Apr 24, 2015 | Art, Global, Interview, Love, Photography
This is a woman whom you are going to want to know by the end of reading this. I mean really look at those paintings?
I saw Flora’s work once on Pinterest and that once was enough for me to know and fall in love with it’s spirited, vibrant and down to earth movement of paint. She leads these sensational workshops which I was privileged to take part in a few years ago at Call of the Wild Soul where she infuses movement of body and paint, intentions and letting go in the most beautiful way. Flora is an incredible teacher and woman and I have been so looking forward to releasing this INterview so you can fall in love too! Check out her offerings at the end oh can’t wait!
Flora Bowley is an internationally celebrated painter, workshop facilitator, top-selling author, visionary and inspirationalist. Her soulful and transformational approach to painting (and living) has inspired thousands of people across the globe to “let go, be bold and unfold” as they move through fear and welcome joyful spontaneous expression back into the creative process. Combining twenty years of professional painting experience with her background as a yoga instructor, massage therapist and lifelong truth seeker, Flora infuses her teaching and painting style with a deep connection to body, mind, and spirit. This unique fusion offers up a truly transformational experience—one that honors intuition, self-discovery and the perfectly ever-changing present moment..
Lets think about yoga for a moment and allow it to guide us through the first three questions:
What does your inner wisdom want you to take in/absorb/feel with your inhale?
I believe that our souls possess a divine wisdom that is always present, but it is our constant work to remember, honor and act on this wisdom. Inhaling seems like an ideal time to tap into this kind of remembering — remembering that I belong, that I am forever connected to all things, that I am right where I am supposed to be.
What does your inner wisdom desire you to embrace/know/honor in the pause?
For me the pause is about presence. I believe cultivating full presence is one of the biggest gifts we can offer ourselves in terms of being fully connected, aware, and rooted in gratitude. So often our busy story-making minds are writing their own versions of what is actually happening at any given time. I think for me the pause is becoming present and letting go of the ‘story’ and just being in the beingness, if you will.
What does your inner wisdom say you need to release/make room for with the exhale?
I am constantly working to let go of rushing, over-doing, and my tendency to get ahead of myself which can all be boiled down to a feeling of not enough-ness. In the exhale, I am letting go of not enoughness and accepting that whatever is happening is actually just right, and accepting that I don’t need to be a super woman every day!
What are you saying YES too?
A friend recently asked me: “What feels like low hanging fruit to you right now — like what feels reeeeealy easy and doable without a lot of efforting? I LOVE these questions and have been thinking about them a lot. I’m happy to realize that what is lighting me right up right now are also the things that feel easy. For example, I am taking the year off from traveling to teach in my Portland studio. Being on my home turf feels extremely nourishing and easy, and as a result, I feel super lit up about it. So that’s a full bodies YES for me — rooting down, letting people come to me, not feeling like I have to run myself ragged traveling all over the world. I am also loving the collaboration work I am doing with various people right now. I am a natural collaborator, and I love the magic that happens when people come together to share ideas and cross-pollinate their inspiration to birth something new. That is really lighting me up these days.
What are you bow down, kiss the ground grateful for?
Gratitude is a practice I have incorporated into my life in many ways. I just recently made a list of 100 things I am grateful for, but I could have kept going way past 100! I truly feel that my life is blessed, and
staying connected to gratitude allows for even more goodness to flow in.
One thing I am really grateful for is having parents who loved and accepted me in all my quirkiness. They encouraged me to explore what I really loved, and instilled in me this idea that I can do anything. I’m also forever grateful that I am able to do work in this world that I am truly passionate about and that makes such a positive impact in the world. To me, this is the dream.
Tell me how you rise up in fullness?
A huge piece of rising up in fullness is about trusting myself — trusting my instincts, my intuition, my inner wisdom, my curiosity.
When I can come from a place of trust, it becomes easier and easier to make bold choices and fully own my voice and style. The second piece to rising up is about staying honest about what feels truly inspiring and interesting to me in any given moment. This means not allowing myself to get caught up in what other people want or expect, but honoring the fire of inspiration instead. When I do find myself trying to people-please, there tends to be a real staleness in my work — it’s like you can feel the inauthenticity.
What projects have come out of when you have rose up in your fullness?
My workshops are a really good example of rising up and staying true to myself because I bring in a lot of aspects of my life that are not just about the painting process. I incorporate ceremony, intention setting, movement, music and community — all things I am passionate about. In these ways, it is a really holistic body-mind-spirit approach to the creative process that comes directly from my own life experience. Its been really affirming to see so many of my interests swirling together to create a really unique offering, and I think it’s what has set me apart in a lot of ways. Its such a natural offering for me because it is simply who I am.
What supports the true expression of your authentic self?
Health. Vitality. Getting my heart beat up everyday!
If I can connect with my physical body, breath and movement, the leap to connect to intuition
and something greater than myself is much easier.
If I am not moving my body and feeling kinda sluggish, it’s much harder for me to access my creative process and find my flow. I exercise a lot, I do yoga, and I often dance while I paint. It all feels really connected to me.
What kind of lover do you want to be to yourself? What love are you giving to yourself?
My word for this year is nourish and it really sums up where I am at and why I am choosing to stay home this year. I got pretty burnt out from over-doing and over-traveling, so I had to recalibrate and reevaluate my priorities. I am loving myself these days by being really gentle, nourishing my spirit and doing a lot self care. I no longer see self care as indulgent. I am learning to accept it as the foundation I need for everything else in my life to “work.” Getting massages, eating healthy food, going to yoga and connecting to nature are all important parts of of this foundation.
What are your tools and teachers? What have you been learning from them personally?
This might sound ridiculous, but I got a dog in June and she has become one of my great teachers in this lifetime — teachers do come in many forms! She has added so much love, snuggles and more time outside every single day. Time with her is just such a gift. In addition to my dog guru, I have always considered the women in my life to be some of my greatest teachers. The depth and wisdom I find with my peers and friends is immeasurable — so much mirroring and reflecting, woah! Finally, I would say my personal painting practice is one of my greatest teachers. Even after twenty plus years, I learn something new every single time I step up to a blank canvas — never a dull moment.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
This circles back to the very first question about remembering, because for me, this is what life is all about. Remembering why I am here, recognizing my gifts and figuring out how to share them with others.
I also believe we are all here on a healing journey in one way or another. For me, it’s about learning to love myself and others in a much deeper and bigger way.
I’d say that’s my mission in life.
Want some monthly inspiration to nourish your creative soul? Check out Flora’s up coming series: Studio Diaries!
This May she will be releasing a beautiful monthly subscription offering videos including painting exercises, interviews, live studio painting sessions, yoga and holistic nutrition videos.
We can’t wait!
Also try her ground breaking workshop Bloom True!
