Category: SuperPower Path

Heresy alert!!!

I have come to the conclusion that the only thing scarier than change is NO change!

Yep… I know. That’s not the way many of us learned it.

And, just between us, this is a pretty big topic at our house.

Let’s just say that the Legendary Husband and I have differing notions of same and different!

He has strong same strategies for food. And seemingly random patterns of time. (Except for Saturday nights… and Dragon Con!)

My journey feels different. At least to me.

It’s kind of an internal/external dynamic.

When I’m processing internal stuff – often on a non-conscious level – my powers of avoiding change kick in. I just don’t have the energy for external newness.

Then, when an inner ah-hah comes, I often need external change to support my new perceptions and goals and visions.

And, if I were to come totally clean, I’m pretty sure we both consider each other as oddly random. (Which is an issue for another day!)

For today, it’s memory lane time. Specifically, Eckerd College in about 1986 for one of my favorite quotes of all time:

In order to learn we must be willing to be changed.

I hear you! It does feel scary at first glance.

And yes, if it were my voice in these days, my inner red ink persona might go with:

In order to learn we must make space for change to find us.

Let’s just say that I did and I am. Which seems to take lots less energy than resisting does!

And, yes… it takes practice!

Here’s my best tip…

Carrot is easier than stick!

And company helps!

Which reminds me of a scene from The West Wing.

I’ve been down the Change hole a lot! And I have a whole Medicine Basket full of ways to make it work!

It’s going to take a whole lot of us to squeeze hope out of the world in this moment. If you could use a Fiercely Compassionate Rebel Grandmother who’s been there before, let’s talk! 45 min. My gift. Just summon the calendar elves to find you some time!

And, just in case you’re feeling skeptical… the very writing of these words, in this moment, made space for the next steps on my path to appear!!! With apologies to the exclamation point conservation fairy, it’s really exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ps… did you notice all those triangles on Grandmother Moon’s head? That’s our secret code for change!

pps… ready for a safe mini-step forward??? How about Super Power Leggings??? Five size ranges and they travel great! Intention really does matter!!! Buy two pairs – any size – any design, and save with code BUY 2 – SAVE $8

Okay, maybe not so much a surprise, if you’ve been reading along for a bit.

And, true!

It happened like this…

Grandmother Moon has been doing her job, whispering in my ear.

And, yes… she’s whispering about paint.

Sadly, the actual world hasn’t been listening.

Instead, my local universe is obsessed with sewer pipes. Specifically, putting new ones in the pocket park next to our yard.

Imagine the entire percussion section of the least inspired band ever invading all your senses…

Seriously!

The noise is bad enough. The shaking house is even more unsettling. Not just the floors, but dishes in the cupboards and paintings on the walls.

Even the Legendary Husband is rattled. And he has superhuman powers of not noticing!

Still… it was time to paint.

Grandmother Moon had a suggestion.

Do what works!

So, a search through some old paint supplies. Blessedly, something known as a pouncing brush remained from a long ago experiment with painting furniture.

Instead of stroking the paint on the canvas, this tool, with its drum-like end, is for tapping the paint on the canvas. Think woodpecker!

With a bit of practice, I actually managed to tap in time with the construction symphony!

Admittedly, it doesn’t look like much yet. And, it’s on the way!

Eventual art, even in the midst of sensory chaos.

Which is, I suspect, the way most art happens… when making it matters more to the spirit than hiding does.

So, hope… hope… hope… hope… hope…

And trust… trust… trust… trust… trust…

Along with some a-bun-dance… a-bun-dance… a-bun-dance…

And even ov-er-com-ing!

Curious???

Stay tuned!

For now, the teeth-rattling pounding has stopped and I feel a nap coming on, while the paint dries!

ps… my inner camera-phobe survived a video interview today! Subject… a recent book! turning point is about exactly that – amazing women sharing huge turning points in their lives! It is em-power-ing reading. Pun intended! (The cover art is mine, as well!) Get yours here!

It’s Legend time again, in one of the lands where I live.

Well, technically, Legend time is coming to a close for this year, while I am just beginning.

Beginning, that is, after a trip to places where legends run deep in the land and in my heart.

So, I am not, as I might once have supposed, behind. I am more ready!

And the painting I began today will be utterly different because I am.

First, a re-purposed canvas. It began in the night sky and got somehow derailed by other adventures. And it feels like the perfect volunteer for this journey!

Then, two colors. One has appeared. Turquoise. Voice chakra. Truth, some would say. A portal of Grace.

Then, soon, the green which carries the energy of Compassion in my world.

And, as you might suspect, a question…

What story have I been telling myself about myself?

I’ll let you know when the answer appears!

For now, me in my imaginary Writing Cave, complete with flickering candlelight and one of my favorite paint shirts.

