Someone once posted on this site that my painted faeries look like disgusting blobby mess.   Ya, good thing I already know what I know now, and I deleted her comment and blocked her from my site!  Ha. That was fun. Kind of a ‘brush off’ technique when outer critics might affect you… but internet style.

~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

My pottery: Misshapen, carved, tiny details, faerie hands, heads, hair, bits of clay flying everywhere, porcelain sails, torn to look like sails, and more carving … this is NOT like throwing a series of symmetrical bowls for cereal.

And one time at a show, another potter -a production potter-  took me aside and showed me the bottom of his pots. “See?” he said, “the bottom of your pots have to be smooth and perfect.”

Well, I wasn’t as wise as I am now, so I didn’t come up with a witty remark.  I might now have said,

“Uh, huh… so once I’ve built the pieces with 40,oo0 bits of carved clay scattered everywhere over the work space, and once I’ve attached tiny little people.. I”m supposed to squash them entirely as I put the pot upside down on the wheel to spend time re-smoothing the little dints that occurred as a result of the highly creative one-of-a-kind process for each pot?  Is that what I’m supposed to do?  Hello!  I clean up the bottom the best that is reasonably possible… given what I do, do you not see you are being ridiculous by suggesting my pots be  PERFECT like yours on the bottom?  My bottoms are perfect in being one more sign that they are different.. in a good way.”

But no, I didn’t said that. I walked away feeling like my pots were not very good.  I knew it was impossible to have perfect bottoms unless I quit carving frantically, quit adding details like a madwoman, and of course, if I stopped listening to the call of intuition, the zone, the higher self, and all those little faerie-like spirits that always bossed me around. 

Even though my pots started with a nice smooth bottom…. they were never going to stay ‘perfect’ unless I simply made a series of cereal bowls.

BUT still I felt bad.   The production potter’s  comment probably meandered around haunting me for awhile.  I probably even wondered if I should change what I do so I could have clean perfect bottoms. 

I’m so glad I’m over that. I’m so glad that my imperfect break-the-rules pots evolved despite that part of me thought I SHOULD be following rules of symmetry and clean bottoms to be considered ‘good’. 

But then, I can’t take credit for this… it was that crazy inspiration of spirits who first introduced themselves as faeries who pushed me past my perceived concept of perfect. 

Whoaaa, I just connected a previous disconnected:  I guess they were my coaches.  And now I coach people to get past their own perfectionism, and the influence of others,  that stops them dead in their tracks.  Well, I’ll be darned.

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

So pshawww to ‘wanna be coaches”   – yes, they wanna be coaches coaching you, I suspect, but only because they are the experts in the field, gawl darn it.

I love you, spirits who guide me… and yes, the book is almost done!

But that’s okay.  It’s good.  However, to enhance this lovely feeling of being a homemaker I went to the store, bought pork chops, and am now munching them down with applesauce at 11 pm.  Interesting.

huh. Bear got top billing.  How ’bout that. Lets put  the other critters here too.. rescued dogs to love, goats and llamas and kitties to feed and pet – real life ‘farming’ is so much more satisfying than farmvillain. 

Brent and Peter… oh so lovely of them to invite me to retreat in this amazing place.  Ah, and faeries.. I wonder if they knew they’d also invited them to join us.

And now Ms Jill Badonsky has arrived! Here to… well… it just seemed we ought to meet. so meetng we are!  Kindred in our philosophies and love of advocating for the creative being, and oysters and cheese and crackers.  Honoured to be spending this time, and she, like the others have top billing in this post.. no matter how you might actually perceive it.    

ahhh. Heavenly.

And so, these beings from the Lands of Fae, return from travelling many realms to be near the mortals.  They dance on the keysa’ e[ [wru azs89uaf and dip into the sugar more often than usual as they watch for the moments when a mortal may be a bit more open to their existence. And when they notice the moments, they pop in to share thoughts of magic, of faerie perception, of unseen beings who can take them to realms and places they usually think impossible. And love. They have this unconditional love.. sure, they might tease, coax, and use whatever it seems might encourage a mortal to believe, but in fact, they simply have this unconditional love that they want to sprinkle on mortals. 

This is no big surprise – this sprinkling.  Magic wands have shown up in story and song and in the minds of those who can ‘see,’ for centuries. 

The unconditional love may come as a surprise… what with all those stories about faerie tricksters, stealing babies, and stealing one half of a pair of socks on occasion.  To this, those that hang with me say with a wave of dismissal, “oh those. pfft.  not from where we come.  and stolen babies? never happened.”

As you can see, these magical beings have adopted some mortal traits.. simply to communicate with me.  And you.  Smart. But then I suppose any energy that is so connected with the entire universe would be smart.

And one of those so connected with the entire universe is Santa.  He, too,  sprinkles love and magic the minute the first Christmas story is read. Whether he is portayed as a jolly elf, a mystical wizard, or a saint.. the spirit of Santa exists and plays a particularly active role at Christmas – a time when so many cultures and people are celebrating ancient stories and  spiritual beliefs, all with one common thread – a celebration of ‘more than what we see.’

As they go about their work, there’s not a word of complaint as they sprinkle love on those who dismiss Christmas as a commercial event.  Not a word of complaint, as they add extra doses to those who are overwhelmed by preparations.   Not a word of complaint as they inundate those who are feeling nothing but misery.

Simply unconditional love. They are doing what they can to lift the spirits of the mortal being.  And sometimes, especially with the little ones, spirits are lifted so high, Santa and the faeries celebrate because they know these mortals know that they exist, and know the joy, magic and love that the faeries wish to share.

