My purpose is to explore and express my love of beauty and the beauty of love. Here’s some of what I’ve come up with.

Love Oracle 4: Soul Mates

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Let my Soul Mate series of energy-infused paintings help you connect to your intuition to increase the unconditional love in your life.

As for last week’s Love Oracle post, your relationship status doesn’t matter when it comes to using this Love Oracle set of paintings. And although I painted the faces of a man and a woman, let your imagination picture whatever relationship comes to heart as you read the message.

Note also that the term “soul mate” doesn’t always mean “lover”. Soul mates come in many forms – friends, family, etc. Some come together for a moment, a day, a chapter, or until death parts their human incarnations.

However long, soul mate relationships have a purpose rooted in a deep love that stems from their time in spirit form before you were incarnated.

Think of it as an agreement your souls made to meet up in this lifetime to help achieve something you’d wanted to experience as a human.

Some soul mates, of course, come together in sacred romantic relationship to fulfill their role as supporters of each others’ soul growth.

Pick the painting that speaks most to you today, then scroll down to read its inspired words. 

Let your heart interpret the painting and message in whatever way serves your Highest Good.

 

Love Oracle Message 1: Your Love is Eternal

Soul Mate Series painting of moon & sun

Dear Beloved,

Your love is immortal. It existed long before you were born and will continue long after you are no longer physically together.

Be comforted that your souls are continually shaping meaning in your co-created life, beyond what your physical incarnations have or have yet to create.

The momentum of your relationship is everlasting. This is true whether you are moving towards each other, in the same direction, or now in separate directions.

Know your love is intact in the bigger picture, deep within you and beyond your current circumstances.

Take a look at this purposeful relationship in this new light.

How is your soul mate relationship helping you bring your soul’s journey to its rightful place?

What is the next inspired action you can take for your love to live on: seeing, accepting, and unconditionally loving the other without expectations.

Painting: Betwixt Day & Night (18″ x 24″)Professional acrylics, glass beads, mica, amethyst & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. No framing required. 
$1,247 CAD Buy it here (or save $500 for all 3). Prints on demand available.

Love Oracle Message 2: Be Completely Yourself in Love

Soul Mate Series with sun and moon in double vesica pisces

Dear Beloved,

The romantic relationship you seek (with God, Self, life, or another) is a divine union with a divine purpose. 

To experience such a world-changing partnership, you must bring your complete self.

This is not about two “halves” making a whole. It’s about two “haves” making a holy union for the Highest Good of both individuals and the Greater Good of the planet.

What can you be or do right now to feel more connected and complete within yourself?

Look to your vertical connection with the Divine to remember who you truly are. Connect to this Source of true unconditional love to fuel your sacred journey as You.

Look also to connect on the horizontal plane with those in your circles, seeking the mirror they provide to your values, beliefs, ability to love, limiting behaviours, etc. Be grateful for these mirrors, showing you the gap between your projected little self and your True Self.

Then nourish your relationships in a way that helps magnify and shine the light within you and the other back out into the world.

Painting: Twin Flame (18″ x  24″) Professional acrylics, glass beads, mica, mirror & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. No framing required. Price: $1,247 CAD – Buy it here. (or save $500 for all 3). Prints also available

Love Oracle Message 3: Let your Divine Feminine & Masculine Shine

Re-United sun & moon soul mate painting

Dear Beloved,

As our days and nights dance to the rhythms of the sun & moon, your life dances to the rhythms of the divine masculine and feminine within your self and your relationship.

Can you recognize your feminine side: receptive, intuitive, creative? Your masculine side: action-oriented, analytical, rational?

Are you experiencing an inner war between your masculine side (often most valued and trained in society) and your feminine side (which may have been squashed by your environment)? Does one need more space to shine?

What about in your relationships?

Your inner war or harmony will impact how you perceive and act/react with others.

Recognizing the importance of both the divine feminine and masculine within yourself and cultivating inner harmony can only help you appreciate the differences and cultivate harmony within your relationships.

Each has its role, its gifts to give. Each has the right to be valued, respected, nurtured, and to shine… Again, within yourself, the other, and your relationship.

Reflect on how your inner feminine and masculine move together or against each other. Apply the necessary unconditional love and compassion to allow both the moon and sun to shine within you.

Although you may stand whole in your own light, this light is mirrored and magnified as you come face to face with your soul mate.

So radiate your light, respecting and appreciating how the other’s light (albeit different than your own) equally nourishes your relationship’s tree of life.

Painting: Re-United (18″ x  24″) Professional acrylics, mica & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. No framing required. Price: $1,247 CAD  – Buy it here (or save $500 for all 3). Prints also available

 

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Love Oracle 3: Partnership

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Let’s focus on romantic partnerships.I’m not talking about the Hollywood versions many of us grew up with.

I’m talking about being an active partner in an unconditionally loving couple.

It doesn’t matter what your relationship status or sexual orientation is.

Let your heart interpret the painting and message in whatever way serves your Highest Good.

Being heterosexual and currently single, I paint my visions of what I wish to manifest in my life.

