workshops

Search for Yourself, by Yourself

Posted by Barbara Techel

Search for Yourself, by Yourself

Do not allow others to make your paths for you. It is your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. Accept yourself and your actions. Own your thoughts. Speak up when wrong, and apologize. Know your path at all times. To do this you must know yourself inside and out, accept your gifts as well as your shortcomings, and grow each day with honesty, integrity, compassion, faith, and brotherhood.  ~Terri Jean

I love this quote though may I add, “sisterhood”  to this as well. The quote is from 365 Days of Walking the Red Road – The Native American Path to Leading a Spiritual Life Every Day.

I’ve become increasingly fascinated by the Native American culture. The more I learn and understand, the more my heart breaks for what I feel is such a disservice we did to the Native American’s in our history. How we thought our way was better. How that caused great distress and harm to the Native American’s and to the earth and to our ourselves.

Their connection to the earth, plants, animals,  sky, and the Creator, and the wisdom this offers is something I feel more drawn to everyday of my life. How their connection to all living things is what they instill in their everyday practices and rituals to guide their lives. 

Author Kent Nerburn quotes Ohiyesa, a great Dakota teacher and thinker in his book, Voices in the Stones – Life Lessons from the Native Way, “Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth, and the Great Silence alone.”

He goes on to write, “There is no need to justify the purity or sufficiency of your spiritual convictions, no need to defend them through theology or philosophy or argumentation. All that is necessary is that you acknowledge the Great Mystery that is behind everything and present in everything.”

Having read this last night and then the quote from Terri Jean about walking your own road alone this morning, accepting your gifts and your shortcomings, and understanding that the road is yours alone to travel really hit home for me today.

We all take wrong turns in life. I was reminded of that today having just let go of something I thought I wanted to pursue and realizing I wasn’t doing it for the right reasons. I’d lost my way of who I was.

What I’m grateful for is that I found myself back to what matters most to me in a relatively short period of time and didn’t spend too much time traveling down what I feel was the wrong road for me.

It was by being in silence and having an honest conversation with myself that I realized an opportunity I was looking to follow wasn’t coming from my heart. When I took the time to tune back into who I authentically I am it became clear that the intention and committment I made to pursue teaching workshops and SoulCollage® workshops is exactly where I want to be.

While the other road I took for a very short time may have afforded me the opportunity to gain more financially, it didn’t speak to my soul of how I want to continue making a difference where I can.

As I read the teachings of the Dakota teacher in Nerburn’s book I was reminded that being open to the Great Mystery, having faith, and trusting the path ahead when walked with integrity and from the compassion in my heart is the right road for me to walk….

And my spirit soars for having found my way back to myself, by myself.

***

Space still available for Talking Sticks Workshop at Joyful Pause Studio, this Saturday, March 4th, 10am-12:30pm.

Thank you for sharing and subscribing to my blog updates.

It’s Here! My First Ever Online Course: Connect with Your True Essence through SoulCollage®

Posted by Barbara Techel
It's Here! My First Ever Online Course: Connect with Your True Essence through SoulCollage®
This is an Introduction to SoulCollage® and how you can creatively connect with your true essence

I’m elated to be offering my first ever online video course! I saw myself in this place a few years ago, having this knowing that I’d be offering workshops for women… and this is the year it is all coming to fruition!  Don’t you just love it when dreams come true?

The more I’ve grown into the woman I am today, and the more I like about who I am, the more passionate I’ve become in guiding other women to do the same. We all deserve to pause often, listen deeply and capture what matters most.

So my very first online workshop is to introduce you to the principals of SoulCollage®, how cards are made, how you can work with your cards on a daily basis, and how by incorporating this as a creative practice can help you access your own inner wisdom for daily guidance and tap into your true essence.

As you move through this video series, and your exploration of SoulCollage®  I hope it will unearth many of the gifts as it has to me such as:

    • It’s a way to gently open to your wise, knowing self
    • It’s a way of practicing mindfulness
    • It’s a way of being creative, without having to have artistic talent
    • It’s a way of expressing yourself through images
    • It’s a way of opening to your inner voice
    • It’s a way of acknowledging those whispers in your soul
    • It’s a way of accepting all the many different facets of yourself, then seeing yourself as a whole, which opens you to that true, beautiful, light and essence of who you are

More details and registration here!

I look forward to connecting with you in this circle of wise, creative, inspiring women!  See you soon.

Thank you for sharing and subscribing to my blog updates.

Joyful Pause Studio: Bad News and Good News

Posted by Barbara Techel

Joyful Pause Studio: Bad News and Good News

Bad News: returning home from vacation in November I discovered we had a water issue in the lower level of our house. Magazines stacked on the carpet against the wall, used for the SoulCollage workshops I offer in my studio, I came to discover when moving them that the bottom magazines were wet.

Nothing like a water problem to make your stomach drop to your feet. We pinned the problem to a chimney leak we had late August, which John had fixed not realizing the water had dripped down between the walls.

It had been a hope of mine that we could replace the carpet downstairs with something else eventually. Well, now is the time. At least for the one room.

Good News:  Today John is installing a luxury vinyl flooring that clicks and snaps together (not really as easy as it sounds, as it is a bit more challenging than he anticipated).  But it is backed by 5/8 inch cork board and perfect for basements. It also looks like wood flooring, which I love.

Of course now I wish we could do the whole lower level plus the stairs — but that will have to wait. It will also take much longer to do that amount of space which is about 800 square feet.

The other good news is I painted the room also to match the rest of downstairs – I just love that green!!  Very “zen”  I think for my workshops.

I keep telling John that the nicer he makes our house, the more I won’t want to leave it for a warmer climate which we’d like to do someday. Though honestly, I don’t know if I can ever leave completely, but would like to head to warmer temps just for the winter months.

I’m so excited about 2017 and the workshops I’m going to be facilitating on my own, plus workshops I’m collaborating on with friend Rachel, of LaValley Equine Sanctuary. We both have a fire inside us about offering workshops and it feels so good to have this new passion.

My vision of encouraging women to…

Going down the stairs to Joyful Pause Studio (and yes, John needs to reinstall trim here – always something to do!)

is coming true and that makes my heart feel much joy…which is good, good, news.

Even for women who aren’t local to my area and can’t attend my workshops in person, I’m giving lots of thought to offering workshops online, videos, tele-classes, etc. which I want to record and facilitate from my Joyful Pause Studio…so stay tuned!

Thank you for sharing and subscribing to my blog updates.