Category: SuperPower Path

Once upon a time, a long time ago, this time of year seemed easier.

A new velvet dress for Christmas pictures. Made by Mom. I had to argue for the one I remember best. Given the choice of red or green, I chose purple… and I loved it!

Left-over Christmas cookies. A new Barbie doll. And a book!

A week or so before school started again.

In my family, Christmas was the big deal. Nobody paid much attention to New Years Eve except for the football fans.

Nobody I knew noticed – or mentioned – the Solstice. Or Epiphany. Or Hanukkah. Or Kwanzaa.

There was no Google Calendar to fill and color code with all the things wrestling for space in the New Year.

This year feels different.

Not simply because of all the What?

It feels different because of the Why?

(Which is no particular surprise if you’ve been reading along for a while!)

It’s clearer, though, just now.

Not simply because there’s so much more getting in, though there is.

It’s clearer because one of my filters has gotten a whole lot clearer.

Or, more specifically, a belief which acts as a filter.

You probably know that I have a thing for hope.

The surprise – for me – is how much that thing for hope has been growing in the last few weeks.

In fact, I woke up this morning with a bit of pre-dawn note taking on the inside of my left hand.

Not invisible ink, this time, but red. (Like red thread.)

Hope… of hope!

Which feels a whole lot like where I am called to live.

Hope, admittedly, for power and internet. (Which is blessedly back on!) And hope for so much more.

Justice. The planet. Peace. Sanity. Love.

I haven’t just hatched all this up myself. In fact, it’s connected to my current bed-time reading!

I’m not going to tell the whole story here. I so hope you’ll read the book, yourself! And, I suspect it will mean different things in your spirit if you do.

In fact, I suspect it was meant to!

The big ah-hah! for me came in three little words, which feel both familiar from my distant past and huge for my future…

Purpose and perseverance.

My purpose is, clearly, hope. For all of us.

My calendar is filling, already, with perseverance.

And behind all this noticing and wondering is the realization that we are able to choose.

We just need to claim that truth.

It won’t solve all the challenges. It will show us the next steps. The next right things, if you will.

And, as it happens, my medicine basket is full of new ways to make those next steps!

Intrigued??? Looking for a bit of help in the purpose & perseverance department? Let’s talk! My multi-holy-day gift to you. Just CLICK HERE and the calendar elves will hook you up!

For now, it’s time for feeding the big beasties. And fluffing the studio a bit. Matrica is Friday, and there’s still time for you to join, too!!!

Then, tonight, I’m attending a dear cousin’s (virtual) wedding… in Hawaii!

ps… need a book? Here are two! One I wrote: Grandmothers Are In Charge Of Hope and one that has me writing on my hand in the wee, small hours: The Boleyn Heresy, by Kathleen McGowan.

I am, by nature, a word person.

The images I create and learn from and marvel at are a whole new language… and a vastly different perspective for me.

And, like a favorite book that says something new every time you read it, they keep teaching me.

This tiny glimpse of a huge painting I learned as Our Lady of Bountiful Earth is one of those which is teaching me, still.

These days, she’s known as In the Beginning. And she sits there on the canvas, in the midst of the mythical Garden, deep in prayer.

Gratitude, certainly.

For family and friends. For time together. For toes in the ocean. For many hands baking pies. For stories. For dreams.

Intercession, as well.

For returning home in the midst of the Georgia Senate run-off. For sanity. For justice. For voice and choice. For the future of our beloved Littles.

For timeless dreams carved in the tree which shelters her… For steadfast love. For remembrance. For creating.

For a world… a planet… able to sustain bountiful life.

The painting is an epic adventure.

Not simply one which ended when it was pronounced good.

An adventure which, if we are paying attention, continues to play out in every moment.

An adventure in which I have a part.

As do you.

And, yes, I believe this with all my Fiercely Compassionate Grandmother’s heart.

Tomorrow, The Legendary Husband and I are going to vote.

And then, the Divine willing, we’ll keep listening. And learning. And working for a world that is bountiful for more and more beings. Instead of fewer and fewer.

Painting will, I am certain, be involved!

Stories, too!