If you’re single and want a relationship, allow your oracle message to nourish your visions of your ideal relationship.If you’re happily single and want to stay that way, you may want to interpret the meaning as it pertains to your own inner masculine and feminine sides.

If you’re in a same-sex relationship, simply change the pronouns and what you see in the paintings to what serves you.

Pick the painting that speaks most to you today, then scroll down to read its inspired words. 

May your Love Oracle message help you develop your ideal partnership, whatever that means to you.

Allow the energy of the painting and love notes to permeate your body, mind & spirit, then open to any inspired action that emerges from your contemplation.

Love Oracle Message 1: Expand Your Sacred Container

Dear Beloved,

It’s natural for you to grow and change with time. Your life experiences are meant to help you emerge more fully into your True Self. Please remember that the same is true of your partner. This may not look like what you expected or would choose.

Seek to see, accept, and unconditionally love them for who they are right now.

Envisage your partnership as a sacred container. Just as the nautilus grows new and bigger chambers to accommodate its growth, you too are asked to create more inner / outer space to accommodate the growth of yourself, your partner, and your relationship.

What that looks like will depend on both of your vision for your future together. Is this based on lifestyles, goals, or values?

No two containers (i.e. partnerships) will look the same. You’re shaping it as you go, unfolding your unique meaning as you both evolve at your own rhythm. 

Also like the nautilus, you’re being asked to use the parts of yourself that you’ve outgrown to propel you forward. Don’t get stuck in the past. Use its fuel as momentum to co-create something better for yourselves.

How is your relationship right now? Like the couple here looking at and past its reflection in the patio door window, use your relationship as a mirror. Does it match your common vision of what you’d hoped to manifest? If not, what adjustments can you make – either in your partnership or in your vision?

Just as the couple in this painting, admiring and respecting the power of the ocean beside which it has built its home (water symbolizing emotions), hold each other’s emotions as part of the sacred landscape upon which you live.

Evolving the sacred container of true partnership means creating a safe space for each of you to grow more into who you truly are and caring for each other’s happiness as well as your own.

Take the time to shape (or re-shape) your vision of the future, moving forward in whichever way best serves your Highest Good as both individuals and a couple.

Painting: Visualization Vibration Radiation” (VVR) (18″ x 36″) Professional acrylics & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. No framing required.  $2,267 CAD More on the original painting here…
Prints available here…

Love Oracle Message 2: Create Balance

Dear Beloved,

Do you see one face or two?

As I painted this couple lying in bed (the couple, not me), I envisaged them as the perfect balance of the yin yang energies, mirroring the opposing yet harmonizing nature of the feminine and masculine, not only within the couple, but within each one of us.

She’s looking up towards the Heavens – in a relaxed, open, receptive, and intuitive state.

He’s looking at her in a more action-oriented, forward-moving state.

Individuals and couples need both for balance. If you’re too focused on one element in the polarity, you’ll live in a state of imbalance.

If you’re constantly on the move, you’ll eventually burn out. Likewise, if you’re constantly at rest, you’ll struggle to make forward momentum.

Notice how these energetic polarities play out in your relationship and life.

Are you in a state of balance? Or is your relationship suffering because there’s too much of one and not of the other?

Sit down with your partner to consider this question together, then take inspired action to bring you into greater balance – within yourselves and the couple.

Painting: Side by Side (30″ x 40″) Professional acrylics, granular gel, light molding paste, glass beads & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. No framing required. $3,700 CAD. More on the original here…. Order prints here.

Love Oracle Message 3: Be Real

Sacred Romance - Meet Me in the Middle - painting of couple in Vesica Pisces

Dear Beloved,

It’s time to be real! What first came to heart or mind when you read this?

By choosing this Love Oracle painting, your soul is saying you’re ready to let go of the illusions and delusions that have kept you separate from your True Self and others.

Open your heart. Open your eyes. Come back to the here and now to share your truth.

Join with your partner in a space of curiosity and wonder, not expectation.

You’re ready to create something new – two elements of the Divine Oneness coming together in that sacred space in the middle to be real.

Is your partner impacted by your truly seeing, accepting, and celebrating him or her? Absolutely!

Romance is that awareness and celebration of the delightful, comforting, vulnerable, revealing truth of the moment.

So let go of what used to be, should be, could be, would be.

Be here now. Appreciate the truth of the moment. 

Nurture and celebrate the unconditional love that is possible when both people in a couple are present in Truth, committed to seeing and being seen, as well as accepting and being accepted for who they truly are.

It starts with you. 

Painting: Meet Me in the Middle  (18″ x 36″)  Professional acrylics & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. No framing required.  $2,267 CAD More on the original here…
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Love Oracle 2: Peace Be With You

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Welcome to the 2nd post in this series, delivering love oracle messages to your heart through art.

Pick the painting that speaks most to you today, then scroll down to read its inspired words. May it help you connect to the peace at your centre.

Allow the energy of the painting and love notes to permeate your body, mind & spirit, then open to any inspired action that emerges from your contemplation.

