Category: Contemplations

Yep! I had a dream… very, very early this morning. Before we go dream-diving, though, a bit of context is in order! You see, I’d been on an adventure on Saturday. An adventure with my friend, Sam, (TheRealSamBennett.com) to a place many of us were taught not to go! To the place where we – gasp! – talk about ourselves!!! (More on that after the fish…)

Do you remember Dr. Seuss’s McElligot’s Pool? I do! That’s what I heard in my dream! Well, bits of it…

And, yes… the world has changed some, since 1947, when this tale was first published. Though, perhaps not all of it, as much as we had hoped!

Now, the original version isn’t quite the way I’d tell the story myself, but stories are rather like that! So, we might say, is the world! It’s a context thing! And, yes… it’s also a filters thing!

In case our fishing friend, Marco, is unfamiliar to you, he is, as one reviewer said, all optimism, even in the face of adult skepticism. Here are a couple of the narrator’s questions…

What if the pool is deeper than anyone thinks? What if it connects to an underground stream that flows under the town to the sea? Might not all sorts of fish then swim up the stream and be caught here?

And, now, a few words from Marco, himself:

I might catch an eel… (Well, I might. It depends.) A long twisting eel with a lot of strange bends. And oddly enough, with a head at both ends!

For this moment, though… back to Sam on Saturday!

We were talking about talking about ourselves. Really! As in, how to tell people what we do! What we do that matters so much that we’d actually wipe our sweaty palms on the seat of our pants, open our mouths, and be real! And, you, wise reader, have already guessed that I was thinking about my free #Filters preview call, happening on Thursday! (Yep! FREE!)

And, yes… there are parts of that which feel scary.

For this moment, though, I’m counting on you to play along, please. We’re going to forget any old voices which might be whispering inside us… things like, it’s not polite to talk about yourself. Or, don’t be braggy!

Or, maybe, we’re just going to intentionally ignore those voices in the service of OUR journeys to the place my old friend, Fred Buechner called…

The place where our deep joy and the world’s great longing meet.

Being on that road changes things. I know! And, long before I was conscious of it, I was collecting a magical soup pot full of perceptions and strategies and conscious choices to help folks just like you, and me, get to our versions of that place!

Our friend, Marco, said:

If I wait long enough, if I’m patient and cool, Who knows what I’ll catch in McElligot’s pool?

Here’s the thing, though… and, yes, I believe this with all my heart:

The world all our Littles are growing up in needs us, NOW!

So, this Fiercely Compassionate Grandmother, with recently claimed Rebel tendencies, is sending the third grader who still lurks inside me – terrified of being different – on a fishing trip with Marco, while you and I go future-fishing on Thursday!

I’m busting out my whole intuitive, perceptive, creative, determined self and one of the very most helpful things I know FOR YOU, because the rules most of us grew up with AREN’T ENOUGH!

Take a deep breath, please, and push the button for all the info. And sign up! We’ve got this!!!

ps… yes! You’re welcome to invite a brave, open-minded partner or friend to join us! Just share this post with them, so they can sign up, too. (Or park a chair next to yours!)

Yep! You know the rest of the question. In many ways, everybody’s least favorite question… How many times do I have to tell you???

Lots of people are writing about it these days. In my personal inner file cabinet, though, it goes in the precious folder labeled Developing Capable People. Not the question, itself, so much as the answer from my teacher, Dr. H. Stephen Glenn. Here goes…

As many times as it takes if you want me to know what you want me to know!

I used to think, 40 years or so ago when I was hanging with Steve, that it had to do with developmental readiness. With language skills and processing patterns. Even with tone of voice!

Now I know more!!! Likely with lots of help from paintings like my first #Legend painting, above!

You, wise soul, are probably ahead of me. It does, indeed, have to do with #Filters! Also, with our Maps of Reality. And, it matters!!!

Here’s an example… my new Good Trouble button:

What do you see? Really!!!

You probably know it’s a political statement of the open-minded, inclusive sort. It’s also a claim of personal power. Not power OVER, so much as power FOR! You see, in Hebrew, the word that means hand also means power! I see individuality, too. And creativity.

So, I made a bunch. Sold some at the Book Festival. Gave one away in the elevator, heading home from Physical Therapy yesterday, which is one of my favorite things! The woman I gave it to had tears in her eyes and said, “My world just got bigger!”

That, dear reader, feels like good work! That, and helping people like you claim YOUR good work and make a map from here to there… one Right Thing at a time!

NOW is a very good time for that!!!

