Exploring Grief Using Radical Creativity

Creative Prompt: sight lines in variation...

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:37:00 +0000

Sight Lines in Variation
a creative prompt & coaching tool by Kara LC Jones

After grief came, the landscape seemed entirely different to me. It's hard to say in hindsight if the landscape was actually different or if it was just my perspective of the sight line that had changed. In some ways it doesn't really matter which it was, as the bottom line was that everything looked and felt different to me. The paths I previously walked seemed closed to me now or just not there at all any more. There were new paths open that were unfamiliar, marked with stones and signs that made little sense to me.

My first instinct was to resist it all, to fight it, to want to scramble back to some familiar place at all costs. It didn't help much to hear trite and cliche things like, "time will heal all wounds" or "closure will come eventually" or "everything happens for a reason" because frankly future and closure seemed impossible -- and I didn't care if there was a reason for this grief because it sucked, plain and simple.

Rather the most powerful and empowering language and model came to me from the people who said things like:

"I'm so sorry it sucks. What sucks most about it?"
OR
"Can I sit with you in the sucking-ness and tell me what you see on the unfamiliar signs maybe?"
OR
"Tell me more about this new, unfamiliar skyline you see."

These were situation and people who were willing to suspend judgement of the new landscape and simply lean into with me. Instead of trying to make everything better or right, they were simply curious with me about the new landscape. They were willing to allow me to be someone entirely different now and to wake up tomorrow with even more changes and insights appearing. They were not threatened by these things.

In their presence, I was learning to suspend my own judgement and be curious. I was learning to allow shifts, instead of trying to be better or "healed". I was learning to embrace, instead of fear, this new person I was in this new landscape. All of this allowed me to begin exploring, leaning into the new reality. It all helped me bridge the abyss between Wanted and IS.

In working through the various versions of my new landscape, I found visual expression through things like jouraling, sketching, painting, and more. In the following series (also shown at the top of this post in a row), I discovered the following things:

1) In the first sight line, everything felt burnt to me. There were still buildings, still sun, still life, but everything felt burnt and sensitive.

2) Later, I felt a little less burnt, like the original burns were scabbed over and I was just left blue. Deep in the heart
of sad. I could look directly at the sun and it still looked blue and grey and muted. I still had a lot of tending to do for my heart.

3) Later still, color returned. I could still see the scars on my wings from where the burns happened, but at the very same time, I could see light and color again. I was able to both feel my broken places that hurt from the death of my sons, but also at the same moment feel love and gratitude for friends whose children were born safe and sound. One did not cancel out the other, but rather it was all existing at the same time.

4) Eventually, normal blue sky days dawned again. Not because I was better or resolved or had closure on anything. Just that everything was feeling more integrated now. I was learning now how to be a mother to our living children and how to express my different kind of motherhood for our children who died. We were learning how to answer the question, "How many children do you have?" by answering, "We have four children." Sometimes adding, "Two are living and grown, starting families of their own now, and two of our sons have died." Sometimes not adding that. Just depended on what we felt like sharing in any given moment. But never again would we answer counting only our two living children.

5) And lastly in the exploration of the sight lines, I could finally accept and embrace all that was blue sky daylight as well as all that was *shadow* and nighttime and unconscious. By breathing with the shadows instead of hiding or denying or fighting them, they came to the surface and shared their names with me. They turned out to not be so scary afterall. They turned out to be companions on this path. Sometimes the energy of these shadows was actually fuel for my hero self to keep exploring and walking the path.

So that's your creative prompt for this post: Explore the new sight lines and sky lines of your post-grief landscape.

Play with the idea in writing or visual art or movement. What does your sky line look like in the light? In the dark? In feather weight? In shrouds of rain clouds? Let yourself lean into all the new nooks and crannies without fearing the changes. Just be curious about the signs along the path that you can't seem to read yet. Explore your new landscape.

And as always, feel free to come back here to post comment with your responses or link to your own blog post sharing your explorations!
Miracles,
k-

circles, cycles, full moons, and a mandala's mandala...

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:11:00 +0000

New piece of pieces of past pieces :) Just been toying with full moons and cycles and circles. Doorways to peeking into the little lives of all the beings on round planet earth. Anyway...

Not much in the way of my own words lately. But here are a few grief and creativity things that have come across my path in the last week. Enjoy!

