Do you remember standing in a line in the school gym, with an index card over one eye, trying to read the chart with the big E on top?

I do! And I did pretty well on the test. What I had no way of knowing was that I wasn’t actually seeing the letters. I was memorizing what the kids in front of me said! And it helped that I could hear really, really well.

My 4th or 5th grade teacher ratted me out. And I discovered that, with a pair of sturdy (read that ugly) glasses, I could see individual leaves on trees! And I could still hear really, really well!

What I didn’t know back then was how much our brains have to do with what we think of as seeing and hearing. Also, feeling… as in touch and movement and emotion.

Now, as the old story goes, I know more!

It was pretty strange for me, at first, to begin to hear the paintings whispering in my sleep, but I’ve gotten really comfortable with that by now. (Which, as you’ve probably guessed, is just as well since the walls are covered with a whole choir of whispering images!)

Another thing just shifted for me, though. I realized that all those voices – each in their own way – are actually my voice, filtered through various experiences and wounds and dreams. And I wouldn’t blame you if you might be thinking that I sound a wee bit like I’m headed for the place known as round the bend.

Instead, I’m headed for more fully me! And, as I move my fingers to make these words appear in the land of WordPress, I keep glancing up at a sign hanging above the door to the hall, across the room from my chair.

And our stories – yours, mine, all of ours – do matter. They are some of the filters through which we experience the world. Through which we form questions and create things.

I had a really big experience of that today! The first pdf layout of my new book appeared in my email! And, even though I chose all the words and created all the art, it was still a surprise in its externalized form! A whole, if you will, instead of a bunch of individual pieces. (And, yes… there’s more work to do!)

My dear friend, and first reader, Natalie, put language on what I was feeling!

It feels like holding a newborn infant!

And, it does!!! A whole, separate, unique individual with multitudes of ancestors and traditions, complete with a whole batch of needs… and, frankly, what feels a lot like expectations!

Final choices on fonts, and re-sizing some art, and rounding up reviews and all the things that we book-parents do…

And, no… it’s not To Kill a Mockingbird. (Though it might grow up to be!)

What it is, in this moment, is the very most I have to offer to all the Metamodern Littles growing up in our world, now… and to the adults who love them.

Complete with some invitations to listen deep and imagine!

My dearest hope is that it will help us all travel the mountains and valleys of this world, and to make space for more and more of us to feel at home and to hear our own voices in the midst of the din!

ps… the painting at the top is a glimpse of the cover art for the book-baby!

pps… this glimpse of a painting is shorthand for the absolute best thing I know. I’m ready to share… and we have to start with ourselves!!! Just ask the calendar elves to hook you up!

There’s a room in our house known as The Dressing Room. The builder, in 1962, would have told you it’s a bedroom. And it is, in the sense of a place for welcome guests to sleep. Mostly, though, it’s my closet. And, no… I’m not taking a picture. (Yet!)

It’s also a metaphor. A power-full one in this moment! You see, I’m sorting. Intentionally!

And, yes… Daphne is modeling part of the change. Let’s talk denim vests. Or, in my world, purses! You see, most days I need at least one hand for walking. Sometimes, two. And that makes purses complicated. Also, my shoulders are not fans of the backpack option. So, for a while now, it’s been denim vests.

They have lots of pockets. And they’re happy to hold my omnipresent Good Trouble buttons! And blue or black denim goes with all the internalized rules I’m only beginning to be conscious of.

Here are a few…

• Don’t call attention to yourself. It isn’t safe.
• Don’t wear too many colors at once. You’ll look crazy.
• Everything should match your shoes.
• Blending in is more important than being comfortable.
• And, my personal fav, Preachers don’t…

You, clever soul, have already realized that I’ve been editing the rules for a while. And, in the context of this moment, I am making very conscious, intentional choices about nearly everything.

So, I went hunting for a statement denim vest/purse for this moment. (Tye dyed jacket from Etsy. And about an hour to cut the sleeves off and fray the edges.)

And, when you get right down to it, it kinda does go with everything!

It also starts conversations! Conversations which often conclude with me reaching into one of the handy pockets and giving away a spare Good Trouble button. I suspect John Lewis is smiling, too!

