Contact me at britakatarina@gmail.com for CUSTOMIZED CLASSES
Start this new year on a creative note by creating your own evolving vision for 2018 using creativity.
In an intimate setting in my art studio, I will guide you through multiple exercises to enable you to focus on YOUR SELF– and to come away with a unique very personal vision board. This vision board will be YOUR SAFE PLACE.
We will use processes such as:
• Journaling
• Drawing
• Collaging
• Mindmapping and Action Planning
• Big Vision Visualization
• Right Brain Tools
• Whole Brain Engagement
In order to bring my creative adventure to fruition, I will visit this fortress, this safe house, many, many times. Gradually I will assemble the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle I have stored here. Finished, it will provide the ideas, moods, and ingredients that will feed my dream.
– Phillipe Petit
LENGTH OF WORKSHOP: TWO HOURS
NO PREVIOUS ART EXPERIENCE REQUIRED!
ALL SUPPLIES INCLUDED
Some pre-work will be encouraged.
Love, Katarina
Contact me at britakatarina@gmail.com for CUSTOMIZED CLASSES
Mind maps integrate both right-brain and left-brain thinking by capturing your stream of consciousness in a structured way.
I have been struggling of late with depression, been pulling out the tools and re-evaluating life, making strides, dipping down, climbing up etc. and I have a post I plan to write– as part of that toolbox– that I will share, but that will wait!
There is an additional item in my toolbox I must pull out today!
In camaraderie with my soul sister Patti and my daughter, Anna, I am setting intentions and sending out a Universe request to coincide with the solar eclipse.
Eclipse times Vancouver BC Canada
QUESTIONS:
Short term/long term—
What do you really want to change?
How do you want your life to be?
What can you improve?
FOR ME:
What do you really want to change?
Short term: I want to change how I treat myself. I don’t want to blame myself. I want to earn more money. I don’t want to struggle.
Long term: I want to be celebrated and recognized for my work, by others– but mainly by me. I don’t want to default to old brain patterns. I want to embrace that I deserve as much love from me as I give everyone else. I don’t want to beg for scraps, but be offered and accept abundance.
How do you want your life to be?
Short term: I love what I do, I love my home, I love the connections that I have with family and friends- and to maintain that, I want to be fully financially stable. I want to sleep with ease. I want to write and illustrate. To teach. To train the trainers. I want to take mom and dad’s ashes to Sweden. I want to spend time with my bird, letting him enjoy his senior years.
Long term: See big vision below. I want a life of creativity, connection, ease and stability. I want to write and illustrate. To teach. To train the trainers. Work where I want. Live where I want. Take my family to Sweden when I want. I want a cat. Two, three.
What can you improve?
Short term: Get more cocky. Slow down and think more clearly. Step into projects, into every day with clarity. TRUST.
Long term: Maintain cockiness. Ask for what I want and know I deserve it. Strip away that which doesn’t fill my heart. Improve my Swedish. Embrace my roots. And really dig deep to address blocks.
Ask for it.
Find a friend to share your answers with. I will be sharing these answers with Patti and Anna.
BIG VISION VISUALIZATION:
Check out Jennifer Lee’s BIG VISION VISUALIZATION and write out your answer, read it out loud and share it with the world!
My big vision (unedited, stream of conscious journal entry):
My work is at home.
A large sunny space.
With dogs and cats and the bird, and plants and a bright open concept with kitchen and living room and it is fresh and clean and I see trees.
White walls and natural wood, vintage objects and cooking in progress.
I am illustrating and being paid enormously well for my unique work.
I do not worry about finances as they flow in and out with grace.
I am at peace in the heart and body and I wear lovely linen and cotton comfortable clothes.
I engage in my work at home for it is my studio, my work, my natural place.
And I am able to offer classes for free to those programs I support and I am renowned (including in collaboration with my brother) for Professional Development classes and am highly sought after.
My work flows and I am writing and illustrating.
The calendar is happily full and I have been paid a large advance and have multiple publishing and movie deals.
I am my own boss and I make my own schedule, being fully present for my family.