Occupy Grief! Yah, baby! Great article from Grief Watch today: "If we occupy our own grief, we get to decide its nature, its intensity, its rhythms, and its duration no matter what others may think or say!"

http://www.griefwatch.com/occupy-grief

They are discussing Family Dynamics at the Kitchen Table over at Glow In The Woods. Learn how to join the conversation here!

http://www.glowinthewoods.com/home/2012/1/18/at-the-kitchen-table-all-in-the-family.html

Love Cookies? Know a student who needs community service credit? February is Bake Sale Month for Family Fundraisers. Hold a bake sale in your community to raise money for MISS! All you need are two to three bakers (kids are great volunteers!) and a table in a public place (school, convenience store, etc.) If 20 ramilies raised $200, MISS would be at their goal! Here are a few simple recipes that might get you started.

http://www.joyofbaking.com/ValentinesSugarCookie.html
http://glorioustreats.blogspot.com/2011/01/chocolate-rolled-cookies-recipe.html
http://suziethefoodie.blogspot.com/2012/01/chocolate-meringue-valentines-day-heart.html
http://www.marthastewart.com/275179/valentines-day-dessert-recipes/@center/276967/valentines-day

for more on Family Fundraisers see:
http://missfoundation.org/events.html

Still Life 365 looks a little different, new heart-full layout for it -- and they are still open for submissions on the art of grieving. Read the guidelines!

http://stilllife365.blogspot.com/p/how-to-submit.html

Another great blog post from another of my favorite MISS guru's Carla Roel De Hoffmann -- shared especially for our co-creators at The Creative Grief Coaching Studio -- you'll find a quote in one of your modules about mentionable/manageable -- here's the link to Carla's posts:

http://cjcaccsmom.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-we-can-mention-we-can-manage.html

A beautiful entry from Dr. Joanne Cacciatore -- especially shared for our co-creators over at The Creative Grief Coaching Studio -- affirmation for "there is no time line" and "there is no prescription" but rather, show up and be present with those who are grieving!

http://drjoanne.blogspot.com/2012/02/rowing-in-sea-of-tears.html

Lastly I made a page here on the Mother Henna blog where we can start gathering for the Day of the Dead 2012 heART Auction for MISS. I'll add new artists there as they come on board. Will also post updates of info as this all unfolds and I have more details for participants. Anyone else interested in playing along? If so, leave me a comment here or email me!! Bookmark it:

http://motherhenna.blogspot.com/p/day-of-dead-auction-2012.html

Miracles,
k-

Creative prompt: exploring another life and the life you have...

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:44:00 +0000

Exploring another life and the life you have
a creative prompt and coaching tool from Coach Kara

In the documentary Babbleonia, the actor Al Pacino talks about how the practice of our art is about allowing the unconscious to become free, to rise to the surface, to express itself. It got me thinking about how much rises to the surface when I can allow grief and hurt to rise up to the surface of my heART, how much is then set free, and how much more open space I seem to have in my being when done. As I then later watched the documentary Looking For Richard, I found my heart strings pulled by all the actors sharing their visions. Something in me began to long for the life where I was going to be an actor. And suddenly I found myself surrounded by all this free floating grief and disappointment at all the things I have not done, all the roads not taken, all the years gone by such that it is too late
in some ways for some of those dreams.

And frankly, many grief experiences do this same thing. I remember all the free floating grief after each of our sons died. The just rampant longing for the life that was now gone, the path that was absolutely closed to us now. We are still mom and dad to those boys, but our parenthood is of a different kind. I've probably made the most peace with this fact through the art-making, and thereby re-member-ing and he-ART-making, process over the years, working these creative prompts myself, pushing the exploration visually, in writing, and conversation.

So I began to wonder what I should do with this free floating grief coming up now about all the roads untaken. I started working the layers and textures and text of the piece shown in the image at the top of this post. I started with "In Another Life I Would Have Been..." and then I added all these empty window frames and meditated on what I would see through each of them. I flashed on images of a tilted drawing table, something a comic book artist would use. I flashed on a beautiful kitchen with the stove in an island where you can actually use all four spots on the stove top! I flashed on a small theater room where actors were improving, where spoken word poets don't feel the least bit self conscious about screaming and over-the-top rapping with their writings. And then I flashed on a fountain in Italy.

As I then came back to my piece, pondering how to draw or paint or collage each of those peeks into each of those windows, something interesting happened. As I surfed thru my digital library of my art and photos, I found:

Images sharing the cover of our collaborative Heroes & Demons graphic novel/comic book from a couple years ago. I illustrated the cover and two of the interior pages. It isn't exactly being a full time inker or writing a comic series, but huh, look at that... I sort of am a comic book artist.

