Soul Songs: Your SoulCollage NewsletterSoul Songs
Your SoulCollage® Newsletter

Enabling us to sing the songs
we were born to sing
through the practice
of SoulCollage®
Issue #99  September 2013 Theme:  Worry/Anxiety
Welcome!

Greetings, and welcome to Soul Songs, the official KaleidoSoul Newsletter, and the only monthly newsletter that focuses exclusively on SoulCollage® ideas, resources and artists.

Our intention is to fill each issue (and your life) with inspiration, soul-solace and delight. Whether you are new to SoulCollage®, or already immersed in the creation of your deck, Soul Songs is for you.

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Read back issues of Soul Songs on this KaleidoSoul page.

Soul Singing with Anne Marie
Anne Marie, the creator of KaleidoSoul.com
Hi! I'm Anne Marie, the creator of KaleidoSoul.com, and a SoulCollage® facilitator in Massachusetts. If you're just starting to sing your song with SoulCollage®, this column is especially for you.



Anxiety in the Body

When I first started my SoulCollage® journey several years ago, I was working with a wonderful therapist named Fran. One day we were talking about the anxiety I was feeling about several different things that were going on in my life at that time. I was stopped in my mind-tracks when she asked me, "Where in your body do you feel this anxiety?" Aha! The million dollar question.

I had no idea where I felt that anxiety in my body. I discerned that I was totally out of my body and completely in my head with my anxiety, and that is what I told Fran. It was a powerful discovery for me, and out of that discovery, this SoulCollage® card was born.

Take a closer look at it. What feeling does it conjure up in you?

This is one of those cards that holds one meaning for the card maker and other meanings for many others. When I mention that this is my card that honors my anxious self, some people tell me the card feels very calming to them, and they are puzzled about how it can represent anxiety.

I made the card intentionally, seeking out images of heads without bodies (except for the figure in the lower right corner). When I draw it in a reading, it reminds me that feeling anxiety causes me to leave my body and go up into my head.

I am the one who goes completely into my head when I feel anxious, displaced, alone, sad, afraid, angry, disappointed. I go out of my body completely. I forget I even HAVE a body! I am the one who gets completely caught up in "head stuff." I am the one who thinks reality is the stories I'm telling myself in my mind.

My wisdom for you is this: The best antidote to anxiety is to remember to breathe, to relax and keep paying attention to your breath. Know that there is more to you than what is going on in your mind. Climb the ladder out of your mind and revel in the freedom of being back at home in your body.

Over the last 7 years of working with this card, I have found great power in bringing myself back to my body whenever I find my thoughts churning up anxiety. I do this through my breath. It's very simple and extremely effective. You try it: the next time you sense anxiety rising from your thinking, stop, take a breath, and then take another. This is helpful at slowing down those anxious thoughts that tend to race around and disrupt our lives.

To close, I'd like to share this quote with you, which is a favorite of mine. It reminds me to respect my anxiety, and it shows me that I always have a choice about what I do with any anxious thoughts that surface in my mind:

Give your anxiety a voice, but realize when you're obsessing. You want to name it, not water, feed, and give it a college education. --- The Rev. Debra Jarvis

 
Anne Marie Bennett is a writer, self-taught artist, website goddess, cancer survivor, and SoulCollage® Facilitator / Trainer who was mentored directly by Seena Frost. In 2005, she fell in love with SoulCollage® and was inspired to use her professional experience along with Internet technology as a means to serve the world by putting SoulCollage® "out there" in a really big way with KaleidoSoul. Anne Marie lives in eastern Massachusetts with her middle-aged husband, an elderly cat and one youthful dog who keeps them all young. You can read more about how SoulCollage® assisted her on her cancer journey on her website SOS Cancer Journeys.
OUR NEXT TELE-CLASS


60 minute SoulCollage® tele-class
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Who's Running YOUR Show?
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Tuesday September 17
8:30 p.m. Eastern

Easily Accessible from Anywhere in the World!

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Guest Columnist: Cat Caracelo

I am Cat Caracelo,M.A., a SoulCollage® facilitator, life coach and transformative artist from Petaluma, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. This column is for those of you who have already made some cards & are ready to discover more depth your SoulCollage® journey.


Lost and Found:
Working with Anxiety & Worry


Where am I?

What am I doing here?

How do I deal with this flooding of emotion?

Anxiety and Worry... these circular patterns of dread, fear and angst are incredibly challenging emotions. Experienced in varying degrees, they are common and unwelcome in most cases. They range from subtle nagging fear-based feelings, to over-thinking/ruminating through possible outcomes. At the extreme they include panic reactions and severe anxiety symptoms. Anxiety and worry are disturbances of mood, or inner states of being, that are part of the complex psyche.

