Ready to Go to Genuine You!

I have to admit: I am proud of myself!

Last July I was invited to teach an online course as part of the Genuine You Workshop hosted by wildcreativeheart.com. I have never taught an online class and at first I thought “ME? I've never done that!” but then I took a deep breath and said “YES!” I offered to teach a class on self-forgiveness and decided to trust that I could figure out how to put together an online class and the required video.

That video SCARED me. I have never made a video, not even one with an old-fashioned video camera. BUT I still decided to trust that I could do this even in the face of the video.    

Writing curricula is fun for me but I had a lot of work to do in a short time. At some point I remember thinking “Who am I kidding!? I can’t do this!” Then I’d get re-immersed in the process and all that anxiety would go away and I would just write…proving once again just how grand the creative process really is.

My friend proofed my packet for me. She loved it and assured me that it can be done fast and light or it can be done slow and deep. That’s cool; this is one heck of a class however you work through it.

Then I had to put together the VIDEO. Eeeeek! 

My class includes a guided visualization that is a technique all in itself. I decided to make FIVE videos in order to help the students work through each step of the guided visualization. Yes, I said FIVE. So, I figured out how to make a video and then I put together my own video from MY OWN PICTURES! How totally cool is that?! I even recorded the audios with a bunch of trial and error and error and error. I had FIVE videos ready to post. I was pretty giddy with excitement.

I managed to figure out how to post everything online and I’m ready to go! Whooohooo! I am proud of myself. That’s hard to say but I want to give myself credit for successfully doing something that I had never done before. Is it perfect? Undoubtedly not. But it’s a really good class.    

Remember how I almost dismissed the idea of teaching this class? Well, I had set the intention (translate that "brazenly announced it to the Universe in my journal one night") that I wanted a forum for teaching and this opportunity showed up on my doorstep. How could I say no? Ask and ye shall receive – and receive, I did.

What about you? Have you been searching for some way to forgive yourself? Maybe this class or this workshop is your answer from the Universe. If so, click on the link to the right to get to the discussion about all the classes being offered in this workshop. There are lots of cool classes for only a little money! 

Maybe my class on self-forgiveness isn't your cup of tea. Not a problem!  

Have you written out your intention or your hope or your dream somewhere? Are you asking yourself whenever you can how you can do something you want to do? Look around. Is there an opportunity waiting for you to seize it? If there is, I suggest just saying YES!  Then get ready for good things happen. Let me know how it goes!

Thank you for reading, 

26 Letter Girl

Summer in the Midwest

I go outside into my own backyard. It’s been hot the past few days – mid- to high-90’s with high humidity. This is the Midwestern summer, not the mild heat of the past few months. The outside holds a singing orchestra of cicadas and crickets strumming away. I remember a tape I heard once of cricket scrapes slowed waaay down and the heavenly chorus hidden within these raw, rough-edged scrapes...heaven hidden in plain sound. The trees are filled with the whirs and songs of thousands of little bugs. I like them in the trees but not so much flying around me. The birds are quieter now than in the spring and early summer. Not so many as before. And my singing frogs are silent. But the fullness of the air reverberates with the maturity of summer life. I breathe it in and allow the heat to soak into my skin.

A set of young squirrels are gorging on the nuts in my 150-year old walnut tree. It sits not far outside my back door. They pull the pods off the branch and busily strip the leathery cover off the inner seed and then break the shell to get to the meat. There is a shower of shells dinging and banging on the metal roof of the carport and they carpet the ground. So much debris from such small creatures. The dogs are hesitant to brave the shower, it’s so steady. The squirrels chitter at the dogs, their cheeks stuffed with nuts as they get ready for winter.

The smell of BBQ is in the air...mmmm, steak. My hound’s nose is thrust in the air and her chest heaves as she sniffs the scent. This is our Community Fair weekend and class reunions abound. They are readying the place next door for a evening party and the sounds of keggers, laughter and chairs echo across the yard.

The lavender still blooms, brave stalks standing tall. The mint thrusts its small fuzzy blossoms sideways along the lines of the vines and its leaves release a memory of Southern tea and the Middle East. The petunias put forth new flowers – a riot of pink and purple. The roses glow peach and their scent intoxicates me. I bury my nose in the blooms even as I disengage the thorns from my skin.

I hear the whine of mosquitoes as my skin blooms with moisture. My feet complain about the gravel yet the grass is sweeter for the sharp edges. My hands hold the summer dust, a hint of moisture holding small bits of mulch and dirt to my fingers. The summer heat reminds me of my similarity to the earth and Her glory. All things in their season, Life abounding in the moment of now.

How is your summer?

Hunting Out Plants, Food and Quilts on the Dover Trail

My husband and I were out on the Dover Trail today. Dover lies about 10 miles east of us on Highway 24. The 7th Annual Missouri Peach Days are this weekend and Dover has their annual Dover Days celebration at this time of year, too. You can see how Dover is surrounded by orchards! 

