HOW I DISCOVERED THE MAGIC and MYSTERY Of The SPIRIT Of CHRISTMAS Selling My “Rainbow Makers” As A Young Street Artist In San Francisco
Every Christmas, I set up my little display of handmade crystal delights on a sidewalk downtown…knowing that the rising Christmas spirit would bring a miracle of Love to everyone!
DEAR FRIENDS….
Today is special because we are celebrating our two year Anniversary of launching “The Dawning Light” newsletter here on Substack…by republishing this Christmas story from December 22, 2022…
It was one of two Christmas stories that we worked on writing and polishing for weeks as we were pushing to get this newsletter out into the world.
I am grateful for the support and encouragement we receive for you, our family of readers and friends every day.
It is dazzling to me that we now have almost 1250 published stories archived on our beautiful and organized Home Site, hundreds of subscribers, thousands of followers, thousands of views per month and many posts and NOTES with many likes and restacks as we are growing slowly and organically….
I am amazed and delighted, and I believe that “the best is yet ahead” as we prayerfully seek to constantly improve.
This newsletter is my “love letter to the world” and our way of serving others with the help, inspiration, love and support we all need to find our way to a better life.
Lovingly,
Chinmayan
This is our WEEKEND edition of THE DAWNING LIGHT NEWS # 1246
Our PREMIUM version of our “Daily Journal of Transformational Writing”
CHILD PEACE STORIES Section # 38
Inspiring READ ALOUD STORIES for children of all ages…
Selected, edited and published by Chinmayan…May your Christmas be bright, loving and full of kindness and miracles of every kind as these magical stories for you and your family and everyone on earth!
All images in this story Courtesy of Pixabay, except as noted…
ANNOUNCING A SPECIAL SERIES OF “CHILD PEACE STORIES”TO CELEBRATE THE LOVING HEART OF THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT
To celebrate this Christmas Holiday season,
we are publishing 24 heart opening and inspiring stories
That I have collected over many years to share with you.
Today’s story is ”HOW I DISCOVERED THE MAGIC and MYSTERY of the CHRISTMAS SPIRIT”….
A Wonderful true story in our special series…DAYS OF MAGICAL and MIRACULOUS READ ALOUD CHRISTMAS STORIES for children of all ages…
One great story everyday from now until Christmas!
HOW I DISCOVERED THE MAGIC and MYSTERY Of The SPIRIT Of CHRISTMAS Selling My “Rainbow Makers” As A Young Street Artist In San Francisco
As a young man on the cold, wet, wintery streets of San Fransisco, I learned valuable lessons on the power of The Christmas Spirit to transform ordinary people into higher, more loving and compassionate versions of themselves.
For many years during the 1970s and 80s, I was one of the merry band of licensed, San Francisco Street Artists who made a living selling handcrafts on the streets of the City.
At the time of this story, I was making beautiful crystal jewelry and window hangers, which I called ”Chrysalis Rainbow Makers”, from high quality Swarovski Strauss Austrian crystal.
To even get a Street Artist’s license we all had to go through an extensive and rigorous application process which insured we were real craftspeople making our own unique offerings by hand.
The City set up the San Francisco Arts Commission to oversee and run our program and sent out a Street Artist Inspector daily, to make sure we complied with all the requirements.
There were very strict rules about where we could set up our displays, how big they could be and how we could get a “spot.” Every available spot in the City was marked out clearly on the wide sidewalks in white paint, each with its own number.
Getting a “spot” to sell was always a challenge because every Street Artist wanted to be on one of the best spots ensuring the most exposure to a flow of potential customers passing by.
There were always more eager Street Artists that wanted and needed to “sell” than there were prime spots.
In order to keep it fair for all, we held a street artist lottery every morning to determine who got to sell where.
We gathered in a big noisy crowd around a wire barrel into which each of us put in our “number”, the official slip of paper with our name and license number on it.
After all the numbers were in and the barrel closed, a trusted person would spin the barrel a few times mixing all the numbers thoroughly. Opening the barrel a different person would reach in and pull a random number.
A third person would yell out the name and number and hand it to the street artist it belonged to.
The Artist would then go to a sign in table with a big map of all available spots to choose their spot for the day.
If we were lucky enough to get a “low number”, we would have our choice of the prime spots.
If we were less lucky and received a “high number”, we would have to pick from the left over and less desirable fringe spots.
If our number was really high, there would be no spots left at all and you got an unwanted day off!
We could never predict where we would be selling on any given day, but in practice a with a little ingenuity. most of us managed to get a decent spot most of the time.
I was one of the hard core, absolutely dedicated group of Street Artists who tried to sell everyday.
For eleven months out of the year, January through November, I would focus on selling exclusively on Beach Street aka “The Street”.
The Street is a one block long promenade with a very wide sidewalk. All the tourists who flew in from around the World would walk along this sidewalk between Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghirardelli Square.
We considered “The Street” to be the area with the most desirable spots.
From December 1st through Christmas Eve, most of the dedicated Street Artists would shift to our Downtown area spots.
This was where the locals, as well as tourists, would throng to in search of the perfect Christmas gifts.
The prime spots Downtown were all around Union Square but the competition to get a good spot was beyond intense because so many Street Artists were vying for them.
For myself, I recognized early on that even if I could get a “good spot” the competition, hassle to unload, get a safe parking spot anywhere close by would be way too stressful.
