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Quotation of the Week
Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. --- Rumi   Inner Journeys with Anne Marie Bennett Integrating the Practice of SoulCollage Into Our Daily Lives This essay is adapted from my article "Be Your Own Valentine," which was previously published in the February 12, 2007 issue of Soul Treasures. Enjoy! Romancing the Soul  Next Saturday is Valentine's Day, and the media is at it again. If you really pay attention to all of the advertisements, it might seem like you're not "really special" unless your significant other surprises you with diamonds, a romantic dinner, or maybe two dozen red roses. My husband's idea of romance has nothing whatsoever to do with Valentine's Day. In fact, he somewhat "rebels" against all the media hype and would rather this particular "holiday" didn't exist. His own philosophy is that you should show people you love them every day of the year, not just on February 14. Does this make me less special? I think not. And then of course, there's the issue of whether or not you actually have a "significant other" to celebrate with. I didn't meet my husband until I was 35, so I've spent many and many a Valentine's Day alone. Did spending all those Valentine's Days alone make me less special? Definitely not. My proposal to you, my dear Kindred Spirits, is to kick up your internal energy just a little bit these next few weeks, and make a special effort of some kind to be your own special Valentine. Whether you have a significant other or not.. it doesn’t matter. Here in the SoulCollage world, we are in the practice of loving ourselves first and foremost. So... make yourself a collage Valentine, address it to yourself and put it in the nearest mailbox tomorrow. Cook yourself a special dinner on Saturday. Take yourself out to lunch. Send yourself flowers. Buy a box of your favorite chocolates and savor every bite. And if you are in a loving relationship with a someone special, you can still take a few moments on Valentine's Day to do something special for yourself. Because in the long run, the most precious relationship in your life is the one you have with yourself. Take some time this week to honor that. Take some time this week to romance your own soul! Reflection activities of the week: Choose a pet name for yourself. You might use Sweetie Pie, Lambchops, Honey, Darling, Dah-ling, Baby... whatever name makes you smile inside. Mine is "Dear One." (Be sure it's not a nickname that someone once used to tease or put you down.) Use this pet name whenever you need to step in and say something kind to yourself. Use it on your handmade Valentine to yourself. Tattoo it on your ankle. SoulCollage it, or paint it in your journal. Remember who you are: precious, loved, whole.
Our Next Tele-Class Sharing The Treasure: Passing SoulCollage On To Others Presented by Imelda Maguire, SoulCollage Facilitator and Facilitator Trainer in Ireland  Looking for ideas on ways to share SoulCollage with a group of friends or a small group of interested people? Wondering where on earth you'd begin? Not sure if you can really do it?
Imelda will share her years of experience leading SoulCollage classes and workshops. She'll outline various ways and important guidelines to keep in mind when sharing the treasure of SoulCollage with our friends and colleagues. This will be an hour of open discussion and sharing after a short presentation by Imelda. There will be lots of time for questions and answers. And as usual, you are always free to just hang out and listen. Recommended reading ahead of time: The Principles of SoulCollage. NOTE: This tele-class will benefit trained SoulCollage Facilitators AS WELL AS non-Facilitators. Date: Sunday, February 8, 2009 Time: 4:00 pm Eastern, 3:00 pm Central, 2:00 pm Mountain, 1:00 pm Pacific, 11 a.m. Hawaiian, 9 p.m. in London, 10 p.m. in Rome, Monday 8 a.m. in Melbourne Australia and Monday 10 a.m. in New Zealand Save the date now. All of our tele-classes are FR*EE for members, always! And remember, don't worry if you can't attend... we'll be recording it and you can listen to it anytime in your Member's Only Audio Library. We will give you the phone number and access code to call in that week's issue of Soul Treasures.
Upcoming Tele-Classes and Presenters:::
Kindred Spirits SoulCollage Retreat New England SoulCollage Facilitator Training April 17-19, 2009 in Litchfield, Connecticut. If you've been longing to take your SoulCollage practice out into the world by becoming an "official" Facilitator, then please join us for a beautiful spring weekend at Wisdom House. There's more information on this KaleidoSoul page. Special three month payment plan available starting now. | |||||||
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SoulCollage
Expressions
Come
As You Are:
, by Penelope Niven. Life Lessons from the Pool, from Diving in to Treading Water. It’s not just a book about learning to swim, it’s about living to live. Excellent book that uses swimming as a metaphor for our beautiful lives. Divided into sections on: Getting Into the Water, Learning to Float, Breathing, Treading Water, Swimming, Diving, Swimming Alone, and Swimming in the Ocean. Also includes excellent journaling exercises.
, by Rebecca Ruggles Radcliffe. Subtitled, "A Journey of Self-Acceptance," this slim volume will help you on your own journey of self-acceptance. Includes a section of short daily readings, as well as many prayers, poems and affirmations on the topic of making peace with our bodies.
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by Belleruth Naparstek. A thoughtful, illuminating guide that helps us access our own intuitive wisdom. Includes a set of powerful guided imagery exercises that will help you unlock your own sixth sense (and we all have one, never fear!)