Images from several of our celebratory, ritual meals. The one in particular shared here is from the meal I made for my 40th birthday party. I made the bread from scratch. The lemon, ginger, honey dressing is from scratch. The salad is bursting with fruits and vegetables, many we bought fresh from the local farmers market. All washed, cut, mixed at my own hand. It was not a very gourmet meal, not very complicated. But still, I was the chef for that meal and many of the others that were photo documented by my lovely husband.

Images from the Vagina Monologue days. A funny publicity photo taken of me and a fellow actor at a rehearsal one day in the lead up to the show. We sold out the house for those shows that first year. We raised a lot of money for local non-profits. And the following year, I helped coordinate and organize the art exhibit that was companion for the second year's run of the show. It was not Broadway or Hollywood, but I was the actor doing the Hair monologue that first year.

As I filled the windows of my heART-work with these images, the grief and disappointment freed up from my unconscious. I realized consciously that I actually had done many of those things I was longing to do, those things that unconsciously I carried as being disappointed to not have done!! And the conscious realization of all this freed up a huge space in my BEING for coming up with new dreams or for pursuing these dreams more in-depth ways.

And more than that, this conscious realization gave me space to have my humor return. As I looked at that last window where I would explore something about the fountains of Italy, it became light hearted. I found a public domain image of one of the fountains I long to see, and when I pasted it into the frame, I suddenly started laughing. I flashed on
myself as my doll character self -- since I have her anyway, I can put her into Italy right now. When I looked over at her, she was still in the headstand position I put her in when I wrote up the "different perspective" prompt here a few months ago. And suddenly, I was laughing and visioning what I would want to do at those Italian fountains, and I plopped her right into the frame, doing a headstand right in the fountain!

I still may get to Italy, but I don't think of it now with such disappointment and longing and ache for a road not taken. I think of it and laugh at myself doing headstands in the high art fountains! :) That's a big shift. And probably more of an attitude that will bring Italy into fruition rather than feeling sad every time I touch on it, you know?

So that's your creative prompt for today.

Ponder the idea of, "In another life I would have been..."
Make a list of all the images, words, ideas that come to you as you ponder that thought.
Then collage, draw, paint from that list.
What comes to the surface?
What perspectives shift for you?
What rises up from the unconscious and becomes free for you now?

As always, please feel free to leave comments here to share your experiments or leave links to your own blog posts or images sharing your results.
Miracles,
k-

...in the world...

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:23:00 +0000

Howling winds. Just outside my studio window. The wind, rushing down from Flagstaff, gusted among the red rocks of Sedona just up the hill from us, and then pushed screaming thur the sort of wind-tunnel that forms between our house and the neighbor's house. Chimes clanking and critters hopping from tree just outside to the roof of my studio. Just life gusting through. Outside and inside.

My phone buzzes with email notice. It is a friend who needs something done asap on one of her social media platforms, but she's only got her phone with her at her son's basketball game. Can I do this update for her. Of course. And suddenly I get a hit. A vision of sorts. Her son's team has called time out, and she scrambles to send note to me before the buzzer rings and action starts again when she'll lift her head and start yelling cheers for them again.

Later my phone buzzes with two text messages. Photos actually from our daughter, showing me the books our two older grandbabies have bought for themselves at the bookshop today. This is the first year we sent gift cards just for the grandbabies. We sent toys, too, but they are old enough now that I thought they might get a kick out of having their very own gift cards. Go into the bookshop and choose their own book for purchase. Buy the books themselves, you know? Each photo displayed three lovely books held up by each of our older grandbabies. And suddenly I get a hit. A snapshop of our daughter, house full buzzing with life of young kids. I see her scramble to take the photo and text me a line before reaching down for our youngest grandbaby who is still infant but growing so fast that he's constantly at her leg wanting to breastfeed more.

And still later my computer dings with email delivered. A friend connecting with me on some heART-work stuff. She mentions she's sitting with a dying a family member tonight who may cross the threshold to death soon. And a hit, a sort of vision flash. The dying family member held warm and gentle in conscious care, easing in and out of consciousness. My friend sitting near, with light of iPad luminating this quiet moment as she sends off a quick note to me before the next revolution comes round to consciousness again.

And the wind howls again. Life gusting through even in the presence of death. Connection gusting to us at every turn no matter how far apart we physically are, where disconnection would have ruled in the past. Would I rather have actually been sitting physically next to each of these people? Of course. But given that life doesn't always provide that opportunity, look at how I was able to connect with them anyway.

Of course in my own way, I connected back -- sending Reiki back through the distance in love and support of each of them -- as well as answering the email or message. And I'm just left pondering tonight. What it means to be in the world today. What it means to be connected or disconnected. The ways life howls through in the same moments death howls through, too. It makes me wonder what the Hopi myths might be about the winds that whip down from their lands to Flag and into Sedona. It seems there are so many stories carried on it.