‘Bloom true: the E-course’ presents a groundbreaking and transformational approach to painting (and living) that celebrates intuition, connects body, mind and spirit and allows unique and expressive paintings to emerge naturally and authentically.
The next Bloom True E-course will begin on June 1st, 2015. Registration for the course is now open.
Apr 17, 2015 | Art, Global, Interview, Love, Photography
Catherine Just creates visceral photographs. For me they are infused with the soul wether it is her soul or the soul of the client she is capturing. There is often a simplistic nature in the composition and yet a very complex story being told. I had seen her portraits of Danielle LePorte as well as Carrie-Anne Moss over the years and then more recently saw her work showing up as friends profile photographs. She seemed to pop up all over the place these last few months. She is a very dear and light filled soul and I am blessed to have her view on Process, Sacred, Intuition and Visual Poetry!
Hi there! Thanks so much for having me be a part of this interview series!
I’m Catherine Just and I’m the proud mama to my 6 year old son Max who happens to have Down syndrome. I’m a photographer, artist, mentor and entrepreneur. I consider myself a conceptual photographer. I teach classes online and lead workshops in my home. I also do creative portraiture for high profile clients who need to elevate their brand or product.
Lets start with the most fundamental question: What do you create? Why do you create?
It depends on the project. Right now I’m working on a series of self portraits that are all taken with either my iPhone or my sx-70 Polaroid camera that have to do with what’s going on underneath the surface of my personal life. My work has always been conceptual in nature. Meaning, I use this form of creativity as a way to dig down deep into the internal / emotional / sensory / intuitive realms and create something visual out of something that you can’t put words to. I try to give voice to something that’s there but not necessarily visible to the eye. I use metaphor, objects, symbolism, with images of myself with long exposures and blur in alternative environments to express these spaces that live in between words. (( or in-between worlds ))
If the project involves a speaker, author, high profile celebrity, we collaborate on ideas and I use the camera as a tool to connect with their soul. It’s not just a headshot or a pretty photo of someone. I want to really get at who they are from the inside out.
I read you say: “I’ll be creating some sort of visual poetry related to this extraordinary role of mine in his life.” Visual poetry. This art isn’t just a career it seems you are also a adventurer and a healer using this medium. Is this true? Can you elaborate on the personal growth and spiritual side of your art making?
Yes, I see my work as visual poetry. Getting inside of a situation and creating something with deeper meaning than just a description of it. I’ve been working in this way for the last 27 years. In the beginning, I was very insecure and had a difficult time socially. Photography was a way for me to express visually what was hard for me to express verbally. It was healing for me to process my relationships, my spirituality, the world around me through this medium of photography. I find that this work is a miracle for me. It saved me from my own dis-ease and as I continue with this work I love sharing this process with others as another tool for transformation in their own lives. I work both intuitively and with written out plans and find that once the art process starts, there are 3 of us involved. myself, my camera and something else that cannot be named really. Spirit maybe?
Whatever it is there is magic in the actual process of making the art. It’s an extraordinary process.
What would you say are the major inspirations for what you create?
My own personal life situations. Personal relationships. Connections. Loss. Deep emotional Pain or Joy. I got sober from a crystal meth addiction when I was 18 years old and the photography process started right after that. So living in the world without “leaving” is what inspires me to dive into the photography process. It’s where I go to figure things out, heal, grow, express, process, understand, take apart, dive in and not harm myself or anyone else in the process.
What does Sacred mean to you? What does it feel like, look like, Where is your sacred place?
Sacred is being present for the moments that matter. Being Sober is Sacred. Being fully IN my life without doing anything to check out or “take the edge off”. My life is sacred. Being with my son is sacred when I’m really present. Slowing down to notice how the light is wrapping itself around your life.
The camera can help me shift from my mind back to the present moment and into my heart.
Photography and any other creative process is sacred. Connection with the spiritual realms. Certain energy, Home, Family, Friends, Nature, Seasons, Process, Being awake, Waking up, Every moment of choice is sacred.
Intuition the mother of our hearts! How has your intuition led you here, Where you stand today? Where is it leading you? What is it whispering?
Intuition is everything.
I haven’t been the type to have a master plan for my life. When I was using drugs I thought that being 30 years old equaled death. I’m heading towards 47 this year and I feel more alive and full of possibility than I did when I was younger. So I really don’t take my thoughts too seriously. Or at least I try not to. I go with my “gut” in any moment. I do have friends that I reach out to when I’m confused or suffering trying to make up my mind about something. And then in the end I just go with what feels right to me. Even if it ends up being the “wrong path” I definitely learn something from it and it informs my next steps in life so “wrong” is relative. My intuition is whispering to keep going with the personal project I’m working on, to apply for the grant that’s in my inbox, to learn as much as I can about photography and the fine art world. It’s whispering that all is well, keep going.
What supports your authentic self? Your true expression of yourself?
I don’t know of anything right now that doesn’t support my authentic self. I set myself up for success that way. I have very little tolerance for drama and in authentic people or situations so I steer clear. I value self preservation and set myself up for situations and relationships that nurture that. I honestly don’t stick around long if I sense something isn’t quite feeling right to me. Even if I can’t put my finger on it. It just doesn’t serve me or the other person if it’s not authentic.
My true expression of myself is always changing in every moment. My true expression of myself is always being revealed to me as I connect with my spiritual practice, kundalini yoga and meditation. The Toltec path helped me get much more clear on the areas where I was suffering and why I was suffering ( my thoughts and beliefs cause all of my suffering ) so doing that important work and detaching from those things that cause me to suffer provides me with ways to be more true. Creativity, Dancing with my son, snuggling with him, laughing, treating myself really well with healthy food. I don’t eat wheat, dairy or processed sugar and I notice a huge difference in how I can show up in the world. I don’t drink caffeine and that made a big difference as well to stop artificially activating energy reserves. Now I get high on natural things like green juice, great friendship, the process of creativity, loving my son, eating healthy, treating myself really well, being curious about life, exploring spiritual connection.
Lastly, tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
Right in this moment I plan to notice it, breathe deeply, celebrate my life and my son’s life. I plan to explore my creativity and share it with others. I plan to learn how to love myself even more deeply and love others as well. How to be a true friend. First to myself and then to everyone around me. My dream is to continue to raise my vibration and to help others expand as well. Love how the light hits your soul.
Right now Catherine Just is living on Instagram and would love people to follow her there and partake in the 30 day photo challenge she is doing for the Month of April for free see HERE.
She is also offering an online eCourse called “The Daily Miracle” which is a 30 day photo project that helps us return to seeing the sacred in our every day.
That’s the miracle. The shift that occurs when we look through the lens and wake up to this moment. It’s not always what we think it is. Find out more HERE!