For this moment, though… so be it for you and yours as well.

ps…there’s a big sale happening in the land of FierceArtWithHeart. You’re invited!!!

pps… just in case you, too, are in the midst of the listening, learning, working adventure, and would like some help along the way, I’m here! Just CLICK HERE to get the calendar elves to set you up with a bit of Red Thread time for tea and making plans! (My gift to you!)

…aversion to something.

Also, in my experience, something which gets one shamed, blamed, excluded, or ridiculed by people unafraid of the same thing.

And, yes, I’m channeling my inner counselor/coach!

We talked about phobias a good bit during my Eriksonian Hypnotherapy training adventures. And – actual truth – I was healed of my phobia about bees, wasps, hornets, etc. while watching an ancient, jumpy, black & white video of Uncle Milton processing a fear of similar beast with a long-ago client.

Okay, watching is a bit of an understatement. It was probably more like joining the trance.

In any event, I am now able to greet flying pollinators in the garden and thank them for their work, from a reasonable distance for someone all too conversant with Epi-pens!

I once healed my fear of taking off and landing on plane trips while offering support to a “unaccompanied minor” parked beside me by a concerned flight attendant! Turns out that helping others can help!

The camera phobia has been one of the hardest for me to heal. Possibly since it kicked in long before I reached the abstract thought phase of my journey.

I hated school picture day.

I hated being dressed up in somebody else’s idea of sweet and dragged off to Sears or Penney’s to stand in front of a fake background and look like I was having fun. (I wasn’t!)

But, the world changed… as the world does. And, lately, sharing things that matter deeply to me often involves cameras.

Profile pics. Zoom meetings. Me, with my girls. Even videos.

Today was a day for summoning all my healing!

Yep, I made a video!

Something that matters a great deal, not only to me, but in this world where my girls are growing up. Now.

Support from my beloveds.

A big dog snoring gently on the studio floor.

My choice of wardrobe and background!

And, the best thing I know for getting from where I/you/we are to where we long to be.

The tool I’d choose if I could only choose one for my medicine basket!

And, of course, I’m going to share!

First, there’s editing to do. Blessedly, I have a wizard for that!

Then there’s a big Festival in December. You’ll be invited! (15th-22nd!)

For this moment, a question.

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

And, yes, I REALLY want to know!

You can leave a comment to this post. Or email me. (suesvoice@gmail.com)

Or, if you haven’t yet, you can ponder SuperPower Paths with me.

Just click HERE to get started. (It’s fast, fun, and free… and there are NO bees.)

I suspect you’ll agree that our medicine baskets could use some upgrading, about now!

If you look closely, you’ll see my busy Weaver Dreamer buddy, Charlotte, in the corner!

ps… one of the things in my medicine basket is prayer dots! You can take some home! These are for hope and healing. Museum quality giclee of The Fiercely Compassionate Grandmother aka The Black Madonna aka my first ever Intentional Creativity® painting!

A time so long ago that there are no photos in my phone, I set out on an adventure.

A sailing trip, to be exact.

My first that involved jammies as well as a life jacket!

Technically, it was summer camp for young-ish adults. A week or so, island hopping in the Bahamas.

Two boats. Two certified sailing captains. And the rest of us – the campers – for crew!

It was gorgeous. It was fun. And, it was quite the learning experience in living with others!

A 40-foot Morgan is a treasure, indeed.

And, when you bring your toothbrush for several days with 5 other humans per boat, only one of whom you’ve met before, it gets interesting!

Then add, if you can imagine, a whole lot of versions of the way we’ve always done it!

The engineering student from Purdue who said – literally – “But I’m a guy so I don’t know how to clean a bathroom… you do it!” was particularly memorable!

Let’s just say that my son, in Kindergarten, was a considerably more capable human! And what I learned was to stay on that road… even when it was hard!

Here’s the Cliff Notes version of the trip…

We sailed. We snorkeled. We dodged jelly fish, which was particularly terrifying for me! We sang. We danced. We ate fabulous food. And we pondered faith questions… personal and connectional.

Did I mention that we disagreed?

Then, on our last night, when we had to get the boats back by morning, there came a storm.

No starlight. Waves. Lightning. Wind. The whole deal.

And one of my boatmates and I were steering! Through, I might add, the Bermuda Triangle. On the midnight watch.

Clearly, as you are reading this, we made it. And, I suspect, you’re wondering why this story, now.

