It’s celebration season in our family. A birthday in late January. Two more in about a week. One just just a week after that. And, in the middle of all of that, the day many of you know as Valentine’s Day… known around here as Dog Day! aka…The Westminster Kennel Club Show!

The Legendary Husband and I made a deal, early in our marriage. We’d watch Westminster and then – when the liturgical calendar allowed – we’d combine Valentine’s Day and our two birthdays into one major date night.

We’ve been out of sync these last few years. Westminster got moved to later in Spring so they could hold it outdoors during Covid. And, just between us, I’m only now getting to a place where I can manage all those dogs after our Rainbow Bridge journeys with Luther and Phoebe.

Blessedly, due to the miracles of modern science, I’ve been able to make it through the various group judging events in smaller pieces. I’m down to Working Group and Best in Show. (And, I’m assuming I’ve earned a wee break on my FOX-avoidance oath, after all the actual showing I did, back in the day!)

Turns out I can watch the show AND make dots!!! I was grateful for that on Saturday morning, as the plumbing adventure was proceeding in our yard and I needed some comfort in my tea-less, crack of dawn journey with the Herding Group!

My Muse was busy, too. I can almost feel her sorting all the boxes in my cerebral attic!

I found a connection between the treasured tool known as Filters, my #Apothecary painting-in-progress, a piece of furniture I need to paint, and another bit of #Quickening homework that used to seem really other to me, and no longer does!

For this moment, though, Hebrew vowel points. I’m not much better at them than I was all those years ago when I was in Seminary!

Somewhere, though, I’d like to think that, in the great beyond, my two Great Grampies Hezekiah and the still nameless Great Grammies who walked with them, near the beginning of the Common Era, are proud. You see, all those vowel points have to do with me realizing that I am, indeed, choosing to be here, and ready!

That feels like an enormous choice in this moment. It’s also scary in the sense that I’m only just beginning to be clear on what it is that I’m ready for!

What I do know is that, rather like a cosmic Scrabble game, things are coming together inside me. You know… like scrap quilting! Or the gathering that will wind up on that piece of furniture. A gathering of women who are also ready.

For now, though, the lioness’s face is really close to the right shape and it’s time for eyes and other mysteries! And, yes… the green on her chin has got to go!

ps… the Legendary Grammy at the top has decided she’s in charge of all the stuff I’m working on in the moment! Hallelujah!!!

pps… I need some research help! What did you learn, as a child, about things like oracle cards and astrology??? I’m really asking! You can leave a comment, below, or email me. suesvoice@gmail.com One helpful responder will win a museum quality art print!!!

Well, hopefully!!! It’s been a day.

Beginning with a plumber is often a dubious sign. Let’s just say there’s a big leak somewhere between the house and the street which is better than in the house, of course, but still not optimal.

The cold rain isn’t helping much! The symbol which insisted on helping us begin means as above, so below… which feels at least hypothetically encouraging at the moment!

Decided news was not auspicious for blood pressure or sanity. Bless Joan Baez. And Madam Secretary! Yep. Six seasons, basically by heart.

Then there’s the painting.

My current #work-in-progress is insisting on a lioness. I’m delighted. And perplexed. I know exactly why she has appeared. What I don’t know is how to get her to look like she did in my dream!

At this moment, I’ve discovered yet another approach that isn’t working yet. Thus, I suspect, the two insistent words in my head.

Beginner’s Mind!

Before I go on, I need to admit that this was not a big topic of conversation in nursing school or seminary! Some research was in order…

According to someone named Shunryo Suzuki:

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.

I began, the third time, with dots. The kind that do all the brain processing patterns but wind up looking like they were made with a teeny-tiny very raggedy broom and white paint. (It’s relaxing!!!)

A nap is the likely next possibility. (The paint needs to dry!)

I know why it feels like it matters, though. To follow along, we’ll need Leonard Cohen. Really!

There’s a big red line in the painting. Right next to where the lioness wants to be. It holds space for the notion of hineni which is the transliterated Hebrew word I learned as meaning here I am. Rather like Here I am, Lord. Is it I Lord. I have heard you calling in the night…

Yesterday, though, I was watching YouTube. There was a video I hadn’t seen before. Leonard Cohen was talking about the word, hineni and he said that, in addition to Here I am, it can also mean I am ready!