Love Oracle Message 1: Peace-full Teachings

Shanti - intuitive paintingDear Beloved,

Peace is something you can only find within yourself. But like with any journey anywhere, it can be helpful to have a supportive Guide to show you the way there.

Take comfort in the words of your Teachers, whether that be Buddha, Jesus, Mahatma Ghandi, or Jimi Hendrix.

May one of these quotes (or other teachings you are led to) act as a mirror or a mentor, inspiring you in your own learnings and teachings on peace.

What quote would your Higher Self add to this list based on your unique life experience and in your own unique words?

Make a poster of it or one of these below and place it where you’ll see it every morning when you wake up, every night as you go to sleep,  and several times in between. May it remind you of what’s already within you. Peace be with you!

“Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.”  – Buddha

“Do not let the behaviour of others destroy your inner peace”. – Dalai Lama

“Peace Begins with a smile” – Mother Theresa

“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.” —Saint Francis de Sales

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” —Jimi Hendrix

“Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will be as one.” —John Lennon

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” —Mahatma Gandhi

“You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.” ―Indira Gandhi

“When you make peace with yourself, you make peace with the world.” —Maha Ghosananda

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” —Desmond Tutu

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” – Jesus (John 14:27)

“To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.” – Buddha

Painting: Shanti (9″ x 12 “)Professional acrylics, glass beads & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. SOLD

Love Oracle Message 2: Walk in Peace

Dear Beloved,
The greatest gift you can give others is to be in your own peace.

Every step you take in life is an invitation to reconnect to the peace that lives at the core of your being-ness.

Every breath you take (yes, take a good deep breath) helps take you out of your head and ground you into your body. It also helps you connect to Spirit.

Much of your worry or stress is a result of what’s happening in your mind – be it regret for the past, fear for the future and a whole gamut of negative thoughts in between.

Slow down. Come back to the present. Be here with your Self now.

Feel the miracle of this moment. Be grateful for the blessings ever present amidst the chaos. Smile. Step. Breathe. Connect. Repeat.

And once you’ve found that peace at the centre of who you truly are, bring it back with you into your daily life as a gift to all those who are blessed to cross your path.

Move forward one conscious step at a time – aware of what your inner and outer landscapes have to share with you.

For you are the peace and the gift that the world needs right now.

Peace be with you!

Painting: Walk in Peace (15″ x 30″)  Professional acrylics & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. No framing required. CAD $1,577. More on it here…

Love Oracle Message 3: Peace in Motion

Dear Beloved,

You’re being called upon to be peace in motion right now.

There may be times when sitting in silence is what’s needed. This isn’t one of those times. Not for you.

Know, however, that there’s a difference between busy-ness and conscious action.

Make wise choices on how you go through your day; cull your schedule so that what you spend your energy on has more meaning, more impact.

You’ve got this! You’re never given more than you can handle.

Take a deep breath, connect to your Higher Self and Spirit, then take flight. Make it a purposeful flight with direction and resolve, knowing that your very presence brings peace to others, especially if you make that part of your purpose.

All the inner & outer work you’ve ever done has brought you to this time & place. Let your peace shine bright in the world. Peace be with you and all those around you!

Painting: Peace Evolution ( 10“ x  10“) Professional acrylics & channeled energy work on cradle-board with painted edges. No framing required. SOLD More on it here…

 

 

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Love Oracle 1: Discover Your Truth

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Welcome to this series delivering love oracle messages to your heart through my art.

Pick the painting that speaks most to you today, then scroll down to read its inspired words. May it help you discover your Truth.

Allow the energy of the painting and love notes to permeate your body, mind & spirit, then open to any inspired action that emerges from your contemplation.

Love Oracle Message 1: Go Deep

Dear Beloved, You are so much more than what the eyes can see. The world and life itself is so much more than the drama and chaos that may appear as the popular truth.

Look deeply within yourself, others, and worldly events –  past the surface illusions to connect to the Divine Essence that flows through the Universe and through you. As you let go of the denseness of thoughts and matter, what truth emerges?

Remember who you truly are, an individualized expression of the Divine. Ground & connect yourself through that Universal Energy Flow that unites everyone and everything.

What can you be or do right now to allow this loving energy to permeate your week?

Painting: Starseed Kisses (11″ x 14″) Professional acrylics & channeled energy work, pumice (volcanic ash) and Howlite (for calm, patience and perseverance) on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. No framing required.  CAD $727 – More on it here.

Love Oracle Message 2: Journey In Before You Journey Out

Sky Dancer intuitive painting
Dear Beloved, The answers you seek are cradled within yourself, awaiting your journey to your centre to be revealed.

This may come through quiet contemplation, journaling, mindful walking, dancing, dream analysis, or even washing the dishes. How do you best tap into your right feminine intuitive side? Which of these or other practices feels more delightful right now?

Follow your natural rhythm and the rhythms of nature as invitations to be and live who you truly are.

You’re worth taking the time to get to know to your core. Your truth awaits discovery through the journey itself. Celebrate both the journey and the answers you seek, then bring this inner wisdom back out into your life, one inspired step at a time.

