Essence

This image makes me smile it gives me the feeling of waking up on a sunny morning full of bounce and zing, that utter happiness that i remember from my childhood when the holidays lasted for ever and we knew we were free to play in the fields and woods all day. It comes from the How to Raw Love blog which is also filled with images of delicious raw food.

This image also caught my eye, it's an extract from the book the owner of the blog is writing which has a little bit about raw bath time and herbal things/essential oils to treat illness. Take a peek HERE.

Be Bold

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness, concerning all acts of initiative (and creation). There is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas & splendid plans: that moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents & meetings & material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power & magic in it. Begin it now.” - Goethe

Risking change awakens our ability to see. "We only have to risk opening the door. Sometimes we have no idea where we are going, in what direction or for how long. But that’s the risk we have to take if we want to become more, see more and understand more of our self." (Karen Wallace, Art Therapist). We have to trust which takes courage and let ourselves be in a place of 'not knowing', only then can we truly start to see and move towards the realisation of our hopes and dreams. It can allow for new possibilities, to explore new experiences and become aware of new talents and gifts.

Karen Wallace says that it can help to ask ourselves:

• How does it feel to take a big risk?
• What are some of your fears when you took a risk or started something new?
• List your beliefs about yourself.
• What could you risk changing on this list?
• What would be the cost of taking this risk?
• What would be the benefit of taking this risk?

Fear can be powerful in its ability to suppress, suffocate and hold you back. It can cause indecision, procrastination and stagnation, but it can also highlight where you most need healing and movement. Paradoxically focusing on the fear, delving deeper into it and exploring it instead of trying to push it away or running from it can bring it to light and often resolve the root cause of your fear and your paralysis. You can be released from it sometimes just by shining a light on it.

It can also help to see FEAR as:

False
Evidence
Appearing
Real

and change it into:

Focused
Energy
Alters
Reality

Fear has the effect of drawing in our auras and therefore our light, but what we most need when we feel afraid is to project our auras out expanding our light and therefore widening our protection.
Standing in our light and in our power is what helps us to grow and to move forward through our fears, but sometimes we need help to do this.

During my early teens when i was feeling very disconnected and ill at ease in the world and in my own body and being and therefore experiencing a lot of fear and paralysis in different forms i remember an incredible experience that began to change the way that i viewed myself and the world.

I cannot remember now exactly when it happened, even what year it was but i know it came after i asked for help calling from the bottom of my heart. I remember i was reading in bed late at night at my parents house, but despite the gentle nature of the book i started to feel an intense unease and then suddenly wave upon wave upon wave of fear rolling in and crashing down on me. I could see this in an energetic form and i could feel the fears intensely, every fear from the smallest to the largest that i had ever had. It felt like i was having to face my worst fears in life in a way that meant that i could not run from them, i had no choice but to experience each one in full in a myriad of different ways as i lay there. But within this intense and overwhelming experience i slowly began to feel that i could handle them and whatever fears i had began to dissolve in front of me, slowly melting into nothing and as they did i felt fully released from them. At the same time i began to feel the energy completely shift within the room and as the physicality of the room began to vibrate and expand so did i, so that i was no longer just my body, but connected to so much more. I felt and saw light pouring into the space around me and within me and the most incredible all encompassing love of the deepest kind came with it. It filled every part of me and there was nothing beyond it but waves upon waves of love and i felt i was being carried up and out on it.

The room slowly expanded filling with beings of light in front of my eyes, angels forming circles without end around me, and each one was pulsing with energy which changed from green, to pink to yellow to pure white light, all colours of the rainbow as far as the eye could see and i felt lifted up on the love that poured through everything, through every part of me, it was the deepest most all encompassing love and the room that has expanded beyond imagination was pushed completely out of view. There was no beginning and no end and i knew with absolute certainty that i was loved for every part of me that i was, that had been and that would be. I had always been loved and i always would be loved. I was part of the divine, connected and whole as i had always been (as we all are) and the angelic beings would always be there for me. I knew in that moment that i could let go of the world and go with them if i chose to, that i could come completely out of body, but something in me pulled me back and i knew that i couldn't go yet, there was something i needed to stay for and as i felt this i began to feel myself being slowly poured back into my body yet i could see my energy body still pulsing with light and energy. The room slowly came back into being at the same time yet the angels remained and so did this intense feeling of love, healing and the knowledge that i was connected to the divine. I knew at a deep level that i was ok and i felt a huge weight had been lifted leaving me feeling completely at peace and held by love until long after i went to sleep. It was an experience that i cannot do justice to in written form but it is one that will never leave me and i have always been able to tap back into, when i remember.

