I haven’t posted for awhile. That’s not to say I haven’t been writing, drawing, planning, thinking, working. A new job started January 15 and somehow
Category: Meditation
Grateful for the once upon a time…
Photo evidence that once upon a time my feet could do this. Grateful for the once upon a time. Grateful to still be here with
Every stitch a thought- problem solving embroidering drawings.
I’ve got a lot to think about these days. (Not really any different from other days, I guess, but seriously, there is some amazing stuff
What if memories are allies?
Researching a seemingly unrelated subject tonight, I was thrown down into a pit of dark memory of betrayal and attack to my heart. How strange
Journal entry April 16, 2018 San Jose Airport
Journal entry April 16, 2018 San Jose Airport [unedited] It is so odd to take time out from the trajectory of every day in these journeys…
Friday night check in: effortless action.
Checking in with the Power Path at mid-month: My form of meditation is to mind map it out: My notes from reading the February Power Path
Being ace, full of peACE
In October 2016, I wrote: On October 3, 2016 I wrote: Opening up to defining myself as ace and what that means to me feels relieving
Ear to the ground… Another recurring theme…
There are repeated themes in my work and obsessions that satisfy my creative process and my explorations into grief. Like human faces, birds, dead birds…
Practicing neutrality.
I know anxiety. I know depression. And now it seems these days like I am practicing neutrality. Allowing things to be. Just be. Letting fear crumble
Why do I keep the journals? Is there any value in the pain contained within?
Why have I kept all my journals/sketchbooks? Yes- they are filled with sprinklings of magical memories about raising children- that is definitely the best part.
My Big Vision and Mission 2018
My 2018 Big Vision: BE MY OWN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR My 2018 Mission Statement: Recommended: Stay tuned for workshops:
Until we meet again… dropping off Asterix
Letting go In order to hold on I gradually understand How poems are made… – Alice Walker Recall September 24, 2017: Well, I did
Reclaiming the act of creating…
I could sit and wait. Ask myself: how I will get back to that beautiful, exhilarating buzz of creative process and my soul’s work? But
The crown ripped away. Journal musings.
My head hurts. Not the inside of my head. The outside. The muscles on top of my skull. The ligaments. I sat under a young
Eclipse therapy.
Checking in to the August Power Path: I have been struggling of late with depression, been pulling out the tools and re-evaluating life, making strides,
Joyful Living: Relaxation and Creativity with Michele Lilyanna
UPDATE AUGUST 7, 2017 Unfortunately due to personal issues, I am unable to facilitate at the Aug 22/23 workshops. Sincerest apologies. But I am happy
What if today, I just NOT worry?
Today I am giving myself the permission to be just in the moment. When fear and worry arise, I will try to let it
From the heart- a 15 day journal exercise Part 14: Dying Contemplation
I am re-reading Stephen Levine‘s A Year to Live- how to live this year as if it were your last as a personal exercise schedule to take
From the heart- a 15 day journal exercise Part 13: The Act of Dying
I am re-reading Stephen Levine‘s A Year to Live- how to live this year as if it were your last as a personal exercise schedule to take
From the heart- a 15 day journal exercise Part 9: A Commitment to Life
I am re-reading Stephen Levine‘s A Year to Live- how to live this year as if it were your last as a personal exercise schedule to take
From the heart- a 15 day journal exercise Part 8- Noticing
I am re-reading Stephen Levine‘s A Year to Live- how to live this year as if it were your last as a personal exercise schedule to take
From the heart- a 15-day journal exercise: Part 3
I am re-reading Stephen Levine‘s A Year to Live- how to live this year as if it were your last as a personal exercise schedule to take
From the Heart- a 15-day journal exercise: Part 1
I am re-reading Stephen Levine‘s A Year to Live- how to live this year as if it were your last as a personal exercise schedule to take
Anticipation: revisiting a journal exercise
Standing on the edge of the unknown, we anticipate. We over-think. And create anxiety that has no place to land. There is no terror in
My Stanley Park observations find their way into “Molly” at unexpected times
Our usual spring awakening is late this year. I recall a walk around Beaver Lake a year ago… I was infused by the profound beauty of nature. Warm
What the sock pigs taught me…
This past Sunday morning- hanging out on Vancouver Island, my 4 friends and I had a hankering to create sock pigs. There is such magic
Routine? No, ROOTine.
The word ROOTine came up for me the other day when I was texting with my daughter who is on a life-changing journey, travelling in SE
For I need to SPEAK FREELY. Without restraint…
So, I’ve been doing a lot of chatting in the past few days about my passion project: Molly- a true crime analysis: I’ve been chatting,
Slithering pancreatic serpent. #griefprocess
In November 2007, Dr. Ebrahim sat knee to knee with my mother. I was on the other side of the little examination room. I recall
Here’s to us crawling to the finish line…
Touch me life. Not softly. – Maya Angelou And my GOD, life has touched us this year. Here’s to us crawling to the finish line,
The creative life putters on with audacity and hope.