Painting: Sky Dancer (18 “ x  24“) Professional acrylics & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas. No framing required.  $1,297 CAD. More on it here.

Love Oracle Message 3: Become One Again

Dear Beloved, Have you forgotten that you are Spirit in a human body? Much of your pain or suffering may come from feeling separate from your Self, from Spirit, from Source – from All That Is.

Becoming One again is part of your purpose here on Earth to help with the ascension of the planet.

How? This reveals itself in what brings you authentic joy. It manifests itself in what opens your heart to both the giving and receiving love.

Truth rests in the perfect space where Heaven & Earth meet – where Spirit and humanity connects.

As you raise your vibration (increasing your positive, loving energy flow) it becomes easier for you to connect to your Higher Self, I AM presence, soul, supersoul & Source.

As your humanity joins with your Spirit (and therefore the God within and everywhere), you will know your Truth. You will See yourself, others, and the world around you through the Eyes of God, through the Eyes of Truth.

You knew your chosen purpose when you were One with All that Is, before incarnating in this current vessel that is your body here on the Earth Plane. Why wait until you return to the other side to re-member it?

How can you raise your consciousness and open to enlightenment now?

Painting: Enlightened (12″ x12 ″)  Professional acrylics, glass beads & channeled energy work on gallery-wrapped canvas with painted edges. No framing required.  CAD $497 – More on it here.
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Boost Your Immune System Through Love, not Fear

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Love nourishes. Fear can kill.

Sounds simple, right?

Let’s go deeper in the hopes that it will help you make the body mind and spirit choices to boost your immune system through these continuing COVID-19 times.

Your Immune System

Throughout your years inhabiting your miraculous body, you’ve likely become aware of some of the signs that your immune system needs a boost.

You may get frequent colds or tummy troubles, tiredness, stress, slow-healing wounds, infections or achy muscles and joints.

For me, my hands are my biggest messengers.  And the holiday season is often when I’m reminded of that.

I ended up overindulging in sugar, causing my eczema to act up. I even got a few days of arthritis-like symptoms in my hands, which only happens when I overdo the sugar – a well-known immune buster.

But what (or how & why) you eat aren’t the only reasons your immune system may be suffering.

Fear as an Immune Buster

The latest wave of COVID-19 cases is leading to another wave of lock-downs, separateness, and fear.

There’s a difference between:

  1. being aware of a risky situation and taking the necessary precautions to stay safe, and
  2. feeding into a mass frenzy that positions everyone and everything as potential enemies, rendering you blind to opportunities and hope.

You too have no doubt witnessed strange things around you and perhaps even within yourself that didn’t feel like loving reactions to our world’s situation: thoughts, acting-out behaviours, conversations, feelings, family conflicts, etc.

It’s definitely harder to stay “up” when the energy around is so heavy.

Collective fear is hanging over this planet like a dark cloud. It too is contagious. It’s weakening our immune systems!

I encourage you to take a look in your life and environment to see what is feeding your fear and therefore busting your immune system.

Whether it’s looking a the news too often, hanging out with negative people, eating foods that depress you, or sacrificing the present for worry about the future – how are you weakening your immune system?

Choosing Love as an Immune Booster

Loving thoughts.

Loving actions.

Loving words.

Loving choices.

Loving decisions.

This includes the realization that what one person may believe is loving (to self and others) may not be what you believe is loving…  The best we can do is ask ourselves “What would Love do now?” in the face of these differences.

By raising your vibration in body, mind, and spirit, you are strengthening your immune system.

How can you love yourself best right now? How can you spread love within your own life and environment? It too can be contagious and a whole lot healthier than feeding and spreading fear.

What you focus on expands. Where attention goes, energy flows.

So instead of excessively worrying about catching COVID (which lowers your immune system and could attract it to you), go for a nature walk, dance to your favourite song, or listen to a meditation that raises your vibration and spreads love around the planet.

Instead of complaining about those with opposing views (which creates separateness and conflict), focus on your own peace.

And instead of focusing on all the bad news, nourish your good-news sensors by paying attention to all that we have to be grateful for – on a personal and collective level.

Remember, you can only be of service to others if you’re happy & healthy enough. So what can you do for yourself first?  

May You Be Happy & Healthy

The symbolic Visual Gift (top of page) I co-created with Spirit as part of a client’s Divine Storytelling Time Package last week was a wonderful reminder of the importance to “Drink deeply from the sweetness of life”.

It’s all there to drink from – love & fear. Whichever we choose will be our reality in body, mind, and spirit.

May you boost your immune system in all the ways that are best suited to you!

Have a happy & healthy new year beloved!

And if you have a favourite immune booster (in body, mind or spirit), feel free to share it in the comments below.

Dominique

P.S. Want your own Divine Storytelling Time to help you tap into your inner guidance? Click here.

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ArtsSmarts- Impressions of Newfoundland Expressions

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A Success Story

Opening the door to the colourful world of both intuitive painting and Newfoundland expressions at Beachy Cove Elementary School was a blessing on so many levels.