And you probably have questions about this whole #Filters thing, so… we’re having a preview call! (I love questions!) It’s free to join in and you can, indeed, invite a curious buddy! We’ll do a bit of why this, now. We’ll talk about how the class will work and what you’ll need to be ready… including paint! We’ll even play with some Wisdom Cards! This world needs all the MetaMod folks it can get! All the calendar stuff, etc. is waiting with baited breath for you… just press the pretty button!

ps… it really is time to be a Phoenix, rising out of the soup pot!!!

Last night, I watched The Voice. And, even though I can’t carry a tune to save my soul, I learned some really useful things. Or, more accurately, was reminded of some really useful things.

While I was watching The Voice, I was also packing books and WingedEyeWisdom Cards and art prints for this weekend’s Decatur Book Festival. My version of The Voice, in a very real sense!

I know. It might seem like an odd way to spend an evening when the nation I live in feels like it’s crumbling around us. In fact, though, it helped! Not cosmically, perhaps, but in the sense that I lived my belief that my job in this world is claiming my vision of Concrete Passion & Very Large Hope… and taking another step in the direction of helping others to claim their visions.

I cheered for the singers. I felt for their family members – the thrilled and the disappointed. And, here’s the thing… showing up matters. Claiming dreams matters. As long as our dreams don’t obliterate everybody else’s.

It’s truth time.

I’m having a bit of a trauma flare. Well, maybe a bit more than a bit. You see, I know what it’s like to be around someone who thinks their wants, their ego, their power is all that matters. And I promised myself that I was going to learn from that experience and not go there again!

Fortunately, I have a plan. A plan for going, instead, to the place where I am called. My immediate next right thing is sleep. Then, more painting. Hearth tending. Prepping for the Book Festival. And, sharing this with you…

I can help YOU make YOUR plan for the journey to the place where YOU are called. Really!!! And we’re starting soon! It’s going to take a whole lot of us, and it probably won’t be easy, but – one step at a time – we’ll get closer! And, NOW is the time we’ve got!!!

YOUR next right thing, if you’re still reading along, is to click right here and find out all the details.

And, if you’re in the neighborhood, drop by booth 58 at the Decatur Book Festival. There will be Red Thread and Good Trouble buttons!

ps… thanks, Walter!

One of my current paintings-in-progress is known by several names. Artisan is the easy one. Talisman is next. Or, in my case, Taliswoman. Commonly, that means an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune. Or – my favorite – something producing apparently magical or miraculous effects. It is related to the Greek, telos which means end, result, or fulfillment… and boils down, historically, as consecrate.

Now, that, right there, is enough to cause a ruckus in some of the places I’ve hung out. Here’s an example from my years as the Wandering Wedding Woman... Think of it rather like what happens with a wedding ring. Round. Metal. With or without gem stones. Jewelry. Set apart from the usual with meaning and purpose.

That’s what this painting is all about, for me.

We began with claiming our core identity. Gulp!!! And, Oh, Holy Wow!!! And, yes… now I know more!

Part of that, I suspect, has a lot to do with a familiar question in a new context. (Yep! Filters!!!) And new context can come in many forms. The top two on my list at this moment are news and body-gone-rogue. You fill in what comes to your mind!

The deep underlayers are generational surprises. The stories before the stories before the stories I knew. Part of what I hate about our current context is all the increasing efforts to erase those stories. To ban them, if you will, from the greater conversation. This painting is me, refusing to play along.

Then, there’s the body stuff. Mystery symptoms they didn’t cover in nursing school. Pain. Tests. Anxiety over what feels like an overdose of unknown. My painting, though, is insisting on bodies. Generations of them. Bodies carrying stories and symbols and choices.

Deep breath, now, for the big news, please.

We can’t treat our bodies as consecrated if we are – at the same time – trying to banish, ignore, or blame them. Boiled down… consecrate and neglect don’t go together!!!

The painting, as you could probably tell, is a long way from finished. As is sorting my relationship with my body! Here’s what I do know:

I’m staying on the road! Body, Mind, and Spirit!!!

And, I have a map!!! Well, a couple of them…

First, Grammy’s MetaMod Wisdom Cards! They’re actually arriving in their new homes!!! Here’s a bit of what one new client had to say:

Sue! I received the package with your beautiful wisdom cards and book. I read through the book. I had spent the afternoon with a friend who is frustrated that she hasn’t found her purpose in life. I am going to lend the cards to her for her to use. Thank you. They arrived at just the right time! (LSM)

Just click here and the elves will hook you up with your very own!

ps… there’s a Filters class coming, too! Stay tuned…