Ah, fresh juicy peaches, peach pie, peach butter, peaches and ice cream...yum. So we went out on the hunt for fresh peaches, sweet corn, tomatoes, blueberries, jelly, bread, cinnamon rolls...in other words, the riches of rural Missouri! We went to Hilltop Farm Greenhouse first where we snagged both plants and food.

We drove out a few more miles east to Mother Earth Market and picked up some "peaches and cream" sweet corn, pecans, tangy peach BBQ sauce and (more) peaches.

An extra special treat was that they gifted me with cuttings of their Bolivian Jew hanging plant! They make beautiful hanging plants, as you can see. All I have to do is root it. 

We were talking to one of the proprietors about the plants and she told us about one that blooms much better when it's a bit root-bound. As she said "It does better when it's a little bit stressed." And then we agreed that that's true of people, too. I know it's true of me!

You can see we are waaay past "knee-high by the Fourth of July" with the corn out here!

We wandered through a few places and then stopped by the Dover Christian Church for the quilt show. Such intricate needlework. My hands ached just looking at all the tiny stitches. They were really lovely. These were my two favorites. The Dresden Plate design is on the top and the Wedding Ring pattern is on the bottom.

Of course we had to support their their fundraiser by sampling some pie and cake and buying two apple dumplings for later. I've never had an apple dumpling but it sure looks good. 

Good day out here in Missouri. I am looking forward to eating our goodies and rooting my new baby plants. 

Until later!

26 Letter Girl

2014 Power of Words Conference

The 2014 Transformative Language Arts Network is presenting their 11^th Annual Power of Words Conference this September. This promises to be an exciting conference! I am on the site committee and want to share the conference information with you:

See http://www.tlanetwork.org/conference/3742-2/ for more information.

The conference is September 19-21, 2014 at Lake Doniphan Retreat Center in Kansas City, MO. The title of the conference is Power of Words Conference: Transformation, Liberation & Celebration Through the Spoken, Written and Sung Word.

There will be workshops, performances, talking circles, celebration and more, featuring writers, storytellers, performers, musicians, community leaders, activists, educators, and health professionals. The conference, founded in 2003, features workshops in four tracks: narrative medicine, social change, right livelihood (and making a living through the arts), and engaged spirituality, with 30 presenters from across the country.

Register here today: registration (rates go up Aug. 15). 

Visit our Tumblr page for videos, photos, links, news and more!

Scholarship and work-study information here.

Keynoters are:

Kevin Willmott, award-winning filmmaker, writer and director who award-winning films include C.S.A.: Confederate States of America, Planet Negro, The Only Good Indian and Bunker Hill. His films investigate our living history with depth, originality and humor.

Kelley Hunt, international touring artist and singer-songwriter with five critically-acclaimed CDs. Her powerful voice, piano and guitar playing, coupled with songwriting that will leave you breathless have made her one of the shining voices in rhythm and blues, Americana, roots, gospel and folk music.

Scott Cairns, poet, and writer, recent books are Compass of Affection: Poems New and Selected and the memoir Short Trip to the Edge: Where Earth Meets Heaven — A Pilgrimage. Professor at the University of Missouri and a Guggenheim Fellow, Cairns' writing has appeared in Poetry, Paris Review, The Atlantic Monthly, Spirituality and Health and The Best American Spiritual Writing.

Doug Lipman, storyteller, coach, mentor and author. One of the foremost authorities on storytelling coaching, Doug has performed around the world since the 1970s, including at the Smithsonian, National Storytelling Festival and on public radio. A generous expert on right livelihood through the arts, Doug will share his wisdom as well as one of his most powerful stories.

We are proud to feature two spectacular artists-in-residence will be featured: 

Stephen Locke is a renowned storm and tornado photographer.

Jose Faus is a multi-media artist and painter, muralist, poet and writer, and president of The Writers Place. Both Stephen and Jose will be displaying their art and giving artist talks during the conference.

I hope you join us!

On gratitude and new shoes and home

I am so looking forward to sharing some of my favorite things with you. I’ve been called eclectic and that’s probably a fair description. That undoubtedly means that I will share all kinds of different things here. 

My bestie called me on this blog post after reading it. She said it was "pretty" but didn't mention any of the challenges that beset me during this trip. She was right (she usually is when she does that best friend thing) so I decided to edit the post to better explain why I was so grateful to get home. 

I was struck by intense gratitude this weekend. I found myself repeatedly hugging it close to my heart. It reminded me again of the sheer power of gratitude to alter your life and behavior. 

I flew into Indianapolis last week to teach a class.This particular trip presented me with so many challenges! I have traveled quite a bit and not once have I had to deal with quite as many glitches as I had this time. I had been taking prednisone for poison ivy for six days before I flew out. If you've ever been on pred then you know you get almost no sleep for days on end and then your brain is operating on fumes by the end of the sixth day. I traveled to Indy on the infamous DAY SIX. By the time I got to the Kansas City Airport I had managed to forget to check in, left the PIN for my work credit card at home so had almost no cash for the trip and discovered I had left my phone in the car. I called my husband's phone and my forgotten phone repeatedly for about ten minutes on a borrowed CNBC store clerk's phone (THANK YOU!) but he didn't answer either phone. I was pretty frustrated by the time I hit security. I was worried I'd need that phone, especially in a strange city, and that I'd be late to my presentation since it's also my alarm. As I waited to board the plane (boarding # C-11 so I had awhile) it dawned on me that I had brought my iPad which took care of my alarm concerns. I was able to email my friend to ask her to let my husband know about the forgotten phone and to check his email. I'd even realized that I was really mad at myself for not doing everything "right" (yes, I am a recovering perfectionist).