I can travel to Sweden, New York, San Francisco, wherever with ease.
Money is abundant.
The place is fresh and clean and smells like flowers and coffee and the pets are healthy and happy and it is sunny and just the right temperature and I am making something fresh for dinner, awaiting family.
I am embracing my gifts and recognized for them.
I speak openly about my story, my art and my life.
I am working on my books and I have great technology and art supplies and I can shop at Whole Foods whenever I want.
My legacy is the gift of free expression in all of us and embracing our gifts and walking through life with grace and authenticity and ease.
My legacy– my children, my home, my art, my grandchildren and extended family, my books, my explorations of the world.
I enjoy spending money on my children, my family, on good food, books, travel, research, art supplies, pets, plants.
Molly is published and award-winning, with a film in the works.
My next books are in progress and eagerly awaited.
I have engagements on the calendar that lift my spirit.
People are inspired and have tools, thanks to the connection through art, my work books and online site.
I am the expert and my teachings are effective, sustainable and joyous.
My online school is cutting edge and taken care of by tech guy, accountant and agent.
It is easy and joyous.
I am on podcasts and I am researching in archives throughout the globe.
I balance between my books and my teaching.
The day is ending. The family ate and laughed.
I take the dogs out for a walk and then feed them.
I put on the TV.
Asterix’s cage is clean. The cats are sleeping.
The lights are on- just right.
I put away the food.
I shut the door. And contain my vision in my heart.
I live fully, honestly, peacefully, gracefully.
Jennifer Lee writes:
YOUR VISION = BIG PICTURE (positive difference, success, meaningful and fulfilling life/work)
YOUR VALUES = THE PAINT (the life blood)
YOUR VOICE = THE BRUSHSTROKE (uniqueness, authenticity)
BREATHE IN <– CREATIVITY/ VITALITY
BREATHE OUT –> TENSION/WORRY
Message of the HERON: “Stand out in your uniqueness”
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 which energy flows through. Blocked energy in our 7 Chakras can often lead to illness so it’s important to understand what each Chakra represents and what we can do to keep this energy flowing freely. – source
So I have been developing a toolkit to enhance my imagination and awaken my inner creative!
This Chakra Self-Care, Check-In Package includes:
Personalized Hand-drawn Chakra Chart
Chakra Healing Sock Monkey
Embroidered Centering Heart
The Chakra Chart is hand-drawn, depicting a Frida Kahlo-esque goddess and illustrates the 7 main chakras and pertinent notes regarding each chakra. This is a tangible, visual check-in chart to allow me to have a relaxed dialogue with my body as I consider where I am feeling blocked- physically and emotionally.
18″ x 24″ on newsprint. It’s meant for me to USE- write on it, fold it, hang it up, add to it, not be afraid to spill on it, copy it, research and add more notes etc.
I think that little by little I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive.
– Frida Kahlo
2. The Chakra Healing Sock Monkey is something to hold and meditate on and cuddle. The tactile experience allows me to feel childlike abandon and helps me to imagine that I release those blocks. And I place a felt heart at the root chakra. The grounding base. (Some people are squeamish about the heart at the crotch… I say, don’t worry about it.)
Depicted here is the sock monkey I made my Dad in 2010.
3. The heart is THE CENTRE. And this Embroidered Centering Heart almost acts as a labyrinth, as I run my finger along the knooks and crannies of the heart.
Embroidered heart on cardstock.
I use chakra check-ins in my own self-care and in my therapeutic art classes. Considering the chakra chart is a powerful visualization technique. It may not be proven science but simply creating space and time to reflect on the idea of the chakras helps us let go in the moment and take a breather. A mini-vacation, if you will.
Right-brain entrepreneur Jennifer Lee is a certified coach, writer, artist, yogini, and the founder of Artizen Coaching. Before pursuing her own passions full-time, she consulted for ten years for companies such as Accenture, Gap, Sony, and HP, helping leaders and organizations manage change. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and her website is www.rightbrainbusinessplan.com. source
Utilizing Jennifer Lee’s BIG-VISION VISUALIZATION SCRIPT, I encourage you to write about your ideal future, to think big, to see abundance and success in work, in relationships, in spirit.
