Well, several things, really.

First, not much sleep. And a whole lot of prayers that the new pillow will show up soon and actually – you know – help! (My neck’s notion of comfort seems to have shifted.)

Then, a whole lot of drippy paint. I love drips! My favorite part is the way they’ll suddenly hang a left or a right on their way down the canvas and claim a new path. Talk about helpful meditation!!!

As a bonus, watching drips goes really well with mental prep for a podcast interview, which happened this afternoon. The Grandma Magic podcast. Huge fun!!! Can’t say much just yet, but I’ll keep you posted. Let’s just say that kids’ books and Filters “might” have come up!

This morning’s drips, by the way, will wind up on the cover of the new kids’ book!

All of which is to say that I’m a wee bit behind on my usual Wednesday list. Or, I would be behind if I believed in such things!

For this moment, though, a new mental puzzle picture out of some treasured old pieces!

We were chatting about Fierce Compassion in podcast land and I had an amazing new thought… which, sadly, didn’t make the recording. The good news is that I can go ahead and share it with you, now!

Fierce Compassion is Good Trouble!!!

Good Trouble is Fierce Compassion!!!

And we need all of that we can get!

So, I’m curious… what might YOU do with that notion???

Really!!! You know – like two of our favorite things… voice and choice!

Here’s mine… fresh and timeless from the archives…

What would it take for me to give myself permission to take a whole day for what I need??? No shame. No blame. No guilt. Just love.

Blessedly, tomorrow is an option for such a day! And, by the time you read this, I will have begun! It’s that thing my old friend, Steve Glenn, called modeling!

I’d love to know what you discover!!! Leave a comment, below, or email me. sueboardman@gmail.com

Or, we could talk! 45 minutes. My gift. Topic: Reverse Engineering! ie… the place where you feel called and the next right thing on the road from here to there! The calendar elves will be delighted to hook you up!

ps… This world needs a whole lot of us, and that means being Fierce Compassion for ourselves, too!

pps… painting counts!!!

I’m going to ask you to be patient with me for just a few moments, dear reader. It’s going to take a bit of background before we get to the more important part of this story. A bit of packing and checking the map before a journey, if you will. And, there’s a surprise along the way!

First, though, greetings from an old friend! Yep… a blue friend who appeared on my easel late last summer, during a big journey called #Animystica. It had a lot to do with relating with the natural world around us. The kind of awareness that often – in these days – goes unnoticed.

And, yes… there were surprises involved! Also crystals. And, in my case a couple of unplanned mythical friends that needed lots of looking-up!

It’s worth noting, first, that I’d been thinking a lot about voice in those days. You see, we #Animystica people we were also writing a book! And one of the first questions any writer faces is that of whose voice they’ll use to write. My usual choice is first-person with lots of “I” statements. That book, not so much! In fact, it was probably my first experiment with what we might call an “omniscient” narrator voice. And, just between us, that was more than a bit scary. (Fortunately, I’ve had some really good teachers!)

For now, though, back to my blue and purple friends. In fact… let’s start with the purple hair! It’s meant to be amethyst crystals, completely composed of fingerprint prayer dots. Amethysts are known to be beneficial to the mind… soothing or stimulating, depending on context. They’re also associated with tranquility and believed to be supportive during meditation. My favorite part of their lore, though, is that they may help with decision making, opening one to common sense and spiritual insights.

All of those things felt really welcome in those days. You see, I was claiming some insights which at least part of me knew wouldn’t be real popular with a whole lot of the characters in the news.

That brings us to the other kind of crystal. Kyanite. The blue kind. An indigenous Shima – or wise woman – I know had told me, soon after we met, that it was a power crystal for me. And, given the fact that it, too, is believed to have a lot to do with empowering voice, with speaking one’s truth, I added some to my Medicine Basket. In fact, there’s one on the window sill, just beside the magic chair, as I cause these words to appear! It’s also believed to help cut through fears and blockages. Kind of a Filter thing I can hold in my hand!

There’s more, though to the painting. The part I suspect was really calling to me as I dreamt.

Yep! Selkies!!! Or, in Celtic traditions, seal people. Another of the things I didn’t learn in school…

They are believed to symbolize the wild, untamed feminine spirit, connected to sea and nature, and holding the potential for both beauty and mystery. The one on your right, as you look at the photo, literally appeared out of the under-layers in the painting. And she looked lonely, so I added the second.

