Fear No Rain

I have been meaning to take another stab at retreat. I had the flu on my birthday, so my trip to the art/yoga studio at Herrbrook was a different experience than the one I envisioned. So I booked another stay. I brought my computer along. I was open to inspiration but my list of possibilities included: work on my novel, journal, write some letters, perhaps do some impromptu art, walk the labyrinth, plan my upcoming workshop, read Moosewood cookbooks, read a magazine, do some sun salutations, drink herbal tea. The day started off with sprinkles, but that didn't even come into my consciousness. I like the rain, and it pushes me to the interior world that was my destination anyway. So, armed with a cup of coffee, an oatmeal cookie, leftover potato leek soup, my computer, journal, and stacks of books, I entered the cottage. There was a chill, so I turned on the space heater. Took off my crocs and put on some snugly slipper socks. Lit a candle. Arranged myself under a blanket on a wicker rocker with a great view of the rainy garden intending to spend my first 30 minutes in journal mode.

This cottage is loaded with art supplies and books, but the one thing that was prominently displayed was a book entitled Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. I know the owner of Herrbrook has peered at my blog, but did she peer into my soul? Who knows who put the book right near my candle, but I picked it up and read over 60 pages sitting in that chair. I also journaled 21 pages--enough that my hand couldn't hold a pen to sign my kids' permission slips later that evening. It was as if the book was written for me for this particular time and place. I went to a deep place. Some of it I absorbed immediately. Some I must sort through. I borrowed the book and will continue doing a chapter a day until I finish. And hopefully, I can reveal some of what I learned in these musings.

There was a mid-day break in the clouds, and I used the time to walk barefoot through the wet grass 11-circuit labyrinth on the property. I gained even more insight from this exercise. Waiting for me in the center of the labyrinth was a cat. I am not a cat person, but this cat seemed to know I needed a guide through the process. In the goddess tradition, Bast is an Egyptian cat goddess of play. Maybe that is more symbolism than is necessary here, but I did feel a kinship with this animal. It started to rain in sprinkles, but though I entered the labyrinth walking with my hands dug deep into my pockets, my arms loosened on the way out. I noticed that they were outstretched to feel and accept the rain. It was a reaction that was intuitive. I didn't think about the fact that I was doing it until I was almost done walking.

A little wet, I returned to the comfort of the studio. Sipped my soup. Ascended into the yoga loft where I could simultaneously read, journal, and hear the rain hitting the roof. This blog entry is about the physicality of the day. I will get into the insights later. But I slept well last night. That always a testament to a day well spent.

Morning Journaling Practice

Hold out for shameless promotion. I am teaching two Morning Journaling workshops at Woman to Woman event this Sunday at the Lancaster YWCA. Many women giving many workshops and offering services such as massage and Reiki. Proceeds benefit domestic violence shelters and violence prevention programs. All for the low admission price of $12. It's a great deal. Food concession and a woman-crafted market is also available. The theme this year is AWAKENINGS.

I am looking forward to teaching my workshops. They will be a little different from my usual creative journaling workshops. For the most part, I espouse a carefree approach to journaling. It doesn't need to be daily. It doesn't and shouldn't just be about the writing. Add paint. Add magazine pictures. Color mandalas. Write Haiku. Get dirty.

But the Morning Journaling workshop is about ritual and commitment. I am not a ritualistic, meditative journaler--except in the time between Thanksgiving and New Years. And then, my journaling surges. It is almost a survival instinct I have. I like Thanksgiving and look forward to it, but Christmas, to me, is filled with such pressure--especially (in my experience) for the women of the household. I admit that I take on this responsibility and tend not to ask for help. I have a ridiculous Holiday Card list, and I feel the need to be creative--not just send out signed boxed cards. I hate to go shopping. Money always seems tight. I also have a problem with darkness. It is hard on me--and my family. I am miserable grouch until I sit in the serenity that is our church's Winter Solstice service.

So, I was glad to research morning journaling at this time of year when I can use it most. My morning walk is out--too dark in the country. Not enough sidewalks. So I write and prepare myself for the new year. In the past I have most often prescribed to the Julia Cameron morning pages form for my writing, but I have been looking into other options including setting intentions, creating your day, as well as poetry and work with color. I am extremely excited to give this workshop because in teaching, I always have a fuller experience of the subject, and I love interacting with other women. (My solitary daily life doesn't allow for enough of that.)

If you are in the area, please come out for the event. I promise that you will leave the YWCA with a lighter step than when you entered. You'll meet the most magnificent women, it is for a good cause, and you can enter the holiday season with new strategies.

The energy of color

I've facilitated workshops in the last two days. The first was a general workshop on journaling and the second was specific to color in journaling. In both workshops we answered a series of questions about our personal history with color. Questions such as :

What was the color of your childhood bedroom?
What colors do you associate with your parents?
What are the predominant colors in your favorite travel destination?
What colors are evident in your favorite meal?
What color or colors do you avoid wearing?

I found the results to be powerful. Color is light energy. Each color has a frequency that can be used in our daily life to send signals, balance energy, or attract people. I am fascinated by the psychology, by the physics, by the personal language of color. I think I could do a series of workshops on this aspect alone. My personal belief color has the vibratory power to heal through color meditations. If a friend of mine is going through trauma, I will often think of that person and imagine sending color vibes her way. Blue for peace and tranquility, green for growth, pink for healing and healthy tissues etc. I light different color candles for the same purpose.