Which suddenly makes that big red line feel a whole lot more significant!!! I mean, READY feels like a very big claim in this moment!

It also seems like a viable reason for – you know – being here!!! And it is, indeed, going to take a whole lot of us!

So, my beginner’s mind and I are going to make space for a nap. Even, perhaps, a dream! Then, I’m going to add the actual word hineni to the big red line. Several times! (I like reminders!)

And, then, I suspect, I’ll see what comes next with the lioness.

I know. There’s quite a way still to go. Like vowel points. And that’s okay. You see, she and I are ready. As ready as we can be for this moment, in this moment. I think it’s her job to show me and my job to claim it!

Paint really is amazing medicine!

ps… Looking for some new tools for your Medicine Basket??? Let’s talk! 45 minutes. My gift. You bring a cuppa, Beginner’s Mind, your journal (or whatever’s handy!) a pen or some markers, and maybe a scrap of red thread. We’ll claim a next right thing! Just click here and the calendar elves will hook you up!

pps… want to learn to paint a really cool angel??? No experience necessary… suitable for tweens & teens! Zoom access. Coming soon! Let me know if you’re interested… suesvoice@gmail.com

I heard a quote this week that I’m feeling grateful for. Kind of surprisingly, it came from a politician!

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL,10) is the first Gen Z member of Congress. He’s had quite the busy week. Here are his words…

Sometimes Hope is a feeling. Hope is also a choice. Choose Hope!

Now, this guy is a bit more than half my son’s age. Adopted as an infant, Frost has Puerto Rican, Lebanese and Haitian roots. A drummer, he performed with his high school band at President Obama’s second inaugural parade. And, now, he’s making all kinds of sense in the midst of what I can only call intentional chaos.

I find it encouraging! Especially in these days when it’s harder than usual for me to feel hope!

As you might have already guessed, prayer dots have been involved!

Choose. Hope. Choose. Hope. Choose. Hope… you get the drift! Fortunately, I have plenty of room for dots!

And, it really helps! First, it slows my pulse, which tends to run fast when I’m anxious.

It also helps surprises to appear in my work. Things I can discover! Things which help me perceive things that might not have gotten in, before. (Yes… it’s a Filters thing!)

Choosing to choose hope is not a happy-sappy-Hallmark-y kind of thing. It’s a “What can I do?” kind of thing. Me. Here. Now.

It’s hard. And we have untold millions of Littles trying very hard to grow up on this planet. Now………………

Tomorrow is a big paint day. About 6 hours worth, all about healing. And, for me at least, about hope. I’ll add a photo for you along the way. For this moment, though… one from the way back machine!

Meet… What the World Needs Now!

Except for her hair and her eyes, she’s virtually all prayer dots. The fingerprint kind, which are my favorite. And every one of them for Love. Which, I suspect you’ve already realized, is a pretty hopeful choice!

And, her message seems to be growing in the context of this moment, when love for all the people seems like a much bigger reach that it did just a few years ago.

I’m not giving up, though. Not now. Not ever. And this is my symbol for… The chains which bound us are broken and we are free already!

ps… all those clean paintbrushes we began with are a pretty great symbol of Hope, too!

pps… know someone who could use some hope??? What the Word Needs Now! is available for adoption! 24×36″ gallery wrapped canvas with great painted edges. Hurry, though! She’s specially priced at $555 dollars… an angel number which signifies significant change, transformation, and personal growth coming your way, she represents transition, freedom, and the need to step outside the comfortable spaces. Just click here, and the shop elves will hook you up! (And be sure to wander a bit while you’re there! We have “able to choose” tank tops, too!)

It was a long night of scrambled dreams. Not the fun kind. If I had to pick one word, it would be UNCERTAIN!

I’m imagining you can relate.

Tea close by, I flipped on the news. Let’s just say my blood pressure suggested another choice! That was really good advice!!!

A YouTube video from 2014 … 50 Years with Peter, Paul and Mary. A memorial to Mary Travers.

I wept as I sang along. (I do, indeed, still know all the words to all the songs!) Then, these words from Mary…

It’s still peace, justice, and equality… and all of us working for those things, together.

Back in my tween/teen years, when I was learning all the songs my mom referred to as hippie-junk, I discovered a place that felt like home. It feels like home, still.

The home our world desperately needs us to re-claim! Out loud!!!