China marker, pastel, linseed oil on wood. Based on Edvard Munch’s “Puberty.” (author of quote unknown) I have been quiet on here for a while.
You are motherhood. You are the greatest mystery. Karin 17/09/36-08/11/08
Only do not forget, if I wake up crying it’s only because in my dream I’m a lost child hunting through the leaves of the night for
Journal exercise: I Found My Way Home
I have been ruminating on the concept of home. The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go
Ode to the carnation- “nature’s bastards”
A flower is a miracle. A carnation certainly so. Did you know carnations are “banned” as decor in certain facilities? They are supposedly cheap, low class,
On Autumnal endings and beginnings in October
This is such a beautiful tender time of the year for me. The autumn is both a time of loss and renewal. My parents passed
What being ace means to me. #asexual musings
Being age 54 and “single” I am often asked (by people my own age), Are you dating anyone now? When my response is one
Stillness of the hummingbird.
I recall the wonder of seeing a little hummingbird, amidst my sunflower garden, staring in through my kitchen window (when I lived in Roberts Creek). Nothing
We are made of star-stuff…
To get myself realigned and prepared for diving into writing/drawing/reflection, I check in with my Church that is Frida Kahlo and let the stream of
SOME PORTRAITS OF GRIEF.
For me, it is impossible to quantify grief. To qualify it. To define it. It comes as a surprise. It comes as a wave. It comes
It is important now for me to honor this call for retreat. #creativeprocess
I sense it is time to really retreat in between work schedules and ensure cave time to focus on my passion project: Molly, a true
Journal exercise: self-care and self-compassion
Journal exercise: What does self-care and self-compassion mean to you? How are they different? How are they the same? — Inspired by conversations of late,
The permanent analogy of things by images which participate in the life of truth.
“I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.” ― Sylvia Plath, The
Messages from Angels…
I love getting messages from Angels. I just sat down for a spot of tea… and pulled out some creativity books to prep for a
The timeless/spaceless mid zone of creative process and chatting with the dead…
There is a beautiful part of my creative process that I cherish- the part that allows me to dialogue with my parents as if they
Mamma.
Karin Thorsen September 17, 1936 – November 8, 2008 Because you are only a seed, chestnut tree, autumn, earth, water, heights, silence prepared the
In harmony with the currents of life… #jellyfish
I was contemplating the word acceptance this evening and decided to look up symbolism. I came across a charming reference to the jellyfish: Jellyfish’s medicine includes –
Getting out of my own way.
I was down and dark in January- been down and dark before- but this time I was dipping down a little too low. I am
The heart of it.
Practicing being heart-fully present and health-fully detached. And checking in regularly with my own heart journey. Getting up a bit earlier. Gentle time before facing each day.
Can we look at sad rants in our journals in a new way?
No doubt my collection of 300 + journals, sketchbooks and image-idea files are filled with more sad rants than with positive day-to-day activities. For many
What makes me feel rich is…
A bowl of eggs in the fridge A bowl of fruit on the table A jar of random trinkets: Small details Watching approximately 40 herons
The 5 W’s. #Molly #GraphicNovel #Process
Working on Molly. Keep at it. Revise manuscript. Organize the collected research. Walk around the lagoon. Think think think. Massage the timeline. Spend hours in the
Ponderings on the “idea.”
As a creative, I find it as important to make time for input as well as make time for creative output. And allow myself some
My personal #Chakra #SelfCare #CheckIn #Toolkit
I can’t help but love the magical thinking that happens when considering the chakras! The 7 Chakras are the energy centers in our body in
Opened TextEdit to find a surprise note to self…
Prepping for a session tonight with young women, around the theme of sisterhood using collage techniques, I opened TextEdit to collect pertinent quotes that
Using Braid Theory to explain triple timeline. #Molly #graphicnovel
It has taken me years to create a structure for Molly that could combine two stories that run both parallel to each other and have
Sunday morning coffee shop musings.
Journal entry January 24, 2016 Write out goals –> no, write out PLANS. What is the difference between goals and plans and by writing goals as
Now her ghost wheels her barrow…
In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty I first laid my eyes on sweet Molly Malone As she wheeled her wheelbarrow through
Soul work… my 2016 Toolkit
You may recall, I set my intention for 2016- to simply meet it all with love. Yet I knew it was important to take the
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain… Birds, metaphors, graphic novel, experiments
— Central to my graphic novel is the intensity of anxiety and severe depression while drowning in circumstance, highlighted through the metaphor of birds. —