Howling winds.

Just outside my studio window.

Miracles,

Creative Prompt: mandala's hand of time

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:00:00 +0000

Hand of time. Grief messes with time. Passing of time. Value of time.

One the most odd things about a grief experience can be the way it messes with time. I can't believe 13 years have passed since he died. It seems like yesterday that I had him in my arms. I didn't believe my heart could hold this much ache and love for so long. In a flash, I'm back in that room. It's 25 years later, but you never forget.

My mandala share and today's creative prompt is exploring the way grief messes with time. You can use a combination of ways to explore this idea yourself. Start by making a list of words that come to mind when you think about your grief experience and time. For instance, with the piece I did above, I was exploring from a list of words that included:

hand
clock
spiral
number
value
changed
reversed

Options then could be to write a poetic piece or descriptive blurb about your experience using those words. For my playing, I wrote this:

"For me personally, the value of time changed. The numbers on the clock didn't matter anymore. Everything was colorful but muted. My state of being changed entirely. It was surprising to discover how grief and love cycle round and round. I used to thing I kept coming back to the same issues over and over -- but really, it was more like a spiral stair case. I was coming back round to the same things, but I was up a level or down a level, looking from a different perspective."

And then find ways to incorporate these words/ideas into a visual art piece like I did in the image at the top of this post. You can enhance the visual art piece by searching through old magazines and books for images and word blurbs that you can collage into your piece, too.

As always, if you feel like sharing your results, please feel free to leave comments here with link to your own blog posts of photo shares!
Miracles,
k-

Star Leaf Mandala: what grows in my world?

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:14:00 +0000

Okay, okay, what can I tell you? Heather has got me all fired on the mandala form these days especially after her recent post exploring why she creates them! So I began playing again tonight in the wee hours and knew I wanted to do something with the form of a tree. What you see above is the result...

For some reason the form of a barren tree in particular has been with me. Not so much in the physical environment we live in now -- though we do have one in front and one in the back yard that go barren. But they are surrounded by ever green agave, juniper, and cypress. Still images from friends up north of barren snow scapes, branches coated in ice. And in my very wild dreams the last few nights, barren trees everywhere.

For all their outward appearances of death and dying, there is still something growing there. An apt metaphor for grief maybe? There are days when the grief gales through so hard that every leaf and bud are torn from my body. My barren skeleton of a tree trunk seems to go dormant, limbs flailing at grief's howling and then eventually just still, dormant, for all outward appearances, dead or dying. When I can actually sit in that stillness instead of fight it, I have learned that there is still something growing here.

It's an odd thing to trust what otherwise looks like death, to trust that life will spring again, to trust that I can rest in dying stillness and actually recharge. When I finally do trust the resting instead of fighting it, I often ask myself why I don't come here more often. It is actually incredibly peaceful here after the chaos of grief's storm has settled.

+++

Even more odd is to realize that my seasons are out of sync with the world and maybe, if I can be honest with myself, maybe have always been out of sync. In my off-kilter-ness I often wonder if I'm doing anything worthy or if I'm doing anything right or if there is any purpose to... well, to anything. I feel much like a bird who was never taught to get up in the high branch to get the lay of the land. Instead, I'm down on the ground, sort of marveling at the red dirt, eating a bug here and there, knocking my beak against the needles of the agave to hear the clicking sound that makes.

And all that is totally fine when I'm just set about doing it. But then I look up and see other birds up there somewhere and wonder, "Weird, maybe the *right* way is to do that?!" I wonder if my twiggy foot patterns in the dirt mean anything. Sometimes I wing off in the air, just to try and see if something up there seems to have more purpose than anything down here.

But it all just seems a carousel of doing. Others seem to believe they have more purpose and so seem to be set off with more resolve in their cycles of life. But I can't seem to find any proof that any of that is anything better or more right or more purposeful than anything or any other way anyone else is doing or not doing whatever they do.

+++

It's all babble. I know. It's just that after grief's gale storm, I sort of sit here and go, okay what's next. I actually like the barren time. I'm actually more curious about being curious than I care about what is right or more purposeful these days. I'm actually knocked out each day to witness how much grief there is in this world. I don't feel a sense of competition with anyone anymore because WOW there is a lot to be done in this world and there seems to never be enough hands to do it.