That’s pretty darn nice of them to do all this, huh?

May your spirit be lifted so high this Christmas that you truly can celebrate the magic, joy and love  of the ‘more than what we see.’

by Janet L Whitehead © 2009

Creativity…  For me, it is blissful to witness a world that is evolving to recognize the power of our creative being.   Like magic dust finding its way into all nooks and crannies, those who were once considered ‘ordinary mortals’ are now experiencing moments, discoveries and creations that leave them breathless saying, “YES! YES!… but wait a sec, where’d that come from?”

We all know the stories of ‘elite’ genius minds, artists and writers, and their ability to be in a space where brilliant thoughts, ideas, inventions, answers, artwork and stories ‘come to them.”  When asked how these creators got the idea, they often answer, “I don’t know.” or “From God.” or “From spirit.” 
We’ve heard the stories of Da Vinci and Einstein and we’ve commented in awe, “Gifted.”

As we move from the Age of Information to the Age of Conceptualization and Creativity, more and more research, resources and stories are appearing that give credit and value to the creative being in each of us.  Yes, we are all gifted.  We simply need to find our best way to access our creative soulful brilliance.

And that access– whether it be through making art, thinking differently, writing, storytelling, dancing, yoga, playing, using our imagination, singing, visualizing and/or  taking meditative journeys – opens the door to the intuitive, wise, gifted and magical self.  Yes, magical. With ‘magical’ meaning “making the impossible possible.”

I, for one, am gloriously happy that finally.. FINALLY.. the word ‘creativity’  gets to take on its full meaning.  And that soon, when people see the word “creativity’ their first response will no longer be “I haven’t got a creative bone in my body.”  Last I heard we all have a right brain.  And I think that the more creativity is given its value, the more people will realize “Hey, I’ve always been creative… and it’s okay to spend more time with that.”

Simply by reading this and pondering the concept, you have opened a door of awareness and possibility. You might not even notice as old belief systems that have limited you start to melt away.  By reading this, you have taken a step in your pursuit of your unlimited potential as a soulful being.
That was easy enough, wasn’t it?  Yes, it’s all so much simpler than people think.

Christmas is a magical time of year.  Have you noticed how much creativity plays a part in the celebration?  Storytelling, theatre, baking, singing, crafting, decorating…. perhaps we have always naturally known a way to be open to the magic. 

And so, do what you do – leap in the snow,  add sprinkles to the cookies as you belt out Christmas carols, have quiet meditative moments  by the fire sipping hot chocolate and all the while, acknowledge yourself for time spent opening yourself to the magic.

By Janet L Whitehead ©2009  (janet@musingsandmud.com)

Affordable, kick butt fun and very unique. Just $7.98 can change your life. And I’m not saying that in a “wow, good words for marketing’ kind of way. It’s actually true.

The Manifestival is a new FREE “mini” workbook designed to introduce you to the possibilities of discovery through using fantasy and creative tools.  Just sign on email page of website (listed below)  and you’ll get the link.

Workbooks from the Self-Discovery Adventure series:  (downloadable e-books)
«  Happy Revelly After
«  The Demise of Noshud Hafta- What’s your Story?
«  Rekindling Imagination
«  Did you Love Aliens? – a first step view into your world of passions and gifts
«  “Whatever!” – Journaling for the Journaling Challenged.

Watch for future Self-Coaching Adventures:
« The Pirate’s Way *The Faerie’s Way

Musings and Mud – The Coaching Studio
www.musingsandmud.com
workbooks:  www.musingsandmud.com/workbooks.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(faeries look at me with squinty eyes and a slight shake of the head)

Oh. ya. We’ve made that happen a number of times already. oops. forgot.

now back to cake?

But the feeling I got was such a shift:  Like “I’m retired, I do what I want.”  It’s a right brain shift therefore pretty darn hard to articulate the feeling. I just magically knew I can do what I want, and remove the don’t wants ie:  The left brainy things that say, ‘what can you do today to keep yourself out there?”   And what I don’t want is to spend time fussing over “what’s the best options for marketing.”  

And so on my first day of retirement, I curled up in the evening and visualized:   magical people, my name getting out there without me fussing over any of it, my workbooks just simply finding their way to people who are looking for exactly that kind of magic.. you know, that sort of thing.

ya, we know that sort of thing!!

and lo and behold, LOOK what happened the very next two days!

wasn’t that FUN for us to watch you – especially the laughing!  and the rolling your eyes at yourself, saying “silly Janet, this is what you teach, but you forgot to apply it to marketing!”

Well, we do all have a left brain.. and mine was being rather controlling on the marketing, wasn’t it?

actually, no, we don’t ALL have a left brain.  we’re not quite sure why you mortals have one.  without it, you could fly.

mmm, follow up on that comment will have to wait for the book to be published.  SO close to being done.  Any publishers interested out there?

uh, potter.. get your head out of the left…

OH YA!  I’ll visualize that too!

Anyway…  a gathering of magical people happened, amazing people from around the world contacted me for coaching, work(play!)books sold especially well, and the NEW YORK TIMES called me for an INTERVIEW!

Celebrating! Celebrating! Celebrating my ‘retirement”!!!  

let’s go eat cake!

Yes, lets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
ps. you can check out the other version of this event.. details, techniques, and the faeries tend not to say much on the other blog.  Which is neither good nor bad.. it just is. Faeries be where faeries want to be!

http://musingalong.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/marketing-out-of-the-right-side-of-the-brain/