Personally, I find it very empowering to write about an abundant future. It’s an ENLIGHTENING experience and a good anxiety-decreaser during those familiar dark and anxious times.
It is also fun to compare the big vision entries over time. For example two of my entries two years apart:
May 2013:
Despite my default setting of envisioning myself in a magical little cottage down by a little lake, what do I actually envision for myself when I really concentrate? My stream of consciousness writing shows:
a beautiful workspace
intimate corners
cozy couches and blankets
a library of books
supplies
airy and sunny
hardwood floors
garden, outdoor patio
kitchen, open space
coffee and fresh pie smells and fresh fruit
the pets
easy to have visitors and family over
but also private
a place to store my art
more income than expenses
time for me
time to enjoy
ease of mind
mortgage fully paid
lots of savings
blissful and at peace
the smell of fresh basil
flowers in vases
candles
online presence
ease of blogging and lots of followers
my art has a distinct vision and people are responding with ease and delight
I keep pushing the envelope and make new groundbreaking work
I have time to craft and explore new ways of manipulating art
there is an ease to waking up in the AM with a sense of acceptance and accomplishment
my books are best sellers and I mainly work on my own art which the world is hungry for
July 2015:
You now stand fully naked, fully present, fully you. Gone are the shackles that pulled you downwards into self-doubting, crippling anxiety. No longer do you hesitate before expressing. But most importantly, no longer do you collapse in shame and doubt after you expressed yourself.
Speaking your truth used to cause you to feel like you were choking on amniotic fluid. Felt like it came at a price.
Now you can breathe in and breathe out with open mouth, open nostrils, open sinuses, open throat, open heart, open eyes, open mind without fear.
You release your truth, your art, your work onto and into the world and receive back the conversations/communications with an open and fearless heart- a heart that is ready to dialogue.
Your work used to require boundaries. Your life used to comprise of self-imposed boundaries to protect your heart from rejection and loss. But now you are boundless. And so the work you have built on awakening creative expression in others- a gift you truly were born with and have worked so tirelessly to deliver- takes on a new level on a global scale. You are not in need of accolades. You are simply expressing, thereby allowing others to feel the same freedom. It need no longer be frontline work (in person), it is a new principle and way of living.
Full presence.
You have taken all the heartache, all the joy, all the blood and guts of life and built a mission and vision that has created true abundance.
You will never be anxiety-free and you will never not have heart-shattering challenges, but you now have a giant delicious toolbox with which to meet those challenges and easily process, die into them and rebirth from them. You are truly living with ease.
All is as it should be.
I find the BIG VISION process a cleansing experience. It is the opposite of processing the now or the processing of yesterday. It is a way to ease the heart and soften the belly.
You will find that mindmaps are a way to envision and put into practice your intention. This intention is thereby transformed into fruition. The process is not just an idealistic visualization but an actualization.
Kat, do you ever stop? I mean truly just stop? Just taking a day and doing nothing, just drinking tea in pjs and doing nothing?
– Maryellen to me
I have to say the answer is no. Or more accurately, yes- sometimes– but when I do, I feel my body reacting. I feel the migraines come on- migraines that can start in the chest and move down to the stomach. I get the doubled over mom-stomach. Or it starts in the shoulders and moves up the back of the neck. That’s my genetics.
Many migraine sufferers complain of headaches on weekends, vacations, or after a period of stress. Researchers at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx… found that patients had 20% higher chance of developing a migraine 12 to 24 hours after their mood changed from “sad” or “nervous” to “happy” or “relaxed”.
So hmmm. It’s weird for me to stop. And as a single mom trying to keep up with debt, as an artist following her passion, as a self-employed and as a youth coordinator navigating the needs of an at-risk population, and as someone who always needs to feel productive… I can say my mind never does stop.
I am driven to follow my artistic vision and passion, but I am crippled sometimes by overwhelming anxiety and the need to stay on task, to keep at it. I use my journaling and anxiety tools and when I am in the creative process, I flow. I find peace . A reprieve from the debts and anxiety.
