doesn't that seem to be an awful lot of time spent not protecting ourselves nor looking for food - just - absent? That is the question today for our I Listen to Spirit Blog: The Soul Purpose of Sleep. Dear Guides, What is the role of sleep in our lives? How can we reap the most benefit from this period each night? How can this time help us in our waking lives? Can we connect with God, Source, consciously during that time? Really nourish our soul's thirst? Excerpt from Minda Bernstein’s channeling on 5.11.2010: Dear Ones, "We feel your energy tingling on a topic full of such mystery to you. We realize that, in your experience, a lot of this period of sleep you feel like you are actually checked out of your active lives, taking a break, stepping aside to let regeneration occur and keep your systems healthy. "But from our perspective, there is much more happening during this fertile time. It is a time when you receive injections of soul strength and nourishment, the will to continue to pioneer the pathways you are clearing in your world. "There are many aspects of interactions occurring on the soul level, some of which might resemble a boxer in the side of the ring, where he gets towel dried, bandaged and patched up, whispered encouragements and coached on moves to make and adjustments to apply during the next round. "These interludes lift the morale and bolster the spirit to go back for more of the day experiences which may include confrontation and rubbing shoulders with many different energies, each with diverging intentions, many in opposition or completely different target lines from your own. "During your sleeping hours, you are attended to in a most loving and nurturing way. Who gathers around you? Your guides, your team of souls, all those who are watching out for you, your partners in this life, all the beings and higher guides who are concerned with you and / or upon whom you call for this rest and recovery period. "Which brings us to the point about consciously using this time. . . . "You see, like a farmer, you are planting the seeds of that which you wish to harvest. It is a very powerful time for you to receive. Many of you wish to receive much more help, guidance and love, inner nourishment. This is a gold mine for all of the above. "You can, in effect, go shopping at night for those things you most deeply desire. The store is open, it is free and not crowded. It is full of all the beauty you can imagine, everything you desire." This answer continues in Minda’s “Dear Guides” Journal. For full channeling, please join “Dear Guides” by clicking button at right. The Dear Guides message goes on to say, "If more and more people took advantage of this system, the results would be so powerful as to change the face of your world." Wow. Where have we been one third of our lives? With love, Julie Julie Bernstein Engelmann Email: julie@julieengelmann.com P.S. We hope you will post your comments on the blog. P.P.S. You are welcome to share this Beauty & Spirit Note with friends! P.P.P.S. Friends, you can sign up yourself at any of the sites below. Julie's artist site: www.JulieEngelmann.com Minda Bernstein's channeling site: I Listen to Spirit Frank Butterfield co-produced with Julie: A Communion of Light: Creating Money The Beauty & Spirit email list is housed securely on the email server of my husband Chip Engelmann's site, www.ChipEFT.com, using his autoresponder program. © 2010 Julie Bernstein Engelmann and Minda Bernstein