And frankly, I seem to spend more time playing with idea of not doing as opposed to the scramble lately. I'm not sure the scramble is fixing anything. It's amazing how much there is to see and comprehend when you actually just sit still and witness all this scramble. I sort of sit here saying, "What's next" like I'm swiping slide across the screen of my vision.

I'm not making much sense. Of anything.

+++

I don't know. On the outside, for all appearances, I seem barren, and yet something grows here. It is almost as if the process in place for the cycle of this body is besides me -- beside the point -- is a costume of, "Oh, that's fun, let's try that on...". And then soon enough, we all get to a point where we decided, "Okay, that was fun..." shed the body suit and return to something... else. ??

I repeat again, I don't know. There just seems to be so much lately that points to how our being here is not really about BEing.

Barren trees. I don't know. They just keep cycling around my landscape - waking scape and dreamscape, both.

+++

Hope all who come across this find a gentle way and path.
Sending Reiki to one and all.
Miracles,
k-

Coincidences, signs, who knows?

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:30:00 +0000

There are many things I'm open to, while at the same time I cannot say if I truly believe in them or not. Reincarnation, for instance. In watching some of the contemporary documentaries on reincarnation, I can certainly see how very stressed out young children are before anyone believes them about the memories they have of previous lives. Once their stories are accepted and explored, they seem to release a certain struggle and become much more present in their bodies and beings. For that reason alone, I'm open to the idea because it seems so wrong to put those children in a space where they are that stressed out! But I'm not really sure if I truly believe in reincarnation or not.

So when weird coincidences happen in my life, I never really am sure if I believe they are signs of something. But I'm at least open enough to notice when something like that happens and pause long enough to wonder! Today I'm wondering :)

Last month while at the silent retreat, I got sick at the end and left a day earlier than was originally planned. It was
not a big deal, but it did mean missing the last dharma talk. Again, not a big deal as I knew the talks were being recorded and later after the event, an email would come with link to the recordings.

When I got home, as part of my holiday gifts, my hubby Hawk helped me create two new space in the house. One for meditation and one for my office/studio space. I wanted to put up art and inspirations around the space of my new desk after we rearranged everything. So I have this bin that is full to the gills with bits and pieces of art, prints, images I've ripped out of old magazines and such. Literally 20+ years of materials overflow from this bin. So one by one, I went through each image and picked pieces I wanted to look at on a daily basis.

One of the things I came across was a page from an old Rumi publication that is a mix of artwork and the quote:

"Be empty of worrying.
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?"

That just fell like a brick on my head and heart and I stuck it up on the wall right behind my desk/computer so that every moment I'm sitting here, I see that reminder.

So flash forward to now, a month later, and I finally got around to looking at the follow up email they sent after the retreat and found the link to the recorded dharma talks. I clicked through and found the mp3 of the last talk that I missed and let it stream as I was working here in the office. And what quote do you think Howard opened that talk with:

"Be empty of worrying.
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?"

I rewound it twice to just hear it again and be sure I wasn't imagining things.

Coincidence? Sign? Reminder from the Universe funneled thru a big huge mega-phone?

Well, I don't know, but it is kind of hard to ignore.

Anyway, here's to whatever it is, wherever it comes from, whatever you believe -- or just whatever you are at least open to being possibly possible. :)
Miracles,
k-

Celebrating International Creativity Month!

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

As if I needed another reason to celebrate creativity, I've just learned that January is International Creativity Month! For me, sometimes creativity comes naturally, but very often it has been through the inspiration and model of other artists and heARTists who have given me a groove. So in celebration of creativity, I'm sharing up a few inspirational conversations I've had with artists I adore: Jamie Ridler, Kathryn Antry, and Courtney Putnum. Get yourself inspired, and then go make art! That's what it's all about!

Wishing, Dreaming, Defining Life for Ourselves:
a conversation with Jamie Ridler

click here to stream or right mouse click to "save link as" to download wav

Jamie Ridler (http://www.openthedoor.ca) is a creative living coach and the director of Jamie Ridler Studios. From the Creative Living with Jamie podcast (http://www.creativelivingwithjamie.ca) to the popular Sparkles e-course (http://www.findyoursparkle.ca), Jamie’s work helps women find the confidence and courage to discover and express their creative selves so they can be the star they are.

Hero's Journey and Staying the Creative Course: a conversation with Kathryn Antry

click here to stream or right mouse click to "save link as" to download wav

Kathryn Antyr, also known as the Collage Diva, shares her love for collage, mixed media, photography, and creative journal-keeping. She publishes two blogs: collagediva.com is where Kathryn shares reflections from her highly creative life. She captures the beauty and simplicity of every day living and likes to ask questions that encourage her readers to dig deep. On truenortharts.com, Kathryn offers readers a free weekly journal page to download as part of her Journey of the Heart series. Each week Kathryn writes on a topic or theme and shares her own personal story. The download includes a beautifully designed journal page and questions to ponder. Connect with Kathryn on Facebook at www.facebook.com/collagediva.