Apr 17, 2015 | Art, Global, Interview, Love, Photography
As I have found many wonderful artists through Orly Avineri so too I found this gem Galia Alena! This little lady has a plethora of talents and she reels you in with her words, wisdom and images wether it be paint or photos. I have immensely enjoyed exploring her and her work and I am pretty confident you will too! She has so much to offer so let’s dive in together.
Galia Alena:I’m a visual poet working in just about any medium I can lay my hands on although I am a professionally trained photographer and a so called “self-taught” artist (of course there have been many teachers on that path). I’m in love with the creative process. I’m a beauty unveiler, light huntress, moment caresser and visionary poetess.
Ultimately, all of my work is about helping people peel back the layers to experience the intense beauty of each moment allowing access to both their intuitive wisdom and a deeper connection to spirit and self. (Because the beauty of this life cracks our hearts open and it is through the cracks that light can flow both in and out and connect us back to our divine selves)
That is what I do and I do it through photography, art, journaling and teaching.
I live in the insanely beautiful Blue Mountains, just shy of Sydney, with my family, our cat and all the winged ones who frequent our garden. Each day here is a wondrous delight of tiny miracles through either the glorious light or magical mists.
I would love to work with you, have a look around and see where you are called…
Lets start with the most fundamental question why do you create?
Hmmmmmm, I just have to, to make things, things of beauty, to be connected to those things of beauty, to manifest my soul, my heart, my desires, my being, to express, to swirl and dance with the universe, to take something and magically, alchemically, turn it into something else, to be part of it all. I have the magician as my birth card, some would say its my soul path to create and manifest things, I just know I have to. It’s a deep desire that drives the hand, heart and soul to work in unison and create.
The feminine figures that often show up in your work, do they have their own story?
Yes, we all have stories, especially women, we are all just stardust fallen into stories, so of course my feminine figures are made of stardust and stories. Sometimes real stories and sometimes mythical, always archetypical. Many of the stories come to me as seeds or images in my dreams and then reveal more and more of their stories as I spend time with them unveiling, exploring and getting to know them on the canvas. Their stories are my story and probably yours too, all of ours, of being human, of being feminine and of being divine.
I feel a certain spiritual aspect to what you create, does spirituality play a part in your art?
Mary Oliver said that “to notice is the first step to devotion” and for me my practice is very much about paying attention (to pay attention, this is how I pray), paying attention to the way the light moves through my day, how the shadows fall, the birdsong, the way the steam rises from my coffee, or the clouds hang low in my garden, a new thing growing, the way words are formed into magical beings and the whispers between the petals, all of it, I pay attention, I drink it in, it feeds me, it is sacred, all of it, so yes, everything is spiritual.
Do you have a sacred space?
Everywhere is sacred space.
My own sacred space is my home, with my babies, where I create and dream: sanctuary of trees; & the forests I walk through: cathedrals of trees.
What does sacred mean to you?
Sacred is that which connects us to our highest selves, to each other and to universal energy (by whatever name you wish to label it). It is what steps us into our Brightest, our potential beyond ego, beyond personality, beyond the individual, our connectedness, our oneness. It is a portal to our soul and beyond, it is what brings us into the fulness of the moment.
Anything, and possibly everything, is sacred if it allows us to remember.
Do you have any rituals?
Many rituals from morning coffee- letting the dreams slowly lift as I clasp my hands around a warm cup looking out the window at the day breaking through; to taking out the compost- recycling what we don’t need, nurturing the worms and earth, turning over the dirt, keeping it all flowing. I think anything can be a ritual if it is done with mindfulness, attention and intention. As I’m thinking about this question, I’m feeling that “practice” might be a more interesting idea to look at. All the things I do as ritual can be done fully present or not, I could walk through the motions of rituals without mindfulness, without intention, without presence and on one level they would still be ritual but not a deep and meaningful ritual. What is more important to me is “practice” and this is anything that I do to deepen my connection to presence, to source, to myself. My practice takes many forms but to name a few, hitting the mat, walking in nature, meeting myself on the page or the blank canvas. When I hit the mat I often have to gently remind myself “there is nowhere else I need to be, nothing else I need to be doing- just breathe” as the busyness of all I want to do calls to me I have to release it to the moment. By a walk in nature, I don’t mean that walk you do to burn off calories or tick the exercise box on your to do list, nor the walk to catch up on some podcast or audiobook (although I do love to take some soul-thinkers and poets with me on occasion), I’m talking about that walk that is just me and my breath, and the pulse and breath of nature.
Practice is that which pushes the edges and boundaries of my presence, that takes them deeper and allows my rituals to be more imbued with meaning and connection.
What do you collect? Why?
The why is easy- I love things of beauty especially when they are layered in meaning and significance to me. The what, well… The main things I love to collect are “trinkets” from our travels and adventures, these are touchstones to memories and experience; art work from the hands and heart of people I know, these are touchstones to the people and the creative collective; stones, feathers, sticks, pods, seeds- these are touchstones to mama nature, to beauty and fragility, to the fact we are all just tiny stars.
What does your inner rhythm look like? Feel like?
It’s cyclic, its always been cyclic, between quiet reflection, observation, listening, seeking, germination and then a flurry of creativity, production, movement and then back to quiet. A continual spiralling, with always many cycles at any one time.For me balance is not a static point nor an ideal to try to achieve but an intersection as I oscillate trying to juggle a multifaceted life and being. The inner rhythm is always in movement, even when dormant and incubating it is moving slowly back to a time of creation. Always cycling it is these opposing points which keep each other balanced. I think this idea of balance holds so much freedom and permission. It allows life to be messy and fluid. It allows me to be unproductive and floss about with the fairies, when I need to because I know I’m going to circle back and have a bout of creative explosion and then that will naturally burn out and a time of introspection will begin. Knowing this allows me to relax into it more readily and not to try to force the rhythm. Even knowing this I still struggle with time but when I am doing my practice and practicing presence I am more likely to be able to keep the overall scales balanced and be sure not to linger too long in anyone phase.
What lights you up? What turns you on? What makes your heart quicken?
Snow- silent white magic,
Light- the dance of the day,
Shadows- where I can see clearly,
Creativity- the soul at play,
My babies- they are magical beings and infinite teachers.
How do you nourish your wellbeing on a typical day?
Notice, create, move/flow, love.
Lastly, tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
To stay open. No plan, just on path, noticing, course correcting, flowing, growing, unfolding my story and gifts:
becoming myself- we are not wounded, we are just unfinished…
THIS! Of the heart: Making an heirloom. >>>———————->(Watch this video.)
My daughter will soon get her moon time and I want to celebrate this auspicious occasion and welcome her into the beginning of her womanhood journey. As part of this I am putting together a Red Box with gifts and wisdom from her female tribe and I’ve decided to make her a very special and unique book, an heirloom, a keepsake, a treasure and a treasury of love from me. And so this course and this project was birthed.
