Category: Medicine Basket

Wait! There’s cool new stuff in the midst of the familiar bit. And I’m about to be really brave!

Turns out the more news I watch, the more paint I need to stay present. And – well – useful.

When you add the news to some new places I’m wandering, my brain starts weaving things together.

And I start doing scary things.

Being a plan-ahead sort, I started getting scared about today last night. And I took my anxiety to the canvas.

You’re going to have to use your imagination for this next bit…

There are tech elves afoot in the world who believe that the painting you see at the top of this blog post needs to be horizontal to work. (Clearly, they are not artists!)

The actual painting is meant to be vertically oriented but the canvas is so big I can’t reach it all when it’s upright on the easel.

So, I painted sideways… just like you’re seeing it!

The essence of a heart. The anatomical kind, not the Valentine’s Day kind. Part of it composed of fingerprint dots.

Why?

Well, on one level, it’s homework.

On a deeper level, it’s a reminder of a story that helped me learn who I am!

And that reminder opens the door to what matters to me.

And that brings us to the scary bit, today.

First, you’ll need to know that I’m not a huge fan of cameras.

Oh, I’m good at pushing the buttons. I just don’t like them pointed at me.

Which makes this a bit of a miracle…

You see, I did about an hour worth of live, online interview today. And I was the one answering the questions. Gulp!

I could have declined, graciously.

Except that I have 2 granddaughters trying very hard to grow up in this world and the news suggests that the growing up is likely to get harder even than it’s been.

So, I sat down for a chat with a whole bunch of my Intentional Creativity® sisters about ways we could all get closer to what Frederick Buechner described as the place where our deepest longing and the world’s deep need meet.

A big part of that journey is learning enough about how human perception works so that it can become a tool in our medicine baskets instead of something we just trip over in the dark.

And, yes… we’re talking about Filters!

Just contemplate for a moment the difference between the tea bag which lets you drink tea without choking on leaves and the old Southern notion of some folks who are filtering the world through a cast iron skillet! (I’m just sayin’!)

If you’re curious and you’re an Intentional Creativity® sister, ask me. Or Milagros. Or Sumaiyah. Red Thread Cafe, Musea app, etc.

If you know me from other places, Click here for a whole new way to see!

It’s going to take a lot of us, on Fred’s path to the place where our deepest longing and the world’s deep need meet.

For me, at this moment… the canvas is calling for more dots!!!

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Once upon a time, in 2017, I signed up for a pilgrimage and it opened the door to a whole new world!

The name of the adventure was The Black Madonna Pilgrimage and it was my introduction to Intentional Creativity®. It was also my introduction to the bizarre notion that I, who learned at Mom’s knee that I was the smart kid and my sister was the artistic one, could – maybe, just maybe – be both!

It was a rough time. My best friend, from the first day of 7th grade, was in the hospital in Florida with a brain aneurism.

There were hurricanes and tornadoes going on and I couldn’t get to Florida to be with her so I made dots. Prayer dots for healing. A process I was only just learning on my Pilgrimage with history and paint.

I made a whole lot of dots!!! Meet The Fiercely Compassionate Grandmother, who became visible in those days, and taught me my name…

My friend healed. And, I kept painting.

Just between us, my paintings rarely look like the class demo versions. Partially because mine are opinionated and have major notions about what goes on the canvas.

Recently, you may have seen a work-in-progress glimpse of the canvas at the top.

Officially, she is Tree of Consciousness. And she is, perhaps, the most opinionated one so far!

You see, she was born during the context of the place where all the recent news met a related project about creating a Land Acknowledgement statement, deep inside me.

As we painted along, the eclipse appeared and offered to help. Probably a time-marking kind of thing.

About then, I handed my pen to the painting. (Really!)

I am Elu, which means beautiful in the language of the Cherokee people. I am a Bald Cypress tree, at home near the Chattahootchee River which runs south from this land and into the place called Florida. I am ancient, and powerful. I help filter water and am home to many species of birds and animals. My trunks and limbs and unusual knees are strong and beautiful wood. An air plant named Spanish Moss forms my hair.

I am a keeper of stories. Many of those stories are not happy. People have long been forced from their homes in my land, and there are those in power who would do this still. The orange clay ground is said to be colored with the blood of many battles.

I thought we were finished, Elu and the pen and I, when the Great Blue Heron appeared. She makes environmental sense. According to a bit of online research, she also came with a bigger message to share…

Blue Heron asks you to look inside and nurture all aspects of yourself. Embrace your “flaws,” uniqueness, and feelings of shame with self-love. Once you love your whole self and find your inner peace, you’ll be able to bring peace to others, spreading healing throughout the world.

This probably explains all the dot making, including the ones in her moss hair! It works like this… say a word. A prayer or intention. Silently or aloud. Move your hand to make the paint dot. See the dot. All three primary neuro-processing patterns working together to make it so. And making space for you to feel more peaceful! Here’s my dot-word in these days…

hesed

Or, chesed, if you prefer, pronounced with a fair bit of throat clearing at the beginning.

It’s a Hebrew word for loving kindness. For tenderness and consideration towards others.

And, it’s the best thing I’ve got in this moment, with thanks to my Red Madonna sister, Dr. Havi Brysk Mandell, for helping me make the connection!

So, dots. Lots and lots of dots. And, like the Heron said, the ability to share the journey.

The actual canvas is propped across from my chair, up against a bookcase. We are, indeed, running out of walls. And I’m keeping her close.

Oh! Our friend the Heron is thinking of Peace for the future, too. She insisted on the nest and eggs.

ps… inspired? Ready to be Ready? I can help! Just click here!

pps… questions? The calendar elves will gladly hook you up. 45 min. My gift. Bring some red thread if it’s handy!

