All is well

This excerpt goes with the above video:

From God Calling:

"Turn out all thoughts of doubt and trouble. Never tolerate them for one second. bar the windows and doors of your souls against them as you would bar your home against a thief who would steal in to take your treasures. what greater treasures can you have than peace and rest and joy? and these are all stolen from you by doubt and fear and despair. face each day with love and laughter. face the storm. joy, peace, love, my great gifts. follow me to find all three. i want you to feel the thrill of protection and safety now. any soul can feel this in a harbor, but real joy and victory come to those alone who sense these when they ride a storm. say, 'all is well.' say it not as a vain repetition. use it as you use a healing balm for cut or wound, until the poison is drawn out; then, until the sore is healed, then until the thrill of fresh life floods your being. all is well."

    This week I am in Brevard, North Carolina pet sitting for two sweet dogs. I made this little video while I've been here after going out into the forest and filming all of these little spring things that are going on. The miracle of the bloodroot blossoms and the fiddlehead ferns and the tiny spring green leaves that start to pop out all over the forest. 

    As I look through these photos of fiddlehead ferns, I feel like I am looking through portrait photos after a photoshoot deciding which ones I'd like to paint and truthfully, I photographed them because I had that in mind. I think it would be really cool to make some large scale black walnut ink paintings on fabric of these fiddle head ferns and maybe some bloodroot blossoms and leaves as well. 
 

    I have been thinking a lot about personal power lately, and specifically the ways I give my power away.  I'm reading the book, Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss. She talks about how when we give our power away, it's very hard to hear our own intuition. And I realized that our intuition is our power. That voice inside me that says, "Do this." Sometimes it is so subtle. Sometimes it's so quiet that I can only really hear it when I'm meditating. I'm realizing that I give my power away every time I'm jealous of someone or think that someone else is wiser or has all the answers. Specifically, I think I did this with a friend who I admired a lot and had on a pedestal. I started to feel strongly like I had to do all of the things she has done in her life to heal and grow and I started to adopt those things into my life even when they didn't really resonate with me. I bought A Course in Miracles, because she had devoted herself to that, I went to the same meditation retreat that she goes to, I hired the same meditation/spiritual teacher that she talks with, etc. This was damaging to our friendship and also distracted me from my own sense of personal power. 

    I've also been realizing that when I compare myself to my past self, when I was making art more regularly, that also takes me away from the guidance that I am receiving right here and now. 

    As I've been thinking about these things, I'm realizing that there are things in my life right now that are calling to me. Recently, I had a new friend offer me her shed to use as a free studio. If I pay close attention, there is a good energetic feeling in me about moving forward with this and that feels really hopeful to me. I also have this desire to photograph and paint someone who I barely know, but who I just really feel like I want to paint. I've reached out to her and she said she was willing to participate. 

    These are just little things and I don't know how they will turn out, but they are little threads. My friend Kelsey says, "It's important that we follow those threads." and I agree. I'm hopeful and that feels good. 

    I don't have a lot of readers of this blog at the moment and there's definitely a part of me that wonders why I do it, but I also think that as a creative person, there's just this impulse to put myself out there in creative ways. I enjoy it. So, to whomever reads this, I hope you feel encouraged to step into your personal power and follow the threads of your dreams, however subtle they currently are. It's always worth it. 

Lots of love to you,

Suzanne.