Now, we’re ready for this moment. I was writing, late in the evening, utterly overdosed on news and needing some auditory company. Joan Baez was apparently busy, and, while I was arguing with all the streaming buttons on the TV, a surprise popped up. Princess Diaries!

Yes, I’d seen it before. Largely because I love Julie Andrews! In that moment, though, I was hearing with new ears.

In her role as Queen, Julie speaks these words to her struggling granddaughter, just before the big ball is about to begin:

Courage is not the absence of fear, but judgement that something is more important than fear.

And, yes… the tears started to flow! On screen and in me! It was time for research!

Turns out, those were the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the USA, during the World War II years.

And, as I slept and dreamed that night, I was somehow joined by crystal women and selkies, all celebrating the wonder that I had just claimed a new Filter! One that seems, well, timely!

And so it is. And so it shall be, in me.

The notion of Promise… well, that’s for another day, very soon!

ps… that book I was writing back in the day was, indeed, A Creation Poem… Since I need to go to the Post Office anyway, I’d be thrilled to hand sign and mail you a copy! Just click here to order yours. Maybe some sacred holiday reading??? And, if you sign up for my mailing list, you can save 10%. Now would be a really good time. There’s big fun – and learning – just around the corner!

I’m not sure where I first heard this particular story… though Columbia Theological Seminary, back in the late 1980’s, seems likely! Eavesdrop a bit with me, please…

We’re leaving worship, one Sabbath morning, somewhere in the southern USA. An older woman, likely in a flowered hat, lifts an eyebrow as she shakes the pastor’s hand and says, “Preacher, you done quit preachin’ and gone to meddlin’…

Two things are true… None of us at CTS wanted to grow up to be that particular preacher. And, most of us did… for brief moments, now and then!

Gone to meddlin’ becomes a more useful phrase, though, when it’s claimed ahead of time, in conversation with someone struggling with one issue or another, and hoping for a bit of perspective.

This is me, doing that! First, though, I need to tell you about my day…

As you may have read, I’m making Wisdom Cards. Some of you have actually shared your early experiences around such tools with me, which was hugely helpful!

The project started out as being homework for my #Quickening journey and has become a whole new perspective for me, on one of the most vital things in my Medicine Basket… Filters!!! (And, yes… the photo, above, is a glimpse from my #Cura painting. The arrowhead, to your right, is all the billions of bits of info coming at you in this moment, through which you are reading these words!)

And, this is the bridge where preachin’ crosses the river to empowering meddlin’!

I roughed out six of those cards in my 15 minute Get it Done gathering today. Then I did about a dozen more, just as quickly. And I had a blast!!!

They’re not pretty yet… they’re probably not even spelled right. What they are is some of the best stuff I know, externalized so we – you and I and the world – can interact with it differently and be inspired in new ways!

Here’s a sample… The photo on the front of one Wisdom Card will look like this:

Triangles. Layers of them. The Greek letter Delta. A symbol for (gulp!) change!

The back of the card will begin with a question…

What did you learn to feel about change?

Then there will be another question, designed to help reclaim what’s working and to edit what’s not working so well…

Yes… I’m thrilled!!! And I am, indeed, hatching a plot for meddlin‘! First, though, I need to tell you what happened just after I got those first cards blocked out.

It was lunch time, so I fixed a plate of left-overs, put my feet up in the magic chair, and flipped on Madam Secretary. (It’s a Filter! One of my favorite ones!)

Season 5. Episode 16. Filmed in 2018. There’s a devastating storm bearing down on a tiny island nation and Bess, as Secretary of State, is trying to send aid. Not everyone agrees on how to help!!! Here comes the punch line…

We have to define Truth and agree on a shared reality before the real work can even begin.

We do, too. It’s powerful, essential work and it needs to start with me. And you. And on and on and on.

Shortly after that, as my day unfolded, I was on the phone working on plans for an upcoming Filters experience I’m leading with the Intentional Creativity Foundation in April. Someone – who ignored the big sign – banged on our front door and, distracted by my conversation, I opened it.

