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Quotation of the Week
At the height of laughter,
the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities. — Jean Houston  
Inner Journeys with Anne Marie Bennett Integrating the Practice of SoulCollage® Into Our Daily Lives Rehearsing Joy While watching the Jean Houston video, Passion for the Possible (see resources section below), Jean spent a lovely amount of time talking about her concept of "rehearsing joy." My heart sat up at attention in immediate response to this beautiful phrase. The dictionary defines the word "rehearse" like this: to practice in private, to drill or train as for some performance or part. Let's face it. Most of our moments, days, years, lives are spent rehearsing and replaying the old stories of our lives, stories that are woven with fear, distress, anxiety, compulsion and dis-ease. So what if, instead, we make a practice of rehearsing and replaying those moments in our lives that were laced and anchored with joy?  Try this, right now, just for one minute (and I am adapting Jean's exercise from the video here): Close your eyes and in your imagination remember a favorite game from your childhood. What were you playing? Who was there? Were you outdoors or indoors? Where were you? What were you wearing? Take a moment now and simply go back in time and "play" there again. Just for a few seconds.
Now, how did that feel? Are you smiling? Did you re-experience the joy? Is your body a bit more relaxed right now? Ahhh... Seriously consider making this a practice. Just once a day (maybe twice), for one minute, close your eyes and remember a joyful moment. Consider making a list of these moments as they come into your awareness. You might think that you don't have very many moments of joy in your life, but you will find that the more you practicing rehearsing joy, the more memories will surface for you. And the deepest gift of rehearsing joy is the scientifically proven fact that the more you remember joy in this way, the more you will be open to the abundance of new joys that are knocking at your door right this very moment.
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| Our Next Tele-Class SoulCollage® and the Art of Sacred Listening, with Laura Hegfield, SoulCollage® Facilitator in New Hampshire  Consider allowing silence to be the container that holds your SoulCollage® practice. Laura believes that silence can open us to a more intimate listening experience, ultimately allowing us to drink a more satisfying cup of the sweet wisdom our cards have to offer. During this tele-class, Laura will offer some practical tips for incorporating more silence into your life and your SoulCollage® practice (alone, with friends or as a facilitator in workshops).
Laura Hegfield is a SoulCollage® Facilitator, Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach, Yoga & Jewish Spirituality Teacher, Artist, Blogger, Wife and Mom practicing the sacred art of "life" in Southern New Hampshire. Date: Sunday July 19, 2009 Time: 7:00 pm Eastern, 6:00 pm Central, 5:00 pm Mountain, 4:00 pm Pacific, 1 pm Hawaiian, 12 midnight in London, 1 a.m. in Rome, Monday 9 a.m. in Melbourne Australia and Monday 11 a.m. in New Zealand
Upcoming Tele-Classes and Presenters: August 16, 2009 (Sunday, 4 pm Eastern) - Power Animals, with Michele Lessirard, shamanic teacher/practitioner and SoulCollage® Facilitator in Florida. Last evening, just before dusk, I (Michele) looked out our family room window to see two great horned owls dancing on the ground by our palm tree. Owls rarely come down out of the trees to such a vulnerable place. What does the Owl dance mean? How would you work with the Owl's message? There are two main types of helping allies that shamans consult and work with in their journeys: power animals, also known as guardian spirits, and teachers in human form. In this teleclass we'll explore SoulCollage® and the relationship of power animals beyond the body chakras. In building relationship with our helping allies we come to know our true essence; from this place of power we feel more connected and grounded, better able to move out into the world in service to our family and community. During the teleclass we'll explore Nature, power animals and the SoulCollage® process. Michele will talk about power loss, power animals and the soul retrieval process using your SoulCollage® cards. September, 2009 – Movement and SoulCollage®: Blossoming Your Inner Dancer, with Lisa Thornbury-Clark, SoulCollage® Facilitator in Ohio. Your body is a powerful vessel of your wisdom, your life journey and your own unique expression of the Divine. Add movement and dance to your SoulCollage® practice, and you'll create a multi-sensory journey which will deepen your experience. Join us as we explore playful and sacred ways to connect your inner-dancer to your card-maker self. This tele-class will include experiential movement activities as well as discussion. That's right, we'll be moving instead of just sitting and listening! You'll learn creative ways to add movement and dance prior to card making as well as ideas and suggestions for conducting solo and group movement and dance "readings" with your SoulCollage® deck. Please attend this call in a room where you have some space to move freely and safely, and use a phone with speaker-phone capability if possible. It would be helpful to have a yoga mat or blanket for the session as well as your SoulCollage® cards nearby. No previous movement or dance experience necessary. Invite your inner-dancer to come out and play! Date and time to be announced, please stay tuned. | ||||||||
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SoulCollage®
Expressions
, by Jean Houston. Excellent book to dive into and slowly immerse yourself in these archetypes. Jean uses the mythic "Odyssey" by Homer as the basis for this story of our human journey. Fascinating stuff!
, by Charles de Lint. This is an extraordinary novel! Where has this author been all my life? He has given us a beautiful story with honest, courageous characters, simple prose, and a strong spiritual base that is missing in most of today's literature. I found myself absolutely riveted with the story of Grace who works in the southwest at Sanchez Motor Works, customizing hot rods. She falls in love with an ordinary guy named John, but... well, this is where the mystery comes in. After one beautiful night of connection, Grace disappears, literally, into thin air. But wait... where did she go? I'm not telling! You have to read this, you just have to read this one and see for yourself.
, by Katharine Hepburn. Unpolished stories of her life, her lovers and the films that she made, told about her,
by her. Fascinating stuff... another free-spirited, strong womanly role model for us all. Do I see another Community Suit card being born?