We do a lot of that in the land of Intentional Creativity® encouraged by the spirit of our creativity ancestor, Caron. She taught me that:

I matter. You matter. We matter. Mattering matters.

And, NOW seems like a really good time to be reminded of that!

The question is, How???

How might I work for peace, justice, and equality… and how might you and I do that together?

According to what I’m learning from a painting just begun, it’s going to have something to do with the inspiration of a lioness!!!

Here’s the one who appeared in my latest #Apothecary #workinprogress! And, wow… was she a surprise!!!

If you hunt around online, you’ll find something along these lines for a Lioness Spirit Animal… She symbolizes strength, power, grace, and the ability to overcome obstacles.

Please hear me say that I’m not likely to begin napping in trees or prowling the grasslands for wildebeests.

I am likely to walk the world with a bit more courage. (Or at least pretend to!) I’ll assuredly keep helping folks like you to do the same, in your own way. And there are new books ahead for helping our littles grow into themselves.

ps… the lioness in my painting has chosen a name. Mary!

pps… just in case you’ve got your own version of scrambled dreams and uncertainty going on, let’s talk! 45 minutes. My gift. A next right step for you! (Really!!!) Just click here to get the calendar elves to save you a space! And bring a cuppa, some paper and markers, a red thread, or whatever’s handy.

If you’re anything like me, at least in the US, you’ve probably been busy fishing through your Medicine Basket trying to figure out what strategies might help you stay on your road in this moment of political insanity overwhelm.

Add to all that the project of rearranging and repurposing most of our home and a hypermobility pain flare, and I needed to dig deep.

The thing that helps me most is remembering why the things that matter DO matter! I’ve had some help from my friends! Here’s a bit of a message shared by the amazing artist, animal conservation activist, photographer, and coach, Julie Steelman…

It’s times like these that call for the MATRIARCHS OF PEACE.  Female elephants taught me this.  The lead female will never hurt herself and she will always protect her herd.  She is bold and will confront any challenges head on.

In times of war… political challenges & craziness… uncertainty and a planet on fire, we need to invoke this energy within ourselves.

I think something inside me suspected that this time was coming when, a year or so ago, I painted the painting nicknamed Matilda…

Officially, she’s an Intentional Creativity® #Apothecary painting. And, yes, you may remember meeting her before, because she’s huge medicine in my basket!

There are two kinds of images in the layers of her story. The ones I put there intentionally, and the ones that appeared as the process unfolded. Matilda, herself is one of those which appeared. The line of white dots with parentheses around them opened the psychic door. Known as the line of unimaginable tragedy, I saw an elephant’s trunk where others saw an octopus tentacle.

Isn’t perception cool???

With a whole lot more gazing and musing, along with more layers of paint, the official title of this work insisted on being The Art of Overcoming Obstacles®. And, she’s laid claim to an important piece of the wall in my study where she can convince me to turn off the news and do something – you know – nurturing!

Like, for example, reminding me what Julie said about elephant matriarchs of peace!

So, today, I joined up! I am a Matriarch of Peace! And I probably have lots to learn on the road but I’m good at that. Here’s the part that hooked me…

The lead female will never hurt herself and she will always protect her herd.

And here’s my growing edge… 

She is bold and will confront any challenges head on.

This, frankly, is not what I grew up learning. But, as the old saying goes… I am still learning! And I want, with all my heart, for my grand-teens to have a chance to learn about this as we wonder and wander together.

The amethyst elephant you met as we began is easier to carry with me than Matilda is! And, at least now, she’s chilly to the touch, with is kind of soothing to my right hand.

The blue kyanite crystal beside her is supportive in many ways. It is known to instill compassion, and does not hold negativity. Best of all, from my perspective, it encourages speaking one’s truth, cutting through fears and blockages.

And, yes, these are yet more things I didn’t learn in all those degrees! But maybe, just maybe, these are times for learning the things much of the world hoped we’d forget!

ps… that line of white dots with parentheses is my personal symbol for an old, old story that includes the amazing claim: The chains which bound us are broken and we are free at last!

pps… curious about what speaking your truth, and cutting through fears and blockages might look like in your world??? My Medicine Basket and I can help! Just click here and ask the calendar elves to hook you up with 45 minutes. My gift. We’ll claim some truth and figure out the next step on your journey!