If I received a book like this I would surely fall into a mess of magical tears! Don’t you want to gift your daughter one of these? Perhaps she is about to pass the threshold into womanhood or about to get married? This would be a stunning heirloom! Inquire and sign up HERE!
Oh and there is this: Journal Circle is a sacred and dedicated time just for YOU. A date with your creativity, allowing you to slow down, go deeper and listen to your own wisdom. To Meet Yourself on the Page. You can join a journal circle HERE, as well as discover much more about it and see Galia’s personal journal pages!
You can also come say hello on her website HERE or on Facebook HERE!
Apr 10, 2015 | Art, Global, Interview, Love, Photography
I stumbled upon the every love and wise books of Jennifer louden one day in a book store as I suspect a lot of people find Jen in this manner. I go to the same section in the book store first every time. I don’t know if it was a new publication of her’s at the time or simply the right time for me to take in her words. I believe it was the later. I soaked in her words and signed up for her emails because I craved her words. I think I still crave them! Here today is the breath taking Jennifer Louden.
Jennifer Louden is a personal growth pioneer who helped launch the self-care movement with her first book, The Woman’s Comfort Book. She’s the author of 7 additional books on well-being and whole living: The Couple’s Comfort Book, The Pregnant Woman’s Comfort Book, The Woman’s Retreat Book, Comfort Secrets for Busy Women (The Comfort Queen’s Guide to Life in hardcover), The Life Organizer, and A Year of Daily Joy. There are about million copies of her books in print in 9 languages.
Jennifer has spoken around the U.S., Canada and Europe, written a national magazine column for a Martha Stewart magazine, been profiled or quoted in dozens of major magazines, and appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows, even on Oprah. Jennifer has been teaching retreats and leading workshops since 1992, and creating vibrant on-line communities and innovative learning experiences since 2000. She married her second husband at 50, and is the very proud mom of Lillian and very proud bonus mom to Aidan.
With your writing/art how do you live an integrated life? How can others?
When I was younger that question probably wouldn’t have made any sense to me at all. But now I would say that question is probably what shapes everything. I would use the word whole. How do I live a whole life? To me integrated and whole mean the same thing. Often I am feeling my way into self experience of a whole life. Rather than trying to think my way or plan my way into that experience. I think when I was younger I had a pie chart to balance all the appointments and things. Not that it wasn’t useful but for me it has become much more about what “feels” right, what “feels” possible. My mind has no limits as all of our minds have no limits. But our little human bodies do. To really respect our experience I practice what I call being in the gap.
A concrete example of this idea happened this morning, my niece and her family spontaneously came to visit for about an hour while on her spring break. I haven’t seen them in many, many years. I also knew I had been waiting months to get an appointment to see a dentist, this appointment was this morning cutting our visit short. So it was uncomfortable right? Because they could have stayed for 20 more minuets before they needed to leave for the ferry, but I needed to leave to take care of myself. Learning to be with and accept this discomfort is being in the gap. Welcome the discomfort. Know that my life isn’t this neat tidy thing, it never will be. Knowing that I am not doing anything wrong because of this, that is also apart of being in the gap.
It is mundane perhaps but learning to be in the gap is essential as a creative person. What you visualize or what you hear in your head often times looks different as it comes out. Learning to be in that gap with a lot of grace, mercy and curiosity then extending that to the whole of our lives experience. For me it looks like a lot of meeting, greeting, and welcoming what my thoughts and body sensations are. I like to think of my mind as a tennis ball machine, pop, pop, pop these thoughts and ideas fly out! It’s what it does. I don’t have to believe them or engage in all of them, I can relax in the gap.
A beautiful term came to me in yoga class this past winter. I heard it in my mind’s eye: “Grit without compassion is just grind.” Then I shortened it to “compassionate grit.” It’s this way of being so kind to ourselves like we would a dear friend but sticking with it. We stick with the art making. We stick with being in the gap.
How will you honor your moments today?
I honored the moment by looking into my nieces face whom I haven’t seen in fifteen years, taking in as much as I could in the hour and fifteen minutes we had together. I honor many of my moments with my beloved. My second love. Later in life love has a certain tenderness to it. There is so much honoring between us because we are so gleeful we found each other. In the morning the first thing we say to each other is I love you. There is the hugging and honoring even when my mind might be saying but you have a lot to do! Even my little dogs bring me into the present moment over and over again and I honor these creatures.
What does being BRAVE look like these days? What does it feel like?
I had a very rich experience in early spring at a meditation retreat that shifted things for me pretty profoundly for many weeks to follow. When I woke up on monday I had some anxiety and depression for the first time in months. I had been in a really good place before the retreat as well as many weeks following it. The meditation retreat showed me again what happiness looks like, wahhh this is amazing I thought. Then it shrunk and contracted quite a bit for me yesterday. So for me bravery meant not numbing out with sugar. It meant going to the meditation cushion anyway. It meant sharing those feelings with my husband. Being brave meant being honest as well as not ashamed or hiding there in that depressed place. Instead meeting it with honesty and continuing with my writing practice anyway.
Another example of bravery in my life right now is a writing project that is unlike anything I have ever work one previously. I think it might be sort of a memoir and there are many many pages spread across the floor at my feet right now. So being brave is not giving up on that project. It’s like the hydra monster seen in Heracles mythology, it’s got so many heads! What is this!? What am I doing? Saying no to the urge to make it tidy! Oh let’s just write a self help book, you can knock that out in no time! No… we’re not writing any more self help books, you did that and it was great but we’re so done!
What is pulling you forward? What is your motivation?
Is a great sense of devotion. Tapping into how life wants to live me. It’s still pretty tenuous for me. My modus operandi had been “make it so.” So grit your teeth! Get it done! Just being at the dentist my teeth were telling stories of all the years of teeth gritting. Trying to continually ask where does life want to live me? How can I be devoted to this pulse of life? Right now that feels really good.
Describe a time when you walked through the doors of passage?
So many times, in ways this is why I am writing this memoir. But I would say the most recent time was when falling in love with Bob my husband mere months after my first husband moved out. It was far too soon in terms of what I was ready for or what my daughter was ready for. That passage had many doors while we blended and created our family. The passage too of actually getting married, something we had sworn we were not going to do! You do that when your young, you don’t do that when your in your fifties! Then we were in Guatemala on a meditation retreat we broke silence and he asked me to marry him! WHAT!? Thats not apart of the plan! That was a HUGE passage for me, because I had to really choose; was I going to walk down the path that is so well worn of “I am not…” not really lovable… not truly seen… Or am I going to choose this other path of believing that he really did love me. It took me a week to say yes and when I finally did I yelled it across the hotel room!
