creativity

Connecting with My Own Sunshine

Posted by Barbara Techel

Connecting with My Own Sunshine

It’s been a cool and cloudy spring here. While I can usually flow through periods like this, I must confess, it has started to get to me.

And then this morning, with the clouds hanging low again, I remembered my walk out in nature on Monday, on a new trail I discovered. Well, not a new trail, but new to me.

When I was walking along the path I saw these pretty purple wild flowers and picked a few. As I did, my reason for doing so was to put them in a tiny vase on my kitchen windowsill so when I looked at them they would take me right back to that glorious, sunshine-y hour I had on that beautiful trail.

Talking with a friend yesterday I shared how I feel it’s so important to have something tangible we can see or hold to bring us back to those special moments.  Taking pictures does that for me. Writing about my experiences also does this for me. And making SoulCollage® cards and picking one each day as a ritual does this for me too.

And so today, I stood in silence for a few moments staring at these wee little flowers connecting to my own sunshine for the day from the memory of that delightful hour I had in nature.

So sometimes on days like today with no sunshine in the forecast, one has to be a little creative and go out of their way to make their own while holding in their heart that the glorious sun will find it’s way and light up the sky once again.

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My Perfectionist Kept Me Awake Last Night

Posted by Barbara Techel
My Perfectionist Kept Me Awake Last Night
My Inner Critic SoulCollage® Card

It was midnight when I found myself wide awake. Around and around and around in my mind went thoughts and worries about the workshop I’ll be facilitating tonight. Third in a series of five and tonight we will explore and create SoulCollage® cards for one or all of the following — Maiden, Mother and Crone.

I tossed and turned trying everything to talk myself out of my concerns.

As 2016 came to an end I knew in my heart I was being strongly called to facilitate many more workshops in 2017 and bring women together in circle to gently guide them to creatively tap into their intuition to connect with their True Self and live a more meaningful life.

In many ways this is new territory for me. Along with lots of researching and learning as I go it’s a new energy I’m working with that I’ve not before.

Most recently I was introduced to The Circle Way as a structure to help create a safe container for women to tune into their intuition, create and share their stories.

While I’m grateful to now know about The Circle Way and which I’m integrating in my workshops, it’s still new to me. I worry that I won’t do it “right.” And I’m realizing this is my Inner Critic, which is also disguised as my perfectionist, who is showing herself more often.

Even though I’ve done much inner work on myself, the thing is it is never “one and we are done” but that we will now and then be challenged. This is what comes with growing and evolving.

The good news is that I can now more easily recognize what is going on. So this morning I pulled the card I made to represent my Inner Critic.  Here she is in purple worried that others will talk behind her back saying she isn’t any good at this facilitating role.

And seeing in the background the Egyptian woman with her hands raised I heard her say, “Stop all the madness!”

It brought me back to my senses and understanding that my Inner Critic has my best interest in mind. My Inner Critic wants to keep me safe and protect me. She really means no harm. She just needed to be acknowledged for her important role in my life.

So I silently talked to her and said, “Thank you for your concern. I got this. You can now rest for awhile.”

It’s going to be a great night with my Women’s Circle!

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SoulCollage® cards are not sold, traded, or bartered to respect the artists whose images are collaged in the cards.

What Wolf Taught Me About Passion

Posted by Barbara Techel
My Wolf SoulCollage(r) card

No passion is too small. This is what I heard from one of the speakers during a women’s gathering webinar I recently listened to.

She went on to say that if your passion is making cookies, then make cookies with everything you’ve got.

I resonated with the speaker talking about how we think our passion has to be some grand thing, when in fact, it does not.

No wonder failure is something we carry around with us like a heavy load of bricks — especially women, who in my experience, seem to find fault in ourselves when something does not work out.

I believe we’ve also tied passion to earning money. I know I have. So when my expectations weren’t met in terms of financial gain, I’d tend to feel like I wasn’t good enough.

While at times it can still be a challenge for me, I’ve come a long way in realizing passion is so much more. It’s that feeling in my heart, when I’m in the bliss of what I love to do, that no amount of money could ever fulfill.

And that is what we need to be doing more of. That passion that lights us up…no matter what it is. That speaks to the depth of our soul. That makes time feel like an illusion, because when we are living more from that passionate place within, our whole being is alive.

During a guided visualization with a life coach a few years ago, struggling with where I was meant to go next on my life’s path and questioning my passion, it was when I saw a white wolf on my path.

I was sitting at the base of a mountain and a white wolf slowly walked toward me. When she sat at my feet my heart exploded into a knowing and I heard her tell me to never let that fire in my heart dim. She encouraged me to keep being who I am and let my heart lead the way.

I still remember to this day, driving home down the country roads after my coaching session knowing I had to capture that visualization in a tangible way. It was a month before I was scheduled to take the training to become a SoulCollage facilitator that I made my first SoulCollage card.

In doing so, I experienced the profound affect it had in helping me bring what was in my subconscious to live more fully into my consciousness by having this card of collaged images as a reminder – a reminder to always seek first what my heart knows best for my life.

And now, after listening to that lovely speaker, I’m reminded how passion can be anything we want it to be. And in my opinion, it can be more than one thing – just anything that lights that spark within – follow that. Follow it often. And find a way to capture it in words, images, or a creative way as a tangible reminder of what matters most to you.

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