Hi Everybody,
Hope you've been enjoying this sunny Labor Day weekend.
News About the Guidance We've Received to Teach
Well, we don't know what to say about that. The people who are interested are VERY interested but there's not enough (yet) for a class. We've been reluctant to say what exactly we plan to do in each class session, preferring to be guided in the moment as to what the needs of the class members might dictate. You see, we don't follow a set rule book as to how we do our work, we don't use a single set of techniques that we follow by rote, and the thought of creating a class where we would promote any such thing just doesn't float our boat. Yet, our current way of promoting what we really want to do appears to be a bit too freeform and undefined for conventional taste, so we're still giving some thought as to what pieces we've learned that we most want to put out there.
On the other hand we ARE teaching. It's just taking several other forms . . .
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This Month's Article:
Pecking at the Roots of Perfectionism
by Paul Hood
I was thinking I would write about something I like to call “Pollyanna syndrome.” That’s when a person gets it into their head that they have to be so very filled with sweetness and light at all times, else they are somehow failing to be a good person. With all the emphasis lately on “manifesting” there seems to have been a misinterpretation of how positive thinking as a general habit actually should fit in with being a human being in possession of a whole wide range of juicy emotions, including "negative" emotions.
We’re created as multidimensional beings with an entire pantheon of passions; shutting them down tends to cause malfunctions. But I thought of that subject weeks ago when I heard about an acquaintance exhibiting all the signs and symptoms of "Polyanna". Then it took awhile to resurface in me, and I'm less clear on the subject now because I pushed it aside: not wanting to be critical. It's so much better to be present with where we are at, and to take a minute or two to write an article or sing or shout or whatever. Repressing emotions doesn’t eliminate them, they just go underground into the subconscious to ferment for awhile-- they’ll be back, but in a more, shall we say interesting form?
When it comes to dealing with our emotions the best bet is to be aware of one’s thoughts and how those thoughts are feeding emotions: we can change what we think, we can change our beliefs and our opinions, and certainly we can choose to look on the bright side of life BUT, we can’t be all one thing and still be human. Shakespeare wrote tragedies and comedies. Artists utilize darkness and light and musicians play major and minor chords.
Of late I’ve been looking at the concept “picture perfect.” It’s a fact that the standard now in wildlife photography is to take pictures of captive animals. Usually these are rescued creatures who were found injured or abandoned: mountain lions, wolves and so on. Sure, there are still plenty of photos taken of animals in the wild, but there are essentially “super models” of the animal world who live on rescue ranches where the paparazzi regularly visit. It still takes skill, quality gear, good light, some luck and a fair amount of photoshop tweaking to get the impressive images but hey, it’s photography and photography is it’s own reality. But I struggle with that. Captive animals used to capture captivating images. I think what we like about wild animals is that they are actually wild, elusive, uncontrolled. It's that part of us underneath the surface, like the smoldering hot core of the earth.
Also recently I came across another photographer’s gallery and I think he called it “the perfect image.” That gallery consisted of studio images; impressive and highly commercial stuff, which always gets me thinking about the many varieties and angles of artificial light it takes to reproduce those images: not to mention the makeup and other tricks. Did you know that aside from all the soft boxes, umbrellas, reflectors and there is even a light called a “beauty dish”, a good studio shoot might also include a “hair light” which is suspended just above your head but out of frame and it’s sole purpose is to put a highlight on your hair. I can’t seem to get the hair light out of my head. But I must admit that I’ve seen the effect and it does look good.
Where was I . . . I don’t know. The subject of perfection gets old and tedious and the mind won’t dwell where it’s weary. Sheryl has recently discovered the value of downtime and how important it can be to just watch the ducks at the muddy bog called a wildlife preserve just down the road. We watch the ducks and don’t even think about taking more photographs, trying to capture some fleeting moment of perfection or otherwise working away at our practice to make sure everything is going the way we want it to... Out of the bushes one day came these two little chickens with their red crests and yellow feet. Chickens are pretty darn domestic and they don’t belong at a wildlife preserve. Somebody let them go. Wild chickens. We don’t know how they got there, ruining the perfection of a preserve with their clucking, crowing, their charming presence. They run from the ducks and fly into the trees, incongruous and beautiful.
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Side note:
Do you like Paul's bird photographs? He's gotten quite a few up online right now at http://paulhood.imagekind.com/ .
If you click on the Barn Owl it will take you to everything he has up so far.
More shameless self promotion; our gift shop is at http://www.cafepress.com/paulnsheryl
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Free Talk About Flower Essences as a Tool for Personal / Spiritual Growth
Sheryl will be presenting this topic as part of the educational lecture series sponsored by Way of Life in Capitola. The class will meet at the United Way Conference Room, located behind the building next to Way of Life, which is located at 1210 41st Ave. (in the Begonia Plaza next to New Leaf Market). It goes from 7:00 - 8:30 pm.
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Writing About Flower Essences
You may or may not know that Sheryl has been working on a book about using flower essences as a tool for personal and spiritual growth. That wound up being a much more involved endeavor than she expected so, to keep her spirits up over the long journey yet to come, she's decided to work one piece at a time and share parts of that online. Mostly musings about the flower essence she is studying at any particular time. You can read the first few installments here:
Walnut-- Protecting the Young Seeker's Heart
Zinnia, Dance and Me
Oh yeah, Jondi Gumz at the Santa Cruz Sentinel recently wrote about Mama Love, Sheryl's Flower Essence- Based Healing Perfume. The article was on the front page of the business section with several full color photos and one of them was a huge one with her face scowling and distorted because it was shot through a wide angle lens! Oh well. If you missed that you can read it online at http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/September/02/biz/stories/01biz.htm .
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Videos
We just put the videos on our website up on YouTube where they load ever so much quicker. There are all kinds of people on YouTube and lots of educational stuff (mixed in with the hundreds of teenagers dancing and lip-synching to their favorite songs in front of their video cams) if you know how to search by keywords. We decided that some of what we had to share might be helpful to others that way. If you haven't seen our videos online yet we have the following ones available so far:
Paul's Kundalini Awakening
Paul had a full Kundalini awakening at the age of 13. In this video he shares in his most sweet and unassuming way how that experience changed (or, rather, didn't change) his life. He also shares information about the challenges of putting such an experience into the context of an everyday life and some thoughts on the pitfall of believing such an experience makes someone "special."
Listening to Spirit Guides and Other Psychic Abilities
Sheryl had a traumatic experience in the third grade and hearing the voice of one of her guides helped her through. In this video she shares what happened and also talks about intellectual capacities like the use of active imagination and how that can be used in a healing capacity.
Paul Becomes a Healer
Paul shares how he first became a healer. Also some examples of early steps on the healer path.
Early Healer Lessons
More early healer lessons, this time from Sheryl's perspective.
Why People Get Sick
Paul gives examples of emotional reasons why people get sick and talks about the importance of taking steps towards what you most need and desire when it comes to life transitions.
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Thanks for Your Referrals!
We've gotten a few of those lately and we so appreciate it.
Interested in a session yourself? Send us an email or give us a call at (831) 325-4076.
