Mental Health Mantra 57.365 As I sit down each morning, I don't have any clue what the flower is going to be like. Will it be a take on a flower, or a lookilikie? This month has revealed alot to me about going with the flow, trusting my intuition and enjoying the process. Today was no exception. I was awake at 5am, so much going through my mind. I got up, made some tea and dropped into my studio space. I am grateful for this space, I know I will look back on this time and see what I have achieved, despite all the trauma. I digress. I stepped in, I closed my eyes, I took a breath. Everyone was still asleep, even the woofers. Stillness. A magical time. Early, yes. Magical, Yes. The flower happened. I realise once again, that I trust me. I trust my own knowing, what I need, what I don't need. All that is happening around me, this is increasingly important to trust me. The stillness helps. (ps and it's ok to nap too). Keep trusting StarSeeds. Love x 'Art with Heart - Calm your Mind, Soothe your Soul.'
0 Comments
Mental Health Mantra 52/365 This is what hypnotic painting is becoming for me, finding new layers of meaning behind the water colour magic. I had spent an hour or so simply enjoying the colour and the ways the water was moving over the paper. It felt good to just be there. Here we are on day 52, of 365, that's 52 days of consistency, with considering what is going on right now, I am really pleased with myself that I have got here and delighted to be writing these journal entries here, on my website. I found myself cutting and creating this collaged flower from a water colour page. It feels really cool to have created this different flower, with many layers. Right there and then, the mantra appeared as I was simply just playing with it all. Know there are always many layers. It's not meant to be cryptic, just really tells us that what you see is never really what is happening. All those phrases you have heard 'don't judge a book by the cover.' 'what you see is not what you get.' This felt really spot on for me.... know there are always many layers. There is always something to peel back, in my own personality, personal learning and professional learning. There is always something to peel back with others. The layers are their layers. What rings true right now is on social media, on main stream media, it's not what it seems. There are always many layers. We don't know the story and we can't figure that out without connection. Keep sparkling and shining starseeds, you're doing this. Love x 'Art with Heart - Calm your Mind, Soothe your Soul.'
Mental Health Mantra 51/365 It knows. It always knows. It's just we drown it out. I knew something wasn't right and my gut instinct was trying to let me know. My gut tells me and I will trust that gut. I knew something wasn't quite right. She was trying to tell me something. I sensed it. But others don't hear what I say, and think that perhaps, I am being highly sensitive. Yes that's right. I knew she was communicating to me that something needed to be explored. Today I got confirmation that my gut instinct knows. Listen / and act on your gut instinct. Keep listening sunbeams. Your gut instinct knows. Let go of all that is clouding it out. Love x 'Art with Heart - Calm your Mind, Soothe your Soul.'
Mental Health Mantra 48/365 Tune in to Tune out.... ..... something I have done for a long, long, while. Turning everything off, stepping away from the external noise. Tuning in, going inside. Turning off what's creating too much static, that keep the radio waves clogged. In the tuning out, I began tune in. Now I know that I can Tune In, which in turn, Tunes out that which doesn't support me. It's a great Mantra to remember. Tune in to Tune out..... .....sometimes though we have to Tune out to Tune in. Either way, it's a great one for repetition today/ and the next and the next! These flowers are really meditative and hypnotic - I am really loving the process of sitting down and getting into the magic of Colour, Water and Brush. The flowing ink here is mesmerising. I may keep repeating myself, but that's what a journal is all about. To go back and check what is being repeated because these are the soul messages. Keep shining sunshine, connect to your gut instinct. Love x Art with Heart - Calm your Mind, Soothe your Soul.'
