Friday, September 24, 2010

The Buzz Is Out There!



The BUZZ is out there and I am so excited! Tonight we are hosting our Launch Party for the e course SUBLIME! We sent out lots of invitations and are expecting a great turn out. I can't wait to share my passion with those gals who are new to this material and those who already took the course. Yes, we ran Sublime this summer and it was great! We hired my teenage daughter to be tech support and she was fabulous of course. And to have the input from a teenage girl about the inner girl... Well let me tell you she was a great asset. I was also fortunate enough to have the support of my wonderful mother and her sister, my aunt, who both took the course. It was so interesting to see and hear about their perpsective on the adolescent girl self especially given that for their generation she was a very different entity. All the gals who took the course were terrific and I feel grateful to have been able to work with them! And of course my co-conspirator, who likes to remain behind the camera, has been unwavering in her support and enthusiasm. Without her this never would have gotten off the ground! So lets go to the party and take our adolescent girl self along for the ride and see where she takes us!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Transitions


Transitions.

Here it is the Fall and I am definitely feeling that I am transitioning.

Just like the woods around me I feel the rumblings of change. I am glad that I live in a part of the world where we have four distinct seasons. However, this means there is always loss, as well as gain, as we move from one season to the next. It is also a reminder of the passage of time. As a parent the passage of time is always visible as new shoes and clothes have to be bought to accommodate growing bodies.

Everywhere I look I see growth and decay. It is beautiful, and sad, but necessary. Change is part of life, I know that but that doesn't mean that transitions are easy. I see the beauty in the decay, how can we not? Doesn't mean that I don't feel confused by it. It is easier to identify natures transitions, much harder to have clarity when the transitions are personal.

I do know that I feel grateful, for the branch not dropping on my head as I sat peacefully gazing off into the woods. I know that I did not sit as peacefully in the woods this year as I did last. What accounts for that?

Transition.

Last summer I was not in transition. I was doing all the same things that I had been doing for years. Although our haven in the woods was new and our exploration of this particular region was too. My inner view was much as it had always been. I hadn't yet expressed my yearning for a creative outlet. That took hold after the seasons changes, in the deep winter. It had been rumbling for a long time. I had made attempts to express it but had not been successful. Until now.

Of course the biggest transition for me is entering cyberspace again. I had been off this grid for about three years. I found having a family and busy private practice all I could handle. When I left work I needed to shut down and focus on my family. As my kids have gotten older and more independent I have felt able to reenter this virtual world. And I am thrilled to be back, in a way I couldn't have imagined. I never knew that I would be able to combine my need for creative expression with the ideas that I have been developing during my therapeutic work. It is a gift to work with people as I do and I am so grateful to be able to take what I have learned and extend it. I am still in transition and am trying to remember to enjoy this stage of my growth process. I am trying to quieten my feelings of loss, leaving my comfort zone, and remind myself of the gain. I have to repeatedly tell myself that learning stems from both.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Launch Party for the E-Course Sublime

I am so excited. We are having a Launch Party for our e-course Sublime. We have organized a lovely evening out for all those women who want to join. I have prepared a talk to give everyone a sense of why I put this course together. It wasn't too hard to write the talk because I am so passionate about the idea upon which the course is based. This idea is that we have lost touch with a vital part of ourselves. This part is what I call the inner adolescent girl-self. I feel so strongly that this part of us has been forgotten. I believe that if we remember our girl within and integrate her back into our lives then we have a chance at limitless growth. And I think that is a chance we all deserve to take.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Kids Have Gone Back to School!


The kids have gone back to school and that means that our days wandering in the woods to explore new and exciting worlds hasn't ended but it has changed. No longer do we have endless hours to lose ourselves the way we did just a few short days ago. Now we will be much more aware of time and the new coolness in the air. I have enjoyed my summer, my family and our time together. I cherish these times as much as I can because I know that my children will fly before I know it.


My oldest is already to go... Except that she has to finish her last year of high school. She and I have been working together this summer and it has been a gift. She is bright, enthusiastic, and she is an amazing kid! She is way ahead of where I was at her age, thank goodness. I know that when she flies I will miss her but I know that she has to take her place in the world and pursue her dreams. She is a free spirit and as such she cannot be contained. She must explore endlessly to feed her growth. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

As my children grow into their lives I will be left behind but I have my own dreams to pursue. With them back at school last week I actually had a day to myself. It had been a long time and I missed having my own company. I finally pulled out a canvas that I had been wanting to return to and started at it. It felt so right and wonderful to play with my paints and  brushes again. I usually paint to fill a space on a wall in our home but this summer I took a three day painting course at a local college. It was wonderful to do nothing but paint all day for three days. I would have happily stayed the week had the course been longer. So with the Fall comes endings but beginnings too. I look forward to the days I have to myself to pursue my creative outlets. This time enriches every part of my life and I am grateful for it all.

Monday, September 6, 2010

My Office in the Woods

My office in the woods is a bright blue adirondack chair purched on top of the Canadian Shield. Each morning I climb to this high point to have my cup of tea and begin reflecting. I love to get up and slip away before the others awake. Of course I leave a note but even if I didn't there is no secret about where I have gone. Eventually they will find me.


If I sit quietly enough the young deer will playfully bound around my perch without seeming to even notice me. This fills me with awe and I feel blessed to have witnessed these shy creatures at such close proximity.

As I sit in my chair I try to decide if I will take myself off for an early ride on my beloved bike before my family makes claims on my day. Is there really any other choice? Off I go and feel yet another level of calm when the trees on this trail envelope me as I duck to pass under their green canopy. I try to drink in all the air, beauty and moisture before the weather changes. There was definitely a bit in the air as I set out and I know that the season is changing.

Later in the day when I am hiking on this very same trail with my family we come across yet another wonder. It is an old Mica Mine in the middle of the woods. Sitting on this site precariously close to the edge of the hill lays this old boiler with no obvious explanation of how it got there. There is so much history in this area I think it will keep us searching for answers for many more seasons to come.

Finally we are at the end of our summer weekends and are heading out of the woods feeling sad that the season has come to a close but much better for having been on this adventure. We know we will be back to explore as the leaves turn their glorious shades of golds, reds, oranges and yellows.


Friday, September 3, 2010

Excited about Running Sublime-the ecourse again!

Off to the woods again for the long weekend but before I go I am getting ready to run the next Sublime ecourse. I am really excited because we are going to be featured on Kelly Rae Roberts fabulous site. We are running the course at the beginning of October and hope to draw the attention of those who haven't yet heard about the course.

We are also planning a Launch Party to be held this month. It should be a lot of fun. I will give a short talk  about The Girl Within. Then we will just mingle, eat goodies and chat. Should be a nice evening out. I'll keep you posted about the date.