Tell me about what you crave? What are you saying a big Holy YES to these days?
I crave this book as much as my heart pounds literally when I say this. I crave this deeper creative experience. Honestly what has been emerging in this work recently although I have always known it and yet not fully owned it is, a craving to lead woman into this same creative depth. That’s what I crave. The Holy YES is to that intersection between creative joy and spacious awareness.
How do you show up? Who are you becoming? or How do you rise up in your fullness?
I am becoming someone who doesn’t have to pretend. I would not have said years ago that I was someone who was pretending. If you had known me in my life then you would have thought now that’s somebody who speaks the truth. But there were many subtle ways in which I thought I needed to be somebody other than I was. Especially in my work, someone wiser or a better speller! I had such the impostor syndrome when I published my first book at 27 or 28. Even after so many years of teaching and speaking I would think how dare I be doing this!
What is so beautiful is when young wise woman claim their life experience for where they are. There is a humbleness in this claiming of what I know right now, right here! If you follow great thinkers they revise what they know and believe. We have this weird idea in our culture that your supposed to know it and stay the same. I love the Dalai Lama for he said “If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change. In my view, science and Buddhism share a search for the truth and for understanding reality. ” I believe as he does in this openness to learning.
How has your experience as an writer/artist changed you? How can or does this experience help others?
Being a writer has really made me who I am. I am one of those kinds of people who doesn’t know what I know until I write about. I don’t think I would be sane or perhaps even alive without writing. I certainly don’t think I would understand what it’s like to have this mind and this body if I wasn’t writing about it. And reading I can’t imagine a life without reading! On the meditation retreat we don’t read, that was the hardest thing for me! Being able to be in someones else’s mind is beyond precious to me.
I hope my writing can help normalize. That’s the first word that comes to mind. I hope I can normalize life experiences for others.
The second word that comes to mind is transmission. A transmission of what else is possible.
What would you like everyone to know?
Self-improvement is often rooted in self-violence.
Swami said “But the real you is already perfect, already strong.”
We can take a look at our rough places, and our neurosis and our dents from a place of our innate, untaintable goodness. We welcome, meet and greet these pieces of us, the broken bits, like we would family. Letting that love bring about the healing changes, the awareness and the growth in our creativity that we are hungry for. Instead of that hierarchal, coming from the outside, someone else has the answer. I wish I had those years back when I thought someone else had the answer or that I thought I even needed one.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
Love my people. Thats for sure. That feels very top of my list. This includes my mom, whom I am really proud to say I have learned to love her as she is on her way out with alzheimer’s.
Then what also feels important is to follow this urge, this yearning, this desire that right now leads into memoir writing and meditation. Following that urge to create and sharing that journey and depth with other woman is important.
*I see plenty of travel and fun and a lot of gratitude as well!
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Apr 10, 2015 | Art, Global, Interview, Love, Photography
I was introduced to Marybeth Bonfiglio by her co-creator of Amulet Magazine a field guide to living wise Danielle Cohen. At the time I was working for Danielle, she had asked me to be apart of a spring publication. This is when I encountered Marybeth Bonfiglio the Word Alchemist. Now to say encounter is to say that I experienced Marybeth Bonfiglio. I felt her words collide into me. Mingling right in the pit of my belly. Instantly I wanted more. I signed up for her (Seduce: 41 ways to make love to yourself emails) right away. I ate her words. Evocative, primal and absolutely soul stirring they were, and are.
MaryBeth Bonfiglio: I change with every breath, or so it seems. But one thing I can be sure of right now, in this moment, is that I am a Mother. this ‘who’ didn’t just come to me after I birthed three daughters but it seems that since forever I am most at ease when I nourish and nurture. When I care for and create. When I listen and hold. When I keep the wild and the free. All these ways {from my perspective} are the Mother. I was give the name Mary after the Blessed Mother and have always connected with that energy, since I was super little. So who am I? I am a Mother. I am also a writer, or in more stripped down terms: a magician and an artist. I use stories to express experience. I write to communicate with and for what is beyond me. I use stories like the magician card in the tarot, uses it’s tools to carry on the magical path of creation towards consciousness. I am also a taroist, a tradition passed down to me by my elders. I use the cards to tell stories and to ask the deeper questions. As the cards are thrown we are invited to re-tell and re-create the myth of ourselves and our world. I absolutely love this part of who I am. I am also a midwife to mystery. This is how I mentor and hold space for people who seem to find me. I am not someone who has any answers or advice for people that I mentor. I only have trust… in me… in you… and truly in everyone! I am just here to keep reminding us all that we have everything we need, right inside ourselves. I am also a whole heap of bones and blood and facia. I am my body and also something else, beyond body, that I have no words for. I am a yogi and dancer and through this kind of movement I practice embodiment. I am pretty wild when it comes down to it all. A rebel of sorts. I like to start fires and then blow on them. I try and refute everything, including all my own assumptions and ideas. I enjoy seducing the flux, the place in-between is where i feel most sexy and alive. I thoroughly enjoy riding the tsunami of the paradox we call Life. I also love whiskey. and being alone. and being a lover. and anything dipped in gold.
Lets start with the most fundamental question why do you create?
I create because there isn’t much of a choice, or maybe that is totally wrong and it’s the opposite. I create because it is my choice. I create because it feels like worship, it is worship. I create because its a lot like sex, like opening up and letting something else breathe into me and breath out of me. I create because I am made of the sea. Because I know nothing, so I listen. Creation is how do I say it? Here I am, knowing absolutely nothing, but showing up anyway. So thank you for this life and this is what I have to say: I create out of gratitude for life. Creation is liberation for me. It is both revolution and evolution in my personal world. I create because I believe. I believe and from that place I allow. There is a devotion to creation, to just allow what will happen to happen. I try to loosen my grip. Like right now I can answer this question with “I have no idea why I create” and that would be just as much truthful as all the rest. There is a leaning into the unknown, hanging out at the edge of where spirit meets spirit, diving in somewhere, anywhere, like The Fool into the undoingness. Just seeing what happens. The unknown- this is why I create.
What would you say are the major inspirations for what you create?
Mystery. Nature. My ancestry. My grandmothers. My daughters. Fire. Lust. Blood. Light. Rage. Hope.
This beautiful fucking world. All that is possible.
The stars in the sky. Just their existence, it’s like, how can I not create, how can’t I not respond to the mind blowing brilliance that they are.
Creation is a call and a response, to what is beautiful and what is ugly and everything in between!
You and your husband just started a pod cast called it’s a bitch, what was the inspiration for this collaboration? What are you hoping it offers to listeners?