I also knew that the “locals” loved to window shop, to look for and consider what to buy before returning later to purchase anything.
Few Street Artists believed this to be true, but years of experience “on the street” and observation taught me that this was a key understanding.
To take advantage of this insight, I had to be able set up in the same spot every day so that customers could find me at a later time, once they made up their minds about what they wanted.
After carefully checking the spot maps provided by the Arts Commission to every Street Artist, I realized that there was one spot on Market Street that was all by itself, which no one ever chose, because it was considered to be a total dead zone.
This spot, M 37, was far from Union Square and tucked away between an office building and a café. I decided to make this the place where I would reliably set up every day during December, year after year.
My Street Artist friends told me I was crazy and kept on competing for the “prime spots”.
I didn’t care what they thought because I believed in something they did not yet understand, which was the secret power of the Christmas Spirit that I kept close to my heart.
I HAD COME TO THE CITY FOR A HIGHER PURPOSE
I had left our beautiful homestead in the mountains of Northern California and chose to move to San Francisco for only one reason…so i could continue training with a high Tibetan lama named Kalu Rinpoche, who I first met and became a close disciple of in 1972.
Kalu Rinpoche’s primary teaching was centered on how to use the power of compassion to heal and transform oneself on a steady, graduated path to enlightenment and freedom from all suffering.
His greatest teachings were the instructions on how to use meditation practice, chanting the heart opening, love generating mantra “Om Mani Paydmeh Hung” and dedicating oneself to serving others as a spiritual path.
Through staying in close relationship with Kalu Rinpoche, following his teachings and doing the practices every day, I developed the aspiration to become a force of pure unconditional love in this world of suffering and woe.
I became a street artist so I could support myself through producing beautiful crafts, and be able to be close to Rinpoche and the Dharma Center he had established in San Francisco.
As I did the practices everyday, I realized that being on “The Street”, where thousands of people would pass by my display, was the perfect environment for putting the fruits of my practice into practical application.
The more I was able to undergo transformation and become a space of open hearted, real love with those who stopped by my display, the more my consciousness expanded and the more sales I made.
Image courtesy of Arts Commission of San Francisco
It was with this understanding and intention that I happily signed up for spot M 37, even on days when I received a very desirable “low number.”
Christmas was the most challenging time to sell on the street because of the weather. Rainy, wet, windy, foggy and cold most of the time.
I was alone, so I couldn’t leave my display and I had to set up early and stay late until at least 8 or 9 pm to be available to the ebb and flow of shoppers.
Every year followed the same pattern.
For the first two weeks of December, I would be there, alone on M37, as people walked by in trickles and sometimes in crowds without giving my display even a glance.
If someone did stop, they would be in a hurry and under a sway of the “normal”, tough, harried, stressed and taciturn mood that permeated Market Street in the Financial District of San Fransisco.
They would be on a break, or coming or going to work in the tall buildings, where stressed out management and situations led to grey, bleak outlooks.
But still, I knew a secret in my heart, the potential for dramatic positive change in people and the environment as The Christmas season progressed.
Even when it was the most challenging time of all, when there would be little discernible response, I steadily worked within myself to detach from the grey heaviness all around me to find and raise the frequency of higher Love within myself.
Rinpoche had taught us by word and by his shining example, that we must learn to control and focus our minds in order to uncover and bring out the great Love inside of us all.
That’s what I consciously worked on as I stood by my little display of rainbow delights…and when my heart opened, I consciously broadcast it out to each and very person who stopped or passed by.
I knew with absolute certainty that with each passing day of the season the Christmas Spirit draws closer and closer and shines brighter and brighter here on Earth.
As it does, each of us is touched and transformed by it, even if we are unaware of it. If we are aware of it and consciously come into congruity with it, the effect on ourselves and others close to us is greatly multiplied.
This is exactly what happened every year as I stood by my little display on spot M 37.
After the first two weeks, the presence of The Christmas Spirit was growing in power and breadth.
People began stopping by my display more and more, listening to my presentation about the Rainbow Makers for sale and responding to this shining love with greater and greater Love in return.
By the last ten days before Christmas, the loving power of The Christmas Spirit would double, then triple with each new day.
Crowds would gather at my display from the time I opened until well after dark, laughing, happy, carefree, enjoying themselves in a virtual feast of pure love.
Even the toughest, sourest lawyer or manager or worker would completely change into a soft, loving, caring person who would be emanating their own heart’s love to everyone.
People would be singing Christmas carols and dropping big bills into the hats of the homeless ones living on the street.
This symphony of love would reach its highest crescendo by Christmas Eve when every eye would shine with love and everyone on the street would be a vessel for this love to flow through.
I knew then, just as I know now, that The Christmas Spirit is a real force that brings about this special time when the transformation that would be so difficult in “normal” times is easy and sweet.
I believe that all of humanity is in the process of going through a major shift upwards in attitude and consciousness that has been building up steadily behind the scenes for decades.
The day will come when all of us will be able embrace The Christmas Spirit and keep it with us into the new year and on into our daily lives. When this happens, then, indeed we will have “Peace on Earth and Goodwill to all “ as our purpose and guiding light.
THE END
My friends, I have a question for you today!
Of all the Christmas Stories I have published so far in this special series, which one(s) did you love and find helped or inspired you the most?
I would love to hear your answer in the comments….
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