Stay when the art is weird. Stay when the external voices say run away. Stay even when you don’t know what to start. Stay when you don’t know what to do next. Stay when you don’t know how to finish.

Stay present and listen to the voice of your Artist Soul - she speaks so softly, waiting for you to pay attention to her voice, instead of the noise all around you.

You do have the power to choose who you listen to. You get to decide what to let in.

I’m learning to pay more attention to my artist soul, and less attention to outer noise. I’ve been pausing and listening, noticing and releasing. And learning to trust my deeper truth.

Curiosity is the opposite of certainty on the risk tolerance spectrum. Where is the fun in knowing exactly how a creative adventure will turn out?

Do you struggle to get to your creative practice? Maybe there’s not enough time in the day. Maybe your plate is already overflowing. Maybe you’re not sure where to begin.

You’re in good company because every great artist has a powerful antagonist.

Are you good at listening for your inner guidance? Or are you listening to the old programming and loud noise coming from outside. Learning to trust your artist soul, the one directing the brush, is essential because she is a skilled guide through the unknown. That she knows intuitively, unconsciously what my conscious self can’t see yet, what it hasn’t woken up to yet.

Practicing being Open to the unfolding of the mystery of this new year; being Present to the moment right here and less distracted by the noise out there; and living in alignment with my true self noticing what feeds my soul and what makes me come alive.

The truth is that we are part of nature and we were not made for a frantic level of activity during this Solstice season. You may be feeling a disconnect between our innate need to rest and restore at this time, and the siren call to do all the things. It’s only natural!

Creativity is a puzzle. How will you combine all your pieces? Will you do the same ole, same ole? Or will you be curious about how to make your next step in your creative process sizzle with excitement and novelty? Exploring curiosity, risking taking, and play in creativity and in life.

You are not behind.
There is only the sacred now.

Holy Wisdom delights in you right now, just as you are, and has since the beginning of time. That’s worth something!

If you’re feeling behind, maybe you are measuring the wrong things.

It is true that there are terrifying things happening in our country and in the world. But that is not the only thing that is true. Become a devotee of awe and wonder. You get to choose where you place your attention and what you will focus on. You get to rewrite the narrative of your life.

In this season of Samhain, the myth of Inanna’s descent can help us to see what we need to relinquish, release, and let go of, to be more fully and truly who we are created to be.

Have you ever felt the presence of an otherworldly being? The Celtic Otherworld recognizes the supportive presence of our enlightened ancestors, called the Sionn, and the Sidhe, messengers of the Divine who are always nearby.

What feeds your soul? Do more of that. What drains you? Do less of that. We need to get comfortable using our sacred no in order to create enough space in our lives for our sacred yes to flourish. Saying yes to what aligns with your soul contributes to your overall well-being.

Using your sacred no to create space for your sacred yes to emerge. It’s time to turn away from those voices that want to distract us from what we are here on this earth to do. It’s time to turn towards the self, to listen to the wisdom of the self, to be fully and completely self as we were meant to be, and to bring our gift of self to the world. This is new ground for me and may be for many women in the third age.

To figure out what light’s you up, you need to listen to your inner wisdom. And that voice is very shy having been ignored for so long!

Here’s what I brought back for you from a week in Taos, NM:

1. You are not alone.

2. My Artist Soul is hungry. Yours?

3. Focus on your “one thing.”

4. Keep saying “yes!” to life!

What does it mean to step into your Crone Energy?

• Stop apologizing!

• Stop playing small!

• Take up space!

• Stop hiding behind the ‘good girl’ mask!

Art is powerful when it is true and captures the human lived experience, not because it is perfectly executed.

It doesn’t have to be pretty. I has to be true. And with that, I have taken back the brush and I’m choosing to create bold portraits of myself without apology, without comment. Feel the liberation in that! You can do it too!!