And, yes… the alarm is REALLY LOUD. The heart-racing kind of loud. So, after a bit of time out for recovering my ability to actually think, I called my buddy again, and we did some more hatching. And, whether you’re an old hand in IC land, or just curious about this whole Filters thing, you’re invited! I promise… you don’t even have to believe you’re an artist, yet. You simply need to be determined to walk your conscious best path in this world. Now. (Details to follow, SOON!!!)

Bill Harris didn’t mention anything like this, when I was first learning about Filters about 20 years ago. Now, though, in this place and time, I know more. We know more. Well, many of us.

And we can put that wisdom to work when we claim it consciously and make intentional choices about our futures!!!

ps… ironically, in the next episode of M Sec, just after lunch, there was a major measles outbreak!

pps… another surprise! I’m being interviewed about storytelling for the Grandma Magic Podcast! Stay tuned…

ppps… FierceArtwithHeart.com Books and Art and Surprises, oh my!

Marching was not in the orthopedic cards for me on Saturday. Nor was it, if we’re being real, in the introvert cards! That didn’t keep me from my own observances of the International Day of Women & Girls, though!

First, I claimed space! The studio thing, as you may have heard, has been going on for a while now. It has to do with an Intentional Creativity® journey known as #Quickening, which, when you get right down to it, seems like a pretty important kind of conscious adventure at this moment!

With some help from the Legendary Husband, there is progress!!! I can paint on an easel when I need to. My two roll-y tables are psyched and ready for smaller projects that allow for sitting.

A whole bunch of stuff that needed to be out of my space is – well – elsewhere. (It’s a start!!!) The book shelves are almost all sorted. And I’ve laid claim to some more of the cool plastic drawers that let me see what’s in them! Moving and filling them is next on the list.

I finished the edges on my recent #apothecary painting. The one with the big cat Map of Reality. She has made me more ready to speak out, already! (An up-coming Filters class, two books, and a deck of wisdom cards are mapped out and the design work is filling my dreams!!!)

I began the painting you saw at the top. I’m in love with the colors which chose me. And the loose, free, flow-y process of beginning reminded me of something I first claimed, back in my early days of painting…

It was 2018 and I was working on the canvas known as #artisan. She looks like this…

And, in addition to helping me believe that I actually could be an artist, she’s been whispering this in my ear:

In partnership with the Divine, I create.

That was a really big thing for me to claim back then. It feels even bigger, and more essential, on this day and in this moment.

Fortunately, I have some other paintings settling into their new wall spaces as well. Like this one, from about a year ago… Choice, Voice, and Sovereignty!

She was a total surprise when she literally appeared in the texture of the under-layers, insisting that I make her visible to the world. Let’s just say she doesn’t seem to be getting much sleep lately!!!

Just now, she seems to be in an editor mood, ready for one step more, so I’ll give her the last words. (Well, nearly last!)

For ALL HUMANS: Rights, Equality, and Empowerment!

ps… remember when you were a little kid and people – often the ones who didn’t know what else to say – asked what you wanted to “be when you grow up?” Now we know more! And, it just might be time to ask yourself that same question again!!! And, yes… I’d love to know what your answer is, too! So, 45 min. My gift. Whether you already know or you’d like some help pondering… my Medicine Basket is running over with ways to help YOU get from here to there! Just click here to get the calendar-elves to hook you up! Then, fix a cuppa, find something to write on & with, and grab some Red Thread if it’s handy. The world needs your big dream!

pps… the dogwood and forsythia are blooming just outside my window! Because they helped inspire the art in A Creation Poem… they are inspiring me to offer you a very special chance to save on a copy for your beloved Littles! Use the code JustTelltheStory to save $5.00 on your copy between now and Sat. March 15 at 11:59pm EDT. And, hurry! This special deal is available only on the first 12 books ordered! Just click here to be magically transported to the land where everybody belongs! (And the books FEEL really good!)

Yesterday was quite the day in the mythical soup pot known as my consciousness! And, yes, we had fab soup for dinner last night, too, but this is not that!

Now, I know this is not a total surprise to you – these fav metaphors of mine – but they’re hopping up and down like a 2-year-old needing attention and trust me when I tell you that ignoring them doesn’t work out at all well!