Mental Health Mantra 45/365 When I was first attuned to Reiki in 2001, it confirmed something to me that I had known from a child and later as a young woman, navigating ill health with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / ME >>>>> >>>>>> we are all connected, interwoven by energy. I travelled through the attunements, becoming a Reiki Master in 2006. It made complete sense to me that we were interconnected .... I could sense it when I interacted with other sentient beings. It is to Reiki I turn, every time. It is a tool that I have at my own disposal, I don't have to ask anyone. I always felt that if everyone was attuned to levels 1 and 2, then as a self healing tool I truly sensed that it could be a way for individuals to take back the reigns and calm their own nervous systems. I am navigating yet another very distressing time, it is when I lay my own hands on my body, chant the symbols to calm, soothe, and balance my nervous system. I then send this love and healing out to you and the whole planet earth. Imagine if every human being all did that? Keep shining starseeds. Follow your intuition. Love x 'Art with Heart - Calm your Mind, Soothe your Soul.'
Mental Health Mantra 17/365 It has been a fatiguey day today, tiredness pervades me. This feels familiar, making me feel a tad jittery because I was so incapacitated when in my 20s with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. I made my way through that tunnel by the time I was 30 but it was a decade's long haul. I find that all that I learnt then, about healing, wellness and holistic health has been the foundation pillar of my journey these past 32 years and I built upon these pillars to support me through my life. Today as I was finishing off this 17th Mental Health Mantra, the phrase kept coming through "Your light makes a difference." Lorie Ladd on You Tube who I adore, reminds me of this often, especially in these times. It made me recognise that even feeling fatiguey today I can choose to be light and sit in that space for a while. For me, it was about turning my attention to light, being outside in nature, in the garden, watching the seagulls circle me, we have a crowd of them that hang out in south Liverpool / considering we're really only 4 miles from the River Mersey, they're never that far away. I realised that my light can make a difference. Even when I feel fatiguey and tired. I made a lovely lentil shephard's pie early in the day, so that I knew it was ready and I could settle into the day. I played crazy tennis ball games with the girls who just loved it, lots of waggy tails. In my meditation practice I can beam my light out on to Planet E and beyond, I can channel Reiki healing blessings to all. It only stops when I stop. I will continue to keep that focus and keep that relaxation meditation practice so that I can send light beams out. We all need that right now. To step back into our bodies and connect to our soul, to raise the light and vibration and send that out to all - that does mean me too. I need this too. What I know for sure .... is that you don't need to be some meditating guru and sit cross legged, what you need is the commitment to sit. In a chair. On a bed. Inside, outside,. Just a commitment to sit and connect to your breathing. Start there. It really is all that it is. You will find your light, and yes, it makes a difference. I was introduced to this quote back by Peter Russell who I met in New Mexico in 2004 on my adventure. "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." I loved that when I heard it, made complete sense to me. My commitment to sit is here. Sending out oodles of light to you whomever your are, reading this. Trust your intuitive intelligence. "Art with Heart - Calm your Mind, Soothe your Soul."
Mental Health Mantra 1/365
It's the 1st of January 2021, I decided to step back into the Land of Blog.