Facilitating students’ messy fun for the first 2 community layers was just the beginning.

Witnessing their individualized creative expression of a Newfoundland saying on the 3rd layer was both heart-opening and mind-blowing!

This is truly a success story:

  • 535 happy children got to express their creativity in a culturally symbolic intuitive painting over 5.5-weeks.
  • This resulted in the creation of a gorgeously illustrated treasury of Newfoundland & Labrador sayings available to all.
  • After over a year of pandemic restrictions, parents were finally allowed back into the school to be involved with their children.
  • As the project artist, I grew both professionally and personally (more on that below).

As you’ll see in the video, so many were involved in making this a success story. Thank you to all!

ArtsSmarts 2021-Beachy Cove Elementary School

The Project History

Laun Shoemaker, a Grade 4 French Immersion teacher at Beachy Cove Elementary School, approached me a few years back with the idea of making an illustrated book of Newfoundland & Labrador sayings with the whole school.

I came up with an intuitive painting process that had classes participate as a group on 2 layers of a community background before cutting that up to work on individual pieces. This collaborative foundation ensured that the whole class contributed to the success of each student. The technique for the 3rd layer was adjusted for each grade level –  Kindergarten to Grade 4.

Although the Newfoundland & Labrador Arts Council granted us the maximum allowance for this ArtsSmarts project, the pandemic put it on hold.

In the Fall of 2021, Lisa Cobb, the school’s Reading Specialist and new ArtsSmarts project Liaison, stepped in as Laun was now on sabbatical.

She and Carolyn Lethbridge, the associate director, spent time with the children of the lower grades to introduce the concept of Newfoundland expressions and symbolic representation.

Parents & grandparents were also asked to help their children choose expressions.

By the time they came to my sessions, their focus was on translating their expressions symbolically & visually.

The PDF Book

Creating the artwork was just the first part of this ambitious project.

Lisa & Laun  (while still on sabbatical) worked tirelessly on scanning the artwork and designing the book before the children got to take their paintings home.

“Impressions of Expressions: An Illustrated Guide to Popular Newfoundland Sayings” is now available for download here (492 MB).

This PDF is now a free resource honouring the rich language of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Copies will be sent to places like The Centre For Newfoundland Studies at MUN, ArtsNL, and the Minister of Education.

A printed hardcover copy is archived in the Beachy Cove Resource Centre.

Open House Video

During my first days of teaching, I learned the school usually has an ArtsSmarts Open House at the end of the project to share the work with parents.

This year, however, that wasn’t a possibility due to the pandemic safety guidelines.

Instead, I  decided to play with another of my passions: videography.

So while the school team worked on the book, I worked on the video above.

All children featured in this video were photographed with permission from their parents/guardians.

Times have changed… Part of modern teaching, it seems, is taking photos for Twitter to keep the parents up to date on what’s happening at school. That served us well!

I may have been surprised at first to discover I could photograph most of the children. Once I got started, though, you couldn’t stop me. Fun!

This Open House video turned out to be a silver lining to the pandemic. Now, this project can be shared with a much wider audience. Enjoy!

Stretching the Comfort Zones

This was a huge project born from an ambitious vision. 

The further we got from the inspired grant proposal-writing phase, the more daunting it became for me.

Comfort zones are an interesting thing. They stretch, but they also shrink.

This ArtsSmarts project was definitely a stretch. After being a happy hermit at home or solo nature videographer for 2 years during the pandemic, my comfort zones around crowds had shrunk. A lot.

I knew better than to ignore a Spirit Call though. And this project was just that!

I may have lived on 3 continents and 5 provinces, but answering each Spirit Call was a stretch of my comfort zones.

When change comes from Guidance, however, it’s a whole lot easier to trust that the stretch is a good thing… for myself and / or the Greater Good.

I confess, the idea of teaching 535 kids intuitive painting for 5 weeks in a neighbouring town had become …. intimidating.

I’d been tempted to cancel the project a few times when it was postponed, and I was given the choice.

But my pendulum and this corner of my 2021 intuitive vision board  made it very clear that this project was meant to be… for the children and also for me!

So once again, I was asked by my Higher Self to feel the fear and do it anyway.

I even invested in my first car as the school was 30 minutes drive away, with no bus service. That in itself was a big stretch, and I’m not just talking financially. Not having a car had been part of my simple living choices. Now I was exploring freedom of a different kind.

Of course my organizational skills and background in both recreation and teaching helped.

Once the supplies were finally in hand, and I was given a classroom to set up (instead of the possible scenario of having to go from classroom to classroom due to pandemic guidelines) I breathed easier.

Still – what a stretch!