It opened my eyes again and sowed the seeds for a deep change, even though it took many years of illness and set backs, it helped to keep me from drowning in it and gave me an anchor and a rememberance of spiritual knowledge that i needed to keep me heading towards health and ultimately vibrating with life.  From this point on i began to see and receive angelic and spiritual help in many different ways. I knew even if i didn't remember it every day or see the angels and spirit guides that they were there and that i was connected to the divine and loved beyond imagining.

You might want to look at this article about Lorna Bryne author of "Angels in my hair" . Her book is a magical and healing one. It reminds us to look below the surface a little more in life to see the magic and the help that is available in angelic form. It is Lornas story about how she has been able to see angels from birth and how she works with them to help others.

Be bold and listen to your fears because by looking closer at what scares us the most we can be given the key to transform what is holding us back. If we can be bold, including asking for help, we can start to attract magic, power and boundless energy.

 “...to see life again as a child, to see wonder, the awe, the marvel, the simplicity of the blade of grass.” (Michael Fox) and the magic of life in its entirety, even in our darkest moments, is something to relish and delight in.

A conversation with paint

Image dialogueing or writing streams of consciousness in relation to an image or piece of art can be a very powerful tool. It can unlock hidden messages in an art piece or it can reveal elements of a piece that you were not immediately struck by, aware of, or could grasp initially.

I came across a piece of paper yesterday after a huge clear out of my studio on which i had written a stream of consciousness in relation to a painting (sadly i can't currently access the image of the painting) in a group art session back in september 2009. It was a very powerful piece in terms of what i felt when i made it and viewing it afterwards so although i don't do this with everything i make i felt it was very important to write something down after making it to record some thoughts and even to get to some of the deep emotions and message of the piece. I loved the process of getting in there with my hands in the paint using them to touch my feelings in a more immediate way than i felt i could using a paint brush, but it was also rather wonderful to see what came in written form because it brought a different dimension to the visual and the kinesthetic act of making the painting:

A stream of consciousness in relation to my painting:

"Joy of expression, of play with the paint, soothing, feeling its texture on my skin, moving it, wide movements, expansive and expanding. Love, love of art, of life, of freedom. How freeing it is to express oneself in art form, release-no barriers. No Judgement. Raw Power of the kinesthetic process. Release of feelings of known and unknown desires. Need to be real on paper-need to unfurl, to woosh with energy, zinging with aliveness and wholeness meeting oneself in oneness in good and bad- or the not so desirable sides, it's all how we view it.

Power-personal power-identity. Who we are, who we think we are. Who we want to be. How we view ourselves and others-do we stay true to ourselves, make peace with all of who we are.

Whoosh, Zing, Vibrance, Peace, Joy, drive to do something valueable, seize the day, yet also just be. Work with passion, sense, be true, be unrestricted, yet contained and held in some ways. Start somewhere-with joy. Start from this basis-RAW JOY-Ritual a basis to the day.Freedom of movement and positivity of thought. Parallel processes. Love at the heart of all things. Nurturing yourself and others. Create the life you wish to live.

Being alive-what do you want to do with your life?What do you want to create?

Ritual of birth, ritual of life and death. Lightness, spirit, playfulness, heart, passion. Raw energy. GRATITUDE-for life and my people-the people in my life, for spirit, for spirit, for spirit."

****************************************************************************

What was clear from making the piece was the deep joy and connection i felt, the RAW JOY of movement in making the painting and how in life i feel that this corresponding unlocking and flow of life and energy brings the same feelings of connection, joy, gratitude and ultimately of love.

Thinking of gratitude i came across this poem:

'THINK on THESE THINGS' By Joyce Sequichie Hifler

" Today I hear the laughter of children at play. Their voices filled the air almost like chimes. And I felt their arms about my neck and their sticky kisses on my face. How blessed I am! Today I heard a mockingbird trilling out every single song it every heard from its winged friends. I closed my eyes and in the trees I heard all the voices I've heard since childhood, and it took me through all the happy, breathless, precious times I loved so much. Today I heard my mother's voice calling to me happily. It was a good, strong, healthy voice that has called to me courage, and hope and peace, and shall continue to call down many lanes to me. Today I heard my child's voice. I heard her singing, I heard her praying, I heard her laughing and talking. I heard her teasing and moving from place to place in all the activities I love to see her in. Now, even more than ever I realize how grateful I am that God has given me the excellent faculty of hearing. I shall with all diligence try to hear nothing evil, but only love and peace which is my heritage. "

I think it is important to express gratitude every day:

Freedom of expression that touches the heart

I feel that Art Therapy is an incredible tool for getting to the heart of an issue and helping to bring it out into the open in a visual form to be reflected on, processed and healed.