And, yes… my magical new vest goes great with Chucks and pearls!!!

I only get one vote. (Well, hopefully. That’s far from a sure thing in Georgia just now!)

I also have choices. And one of them, introverted as I truly am, is to wander around my ‘hood looking like an openminded, engaged Fiercely Compassionate Grandmother, often spattered with paint!

And, I’m planning for an actual guest in a couple weeks, which means that I’m going to need to find the bed that’s in there somewhere, under spare weighted blankets and things to give away. I’ll never be a minimalist, but I am trying on the notion of being an Intentionalist!

Don’t you just love words???

My relationship with a current #wip painting is a lot like this. Less deciding what I want to have appear on the canvas. More seeing what I see and allowing viewers to see, too! Here’s a peek…

Officially, this one is becoming my #CuraArchetype painting. Which feels a whole lot like noticing that…

I AM my medicine basket!!!

Which is a bit like walking through the door in the back of C. S. Lewis’s famous wardrobe! And this, my friend, feels like a really good time for that! (Chronicles of Narnia…. The Silver Chair )

If you decide to head out on a similar path, wave at Puddleglum for me! We really are living his story in this moment!

ps… don’t know Puddleglum yet? Click here for the punchline!

pps… ready to claim yourself as your medicine basket??? Let’s talk! Just click here and the calendar elves will hook you up with 45 minutes, as my gift. You’ll want a cuppa, paper and markers, if they’re handy. (Hell, eyebrow pencils will work!) Oh, and a bit of red thread… real or imaginary!

ppps… there’s a book launch coming up! Stay tuned!!!

I just got an email from “somebody,” with a headline asking, Is preppy your style? and offering me a discount on wallpaper!

Short, predictable, answer – Not so much! – though I come from a long line of people who would probably have been comforted if I’d said yes…

Here’s the thing… I used to be really good at following directions. At meeting perceived expectations. At hanging safely in the middle of the pac. Now I know more!

The photo, above, is indeed the vision from the chair that makes things hurt less. Finished work, yes. Some just home from Scan Camp! And works-in-progress. I literally prop them there so they can whisper the next right things to me. The deep answers to what they want next.

And, they do!

See the one behind the sun and the moon???

She was kind of a pop-up with some unexpected requests. As far as the demo live-streams went, she was supposed to be an adventure in background. Many, many layers, which I love. Different art-sisters doing different things with brushes. (And fingers!) Kind of an unfolding mystery.

Mine, however, seemed to focus in on some older paintings that we witnessed as we began. Paintings by an Intentional Creativity® ancestor named Sue Hoya Sellars. Sue walked into her future very early in my journey with canvas and paint and possibility. I just know I would have loved her!

In this moment, the connection had to do with inner and outer consciousness, and crystals.

(That, dear heart, is a sentence I’ve never needed before!)

The group-art demos didn’t go as far as beings. My canvas insisted! The human-ly one in the center was intentional. The seal – or Selkie, perhaps – on your right, appeared as if by magic. And, well, then we needed another one.

With considerable inner dialogue, I have decided not to obsess over making them match! Related is close enough!

Then, I spent some time communing with the crystals in our home. The ones which insisted on helping with this adventure were amethyst and kyanite. (Tip! You can google something along the lines of amethyst energy and discover all kinds of cool things you might not have learned in biology class!)

This is where we were just before the kyanite began, on Saturday evening.

Here’s the exciting thing… I’m following directions from my consciousness-es! A concept which much of the world has attempted to shame and blame out of way too many of us!

And, for a whole lot of reasons, now seems like a really good time to learn to listen to myself. To ourselves. And to spread the word!

Here’s where my friend is, after amethyst joined the kyanite with a whole batch of magic prayer dots…

ps… it’s Graduation Day in Intentional Creativity® land! To celebrate, the elves have created a discount at FierceArtWithHeart! Save 15% off anything in the Wearable Art (Clothing) collection! Leggings, tank tops, a dress, even a new T-shirt! Sizes from 2T to 6X!!! Just use the magic code BackToSchool at checkout. And, if you’re ready to stock up, there’s an option to pay over time. (Special offer expires on Aug 12, 2024 @ 11:59pm EDT.)