We created itsabitch podcast literally out of the blue. Kinda. We talked about it for about 4 years. Then one day we just sat down and recorded. We are doing it because we are human and we are in love. Also because we don’t really know what we are doing or how to even do it, or what IT even is. After almost 20 years together, we still have no clue. Yet we are doing it and we seem to go deeper and deeper every time we make space to look at it all, ask questions, leave each other alone, ask to be witnessed, take risks, fight, make up. We believe in the conflict. We believe in communion. We believe in walking away. Of saying sorry. Of forgiving. Of saying fuck it and fuck off. When it’s all said in done we seem to get closer to the god of all things, the god of union, the god of coming undone + coming together. What do we hope for? We hope to be true and honest and open. We hope to support others in being true and honest and open. We hope to invite people to see their partners as mirrors. To own their shit. To use their relationships, no matter the outcome, as a space to grow deeper into the Self.
We often get so entangled when we are in long term relations we forget we actually have a choice, that we have made the choice, and that we can un-make it or we can re-write contracts.
We can say “what the fuck” and also “how did we get here?” and “why are we doing this again?” in a world where marriage seems impossible and commitment seems like way too much work, we hope to remind people that love is freedom, or it should be. We hope to support the practice of freedom. That when we stick together {or even walk apart} we can be allies for each other. We can show up whole. In Love. We also want to make people smile, and laugh, and not take themselves oh-so-seriously. As well as we want to remind you your not alone. And of course we want people to have more sex because really sex is so good so why not?
You and Daniel Cohen co-created Amulet which has just released it’s first e-course, tell us what it is/What it is offering?
Gold. I am so proud of our creation we call Gold. You know why? Because Danielle and myself are in FULL exploration of ourselves and the concept of worth, of the practice of worth. We are in full question mode and it’s exciting to be there. Gold is the exploration and conversation around worth of the self and the collective, but most of all it’s about practice {which can look a million different ways for everyone}. We live in a world of “not enough” and “scarcity” and “too much,” a culture where fear and shame are ingrained in our cells because of the stories we have been told and can’t seem to shake. We live in a culture that when we own our best shit and claim our worth, we are often accused of not being humble or being too big. Gold is a practice of a hard core reclamation of our birth rite- that we are divine worth- and nobody can take that from us. And we can’t take that away from ourselves. Sometimes things don’t feel so good and that’s normal, but we are WORTH it ALL. So we thought it was a really important conversation to have- because lord knows Danielle and I have had that conversation in so many ways throughout the years! A trillion times over! So we thought, hell… it’s time.
Let’s talk worth.
We think at the root of it all worth is something, when pulsing and healthy and vibrant and gold, we can build and heal and create and share so much from it.
Photo on left by: Jeanette Leblanc
From reading your blog and Amulet everything seems to have a spiritual and or grounding quality to it. It’s all REAL, nothing that is so spiritualized it is unattainable, yet it is infused with a spiritual aspect for sure.
How has spirituality affected you and your work?
I was raised catholic by a bunch of pagan italian woman where holy water and food reigned most high. That is my foundation. Since then I have loved and explored many spiritual schools of thought from evangelical christian to rasta to sufi to voodoo to vedic. I do not define myself or connect myself with any specific path but every single path has opened my eyes to 2 things: at the root of it all, it’s Love, and it all comes from Creation. Spirituality has affected my work because it is my work. there isn’t a separation from what I create and what I believe. I create to express Spirit and to work through my ever-evolving beliefs. My work is about midwifing mystery- so I am basically inviting the birth/presence of mystery to come through, somehow, in my work. Of course I flail and fall and doubt myself 10,000 times a day. But it’s the practice and the worship. The showing up in faith. Creation is kinda my religion I guess I would say. Even thought I don’t do religion, it’s the best one I think I could have.
Do you have a sacred space? What does sacred mean to you?
My body is my sacred space. Also, the forest, the ocean, down by the river, on a mountain top at sunset, on a dance floor. I can write and create anywhere that feels open. I create the space through energy mostly. I love to build altars in my mind. I love to find corners that have an amazing feel to them and settle in there. I wander around feeling out a places and then rooting into them. This is how I make it sacred for me. So wherever I land becomes sacred space. Because it’s all sacred, really. I do love my bedroom in the morning before anyone has woken up and the sun is just coming through the windows and Mt. Hood is illuminated and it’s just me and the new day. Some of my most favorite things happen in those moments before the rest of the house wakes up.
Sacred for me means life:
Life is sacred.
Love is sacred.
To be alive, living. Everything is sacred. Truly anything that shows up is a teacher to me and I see it as sacred. I am not one for loads of tools or pomp and circumstance. I am simple in my sacredness. Simple is sacred. It just is. For me it’s just every day magic from making breakfast for my people and sipping in herbs before resting at night.
Rituals can be a multitude of things what are a few of your tried and true rituals?
Rituals. I also call myself a ritualist. I think throughout the day it’s all about ritual for me. They change depending on what I need or where I am. I use fire for conjuring. Water for releasing. Salt and smoke to cleanse. The earth to find grounding and home. I like to bake to help anxiety and erase any feelings of misplacement. I take baths when i can’t seem to find a space to surrender into. I sing when the energy feels stuck. I clean with special oils. I use brooms to swat away shitty energy. I wait for the moon and then I listen to how I feel. The one true ritual in my life is to write every day and to remember my breath. and to love.
What does your inner rhythm look like? Feel like? Do you have things you do that help support this rhythm?
It looks like the sea. It pulls in and pushes out. There are moments when it seeks to be exposed and covering miles of ground {usually waxing moon} and times when it pulls all the way in, trying to find stillness far from land in the dark watery places {mostly waning moon}. There is a time when I must exude and reach out and create and share {full moon} and moments when my spiral is inward and my fire is lit for myself only and I receive {new moon}. I support my rhythms by listening and honoring them. I write them down. Like daily. I know how to make life plans because I have been journaling my rhythms for so long. I know what I need and I give it to myself as best as I can. I try and take good care of myself. It’s been a process in the whole creating/offering/business thing, but I am beginning to learn and notice the subtle patterns, the dainty details, the explosive moments, the smooth waters. And I know when to say no. When to say maybe later. When it’s a big yes. When to say let’s wait and see. I also know when to let go. Because I practice listening to my rhythms I know that consistency is an illusion. We are in constant flux. We are never the same. But when we pay attention we can see that our inner being dances with the outer being. The seasons change and so do we. What supports all this is the relationship with nature I am devoted to. What I see happening around me, I often feel happening within. There is a match and what an honor to just know this, that my body and my earth are one in the same. Truly amazing.
How do you nourish your wellbeing on a typical day?