Not that many people know however what Art Therapy is or why it is so powerful, so i shall explain a little from my persepective. Making art in itself allows you freedom of expression and encourages you to let go of all ideas of what it is "supposed to be" and instead allows what wants to be. It allows you to express yourself in ways that you couldn't with words. It is a channel of communication that is closest to the authentic truth of who you are and what you might want to share about yourself and the world. The art work is a visual story of deep emotions, feelings and what is closest to your heart. By bringing it into visual representation and reflecting on it with a therapist it can be worked with, processed and ultimately used to help you to heal.

There is no need to be an artist to benefit from working with images or to use art as healing or for self-development. The techniques are varied but all work by helping to access our subconscious mind beyond the conscious and beyond verbal language. The subconscious mind holds our beliefs, habits, fears & emotions and this practically controls what we think, and how we act, which basically produces the quality of our lives and our reality. These beliefs, habits etc developed from the events and experiences in our lives. For example a man with phobia for flying did not ‘decide’ to have that phobia, something triggered that, such as a really bad flight experience. The subconscious mind is so powerful that it will manifest whatever you believe in, which makes the subconscious mind the seat of our power or disempowerment. This is exactly why even though we know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, we don’t do it. It’s because our subconscious mind is stopping us. That’s why all your thinking, analysis, reasoning etc through your conscious mind has little impact on the final actions we take. Our minds are usually filled with a running commentary of self-talk which inevitably contain some self-limiting beliefs. But do we direct and guide that flow? If we hold negative or false beliefs, then the brain responds by generating images which resonate with that emotion-thought-belief vibration. The same holds true for positive beliefs. Which means that the power of images is in their uncanny ability to get to the core of what we really believe to see what is holding us back and to allow us to create an alternative, a reworking and a new way forward. We can bypass the conscious mind through image making (thus avoiding the filters) and implant a message, an idea into our subconscious.  

So to reiterate: Image work, or art as healing, is a means of taking hold of what can be an unconscious process and guiding it along a desired path, towards your consciously chosen objective. How does this work? All images carry a deep meaning that is specific to that individual. That image-meaning is formed from the moment the art work is made and awareness is the key to change.

You choose where to put your attention, and that summarizes the law of attraction: we get more of whatever we focus our attention upon.What stops us from pursuing our dreams? We can become stuck in negative patterns because of incorrect beliefs, the foundation of which may date back to early childhood. Image work helps us gain awareness of our conditioned beliefs, which is the beginning of change.

Another roadblock to change is fear. Using the visionary healing art of our images creates a safe environment within which to experience a different reality. Allowing the hand to draw an image of our fear is a powerful means to uncover the truth as well as a method for integrating the personality and achieving ever greater wholeness, self-acceptance and love.
Studies show that a vividly imagined experience is indistinguishable to the brain from the actual experience. That’s why mental rehearsal, or image work, is a highly effective way to learn new behaviors and is used by many performers and athletes as vital aspect of training. The same concept is also effective for unlearning negative habits, old reactions, or inappropriate or limiting beliefs that stop you from moving toward the life you really want.

Personally I use art therapy techniques to examine life situations that I want to change, spontaneous drawing in combination with journaling and image dialog, for example can help by uncovering resistance or gaining awareness of limiting beliefs. I also use image work to help focus my goals and to process sessions with my clients.  I therefore use art to process, to express, to think, to connect, to calm, as a space where relationships and responsibilities can be seen and felt and for so much more.

"One of the ways a shaman works is to go into the unknown in order to balance out the rhythm of life; likewise creativity embraces an inward journey to achieve the same.  When I gather discarded materials to create a mosaic or the shaman gathers fragments of one’s soul, we are both seeking to reinstate health through the process." 

Art therapy (and shamanic healing) can be wholly transforming. Take a chance and try it yourself.