Transforming Grief Using Creativity:
a conversation with Courtney Putman

click here to stream or right mouse click to "save link as" to download wav

Courtney has often been called “The Creative Healer” because her approach to bodywork specifically, and healing in general, is creative in nature: the mind is a creative force that can help to heal the body and the messages we receive from the body–through sensation, imagery, or emotion–may not only relieve pain, stiffness, and tension, but may also help us understand our lives in a profound and meaningful way.

She is a Licensed Massage Practitioner and Reiki Master as well as an artist, writer, and teacher. You'll find her over at: http://www.courtneyputnam.com and at: healingnest.wordpress.com

Here's hoping all of you are finding creative inspirations all this month, too! REMINDER: Applications for the Creative Grief Coaching Certification program are open till Jan 26th if you are interested in digging into your creativity that way!
Miracles!
k-

Mandala RP: blessings on vinyl

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Because I've been so excited about my new working studio/office space, I've spent a lot of time making videos lately for posts. Maybe also, it has been sort of a back lash from doing the 365 Project during 2011 where I really pushed myself to make some kind of art every single day, that I've just not wanted to draw, paint, carve, or use the drawing pad at all. But Heather Plett over at Sophia Leadership inspired me with her post the other day about how the mandala form can be broken open.

After having very heartFULL moments on our Creative Grief Coaching Q&A (click here for free recording of that call), I sat down and finally felt like I wanted to play. And the first thing that came to mind was Heather's mandalas. So I decided to play with form a little and see what I could layer up and texture up and what you see above is the result.

Feels good to exercise those artful muscles again, and I think some kind of groove for it is returning. Starting to stew on what I want to do for my Limited Edition Sketchbook project that is due in April. So there is a little series of somethings coming from that path soon. I also realized today that I had a pack of painting knives and sculpting paints that I've never even opened yet!! I think there are a few canvases calling for those, so something there, too. Coming soon... :)

Hope you are all finding your artFULL way, too...sending Reiki to one and all who come across this!
Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompt: Showing Up As You Are

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Today's creative prompt is about showing up for whatever you are called to do in the moment as you are. Just like it is a waste to wait till you've lost 10 lbs before you live your life, the same goes for grief experience. You need not wait till you are "better" or "over it" (whatever those things mean anyway!) before you life your life again. It can be the authentic choice to show up as you are instead of waiting for ... waiting for, I don't know what... Waiting For Godot ... Waiting For Woody Allen ... waiting for whatever.

Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompt: schedule time with yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

This creative prompt is for shifting your perspective around time for yourself, for exploring what we might do to make our time just as much a priority as anything else. This self care prompt can be done as a meditation prompt, a practice prompt with your actual calendar, a visual art or writing prompt.

Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompt: leave good and bad at the door

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

This creative prompt is for shifting perspective from judging good or bad and instead staying with the present moment of your experience. Can be done as meditation prompt, writing or visual art prompt.

Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompt: hand set your dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:00:00 +0000

This creative prompt is for shifting perspective from waiting for someone or something else to set everything up for you to do what you need or want or love. Instead, you can hand set your own story. You have a power to look at what you need set in your day and create that story for yourself. Can be done as a meditation, writing, or visual art prompt.

Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompt: Space Within

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao is one of my favorites. Number 11 has especially inspired me for many years now, so today I'm offering up concepts of it as a creative prompt today. Can be used as a meditation, writing, or visual art prompt.

Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompt: no one to be

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

While attending silent meditation at Spirit Rock, Mary Grace Orr presented the idea that we have no one to be. This is a creative look at this meditation prompt and how it reflects the way grief shatters everything we thought we were or ought to be. Could be used as a meditation prompt, or writing or visual art prompt, too.

Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompt: follow the YES

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

It can be good practice to learn where the YES is because we then also learn where the NO is, too. A creative way of finding your YES. Can be used as meditation, written, or visual art prompt.

Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompt: Feathers of an Alien Diva

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Finding a character in myth or story or in your imagination that you can explore to tell part of your story. It can be used as a storytelling, writing, or visual art prompt.

Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompt: Blue Sky Energy

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Re-energizing outside when there are blue skies is easy. But this prompt is for figuring out how to find blue sky energy to re-charge when there is no blue sky! It can be used as an energy shifter, writing, or visual art prompt.

Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompts: Takeout Order

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Using an everyday, mundane event or action to explore how it can reflect your story. It can be used as a poetry, journaling, or visual art prompt.

Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompt: Honor Rather Than Judge

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:00:00 +0000

This prompt is about honoring the integrity of your grief experience rather than allowing judgments from others or self to complicate whatever is happening for you in the present moment. It can be used as a meditation, writing, or visual art prompt.

Miracles,
k-

Creative Prompt: Puzzle of Self

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:00:00 +0000

This creative prompt was inspired by an amazing little girl named Emma, and over the years, I've found many layers to the puzzle of self as I've explored it in the context of the grief experience. You can use it as a meditation, writing, or visual art prompt.

Miracles,
k-

New Years Gifties ... [Day 365 of 365 Project]

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:58:00 +0000

Started 2011 out with a self portrait for the 365 Project, so it seems fitting to end the year with a self portrait to wrap up the 365 Project. It has been an interesting charting of the year, and my artful, heart-Full explorations will continue in 2012 with various other projects and challenges. So much is in bloom here that it is hard to sit still to give it time to unfold. But I'm letting the breath breathe me and being grateful for every moment.

One of the things I'm so grateful for is YOU! Every eyeball that comes here and reads, shares forward, tries out the ideas I share and then leaves me comment here or on FB, Pinterest, Twitter, or via email. You all prove that I'm not crazy woman in the attic writing and creating for the thin air coz you are there! So in appreciation, I'm putting together this little list of gifties. If you are looking for free, creative online resources, here are some gifties for you:

MP3s

eBooks

How-To's

Creative Prompt for Distance Reiki and Loving Kindness Practice - video
How To Put Your Artwork Into Action - photo illustrated how-to
3 How-To Videos: making a 16 page book from one piece of paper; breaking down henna designs; and acrylic transfers - videos

Enjoy!
Miracles,
k-

How-To: heart shaped crayons & learning from mistakes [Day 364 of 365 Project]

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:13:00 +0000

This is certainly not an original idea from me! In fact, I've seen three or four different versions of it over on Pinterest. But since I was playing with the idea here anyway, decided to work it up as a little quickie "how-to" for you. Turns out maybe my how-to on this idea will be a little different than the others in that I made mistakes!!! HA! Mistakes bring learning though, so here goes:

First thing I did was to break up a bunch of crayons. It's a great way to recycle all those nubs and half used you
might have from the kids art bin! Or you could do it with a new pack if you want. I found that running an exacto knife down the side of the crayon made peeling any paper left on them very easy to remove!

I just like the above photo of the colors in the bowl after the crayons were all chopped!

Once chopped, you just spread them out into a silicone baking sheet -- I like the heart shaped ones. But you can find small hearts, stars, circles and lots of other shapes in these silicone sheets. Do a search on Amazon.com and you'll find a gazillion options. Or keep your eyes peeled at local thrift shops.

So this is where I think I made my first mistake. I just dumped the mix into the heart shapes willy-nilly. Dark colors, light colors, no notice of which colors were in which cups. I think next time, I would separate out the darker colors from the lighter ones -- or mix particular shades on purpose. It turned out fine (sort of - as you'll see from my second mistake later) but next time I think I would experiment more.

Then put it all in the oven on 230 degrees F and I first set the timer for 15 minutes. Here's my second mistake. We are at higher altitude, so when I opened the oven after the first 15 minutes, the chunks were hardly melted at all. So I closed the oven and set it for another 5 minutes... well...

You can see that extra 5 minutes was too much. It melted everything entirely! Totally liquid. Next time, I would do maybe 1 minute increments and just stay there checking it to get the consistency I want. Once I experiment and find the right time for our altitude and our oven, well then, the times after that, I can set the timer and walk away. But next time I try this, I will have to babysit it a bit more to nail down the right amount of time.

As the liquid solidified, it did brighten up a bit and I started to think maybe all was not lost after all! You can see below that once totally cool and solid, I was able to easily pop them out of the sheet and they actually had retained streaks of various colors. Not quite as chunked up as I would have liked, but still they were not a total failure.

Then I flipped them over and behold!!! On the flip side, they actually were not a loss at all. There was still a bit of chunked colors in there, and they look all pretty!

I do think next time, I'll try the smaller heart sheet or do less in each of the cups of this larger sheet I used this time. I will play with sorting the colors next time. And I will babysit the melting to get it more blended, but much less liquid-ie. But all in all, it was fun, easy, and I'm looking forward to sharing and using these. If you've got kids who love to color in your life, then maybe the heart shaped mish-moshed crayons are a good Valentines idea? For the kids or for a classroom of kids? Or heck, if you are an adult who loves to play, just go for it!