The answer is kind of odd. Midterm elections and a painting journey called Vivid!

Well, not them separately so much, as the place where they’ve been crashing into each other inside me.

The photo is, indeed, my Vivid painting-in-progress, resting up after quite a bit of laying it down yesterday.

There’s more, of course, and we’ll get there, soon. (I promise!)

For this moment… somewhere deep inside me, the path is clearer and I am claiming my power. Intentionally.

(Which is a bit different than feeling it, but the place to start is right where we are!)

For now, laundry. Next week, video!!! Let’s just say that it’s a good thing I’ve been layin’ stuff down!

And one more moment for sailing…

Imagine, please, that we’re sitting on the deck of our boat, rocking gently in the waves, and watching a Sunday evening sunset in Nassau harbor. It’s time for some singing.

Miraculously, Joan Baez has joined us! With her guitar and about the closest thing I can imagine to a Statement of Faith for this moment…

The punchline is – as punchlines are – clear to the end!

ps… live big! Put me time on your calendar for December 17 at 2pm ET. And stay tuned… We’re going to unstick some stuck stuff… free!

pps… glorious BLUE wall art for your favorite spot. Or, for a first time voter??? Affordable museum quality art print from an original painting. Yours, at FierceArtWithHeart!

We still lived in St. Louis when I met Charlotte and her web. (Translation… somewhere between what should have been Kindergarten, if there’d been one, and 3rd grade.)

My Mom must have read the book aloud to my sister and me. We did a lot of that!

And, of course, I cried when Wilbur died, despite all Charlotte’s inspired weaving.

Some pig! is, of course, my favorite message. And I remember wondering what it would be like to have somebody say something that enthusiastic about me.

A couple of years ago, more contemporary portraits of Charlotte began appearing in my paintings because (duh!) I was making new steps into the land of sharing what I knew. What I believed.

That’s Charlotte, in the top corner of my Medicine Basket painting!

And, just recently, I’ve been thinking about quilting. The scrappy kind where bits of this and glimpses of that make things that weren’t, before.

Weaving is another way to think about it.

Tiny threads coming together to make things we can see and touch, grown out of learning and experimenting with ancient ways in our times.

There’s been a lot of quilting and weaving going on inside me lately.

Tiny bits of this or that from long ago which didn’t seem like much until they bumped into new bits in this moment.

And some of that newness is beginning to take form in the world around me.

Conversations with a couple of clients this week have been transformed into new insights in the land they’re learning to call Filters.

And, those conversations and insights have also transformed me.

So much so, that I am intentionally taking new steps into the big world with the things that are being woven together in and around me.

One of those things has to do with weddings. As in helping other people hoping to get married in this world, now. There’s more of this to come, but, if you can’t stand the suspense – or know someone who could use some help – click VeryLargeHope.com (And then come back here!)

Another of those things has to do with what I imagined as the book hatching inside me.

It’s been there for a while, though it has recently reached the hopping up & down/keeping me awake stage.

And, that book-in-utero has decided that it actually wants to be a lot like a Red Thread Circle with pages and a cover. (This is exciting, indeed!)

Which kind of brings us back to the whole Filter thing. It’s been a helpful model in my world for years, thanks to a guy named Bill Harris who first introduced me to it.

It has also changed over time, as models have been known to do.

Then, suddenly, that model claimed its place in my Medicine Basket as the winner of the if I only had one tool prize.

So, if you’ve pondered Filters with me before – or if you haven’t yet – let’s do this thing! Here’s how to sign up:

I’m ready!

Charlotte says it’s going to take a lot of us, along the thread, to stay on the road!

For now, though, it’s time to be brave!

Brave enough to claim something we long for. That place where our deep passion and the world’s deep hunger meet (F. Buechner). A thing? An action? A journey? An if only I…

You’re right! It isn’t easy.

It IS a whole lot better than letting fear, or the way we’ve always done it, hold you back. Keep you from dreaming.

And you don’t have to do it alone! Just scroll back up a little bit and click the big “I’m ready!” link. I’ve been there before and I’m glad to go along with you.

ps… in case you might long for a few new tools along the way… from t-shirts to mugs to major inspiration for your walls, come wander through FierceArtWithHeart! The elves have been busy and would be thrilled to help you pack your Medicine Basket!