  • 24 classes (up to 27 students in a class) x 3 sessions each
  • switching back and forth between English & French
  • 24 large watercolour paper surfaces, 3 a day in 2 splash zones
  • over 400 painting tools divided in 3 kits for sanitization between groups
  • 14 colours of fluid & heavy body acrylic paints
  • 18 parent-volunteers, 26 teachers & interns, 2 teaching-learning assistants and student assistants
  • countless hours of shooting & editing B-roll, including constant weather-watching for drone opportunities outside of teaching hours. There aren’t a lot of windless sunny days in Portugal Cove St. Phillips!
  • and so much more

Elementary school teachers are definitely heroes! I got a taste of what it takes, but only for 5 weeks! 

What a difference from my 25 years of teaching English as a Second Language to university adults! There’s no assigning group-work if you need to go to the washroom – lol!

After the first week, my body no longer felt like a stranger. Being on my feet all day instead of working at the computer or painting table was big change.

After the first two weeks, I only got to school before the custodian on days I thought I could shoot a good time lapse of the sunrise.

Thank goodness for the amazing support of the school staff and all the parent volunteers. I couldn’t have done it without them!

On days with no volunteers, it was non-stop.

On days with more than one volunteer, I could step back to shoot a few clips during the session to create this video. My tripod was part of the team.

I’ll admit, having both my teaching and photographer hats on at the same time was a juggle. My paint-covered phone cases are the proof!

5.5 weeks later, I could hardly believe how smoothly & quickly it all went.

With hundreds of people and moving pieces, it’s truly amazing how it all came together!

I was so thankful I hadn’t given in to the fear or overwhelm.

My best self soon felt right at home organizing & enthusiastically leading this program.

Mostly, I’m so grateful I stretched those comfort zones for the children! 

Being part of a school community was a beautiful “from me to we” experience.

Who knows the extent of the gift this experience was for them. I trust, however, that it’s a gift that will keep on giving.

May this bit of truth-saying encourage you look at where fear is stopping you from trying something new – be it a project, workshop, hobby, trip or relationship. 

Ask your Higher Self what’s in the Highest Good.

Spirit Calls, as I call them, are always an intuitive invitation to grow. Your ego may want to keep you small by promoting the status quo, but that’s no way to emerge more fully into your True Self.

I have no regrets whatsoever for saying “Yes!” again and again to this project.

I would have regretted backing out though…

Special Moments

Passing by a line-up of kids waiting to leave the library:

“That’s the lets-get-messy-lady!”

When asked what they’d learned in our 3 classes together:

“If I talk to myself like I talk to my best friend, good ideas come into my head on how to fix things.”

” There are no mistakes.”

“I can put love into my work”.

“If you mix all the warm and cool colours when they’re wet, it makes mud! Let them dry!”

“I love to flick paint!”

When a child ran up to me after the class and gave me a big hug, looked up at me and said:

You’re my mommy’s favourite artist.

Want More?

  • To download your copy of the PDF “Impressions of Expressions: An Illustrated Guide to Popular Newfoundland Sayings”(492 MB), click here.
  • If you’d like to try intuitive painting for yourself or with a group, I offer you my free Guide to Intuitive Painting here.
  • To learn about upcoming events and new work, make sure to sign-up to my weekly  Art & Inspiration Moments . You’ll enjoy a free meditation download as my thank you for choosing to be on my list.
  • To view all my available intuitive paintings for sale (and other intuitive services), go here.
  • To order prints of my artwork in your choice of size & medium, go here.
  • To view my YouTube video playlists (NL Features, Guided meditations, Intuitive painting, Inspiration & fun, etc.), subscribe to my channel here.

Do you want to share your impressions of this project? Feel free to comment below! 

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The Present of Your Presence – a guided holiday meditation

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Whether you’re longing for togetherness or searching for solitude this holiday season, this guided visioning meditation is my gift to you.

Actually, it’s a gift to us both from Source. For it was in a moment of quiet that I allowed in the inspiration to channel this recording for you. Doing so was an excellent reminder and energy shifter for me. May it be for you too.

Here’s the message that came through:

You are the Gift.

Your very presence on the Earth in this time of ascension is a present.

In this guided visioning meditation, you’re invited to connect to the love, peace and joy at your very core to better be able to simply be in the here & now this holiday season.

Allow yourself to be transported within to connect to the unconditional love of your Team of Divine Helpers who will help you see and accept yourself and others as individualized expressions of the Divine.

It’s from that space that you can allow for inspired action to emerge more naturally into your every moment.

It’s from that space that you can be the gift you truly are – for yourself and others – through the very present of your presence.

Have a meaningful holiday season, no matter how that looks like for you.

Want More?

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Mirror to Your True Self Visionary Experience Video

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What better way to celebrate my birthday week than to share what I was born to create – art & inspiration!

Here’s a chance for you to connect to art in a way you may have never experienced before. The painting you’ll choose to work with will become a Mirror to Your True Self.

In this 2-part video, you’ll get a brief tour of my intuitive visionary painting exhibition “Beauty at the Birch” before being guided in a 37-minute “Mirror to Your True Self” visionary experience.

If you’re used to my guided visioning meditations, this is different.

You’ll be choosing one of my paintings through an intuitive process to act as a mirror / channel for messages from your Higher Self & Team of Divine Helpers.