Many times these patterns have been activated as unconscious strategies and buffers for protection and safety. Once experienced, they can become habits and patterns that are easily triggered. They can grip us and trap us in cycles that leave us feeling that there is no way out. The patterns of anxiety and dis-ease can feel like a cage, being choked off or stopped in our tracks with emotion, sensation and thoughts. Worry and anxiety seem to have an energetic residue, and can be experienced as sharp, charged, agitated, lethargic and sticky.

Anxiety will trigger the release of adrenaline and stress chemicals into the body that can cycle into your system and prolong the experience, contributing to inflammation and disease over time. There may be markers of different worries and anxieties that show up in distinctive ways, sometimes physical, atmospheric or blowing in like a storm. These are always eroding emotions and experiences, often leading us to question ourselves, our ability to cope or to meet challenge. By exploring worry and anxiety through the creative practice of SoulCollage®, you can understand the roots and results of your dis-ease and also clarify the patterns of reconciling, healing and ease.

Here is a bit of my story: In 2003 my life took a turn. A serious back injury was the initial crash, a perfect metaphor and mythic moment marking the result of years of anxiety and worry that I had channeled through my body. As the bits and pieces of the life I had known were breaking apart and collapsing around me, I tended to the complexities of my injury. During this time I also engaged in deep contemplation; silence led me into my deep psyche. In a way that I had never experienced before, I learned how to listen. I felt the winds of worry and fear whip around me and I reawakened to the pieces and parts of myself that had been lost.

This was another beginning, a slow process of putting the pieces of my life back together and creating the life I wanted to live. It became a time of true authenticity, stripping away layers of identity and roles while exploring the shame and the shadows. I found rules that no longer fit and truth telling became my practice.

My awakening time was both creative and spiritual. It was a seeking and finding process that was deeply personal. The herniation of my life had been assigned to me and I was forced to pay attention. I could see that I had put too much stress on myself. I was depleted. Having denied my unmet needs, I found that I was lost to myself. In this period of introspection and silence, I began to unravel my deepest fears and tap into the pervasive un-wellness that surrounded me. I had been committed to meeting the needs of others and found that I had swallowed myself as I consumed my fear.

I unpacked my anxiety and followed my worries, pain, and shadow stories through collage and paint. I created with them, finding that with deeper understanding I knew so much more.

What are the worries and fears that keep you trapped?
How does anxiety feel in your life?
Where are you scattered and lost?

Find YOUR colors hidden within the gray fog of old and challenging patterns. Pull the threads of worry, anxiety and fears... follow them into form and clarity. Layers and patterns of image collaged on a card will always reveal the facets, reflecting your many 'truths' back to you and illuminating your path. Embrace them all and find your way!


Cat Caracelo, M.A. is a Life Coach, SoulCollage® Facilitator and Artist, supporting and guiding individuals through depth work, transformative process and conscious life design. Cat has been working with SoulCollage® since 2007, offering regular workshops, retreats, global eCourses and coaching process utilizing the cards. Offered throughout the year, Mythos Journey Circles, using SoulCollage® and transformative process as a base, is designed to explore personal myth, life-stories, patterns and transitions. For more information please visit Cat's website, learn more about individual coaching, classes being offered, ebooks and retreats.
 

NEW ONLINE WORKSHOP


All-New Online Workshop Tele-Series
with Cat Caracelo


First Class is October 6, 2013

Visit this page for more info now..
 
LEARNING PACKAGES


New to SoulCollage®? Need a refresher?
Try one of these fabulous learning packages!


Note: Enrollment closes on September 30. These packages will not be available again until next year.

Visit this page for more info now.
 

CONTACT US

KaleidoSoul Creations
As promised, we are featuring SoulCollage® cards from our readers in each issue.

Each card below is a card that represents Worry/Anxiety from one SoulCollager's Deck.




The Worrier
Committee Suit
Melisa
Ontario, Canada

I am the one who worries. I am the one who panics over every little thing. Is my husband getting sick? Is my child healthy and happy? Am I doing this correctly? Am I forgetting something? What have I done wrong? I am the one who cannot relax and let go.




Worry
Committee Suit
Peggy
Wisconsin

I am one who worries. Worry is depleting and is keeping you from moving forward and growing.




Anxious Andy
Committee Suit
Barbara
Connecticut

I am one who reacts with anxiety. I am the one who will raise your awareness of your surroundings. I am one who tugs at your shirt tail. I am one who is connected to the deep animal part of you. I am one who can always see the "what if"... I am the one who is trying to make you safe.




Anxious
Committee Suit
Elma
The Netherlands


I am the One Who is overwhelmed, who cannot seem to do it all. I am the One who has no control and who feels locked inside. I am the One who feels blocked by everything that comes my way and who cannot cope with life. I am the One who feels burdened, sorrowful and exposed. It is all too much for me.