I teach color as the first concept in creative journaling because it is the easiest to employ. If you are a journal writer, buy yourself an assortment of colored pens. Ask yourself a few questions to get an understanding of your own personal relationship with color. Then when you journal, select the pen that best relates to your mood for the day. Then, looking back over your journal, you can see patterns emerge. To me, color just lends itself to creative visualization. It is easy to grasp, and it is a wonderful way to take abstract thought and bring it to the physical world in small baby steps of actualization.

This Work of Women

Inspiration from Shiloh Sophia McCloud

Shiloh Sophia McCloud is a reverend and an artist. She and her husband own a publishing house and have published several titles including The Color of Woman journal which I am using in my journaling workhsops. Both her artwork and her writing (including the piece below) haveppeared in We'Moon Calendar.

This Work of Women by Shiloh Sophia McCloud

Yes. It is time for a revolution in women and path, women and money, women and business, women and art, women and marketplace. We do not choose to give our works of any kind away for nothing. We are not starving or frivolous artists. We are creators whose creations save lives, heal the world, heal wounds. This work of women, priestesses and practitioners of every kind is VISIONARY WORK.

Your work is vital. Essential. Needed. This work of women must include creating livelihood. This is not easy, quick, fun nor likely. This is not accepted or encouraged. But this is what we must do:

Cause an abundance revolution.

We must create our own path.

We must create our own money.

We must create art.

We must create our own marketplace.

We must be compensated.

We are creating our own mystical cosmic luminous overflowing BANK. A bank that does not cause, contribute or condone the suffering of others for profit. A women's bank. Believe it. Create it. Deposit into it. Draw from it. Invite other women to it. Enter the income stream in your little golden boat and dream and work and pray and play and do not stop. Keep going. It will almost always seem impossible. But we will make miracles. Miracles are organizing themselves around our dreams, our work, right now.

Believe it.

Mandalas: Focused Color in Journaling

I have long taught creative journaling classes that stem from the belief that the benefits of journaling can be compounded if you use art in your process. This gives the brain visual and verbal languages with which to process and communicate. I have given these workshops at many places, and the results have been phenomenal. I am preparing to teach a series of workshops on journaling. This is the first time I have done a series of workshops, and the hope is that I, and the participants, will be able to explore more topics on a deeper level. The first workshop delves into color and takes place Wednesday, October 17th from 10AM-12 PM at Radiance in Lancaster.

One aspect we will explore will be color relationships in mandalas. Mandala is a Sanskrit word that means circle, completion, or whole world. Basically, they are circular pictures that have been used in various cultures as a focusing tool to aid meditation and spiritual enlightenment. You can find examples of mandalas in Tibetan Sand Paintings, Native American Medicine wheels, and Rose windows from Gothic Cathedrals. Carl Jung, the famous psychoanalyst, saw the mandala as a representation of the unconscious self. He felt that work with mandalas helped him to diagnose emotional disorders in his patients and work towards healing the personality.

In my color workshops, I will be focusing on use of personal color codes in pre-drawn mandalas, though I hope to explore all aspects of mandala creation in later workshops. But for now the experience of color is a large enough field to immerse one's self. Try it for yourself. Here is a link to a Mandala. Pick up some crayons, colored pencils and go. While you are coloring in your mandala, feel the meditative state--the relaxing quality of primitive activity. Once you are done, you can analyze your creation.

What do the colors say about your mood?

What colors are on the outer edges of the mandala? Which colors are closest to center? What experiences and emotions do you relate with those colors?

Is there a color that isn't present in your mandala? Why is it absent? What qualities are missing in your day or in your life?

This is just one of the exercises we will be doing in the color class. My hope is to expose the participants to many forms of color journaling available so they have a plethora of ideas to choose from when they are journaling/journeying at home.

Technicolor cold

I have a cold, and it is messing up my plans. After hanging my art show, I was once again going to get down to business with a hard-core, don't-interrupt-me, write-in-the-morning, paint-in-the-afternoon schedule. Instead, I find myself directed by my waning energies more than some time-specific outline I penned a week ago. Lower-leg step workout at high noon? 1500 words of elegant prose in two hours. HA!

I've been trying to do things that are productive even if I am not doing things that take long periods of flowing mind power or much energy. Yesterday, I picked up books to sell at my artist reception. I took photos of a place I am considering for a landscape painting. (All feedback suggests I should do more of these.) I even went digital camera shopping with my parents. All of this came in and around my napping and food-network watching (great exercise to watch FoodTV when you have no appetite).

Today, I made myself a little nest on my chair and ottoman to work on my upcoming events. I surrounded myself with journaling and art books and books on color theory. This fall I am teaching 5 different courses on creative journaling--all on different topics. I am doing an introductory presentation to a group of professionals in the wellness industry. At Woman-to Woman, I will do workshops on morning journaling practices. Finally, I am doing a series of monthly Deep Journaling classes at Radiance in Lancaster. The themes for this fall series are: color, flow, and manifesting.

Today's research concentrated on color. I have done so much work with color over my life and have used this element in many of my workshop offerings, but I have never done a whole class on it. Now after doing some research, I see I could do a whole series on color journaling. This is exciting for me, as I am looking to expand my workshop business. I love to combine my love of art and writing and bring it to life for others. I come from a family of teachers, so that part comes easily to me, too.

In future blog entries, I will bring you some of the subjects I find fascinating about my work to bring my workshops to life. Maybe I can inspire some of you to begin your own creative journaling practices. Hey--if it can rouse me from a state of misery and congestion--think what it can do for you.