Trust the process, embrace the mystery, and enjoy this self-discovery journey.

Music in Part 1: “The Reunion” by Jacqueline Cook.

Music in Part 2: “Enlighten Me” by Christopher Lloyd Clark.

 

P.S. If you’re in St. John’s, NL, feel free to contact [email protected] for a private viewing of the exhibition. Seeing these energy-infused painting live is a whole other experience!

P.P.S. If you feel moved, I welcome donations so that I may continue to provide art & inspiration. Please send any amount via e-transfer (Canadians) or PayPal to [email protected] . Thank you.

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Portrait of a Yogi – Meranda Squires Shares Her Personal Practice to Freedom

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I recently traveled to the Tree of Life Sustainability Project & Retreat Centre with its co-founder, Meranda Squires. She had asked me to record a couple of yoga classes for her and to take some yoga pose portraits for her business – The Lotus Centre in St. John’s.

This turned into some nature photo/video play which, once back home, turned into the 11:11-minute video above – “Portrait of a Yogi – Meranda Squires Shares Her Personal Practice to Freedom”.

Having witnessed the love & beauty manifested through Meranda, I wanted to know even more.

In this interview, Meranda shares even more. Enjoy!

Interview with Meranda Squires

What is yoga?

Yoga is a state of consciousness where you don’t see division – you don’t see others as separate from your yourself. The physical poses are only the tip of the iceberg of what yoga is.

The whole practice of yoga is to dissolve the duality and the illusion of separateness so that the truth that is already there – unity consciousness – gets to be experienced by us and through us.

There’s nothing to protect anymore. There’s nothing to save or attack. So we can relax inside.

That’s the side effect of unity consciousness. There’s nothing that your ego needs to defend.

What is the meaning of all the physical poses?

My practices may look physical, but from the inside, it’s not physical at all.

Divine has chosen the physical world to express itself, so we make up yoga poses. As we do the poses and the pranayama (breathing), channels get opened up.

Stuckness and tightness start to release. Everything starts to flow and move because these exercise are designed for that purpose.

When I do poses and others start to do them, they get that effect. The meditation exercises and practices all help.

Eventually, there’s a dissolution of the physical, and you’re in the divine realm of oneness.

But you do need to start on a physical level and let the physical transform the body – so the pranayama and the stretching & holding of poses strengthens and opens you. There’s a transformation that happens over years.

There are two effects of yoga poses. There’s the immediate effect and the long term practice effect. After years of practice, something starts to open that you probably didn’t even know would get opened.

Different poses are part of the creativity of yoga. Nobody has to be perfect in all of their poses.

The yogis have decided to become a master in their field of practice. It’s not so that a person, on an ego level, can look good in a pose in a picture.

By practicing those poses, there’s a training of concentration and one-pointedness and a massaging of the ability to hold breath – and all of this is needed for the transformation of the energy.

It’s not superficial – in fact, if you decide to master these things, that’s where transformation takes place.

What has been your yoga journey to freedom?

Yoga must have come from a previous incarnation because the drive for freedom was very strong from a young age.

That’s probably why I had the parents that I had and grew up where I did, at the Ferryland Lighthouse.

That gave me the experience on a physical and family structure level of what freedom can be like. It opened my soul, my inner eye towards what the ultimate potential of freedom can be.

I have naturally been drawn to yoga and meditation since I was very young. My mother was a meditator. I was inspired by her.

When we moved to Toronto, I started investigating yoga. My first class was in the basement of a church in 1980.

From that point on, I met some people who had a guru and lived in India. They had an ashram in Toronto.

The first time I went to their yoga class, the teacher asked us to listen to the sound of silence. At first, I didn’t know what he meant – that there’s an OM sound and it’s always there. And so I finally had to let go of all the external noises. When I heard the OM, I had this epiphany, like “Ahhhhhhhh Wow!”

These little insights kept me inspired . “Oh my God, there’s so much more.”

I saw there was a lot to do with the body – I was already involved in dance, so yoga was natural for me.

I left for India when I was 20 in 1983. I stayed there for 17 years.

It became my new lifestyle. I felt I had come home to myself to be growing and interacting with other like minds, all devoted to personal transformation through meditation and yoga philosophy.

I had a teacher that I could access when needed. Truly, it’s so special to have this type of guidance.

I lived in a small apartment I rented from an Indian family. I went to Satsang, our daily gathering, twice daily.

My teacher spoke knowledge, we asked questions, we learned to public speak.

We sang chants, learned the scriptures, had beautiful walks in the mountains, had potlucks with my spiritual friends, and meditated a lot; hours and hours a day.

After 17 years of personal work , I knew it was time for me to teach.

So I returned to Newfoundland and set up the Lotus Centre in 2000. I have been teaching and learning ever since, and now I’m training others in this deep spiritual work.

Have you achieved the unity consciousness you described?

I would say I’m living the essence of yoga most of the time now.

But I still have karma and things that I’m working out.

Living the lifestyle that I live and teach, I’m still learning  lessons in all of that.