Okay… I needed to squint a bit to find it. The tragic stuff feels like it’s demanding a whole lot of attention!

Today, though, I washed (most of) the paint off and put on actual shoes and went out into the big world.

In some ways, my destination was along the lines of a big church in downtown Atlanta.

In other ways, it was time travel.

The kind where you push the button for the way-back machine. And wind up – rather unexpectedly – in the place where the future is being born.

My calendar read CTS Alum Luncheon.

Translation… a whole bunch of “new” folks from the Seminary Bill and I call home serving lunch and offering those present a chance to invest in the future.

As so often happens, though, imagining the future involved a trip down memory lane.

Specifically to the late 1980’s in Columbia’s Village.

Translation – the part of campus with apartments, rather than dorm rooms, generally inhabited by families. Many of them families of International students.

I vividly remember the day, that first summer of Greek School, looking around my kitchen and realizing I was passing cookies out to my 7-year old and a handful of his new friends… in 5 different languages!

With a nod to L. Frank Baum, that was the moment I realized we were “not in Kansas anymore”! It was a good – and sometimes difficult – thing then, and it’s a huge part of who I have become.

And a very conscious filter through which I took in the rest of today’s event.

Dr. Victor Aloyo, the “new” president at Columbia, spoke of the challenges of doing new things in this world. And he looked intentionally (!) around the room and claimed his commitment to supporting the mental health and wellness of all the Columbia Community.

I’m fairly certain that many of Victor’s predecessors would have made that same statement, had they been living in the same context we are… and it was really good to hear it said out loud.

Then, some students spoke.

I laughed in recognition as one young woman told of realizing that life gets different when we live in a land of Yes… and!

What I think she meant by this was realizing that she was able to learn new things – perhaps from new people – without feeling the need to throw out the old things which are still working.

This reminded me of a phase my young teenager went through which Bill & I dubbed Yah-but! Now he’s the parent of two teenagers and knows more!

Then, another student spoke… of a round-about path through careers and nations. Of finding her way to Columbia with deep knowing that it was where she belonged, and a whole lot of questions about how to pull it all off with major funding and immigration issues.

There were parts of her story which felt very familiar to me. And now comes the plot twist…

It is highly likely that, sometime in 2024, she will become the first Jordanian Palestinian woman ordained to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

So… what’s the punchline?

Walk the Way of Love.

ps… the photo at the top is from my recent trip to the Occitan region of France. We were in an ancient, tiny chapel near Alet-les-Bains when I noticed the note an unknown traveler had left in the rock wall. Reaching out matters. So does being there.

pps… may we all keep noticing and wondering and learning!

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So, I’ve always hated multiple-choice tests! One answer is right. All the rest are wrong. 

Now is not like that! 

(No time is ever really like that!)

There are, however, thousands of years worth of things which could be a whole lot better!

First, a bit of context… Some of you were there, on Monday!

We were having a meeting! We, in this case, being the flock of Intentional Creativity® sisters engaged in the journey known as Origins.

We are a diverse, global group gathered to learn even more about teaching deep, deep tools for humanity in this world, now. And, yes, paint is involved!

One of the threads which runs through this complex journey is conscious acknowledgement that most, if not all, of us live on lands which once were home to Indigenous peoples who were killed or forcibly re-located by the over-culture.

One of our Sisters spoke of her experiences as a person living in Canada, with extensive Indigenous roots. As she shared her story, she mentioned her decision to wear an orange shirt to the gathering because the day we are beginning to think of as Indigenous Peoples’ Day used to be known as Orange Shirt Day… a reference to the tragedy of residential schools.

Part of our homework is to learn, intentionally, about the people on whose land each of us now lives and to do some writing about what we learn. And I will.

First, though, memories… of the inner Little’s scrap bag – collage sort!

I was born in Minnesota. We spent a lot of time there, despite our many moves. There were grandparents there. And really good fishing!

Somewhere in the family archives – and in my head – there is a photo of me the summer I was 3 years old. We were up in the Northern Minnesota lake country in some parking lot, someplace.

Native Peoples – probably Ojibwe – were having a celebration. There was drumming and circle dancing. At one point, all the children in the crowd were invited to join the dance.

I rushed to find a place in that circle. Much to the amazement/dismay of my family! (Rumor has it that I was the only “white” child who joined in.)

I, the tragically uncoordinated kid in the family, with absolutely no sense of rhythm.

That photo, wherever it actually is these days, showed a huge grin on my face. (And a little puff-legged sun suit which tied at my shoulders. Remember???)

Vivid, kinesthetic memories of that day, along with my family’s fondness for wild rice – which I totally share – all bubbled up for me during our meeting. Along with my growing genealogical knowledge of how diversely and deeply my heritage runs.

Clear back, in fact, to a couple of Jewish Great-grandfathers named Hezekiah from the time just before Yeshua. And the Great-grandmothers who were their partners, whose names I have not yet been able to discover.

Meanwhile… Israel, in this moment.

And gallons of tears.

And orange paint.

Drippy finger-print prayer dots. Lots and lots of them.

And hand prints. Witness. Power. Promise. Mine.

Because none of this is a multiple choice test! Unless, of course, choices a through d are peace, respect, support, and consequences, and the final choice – the right choice – is all of the above!

Which is pretty much what President Biden said yesterday!

And, under all of this, my intention to grow my world until I remember, all the time, that it must be our world.

ps… this is my Intentional view from the magic chair in this moment. If you squint, you can see a Hebrew word in the painting on the easel. It’s one of the words for Hope! (And how I go on hoping.)

pps… curious??? Great! That’s our best state for learning new things!!! So, 45 min. My gift. You bring your notion of the place where you are called. Of your mission, if you will, in this moment. And a bit of red thread if it’s handy. Just click and the calendar elves will hook you up!