intentions

Happy New Year – Tuning into the Messages of My Winged Friends

Posted by Barbara Techel
Happy New Year – Tuning into the Messages of My Winged Friends
A Winged Friend Waits for Daybreak

I took this photo of this sweet, little bird yesterday about a half hour before the sun came up.

Today as I think about the New Year just a few hours away, resolutions are the furthest thing from my mind. They usually are. I don’t set them any longer.

But I did give thought about how I want my life to look like going forward. And I want to live more like my winged friends — the birds, butterflies and dragonflies.

I want to be more open to the flow of life — and not hanging on so tight to things and circumstances I don’t have control over.

A few weeks ago, a friend booked a private SoulCollage® workshop with me. She wanted to set her intentions for the New Year.

As we sat in my new Joyful Pause studio in the lower level of my home, I invited her to think about how she wants to feel in 2016.

While I think it’s great to set goals and intentions, I believe what’s really at the core of those intentions, is how we want to feel.

While she worked on her SoulCollage® card, I intuitively worked on mine without setting an intention really, but instead giving thought to how I want to feel.

As we perused the many images I have set up on tables, an image of a yellow butterfly tugged at my heart. I knew I needed to work with her in creating my card.

And this is my completed card below after working with several images before it felt right and I glued them down.

After my friend and I created our cards, we journaled with them also. This is what my card had to say to me:

I am one who wants to flow with ease along the path of faith and trust in what spirit has in store for me. I want to allow my path to unfold more organically, learning to let go of trying to control outcomes. By doing so, I will feel as light and free as a butterfly, enjoying the ride, and all the gifts that come with expanding my wings.

And that’s it really, I want to feel lighter in letting go of worries and accepting life as it is presented to me.

So while I don’t have resolutions really, I am making a mental note to myself, with my SoulCollage® card I call Freedom Butterfly as my visual reminder of how I want to feel starting right this moment…and gently and softly fly into the New Year.

I shall stop now and then to perch upon a safe place to land, and sit silence as a way of reminding myself to keep my wings open to what Spirit has in store for me.

Wishing you all the best in 2016 and may your heart fill to the top with all that makes your life meaningful for you!

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graphicI’m really excited about facilitating a SoulCollage® workshop on January 16th in my new studio, Joyful Pause. I hope to encourage others to give thought to how they want to feel in the New Year, too.

If you are interested in joining me for this creative and fun workshop, please check out the details here or click on purple graphic on the left.

Thank you for subscribing to my journal posts.

Set an Intention and Watch What Happens. You Will Likely Be Quite Surprised.

Posted by Barbara Techel

IMG_2137In the past few weeks I’ve set the intention to be more aware and open to the messages of animals. I shouldn’t be surprised at the ways in which the messages are appearing, but yet, I am.

Yesterday, I walked once again at mid-day with Kylie and Gidget along the wooded trail we walked the day before. I came upon this tree with a turkey feather stuck in a piece of the bark.

I let out a little laugh and wondered how the feather got there?  I suspect someone placed it there. But who knows, right? I don’t recall seeing it the day before. It brought a huge smile to my face as I pondered how it got there.

I didn’t know what type of feather it was at first. When I got home I shared the photo it on my facebook page and asked if someone knew what type of feather this is.  The resounding choice everyone said was that it is a turkey feather.

So I got out “Animal Spirit Guides” to see what Turkey has to offer me for a teaching.

It’s important to transcend the focus on your own needs to consider the greater needs of the whole, such as your family, community or world. (okay, so this absolutely applied for me in regards to family).

You’re about to receive a gift of some sort—material, spiritual, or intellectual—that could be anything from winning the lottery or a simple gift, such as witnessing a beautiful sunset. (today I had tea with my friend Marie and marveled even more what a gift of wisdom she is for me. Her gifts of spiritual and intellectual really spoke to me today).

Perform some act that honors the earth, whether a sacred ceremony or simply picking up trash. (This for me speaks to walking in the woods the last few days with my dogs and taking in the blessings of nature and being thankful for all it has to offer me.  Seeing the turkey feather which was likely tucked into the bark, was a ceremony in its own way by the person who placed it there).

Volunteer your time in selfless service with some organization that you want to support. (cool! I’ve offered two hours of my time to judge at dog Halloween costume this Saturday at one of my favorite places, Bookworm Gardens).

I don’t know about you, but I’m finding it utterly fascinating how these messages from our animal friends are so aligned with where I am at in my life – small, beautiful confirmations of living from the authentic place of who I am.

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…and the winner of the book “Saving Simon” is Vicki Wienrich!  Congratulations!  Thank you everyone for leaving a comment on the blog post. I always enjoy so much hearing from you.

My First Ever Intentions Board. What Magic and Joy Will 2014 Bring?

Posted by Barbara Techel

2014-01-08 11.20.11eMaybe you’ve heard of them. Sometimes also called visual boards. I like the idea of calling them intentions. It fit right in line with my dry erase board I have in my writing cottage where I write out what I call my “heart intentions” which I’ve been doing for the past five years.

I remember years ago when I was in a marketing company selling products and how we were encouraged to do these boards. I never did one because it seemed to focus on material things.  Not that I didn’t want to go on vacation, or perhaps new clothes, or a new car. But looking back I was lost then, not really knowing what it was that made me happy.

I took a class yesterday called “Setting Your Intentions for 2014” where we created intention boards. It was fun!  The gal that taught the class, Elise, had us first do different types of exercises and answering thought provoking questions by writing them down.

She also shared power words with us. As she read them we had to write down those that resonated with us. Some that jumped at me were: Be, Courage, Intuition, Joy, Smile, Simplicity, Peace, and Spirituality.

Then we grabbed a board,magazines, scissors and glue stick, and began laying out our year of intentions.  Here is a tour around mine:

Top left hand corner is a small green house to remind me to keep living simply and with less “stuff.” Having a small house helps with that, I think; Right hand side I love the words Joyful Secondact- having turning 50 this past summer I plan to live the second half of my life that fits me best;  I also found the word fear and made a big red circle with a line through it- as a reminder to not let fear stand in my way.

The large word “yoga” jumped out at me as I love, love, love my yoga practice. Then I saw the words “live your yoga.” That reminds me to live my truth of the unique person that I am.

Bottom left you see a black pencil sketch of a girl holding a heart shaped balloon, reminding me to keep following my heart. Bottom right hand side is Oprah being loved up by all her pups… ok, so I don’t need a reminder to be with and love my dogs, as I’d do that 24-hours a day if I could!  But the picture depicts pure joy to me and that is how I feel when I am with my dogs.

The rest are words of reminders of and how I want to live each day–“giving smiles” which I want to do more, “awareness” of living in the moment, “Calm within” as a reminder on those days I forget and “grace” reminding me that when I am in a state of grace it means I am living from my soul.

I didn’t find the words Share, Inspire and Encourage in the magazines I was perusing, so I made my own. They are important to me. After I came out of my sabbatical last October that was my message from my heart… that I wanted to keep writing, and through my writing I want to share, inspire and encourage others.

Though I used to balk at the idea of doing one of these, I drove home feeling calm, focused, and happy. My board will now sit in my writing cottage as my daily reminder.

I hope by sharing mine it will inspire you to make your own and watch the year unfold with a visual reminder of what is important to you.