The approach to Indy was beautiful as I peered out the window from the middle seat. You could see for miles as we flew into the city and I was struck by the sheer flatness of the landscape. I could easily imagine the glaciers creeping across the land. 

As I worked my way towards the baggage claim I suddenly realized I had forgotten to pack my work shoes to wear for the presentation. I had a pair of ummm...shall we say "less than professional" high top tennis shoes in dull white on my feet but they were not going to cut it on the presentation floor. I managed to locate ground transportation and figured out timing as I waited for the shuttle to arrive. I was dropped off at the wrong hotel and had to backtrack to find the right place but finally made it to my room. Things were still not going according to plan. I sent out some more "I made it emails" before trying to find somewhere to eat lunch, gain a map of the area, figure out how to juggle last minute practice and prep and acquire some shoes to wear the next day. I had never been to Indy so I decided to go downtown to find food and look for shoes first then do my final prep. I did take the opportunity to look around as I hiked (and hiked). Monument Circle is beautiful! The State Soldiers and Sailors Monument is located right in the heart of the city and is lovely. Here’s a picture:

 "Soldiers and Sailors Monument Indianapolis” by Daniel Schwen – Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soldiers_and_Sailors_Monument_Indianapolis.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Soldiers_and_Sailors_Monument_Indianapolis.jpg

As I hiked around I suddenly heard myself repeatedly saying something like "You are so screwed. You are not going to be able to find any shoes to fit your weird feet...." I actually slowed down when I heard what was going through my mind and told myself: "Of COURSE you will find shoes. They will fit and be nice and you will do great. They will appear (along with food)." That, my friends, is a huge deal! To hear that nasty-tape in my head and counter it with what I know to be true (the Universe provides all I need) in the midst of a not-so-good day was pretty awesome. And even better, it didn't feel awesome. It just felt normal and right. Pretty darn cool. 

I was proud to make it back to the hotel in one piece, having located both food and shoes. I practiced and got to the office early the next day (despite the taxi driver not getting there nearly on time). The presentation went well and I only forgot a couple of things.

There are lots of beautiful old buildings around like the Scottish Rite Temple:

“Indianapolis Scottish Rite Cathedral”. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indianapolis_Scottish_Rite_Cathedral.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Indianapolis_Scottish_Rite_Cathedral.jpg

There’s even a canal that was originally supposed to connect the Erie Canal with the Ohio River. The Canal Walk was down below my hotel window (although I had no idea what it was until later). 

"IN Central Canal Marker" by Original uploader was Bedford at en.wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Xnatedawgx using CommonsHelper.. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IN_Central_Canal_Marker.JPG#mediaviewer/File:IN_Central_Canal_Marker.JPG

I noticed my brain was still fried from lack of sleep by the end of the day so I asked a guard for directions back to the hotel. He couldn't read the map either so I started off to my hotel going exactly the wrong way. Indy has a lot of activity and they hosted the Black Expo on Friday night with some good music. I got to listen to it as I walked first one direction then another then another. I ended up walking A LOT all while carrying about 200 lbs of weight on my shoulder (computer, notebook for presentation, purse). I managed to find my way back to my hotel with only a blister on my shoulder and a bruised toe from too much walking in my new shoes. I had stopped to get dinner as I worked my way back to the hotel but I really didn't feel well enough to eat so I read a little then fell asleep on the couch. I woke up and packed then couldn't get back to sleep. I remember 1:30 am ticking past with my alarm set for 4:30 am to catch the shuttle. I did manage to get myself to the airport and on the plane to get home. Hallelujah. 

As pretty and interesting as Indy was and as much as I love to teach, I was so ready to come home this time around. It was the first time I had ever felt this glad to be home. Home meant seeing my husband’s face in the airport, the smell and feel of the air in my back yard (ah, that moist warm Missouri air) and a boisterous multiple doggie welcome at my back door. I felt like getting down and kissing the ground I was so glad to get home but I just kissed my husband and the dogs and cats and felt embraced by all that I love. How precious is that?

I figure that there were a couple of turning points in this trip that made it a whole lot better than it could have been. 

1. Taking responsibility for my own mistakes and trip quality before I boarded the plane rather than blaming everyone else. 
2. Hearing and counteracting the yammering inner critic as I searched for food and shoes. 

I think I am learning....

Traveling is usually fun but this trip really wasn't. I guess I'm getting a little old and achy. Still, it was a good lesson in staying centered despite medicine-induced fatigue  - and I really did like Indianapolis! 

I am increasingly appreciative of home and all that means.   My gratitude list definitely had home at the top today. 

Until next time, my friends ~ 

Stephanie SkyeAnn