But since finding the right brain business plan, I find my wake-ups easier, my mind on task, my directions making sense, my confidence increasing– despite the continuous debts and hurdles. The toolbox is streamlining.
Chaos, control… you like, you like?
[Six Degrees of Separation]
I started using the right brain business plan book with my daughter as we created our business plan for by post street. Life-changing. There is a new sense of confidence and excitement that lifts me above the chaos of financial anxiety.
Now I am doing a new business plan as I work on my DRAWN TOGETHER workbook/workshop series that builds on my belief in the healing power of art and its ability to build connections. I am going deeper into the right brain business plan book by doing the online course and the process helps not only the project but my entire life.
So DO I STOP? No. But I can release. And decrease the stress. So that those moments where I may find myself in my fantasy cottage and just sitting, I may actually breathe in the springtime and allow the stillness to soothe me, and my stomach is quiet, my belly soft, my heart gentle, my neck flexible, and my mind still.
I think of [rest and sleep] as one big ball of goodness. The most important ingredient for either is to apply without guilt or shame. So many people rest or sleep secretly, or feel like they need to explain or justify it! Think of sleep and rest as pure goodness multipliers, and don’t let anyone else’s opinions in.
– SARK
My previous posts re my right brain business plan adventure:
Right-brain entrepreneur Jennifer Lee is a certified coach, writer, artist, yogini, and the founder of Artizen Coaching. Before pursuing her own passions full-time, she consulted for ten years for companies such as Accenture, Gap, Sony, and HP, helping leaders and organizations manage change. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and her website is www.rightbrainbusinessplan.com.
Last Thursday, I led a group through the process of mindmapping using my usual techniques and incorporating tips from the right brain business plan.
[I look forward to actualizing a to-do on my current mindmap: taking the right brain business plan online course and then hopefully taking it even a step further and becoming a licensed facilitator!]
I shared mindmaps made by my previous students and also relayed how mindmaps have helped me for years to organize my life. I keep all my mindmaps as they are reminders of how far I’ve come and reminders for where I need to focus. They make everything relate to everything.
Mindmapping and the right brain business planhelped my daughter and I create the ultimate and ever-evolving business plan for our new business, by post street. It helps us stay sane as we maintain vision and keep moving forward on a miniscule budget.
Inspired by Jennifer Lee’s BIG-VISION VISUALIZATION SCRIPT (p. 34-36), I encouraged the group to write about their ideal future, to think big, to see abundance and success in work, in relationships, in spirit.
Personally, I found it very empowering to write about an abundant future. It’s a LIGHTENING experience and a good balance as I tend to write during dark and anxious times.
Despite my default setting of envisioning myself in a magical little cottage down by a little lake, what do I actually envision for myself when I really concentrate?My stream of consciousness writing shows:
a beautiful workspace
intimate corners
cozy couches and blankets
a library of books
supplies
airy and sunny
hardwood floors
garden, outdoor patio
kitchen, open space
coffee and fresh pie smells and fresh fruit
the pets
easy to have visitors and family over
but also private
a place to store my art
more income than expenses
time for me
time to enjoy
ease of mind
mortgage fully paid
lots of savings
blissful and at peace
the smell of fresh basil
flowers in vases
candles
online presence
ease of blogging and lots of followers
my art has a distinct vision and people are responding with ease and delight
I keep pushing the envelope and make new groundbreaking work
I have time to craft and explore new ways of manipulating art
there is an ease to waking up in the AM with a sense of acceptance and accomplishment
my books are best sellers and I mainly work on my own art which the world is hungry for
I found the process of envisioning an ideal future a cleansing experience. It is the opposite of processing the now or the processing of yesterday. It is a way to ease the heart and soften the belly.
And mindmaps (and visionboards) are a way to envision and put into practice [that cliché of] intention. This intention is thereby transformed into fruition. The process is not just an idealistic visualization but an actualization.
Right now I am organizing the massive amount of info in my graphic novel research using charts and mindmaps and magic markers.