You see, this is the kind of miracle that happens when a whole bunch of ingredients we’ve been stashing inside us – many of them unconsciously – encounter a bit of extra energy and become some entirely new thing that wasn’t, before.

Translation… I hatched two books and a deck of wisdom cards yesterday!!!

Like, what they’ll look like and how they’ll work together and what they’re actually being created to accomplish! Plus, most of the stories!

The “extra energy” was a suggestion from the amazing Sam Bennett about claiming our ideal readers which – just between us – feels way more hopeful that writing something and then searching for somebody who might care!

The photo at the top is actual notes I was making as the magic happened, fiddled with intentionally, because curiosity is our best state for learning! (Thank you, Steve Glenn!)

One of these books is going to be for children. You know… the read aloud kind. I’d been struggling with needing a narrator and, suddenly, one appeared and volunteered! Never mind that she came from a painting that’s been hanging on my wall, waiting for exactly this moment, for something like five years, now. And, she told me how to make the whole thing work publishing-wise! (You’ll get to meet her soon…)

The companion book for the grown-ups already had a Muse. You’ve probably met Matilda before…

And, yes… she’s in charge of Filters! (Which is kind of like being in charge of everything! Details to follow!)

The whole Wisdom Card deck is a bit like all the little containers of left-over soup that wind up in the freezer, eager to help when a new wondering arises!

Now for the heresy alert!

Today, for many of us, is Ash Wednesday. The beginning of Lent, as we travel toward Easter. Traditionally, it has been seen as a time for penitence. I’m going out on a limb, though!

I’m going with 40 days of focusing on my power to be, as much as I am able, the love I believe Yeshua came to the world to bring us. To be hope in the chaos. Me… in my purple sweatshirt with my saints and grandmothers around my neck… opening myself to Inspiration!

And, just in case nobody told you this, one of the meanings for the Greek word, heresy, is able to choose! A notion which just happened to come up in a meeting today!

ps… just in case you’re dreaming of next right things and would like a witness with a handy medicine basket full of strategies, let’s talk! 45 minutes. My gift. You fix a cuppa, bring something to draw on and with, and some Red Thread if it’s handy. I’ll bring the best stuff I know for helping visions come true! Just click here and the calendar elves will be delighted to hook you up.

pps… my Good Trouble friend, Daphne, is so hoping to introduce you to A Creation Poem… our story of hope and belonging for your beloved Littles in the midst of all the angst and uncertainty in this world. It’s here, with related goodies… I’m also supposed to say that the cover and pages feel really good, too!

It is time, and long past, in many ways. And the key to the prison door is consciousness!

I had a big lesson in consciousness Saturday night. You know… while I was attempting the thing called sleeping! And, yes, it was one of those nights when the paintings were in charge of my dreams. I should warn you, before we go further, that I don’t have huge new easy answers.

I do have new questions… and you know how much I love that!

First, a smidge of context. I’m going to assume that you know as much as you can handle of what’s going on in the news. Let’s talk about the more personal stuff. The #workinprogress painting you see, above, seems to have decided she’s in charge! And there are, indeed, many layers. Not only of paint, but also of meaning!

Feminine and masculine. Ukraine and – well – autocracy, wherever we encounter it. Peace and deep beliefs. And the pinky-purple figure in the middle who might be me. Or my Muse. Or even the Divine Feminine. (It’s too soon to tell!)

Whoever she is, she is in charge of questions! Many of the answers to those questions often begin with the notion I’m guessing you also grew up with: We always/We never…

I sure did!!! And my grandmothers had a lot of ideas about we! (And, no, they didn’t always match!) Meet Elsie and Elizabeth…

You’ve probably heard my story about moldy fruitcake cookies in Florida. I was middle-school aged when it occurred to me that perhaps we always wasn’t the only viable option! (And, yes… it’s a Filters thing!)

Recently, though, I’ve learned a whole lot more about grandmothers. My grandmothers. And aunts. More than 2000 years worth of them! Some of them considered actual saints, like Aunt Gert, who tended cats to help protect her community from the Black Plague. And Grammy Begga, who helped women have choices other than arranged marriages. And my painting of a circle of Grammies and Aunties whose individual names I do not know, standing beneath a laurel tree in Montsegeur, France, where they risked everything to tell the truth of the Gospel they claimed, in a time when “women didn’t speak”.