A different me than the one who began her first Legend painting early in 2018. And that is a huge part of the magic!

That’s where the notion of perspective comes in!

The painting at the top is a messy middle phase of that first Legend journey. My third Intentional Creativity® painting. And my first attempt at a non-chalkboard face.

It was quite the adventure! Especially for the photo-avoidant kid who still hangs out deep inside me.

And the stakes felt really huge.

You see, finishing that first Legend painting was part of the acceptance process for Color of Woman. And, against all odds, I really, really wanted to make that journey even though it felt utterly outside my notions of me.

And so, I broke one of the rules I was raised with.

I did a thing we didn’t do!

And I am still finding a whole lot more of me!

Clearly there are more adventures to be had. Possibly without the Pepto pink paint!

And a question… what adventures might you be pondering? And how might the treasures in my Medicine Basket be helpful??? (The world needs a whole lot of us and the calendar elves will be delighted to hook you up with 45 minutes. My gift. Bring your dreams!)

It’s 5:09 in the afternoon as these words begin to take form. Thus far, this day has been quite the adventure!

I’ll catch you up in a minute!

First… now.

I just woke from a well-deserved, post-Physical Therapy nap, at 5pm. Big dog snoring at my feet, I reached for my phone.

First stop… checking on a message stream with and for a small group sister facing huge challenges about 1800 miles away. Holding space is intense sacred work in a crisis.

Caught up, it was email time. Here — for real! — are the first 4 things in my box:

1. From the Audubon Society… ACT NOW to Stop the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Extinction Act! Apparently, we’re actually okay with Lesser Prairie-Chickens, though the US Congress may be about to remove them from the list of protected species, which – grammar/labeling challenges aside – the Audubon Society is actually trying to stop.
2. From Care2Action Alerts… A migrant center caught on fire. Officials left people locked inside to burn. At least 40 people died at this Mexican migrant center near the U.S. border and, “public servants and security guards present during the fire did nothing to save the people burning alive inside — they wouldn’t even open the locked doors to let them escape the blazes.”
3. From Patriotic Millionaires – The Senate must investigate Clarence Thomas and Krysten Sinema over their financial ties to Harlan Crow. Never mind for a a moment than Sen. Sinema’s name is actually Kyrsten… Billionaires should not be able to buy a Senator or a Justice on the Supreme Court but… it looks like it may be working.
4. From Team Progress America… The House could vote TOMORROW… Kevin can only afford to lose 5 votes… (I’m guessing you’ve heard about the Debt Ceiling thing…)

I did my version of the next right thing about each of those messages, with tears flowing down my cheeks, blessedly conscious of the notion of filters and how mine were – in that moment – filtering what I read. Which is a bit like saying I was conscious of what was under my reactions to what I was reading.

Being conscious is often not huge fun. And it gives us the opportunity to make aligned choices instead of reacting in the mythical knee-jerk kind of way.

(This is, perhaps, a good time to mention that my particular US Senators and Representative, as well as the more local crowd, are not unaccustomed to emails from me. At least their interns are not unaccustomed to emails from me!)

Why? I have 2 granddaughters growing up in this world!

I won’t bore you with my opinions on these particular issues.

I will tell you that reading them “through” the filter of knowing that there is a county in these United States of America having – in this moment – 400 women and children waiting for space in a Domestic Violence shelter sharpens my sense of WTF are we thinking???

And then there’s the whole standing in my voice, my sovereignty, thing that’s an essential part of not only the conversation in the places I hang out, but the global conversation in our world, in this moment.

So… for the intrepid among you… here’s the heart of the matter, for me…

Subjugating, beating, terrorizing, depriving, and not seeing others, in order to make ourselves feel bigger, more powerful, more important is just wrong.

Continuing to subjugate, beat, terrorize, deprive, and ignore others, even after we see, is more wrong.

I can’t fix it all. Neither can you. But, together, we can make choices with that truth in our hearts. Lots of choices, over and over. And, little by little, it will get better.

Which, for me at least, is a good bit more true than doing nothing.

And, yes… if you were wondering, the whole Furniture Yahtzee game going on around here has a lot to do with exactly that! With doing more with what we already have. With making literal space for helping others. With surrounding ourselves with intentional reminders of our Big Why’s.

Also, somewhere in the dusty corners of my awareness, there’s a quote from The West Wing…

It’s an honor thing!

Maybe I can’t remember the exact context because all of life is the context!

For now, though, new truth added to my Red Madonna Sanctuary canvas…

ps… furniture Yahtzee goes on! The ancestor space, above, makes my heart happy!

pps… speaking of ancestors — Mothers Day is coming soon! Check out FierceArtWithHeart for great, affordable gifts for moms and grammies. Even for you! Choose mugs, posters, greeting cards, and other cool goodies while there’s still time for the print-on-demand elves to make their magic!