Tuesday 24 April 2012

Creativity

Have you ever told yourself that you'll paint or dance or play somehow but you never do?  You've said to yourself "Yeah, I need to dance again.  I haven't danced in 20 years like I did when I was young. Or "I'd just love to paint, and not care; throw caution to the wind and paint whatever comes up."  I know I've said that to myself many times over the last... decades!  

This weekend I actually did all of those things.  I went to the Creative Me! workshop held by my friend Sara Wallace.  She did a great job and it was a lot of fun.  It truly was a journey in self-expression, unveiling and playing in creativity.  We sang and danced and played.  We journeyed into our hearts and came out with creative ideas.  Then we expressed those ideas however we wanted.  Some did creative partner yoga, some played instruments... I don't really know what each person did, as I was wrapped up in expressing through painting.

What I loved about it (besides everything) was that it was an opportunity to release my own self-judgements and explore what it was like to be free of those.  At first that internal shift was more challenging than I imagined.  Self-judgements are apparently more ingrained in me than I thought.  They quickly faded as Sara joyfully led us through the various creative play exercises.  What fun it was.

I find interesting the tendency we have to stay in stasis in our lives.  Habit and routine take over.  They silently creep up and envelop us while we remain unaware.  At times we may recognize this and tell ourselves that we want to change the status quo.  But we never do.  Or we muster all we've got to change for a few days, weeks or months, only to wake up one day and find ourselves back where we were.

What I like about workshops and classes is that they are like working out with a personal trainer.  You sign up because it's something you want to do, and the commitment of a set time and money investment always seems to be enough to get you to go.  Then the leader motivates you through the experience and you end up having a good time and feeling good about yourself because you actually did it.

So do what it takes to fulfill those long-held thoughts of "yeah, I'd love to...".  You'll be happy you did.

If you want to find out more about Sara or her workshop check out her website:

For photos from the workshop check out my Facebook page

To see my painting, watch my video blog, I reveal it at the end

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Tea for two and two thousand for tea?

I got to thinking, as I crouched, staring at the little pieces of leaf in my tea bag as the water slowly found them, turning them darker colours.  I thought about the energy of the people who harvested the tea, and wondered about how they felt in their day.  I silently thanked them.


I took notice of the fabric the tea was wrapped in, the string, the paper label with its printing.  How many people were involved in the journey of this tea, destined to flavourfully hydrate me as I write this?  Such a seemingly insignificant piece of my day, yet it must have involved hundreds of people to come to fruition.


As a starting point, there's the land the tea is grown on and its owner.  I'm sure there's a great story just to get to that starting point involving families, and governments.  The seeds likely have their own lineage of people involved in their rearing. Then there are the harvesters, transporters, exporters, importers and shippers.  
I don't know what the tea bag is made from, but I bet it came from a plant that was harvested and spun into fabric, along with the string.  The paper label involved loggers and millers, etc.
The logo was printed with ink that has its own history, along with the myriad of people involved in the company selling the tea.  It goes on and on.


Growing. Packaging.  Transporting. 
Ideas.  Lives.  Purpose.


What a wonder it is, this world we live in.  A network of souls going through their days, each to their own purpose.  Woven together like the loose fabric of the tea bag.  Loose enough that all of the little pieces are visible, yet tight enough that they stay together.


Everything around you is connected to another in some way.  I'm talking about physical, direct connection here.  We haven't even ventured in to the metaphysical "we are all one".


So when thinking about your impact on the world, one perspective is to think about just how many people you're truly connected to and whose lives you've affected, even in a small way.  Simply from the things you choose to have around you.  


Have a blessed day everyone.  Namasté.

Monday 2 April 2012

A Church Without Religion?

I've posted a new video blog about my visit to the Ottawa Interfaith Spiritualist Church.  It was a very interesting experience.  Not exactly standard church fair.
Check it out.