This also changes so much. But on a ‘typical day’ like as in my foundational bare essentials for well being: Sit and meditate. Write. Drink water. Spirulina in something or other, maybe a smoothie. Oils. I have arthritis so I have to oil myself daily. Coconut oil is the best. On my face- rose oil. Get sunshine or fresh air. Move my body. Breath. Pay attention. Practice love. Open up. Take it all in. Chocolate. Sleep. Books. Playing. Good conversation with kick ass people. Questions. Always questions. Living the questions.
Other days its coffee with butter. Anything I want to eat. Laying on the couch. Doodling. Fucking. Whiskey. Up all night in creation.
Other days I fast. I yell. I don’t talk to anybody. I take long drives. I cry for hours.
What helps with the mending?
Time. Time. Time. And attention and expression and creation. All of this, the entire thing, is about mending. Even though I do not need fixing, we all need a little mend here and there, karmically speaking. So creation helps with mending the collective bullshit, I think. Every time we make something, write something, sing something, move something, we take care of ourselves. We take care of each other.
What does the mystery taste like to you?
Like my own saliva. Like my lover’s sweat. Like sea salt. Like moss. Like the particles that float in the air by the millions. Like sucking on a star. Like drinking in smoke. Like everything I desire. Like the water of the Saronic Gulf. Like somewhere in Egypt that I have always been meant to be. Like the scent of air during birth. Like fog.
How do you most like to celebrate your body?
Dance. Yoga. Sex. Running wild in nature. Sweats. Sauna. Wearing silky clothes. Touching myself. Soaking in hot water.
How do spirituality and sexuality relate for you?
Sex is part of my religion. So sex is a form of worship- of the self and of the other and when those two meet up- with whatever god or deity or spirit wants to manifest and come through, I am open. Sex brings me to that deep spot somewhere inside and I don’t know where it is, maybe it’s so deep that it’s actually in some unknown cosmos. But sex touches it, activates it, and releases some kind of crazy god energy in me. Sex is a prayer. It’s holy water. It’s dirty sin. It’s confession. It’s communion. It’s the rising from the dead.
What does pleasure mean to you?
It means a fuck of a lot! I love pleasure. I think we all need to focus on creating things in our life that bring us pleasure. To say the hell with the stuff that just nags and aches and makes us unhappy and say yes to what makes you tingle all over. Let’s just say yes to this, okay?
Lastly, tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
I plan on living it. Paying attention to it. And creating space for good shit to happen.
We all want more of this mystery maven! Here are some things you can delve into with Marybeth Bonfiglio:
GOLD: You can read some amazing interviews over at Amulet Magazine about worth HERE. As well as find out some more delicous information about GOLD HERE!!
Be sure to pick up your copy of Amulet Magazine a field guide to living wise.
WILD ALCHEMY: Do you seek clarity? A lamp post to shine light on this part of life’s winding trail? Do you have questions around business? Love? Family? Your spiritual path? Your next move? Or just guidance on what you need to know, as a human, for this exact moment? My tarot readings are straight up, soft love, wild alchemy. All my readings are deeply intuitive, a direct connection between my spirit and yours. You can read more about the how and the what HERE!
Last but not least sign up for her mailing list she sends some fire into your mailbox and it’s the tops for me out of all my letters!
Apr 3, 2015 | Art, Global, Interview, Love, Photography
Do you guys remember Flickr? Once what feels like a lifetime ago I saw some of Susan’s amazing photos. Really, this was before I was a ‘photographer’ myself. I was delving into the world of images- soaking in the magic I saw. Susan’s Images did this for me, filled me with magic! Now many years later I feel it’s come full circle as I saw her again on Facebook making magic with Alena Hennessy which you can read about at the end but I had that flash of remembering, like a flood I saw her photographs, I knew then I wanted to have her here with us and I am so glad she is!
Susan Tuttle: Susan is a digital SLR and mobile photographer who lives in the woods of Maine and is inspired daily by her natural surroundings. She has written four books — her most recent, Art of Everyday Photography: Move Toward Manual and Make Creative Photos (August 2014), Photo Craft: Creative Mixed-Media and Digital Approaches to Transforming Your Photographs (2012, co-authored with Christy Hydeck), Digital Expressions: Creating Digital Art with Adobe Photoshop Elements (2010), and Exhibition 36: Mixed-Media Demonstrations and Explorations (2008). Her photography has been exhibited internationally in London, New York City, Prague, and Paris. Susan is also a frequent contributor to Stampington & Company publications and other North Light Books, does freelance work for companies like Manfrotto and Autodesk Pixlr, and is currently the Technical Advisor for Somerset Digital Studio magazine. Susan shares, “It is my hope that by sharing I can help others to connect with their artistic selves. It is my belief that if more and more people across the planet create things, there will be more happiness, greater peace and less destructive behavior. It is harder to destroy when you are in touch with your creative spirit.”
View more of Susan’s work and find out about online workshops she currently offers at susantuttlephotography.com. Wait come back your gonna wanna click on that link! ;)
What way of being is calling you? Who are you becoming? or How do you rise up in your fullness?
This is actually quite an intense question for me to answer at this time, as I am going through a process of healing right now which presents its emotional challenges. So, here goes the nitty gritty…
I’m always trying to stay on my path. I can feel it when I’m on it and when I fall off. When I’m on it, things feel aligned, smooth, right in my heart –- not always easy, but right. When I’m off it, things tend to go wrong and I feel disjunct and in conflict with my intuition. Either that, or I allow myself to go numb, which is never a good option (I’ve learned not to do that). We always have choices and our actions are what ultimately keep us on the path or throw us off course. I’m trying to evolve as a person every day by staying the path. That involves listening to my intuition, making good choices, being responsible, doing something good for the world through my work, caring for others around me, caring for me and my body, living in an open and mindful way, and enjoying life and having fun! It’s important for me to try to do all of these things when things are really good, when they’re pretty good, and also when they’re hard (so, all the time, no matter what state I’m in). I feel privileged to be spending my life with my soulmate, raising two amazing children together who crack my heart wide open. LOVE! Although I’m an independent gal, they make this life journey so much more right.
Life is not always easy, as I said, and right now I’m living through a bit of a rough patch. I am learning how to find the ‘comfortable’ within the discomfort as I move through a time of healing. I’m learning how to focus on what is important. It is possible to hold both pain and happiness at the same time. There will always be lessons to be learned, things we need to work on, and challenges to face, which ultimately can make us better and stronger if we let them and choose well. And while experiencing these challenges as well as the good days, we are meant to find (choose) happiness, contentment and joy through our relationships, by enjoying nature, through the gifts of our senses, with art, music, cooking, whatever it is that allows us to be creative. Finding the specialness in the ordinary. Slowing down. Taking time to live. Really live. There is much beauty in the world. We need to find it, connect with it, relish it and make more of it!
How has your experience as an photographer/artist changed you? How can or does this experience help others?