Have fun!
Miracles,
k-

Because it will never be this neat again... [Day 363 of 365 Project]

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:05:00 +0000

A few days ago, I shared the new meditation space Santa Hawk created for me. Well New Years is my birthday, and so Santa Hawk helped me revise/create another space in the house for my studio! I'm sharing the photos of it here today because we just finished it -- and lets face it: it will never be this neat again once I start actually working in here!! :)

When the blinds are open in the daytime the light in this space is really great. And we worked a bunch of different lights to make it light up after dark, too. It's so nice to have space to the right there to put out all my supplies so I can SEE what I have. And then to have the whole other table as work space. It feels so luxurious!

We moved a bookcase in here, too, now. I'm not really done fussing with it yet as I'm not sure what all I will use in this space yet. But for now bottom shelf has old books, maps, bags for altering and using on mixed media pieces, along with a stack of inspirational and how-to books. Then I have a few stacks of books I'm reading or use regularly like poetry books, grief/creativity books, reiki books. I think I'll use the top of the shelves as a mini-altar space. But I don't know yet. It's still evolving...

Off in the other corner, there was plenty of room to move my easel and stool into this space now, too.
I can use one of the shelves of the bookcase off to the right there to set paints and such when I start to work with pieces there. For now, there's just a stack of prepped canvases awaiting some playtime!

And then there is the closet in this room. Can you guess what it behind this door? More art supplies!

Ta-Da!! It is sooooooooooooooooo incredibly luxurious to have storage space inside the closet of this room. Using the shoe racks and hanging mesh/cloth shelves like this helps me be able to see what it in storage, too. Plus it gives me space to rotate out supplies from the tables if I need more table top space to work a particular project.

There is space in this room for me to sit with my laptop, too, so I'm finally getting some writing done. I have tons more writing to do, but I think the coming weeks will prove productive since I can squirrel away in this space and work now.

I have to experiment to see how comfortable it really is, but if it works out, I may move my digital drawing tablet in here, too. Then I really and truly would have all my mediums in one space!!

BIG HUGE love and thank yous to Santa Hawk for the holiday and birthday gifts. I am so incredibly grateful! And it really does feel like a renewal for the New Year which is a great bonus.

Sending Reiki and gentle renewal vibes out to one and all!
And if you've got a space you are renewing or revising for the New Year, do tell!!! I'd love to hear about it...
Miracles,
k-

How-To: Roasted Plum Vinegar Almonds [Day 362 of 365 Project]

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Henna) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:00:00 +0000

[Little something different than my normal grief & creativity how-to's, but then you know, nourishment is an art, too! Hope you dig the yummies!]

This is the quickest and easiest yummy snack ever! ONLY TWO INGREDIENTS!

When I first learned the recipe, I thought it was odd, but after tasting it the first time, both Hawk and I were won over completely. We pretty much always do this to our stash of almonds now.

Ingredients

Any 12 ounce package of raw almonds.

You can also buy them bulk which is often a great deal especially if you want organic.

And

Ume Plum Vinegar - 1 Tbsp - give or take as your taste buds come to prefer.

How-To

Put a dry, non-stick pan over high heat to get it all warmed up.

Turn the heat down to medium and dump in the raw almonds.

Stir them up with wooden spoon and let them roast.

You'll smell the almond baking smell & you'll see them start to brown.

Once they are browned, sprinkle the Ume Plum Vinegar over them.

You can measure it out to be 1 Tbsp. give or take - depending on what you prefer taste wise.

You can see here that I do this so often that I just tilt the bottle and sprinkle -- I don't even measure anymore.

You'll notice the almonds get very wet and moist and brighter in color.

That's totally fine, just keep stirring with the wooden spoon and they will soon dry again.

You'll see the vinegar that hit the bottom of the pan starting to turn to a salty color and texture.

Just keep stirring the contents.

You want the almonds to dry out again and roast a little more.

You'll see the vinegar begin to coat the almonds with a white salty flavoring.

When they are totally dry again, you'll see the vinegar that hit the bottom of the pan is turning brown.

Dump the whole batch out into a bowl or spread out on a plate.

You can eat them warm right away which is incredibly YUM - careful though, don't burn your tongue!

Or you can just leave them sit out a bit till they are totally cooled off and then transfer them to a jar or bag.

This is an incredibly yummy snack to keep on hand!

Enjoy!
Miracles,
k-