There are lots of stories about all of them. Stories I love learning. And yet, they bring questions, too. Here are the three biggies in this moment…

Who am I becoming?

Why?

How?

Here’s what I’m trying to do… to take the best I know of all those stories, learn from that, and live what I can, in this place and time.

Why? is easy! Because I have two grand-teens trying very hard to grow up in this world and I want all our littles to have what they need, in a world where they can breathe, and choose, and feel valued for who they are.

How? is trickier. And I’m not sure there are always/never answers. My best notion is with all of me!

Relationships. Beliefs. Words. Images. Resources. And – here comes the hard part – a truck load of courage! The showing up kind of courage.

And a smidge of faith that those who came before me are learning still, just as I am!

ps… one more thing before we go! AMoR (aka, the Tigon!) is complete. Well, except for edge finishing and signing and a trip to Scan Camp. And she has a question, too! Who are YOU becoming??? And, how can we help??? The calendar elves would be thrilled to hook you up with 45 minutes. Our gift. Your questions and musing! And, if you’re ready, a next right thing!

I am going to take a wild guess that my world isn’t the only one that feels crazier than usual! And, yes – there seem to be several wild cards involved. So… let’s play!

Really!!! Art. Words. Even soup. They all begin with a bunch of random stuff, close enough to reach, and at least somewhat free from directions. (Shhhh… I might not be supposed to mention that last bit!) Just between us, though, I feel like I’m dog paddling in a huge vat of all of those things. And it seems more than a bit like chaos.

Blessedly, the creative kind!

Before we go on, I should probably say that my body isn’t sure that now is the time for all this excitement. It feels like various joints and muscles and nerves are trying to convince me that thinking up new things feels scary and it might be best to stick with safe, familiar plans.

I’m beginning to suspect, though, that actual creativity doesn’t feel safe. And, perhaps, it’s not supposed to. Perhaps we need to want it enough to stretch our notions of possible!

The photo at the top is a glimpse of my stretching in several ways. Orthopedically, for sure. It’s a 48 inch square canvas! And it doesn’t fit on my handy rolling table which complicates things. Then, there’s the fact that I am, officially, behind on this #Abracadabra project. Possibly because I keep starting over!

Finally, though, it feels like I’m getting somewhere! And that may have something to do with the words that are also happening inside me. New ways to tell old stories, in a place we’ve never been before. Stories that are on their way to being at least two books. Probably three or more.

Stories for those with ears to hear!

All of which got considerably more conscious for me a couple of hours ago. After a night of scramble-y dreams, I was pretty tired and decided a brief chair nap was the next right thing.

What I dreamed was ceremony. (There’s a reason for this but for now we’re just going with what happened!)

Music. Cacao. Candles. Words I hold sacred. Paint. And one of those questions! (A question I should note is considerably outside the circle in which I was raised right along my road…)

What if ceremony is an EXPRESSION of the Divine, in me??? In us??? A way we share our experience with others??? A way we live the holiness within us???

Now, I’ll admit this borders on a dangerous question in the context of these times when there seem to be way too many people trying to convince us that they own and control divinity. That is utterly NOT what I’m trying to express.

I’m wandering with the notion of the spark of creation, which dwells in all of us… unless we extinguish it by trying to own and control it.

By that point, though, it was time in the external world, to pull some soup out of the fridge and spend a bit more time with my #Apothecary Map of Reality, slowly taking form on yet another canvas. Fair warning! She’s changed again!!!

My Lioness has chosen to become a Mythic Tigon. The offspring of a male tiger and a female lion. (Yes, research was involved!) Once found in the wild, climate change has, as far as we know, confined them to captivity in our time… which is a pretty big metaphor in itself! For this moment, let’s just go with this being the best expression I’m conscious of for my Map of Reality.

Just after she and I got to this point, I had one of those random thoughts that led me on another Squeegie Hunt.

Erma Bombeck! For real!!! Like the old newspaper columns and the books my mom and granny laughed at.

It took me about two minutes to find what was calling me!

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me!”

Me, too!!!

ps… stay tuned! Filters coming soon to a Zoom room near you!