For a few reasons. With everything going on in 2019/2020 in my own life and also in the country/the world, I have stepped away from social media big time. I had to focus what energy I had into caring and looking after my husband who was undergoing cancer treatment, the first major op being spinal stabilisation surgery then high dose intensive radiation (I may go deeper into this, but not just yet) I just could not cope with socials as well. I tried for a couple of weeks but I realised it was hugely draining. I was also seeing seeing something happen that was making me feel really uncomfortable - censorship. Maybe it's the Jewish woman in me that fights for human rights and deplores shutting down of voices, I was stunned - I couldn't believe the way people were not permitted to have open discussions, or differing opinions. I was astounded that medical interventions to boost immunity were censored - I mean posts about Vitamin C, Zinc, and Quercetin were zapped out. Having a honours degree in health and a debilitating viral illness for 9 years in my 20s I am a health investigator, researcher, and healer. It made me feel very uncomfortable so I stepped away. I still have my accounts I pop in here and there, I hadn't been very present these past 15 months. I stopped blogging and vlogging a few years ago because it all seemed to be about being on the socials. I was seeing less reach and it all became so complicated about widgets and coding .... bla bla bla and then I began to watch as accounts were deleted and taken down for holding a conversation about covid, I realised that I had invested 10 years in social media and bam, like that, all my stuff could be gone. Even if I delete my account, poof, it's gone. I hadn't put any time or energy into my own website for a long while, which is held on my own server. I used to write lots on there under various other blogging sites. In journalling every day, in my daily discussions with myself this morning, I made a pact. I would put effort into my own website and blog. Maybe even stepping up to vlog again or maybe even podcast. I still have so much going on in my life in a caring capacity and also so much more (maybe I'll share that sometime) that takes all the energy I have in reserves, I have to spend what's left in filling up my own tanks. My pact extended a little further, I wanted to raise my vibration by creating every day and I turn back to Muse Mantras - these have been a lifesaver over the last 8 years. In the past 15 months since losing Mum and the grief that followed and Dad with vascular dementia, who's now living in a residential home and I can only visit him through a window (that's for another post), and for the past 9 months looking after my husband with cancer, I have sought so many things to keep me somehow upright and functioning. Sometimes, I get it right, other times I collapse and cry in a heap at night because I feel I'm failing. But I am going to give it a whirl and see if I can merge the two... and get to the end of January by posting a Muse Mantra every day. I am revisiting illustrations that I have in my portfolio and will begin to upcycle them . Who doesn't love an upcycle, plus it gets me back into the flow. My intention is that these will help you to calm your mind and soothe your soul. Today I am OK - this affirmantra has been a huge focus for me over the past year as I have balanced all the plates in my life. It has been a life saver in the moment of grief, or sadness, or anxiety or despair, where I close my eyes, place my hands over my heart and say to myself and out loud. TODAY I AM OK. It soothes me. It keeps me in the now moment. I let go of fear. Here it is for you too. TODAY I AM OK. Sending oodles of love your way. Keep shining your light and trust your intuitive intelligence. Despite our multiple screens and ever-connected lifestyles, are we officially a society who gets bored? If so, is that such a bad thing? It can be a distressing feeling, being bored - some evidence suggest it places stress on the brain and is linked with anxiety, depression. However, boredom isn't necessarily about having nothing to do. If you're experiencing boredom in 2017 chances are the activities that are filling your schedule may be purely online and they just don't stimulate you. Scrolling and swiping are fast-paced, passive activities and this when we start second-screening - watching TV and scrolling the net at the same time. But that makes things worse, because we're even less focused. We don't need to quit technology altogether, we just need to understand how boredom manifests itself within us. What one person find frustrating makes another feel calm and creative. Here are 5 Benefits to Being Bored: 1. It can make you more creative. Researchers believe that being bored can lead to some of our most original thoughts. They have found that boredom encourages people's minds to wander, leading them to more creative ways of thinking. 2. It lets you know when something is amiss. When people's minds wander and they're not thinking about what's going on around them, they're more likely to think about the future, In a process known as "autobiographical planning," people most frequently plan and anticipate their future goals while daydreaming. 3. It could help make you more productive. By stimulating a region of the brain responsible for both "thought controlling" mechanisms and "thought freeing" activity — thereby increasing mind-wandering behaviour — researchers found that daydreaming doesn't harm one's ability to succeed at an appointed task, but rather helps it. 4. It can make you a better person. European and American Researchers believe that boredom can lead us to do altruistic things. In their studies they found that when we're bored, we lack perceived meaning in our activities and circumstances. This, they say, triggers us to search elsewhere to re-establish our self-meaning. The researchers found that boredom made people more likely to engage in prosocial behaviours like donating to charity and signing up for blood donations to help re-establish feelings of self-meaning. 5. It could be essential to our happiness. Though esteemed philosopher Bertrand Russell mused on the makings of a happy life nearly 90 years ago, his observations about the essential quality of our capacity for boredom seems just as apt today as ever: "A life too full of excitement is an exhausting life, in which continually stronger stimuli are needed to give the thrill that has come to be thought an essential part of pleasure." |