American Gothika
Committee Suit
Dawn
New York


I am the one who is stretched thin by worry. I am in the drought of my life and do not know when it will rain, when I will feel relief. How will my Source be replenished? Where can I turn? I feel the eye of God Hirself upon me, but I do not look, I do not see. I just feel dry and lost and withered.

 
 

The Grip of Dysfunction
Karen
California


I am One who has drawn crushed your spirit in my grasp. My powerful hand is like stone without human feeling. All that is left of you is devoid of the person within.




Insomnia
Committee Suit
Val
London (UK)


We are the ones who keep you awake at night and remind you what an unworthy worm you are. We are the ones who remind you how much you have to do. How it might all go wrong tomorrow, how you will feel exhausted. We put you on the spot and pin your down!




Dread
Committee Suit
Kate
Minnesota


I am the one who dreads the end of things. I am the one who fears what I know is coming, though I don't know "what" is coming. I am the who lacks the imagination (or faith) to see that the inevitability of change is purposeful and gives meaning to the things I've held dear.

 


Please feel free to submit one of your cards for a future issue by sending a reply email to this newsletter.

Future themes include:

Oct: Open Call
Nov: Community Suit: Fathers
Dec: Compassion

 

KaleidoSoul Notes
KaleidoSoul Notes

Noteworthy resources for anyone interested in SoulCollage®

Facilitator TrainingsFacilitator Trainings: Information about content and dates/locations of upcoming trainings of SoulCollage® Facilitators.


SoulCollage websiteSoulCollage website - Seena Frost created the process of SoulCollage®, and this is her website.


KaleidoSoul - Spinning the fragments of your world into wholeness and beauty through SoulCollage®.


Kindred Spirits Join our fast-growing worldwide membership of people who put the "soul" in SoulCollage®!
Upcoming SoulCollage® Retreats

MASSACHUSETTS

All Hallowed Be: An Autumn SoulCollage® Retreat
Westfield MA
October 31- November 3, 2013
Facilitators: Anne Marie Bennett, Anne Boedecker, Jeanne Marie Merkel


Join us for an unforgettable weekend experience combining the magic of SoulCollage® with the mystery of mask making. The card making tables and the Mask Making tables will be set up round the clock all three days, so you can make SoulCollage® cards AND/OR work on your mask(s) while breakout sessions are going on, in the middle of the night, and in your jammies by the light of the moon if you want! The focus of this retreat will be on reclaiming our power as women, the power of community in our lives, and the lessons of the archetypal season of Autumn: letting go and transformation. 

Visit this page for more information.
  


PENNSYLVANIA

Sacred Visioning: The Art of Exploring the Mythic Self
Bangor, PA
May 1-4, 2014
Facilitators: Cat Caracelo MA and Catherine Anderson


Step into a transformative 'art & life' journey with Cat and Catherine! On Beltaine and May Day, a potent time of welcoming a new season of growth, gather with us for a powerful four-day journey where you will explore your deep mythic rivers, stories of your life and connecting to your mythic self; surrounded by the energies, symbols and sacred landscape of the Celtic traditions, we will journey with labyrinth, tarn, stones and circles. This is an all-inclusive retreat, with single or shared on-site accommodations and all meals. You will explore and create with individual and group process, experiential creative and instructional breakout sessions, exploration using SoulCollage®, mixed media, photography and more. Early Bird Pricing & Easy Pay Plan

Visit this page for registration information.
Soul Songs Back Issues - Read back issues of Soul Songs on this KaleidoSoul page.
Just look for whatever SoulCollage® topic you are interested in,
and read to your heart's content!


SoulCollage® is a trademarked process created by Seena B. Frost.
For more information about Seena and the origins of SoulCollage®, please visit her website.


SoulCollage® cards are made either from one's own art or from images found in materials which have been bought by or given to the SoulCollage® card maker. These collaged cards are used only for the cardmaker's own inner exploration. SoulCollage® cards are not sold, traded, bartered, or copied (except as a back-up for the cardmakers own use) as is stated in the "Principles of SoulCollage®." Where SoulCollage® cards are available to be seen by others, it is for the purposes either of demonstrating the SoulCollage® process or of sharing the cardmakers' inner process in the context of community. SoulCollage® is grateful to the artists and photographers who make this deep awakening process possible and in all ways SoulCollage® seeks to be respectful of their rights.

 
All articles in SOUL SONGS are copyrighted 2013,
by Anne Marie Bennett and
Cat Caracelo, Imelda Maguire,
Kat Kirby, or Catherine Anderson.
Articles may be reprinted by permission only.