The experience of being a photographer has changed me in numerous ways, but most importantly it has enabled me to sharpen my eye and really take the time to see; to notice fine details in the world, linger on them, take in their essences. My favorite details to capture are aspects of flora in nature as well as facial expressions, in particular that flash of soul you can sometimes see sparkle behind a person’s eyes. Capturing that is pure gold.
As I photograph my surroundings year after year and post them to my blog, I become more in touch with the seasons, cycles and nuances here in the Maine woods. It helps me to feel more grounded, more in sync and one with the natural world I live in and am a part of. I see new, precious life in spring, brilliance and thriving flora in summer with a last hurrah in early fall, then decay and death in the late fall, and rest in the winter. Then the cycle starts again, anew. Observing and recording these moments each year helps me to embrace and understand my own life’s rhythm, process and meaning.
In terms of helping others I’m a teacher in spirit, so it’s only natural for me to want to share what I’ve learned (and continue to learn) about photography as well as post-editing skills that can be used to enhance one’s work.
Sharing about my life on my blog through images, words, poetry and life experiences, both the good stuff and challenges, can strike a chord with a reader. You never know when something you say can be just what someone else needs to hear. I recently have been sharing about my healing journey and have received some special emails from people, telling me it resonates with them, that they don’t feel so alone, and that it makes them want to choose healing and happiness. That in turn helps me on my own journey.
What does your soul need to feel alive? Describe a time when your soul felt alive?
I try to surround myself daily with life-giving experiences, and they don’t need to be extravagant to make my soul feel alive. I need art, music, poetry, good books, people, connections, gardening, delicious food, star-lit skies, good movies, the smell of fresh cut grass in summer, dancing… of course there’s more, but I gave you a pretty good taste.:-)
Any time I’m engaged in one of these experiences, giving them my focus and full attention, allowing myself to get lost in them, I feel alive inside.
What is pulling you forward? What is your motivation?
I love what I do. Work that does not feel like work. It’s taken a lot of effort, perseverance and time to get to a place where I can work for myself as a creative entrepreneur, authoring art and photography books, doing freelance work and teaching online. I have such a passion for these things and feel grateful to be able to engage in them every day, sharing what I’ve learned with others. All along I’ve enjoyed the journey and look forward to what’s to come. Money is not the motivation, although it is nice and of course necessary in the way our society is set up. The motivation is the passion I feel for what I do and a desire to keep on learning and growing.
What does being BRAVE look like these days? What does it feel like?
BRAVE looks like showing up and being yourself. Following your heart. Standing up for what you believe in, even if it’s not popular. Standing up for someone else who can’t or isn’t ready to. Exercising patience. Embracing change, especially when it’s out of your control. Trusting that strength and goodness can come out of a challenge. Believing in love. Believing in miracles. Being okay with not knowing. Stretching outside your comfort zone.
Being brave is not always a comfortable place to be, but it creates an authentic life, keeps you on your path, and pushes you to grow and evolve into your best self.
Tell me about what you crave? What are you saying a big Holy YES to these days?
Chocolate. I’m saying yes to Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate bar with caramel and black sea salt! You’ve just got to try it. It… is… THE… BEST! It’s especially fun to nibble on while sipping a glass of Cocoban red wine (also from Trader Joe’s). Maybe not the answer you expected, but that’s what came to me when I read this question.
Of course, all in moderation. Most of what I put into my body is super healthy – mostly plant-based foods with the occasional meat and fish – tons of fruit, grains, legumes, nuts, lean proteins, not too many carbs and virtually no dairy, avoidance of processed or refined junk (of course I allow treats now and then!), and lots of herbal and chaga tea (which has amazing anti-inflammatory properties).
Because I have to ask whom are your heroes? What did they teach you?
People teach me daily, not just my heroes. As I’ve gotten older (I’m 43), I’ve become more of an observer and a listener, and less of a talker. That way I can learn more. Not only do I learn from the positive, exemplary behaviors of folks, but also from negative Nellies. They show me what not to do.
A few heroes do stand out in my mind though – some I know personally and others are figures (especially women) from history who have changed the courses of our lives for the better.
For this question, I’ll focus on one very special individual who made a difference in my life when I was a teen, and who I still have the privilege of having in my life. Mr. B., my high school Earth Science teacher, is my hero. This man taught me to care deeply – about the environment and making life-sustaining choices and fighting for a healthy and clean planet. But more than that, he cared (cares) about people and taught us to do the same. Mr. B was a positive male figure in my life at a time when I didn’t have many. He believed in me and made me feel smart, he drew out the self-confidence I had lost, he made me think about what was important to me and what I valued, and he made me want to be brave and stand up for things I believed in, putting my voice and truth out there. Mr. B. made me feel like I was special and that I had the potential to do meaningful and valuable things with my life. The most uplifting teacher I ever had!
And I must add that political activist Kamala Lopez is my current favorite hero! You should watch this trailer Equal means Equal.
How will you honor the ordinary moments today? What are your favorite ordinary moments?
By practicing mindfulness. Being in the moment. Slowing down. Taking notice. Savoring the smiles and hugs and kind words. Tasting. Looking. Lingering. Finding the meditation in the “mundane.” Allowing myself to be imperfect and loving myself anyway.
Some favorite ordinary moments and things: cuddling with my family, watching the stars, my fuzzy ochre-colored blanket, sipping hot herbal tea, the smell of rain when it first hits the ground, taking pictures and playing with them in Photoshop, my husband’s text messages, candlelight, the smell of baking bread, playing flute, turning out the lights at night and enjoying the dark, running into someone I care about, making someone smile, hugs, watching our cat Ruby nap in the sun, listening to music, reading Kinfolk or a good book, browsing through beautiful images on Pinterest, listening to church bells, watching the morning sun reflected like diamonds on the river, stretching, driving down my dirt road, watching my perennial gardens come back in the warmer weather, receiving small gifts or letters from my favorite people.
What would you like everyone to know?
It’s going to be okay.
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild precious life?
Live it the best I know how, live it with passion, live it fully, bravely, authentically, responsibly, recklessly, boldly, quietly, taking chances and risks, having no regrets (rather, learning from those experiences), feeling all my feelings, being me, being truthful, traveling, creating, wondering, exploring, trying new things, leaping, dancing, celebrating, laughing, acting silly, not taking myself too seriously, making it to 100 baby!
Susan Tuttle and Alena Hennessy are holding registration for their latest online workshop, Radiant heART :: Come Alive in Joy with Photo and Paint.
Spring is in the air! Life is beginning to stir, new growth is getting ready to burst forth!
Can you feel it resonating within you? Would you like to come alive in JOY?
In this unique offering, let Alena and Susan gently guide you to that place through their expertise in painting and photography.
Radiant heART is for everyone! Early bird special ends on April 5th, they would love for you to join them! Find out more Here.