But I’ve made some choices that have made my life a whole lot easier to live. My state of consciousness is able to maintain that level that I want to live in. I’m getting better and better at it as I get older.

I feel that I’m opening up to a potential that all human beings have. The yoga lifestyle has been my key. I decided that I was going for it.

That freedom, that access to unity consciousness is all there,  all accessible. Yoga helped me improve the condition of my personal life, so I can live that state.

I remember when I came back from living in an ashram in Montreal, my mother here in Newfoundland asked me “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I said, “enlightened”. She replied “Oh! that’s a different kind of profession!”

Why do you teach yoga?

Yoga is my lifestyle and my profession – living the enlightened state and being an example for others.

Everyone has the potential. They just have to set themselves up to make that condition work for them.

That’s why I want to share it. Because in the same way I was lit up, I love watching other people get lit up – with this practice, with dedication.

I’m emotional thinking of how it can be passed on to others; how others’ hearts can experience a freedom that can not be experienced living in their normal everyday life.

People can live a normal everyday life, but yoga is the addition that is the freedom while living in an everyday life.

Why were you open to sharing your practice in this video?

There’s nothing more beautiful than sharing something that is so meaningful and valuable to me (spoken with tears in her eyes).

To be inspired by the Light, by divinity and to share that.

Thank you.

 

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Pondering Peace – a Visual Contemplation at Middle Three Island Pond

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There’s nothing quite like life to remind us how important it is to reconnect to our inner peace.

There’s no greater gift than inner peace – for ourselves and others.

Awareness is the first key. How easily do you notice you’re off kilter?

Being able to shift back to your True Self state of inner peace is the next step.

Sometimes, awareness is the magic ingredient that triggers an instant shift into a more peaceful way of being.

From awareness comes acceptance. From acceptance comes a letting go of resistance to what is. Then comes a realignment with the truth. Being. Doing. Inner Peace.

Other times, however, that shift can take a whole lot longer and the slowness of the shift does nothing to improve your inner chaos. It just adds a layer of frustration at how human you’re being!

I arrived at this Airbnb photo job for my friend Gordon Martin of People Places & Things hours behind schedule and hungry.

I’d done well so far that morning choosing love over fear, but with a couple of hours of photography ahead before I could mess up the kitchen, my inner grumblings (physical, mental & emotional) took over. I was now hangry!

In that state, it was really hard to see the beauty around me, much less photograph it.

I was aware of my state. I even laughed at myself. I confessed to Gordon & my traveling companion Joanne that I was having an unusually hard time shifting back to peace. My emergency protein bar didn’t seem to make a difference.

My wise Observer Self fully realized what was happening. But my little human self was having an inner tantrum. Can you relate? 

Finally, after I’d photographed the indoors, eaten a nice warm bowl of curry veggie stew, and headed outdoors doused in bug spray – I could much more easily focus on the beauty.

And what beauty!

As I was brought back to bliss by Mother Nature’s invitation to honour her beauty with my camera, my friend Joanne Best came back in time for a canoe ride on the very still pond. 

The week before, we’d arranged to meet so she could pick up 8 paintings to bring back to Earth & Sky Gallery & Healing Centre in Twillingate for the tourist season. Perfect timing! I invited her to join me for the first of my 3 nights at this cabin on Middle Three Island Pond in Torbay, NL.

As you’ll see in the video, her birthday despacho fire ceremony was a highlight of my stay. She’d co-created this prayer bundle & offering the night before with shamanic practitioner, Regina Wright.

For the next 2.5 days & nights, I thoroughly enjoyed my inner and outer state of peace – witness to the ever-changing weather on the pond.

The fog and rain were as beautiful as the sunshine. The pure stillness was as much a blessing as the 60 km/hr ripples on the water.

Mother Nature was reminding me that if I could find beauty in all her states, I needed to do the same for myself.  I too, in both my human and spirit states am beautiful. 

My experience of the first few hours didn’t have to taint my whole experience. It simply was.

I acknowledged and expressed it. Then I shifted – eventually…

This is the human experience – all of it.

And as the soul quenching call of the loons brought me back to the moment with gratitude, I knew that the next time my inner grumblings got loud enough to notice, it would be easier to come back to the here and now and appreciate the process of transformation – this breath at a time.

Nature photography is part of my self-care regimen – a wonder-full transformational tool. What’s yours?

May it become easier and easier for you to realign with the loving beautiful being that you are. And may this 17-minute video “Pond(ering) Peace” add a layer of love & beauty to your day. Enjoy! If the video quality is poor, use the little gear wheel bottom right to change it to High Definition (1080 HD).

P.S. If you’d like to contribute to my creating & sharing of these artistic videos, I gladly accept your donations by e-transfer (Canadians) or Paypal at [email protected]. Any amount is welcome in exchange for a credit (or dedication to a loved one) in my next feature presentation. It all adds up! Thank you!

 

P.P.S. I’m slowing down for the summer, giving myself permission to publish a post every 2 weeks until September. May you too find ways to relax and listen to the callings of your inner peace. 

 

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