Heart Guidance

I have been relying more and more on my heart lately as my source of calm and comfort. A couple of weeks ago an awareness came to me that helped me find a deeper connection to my heart's healing powers.

I have been feeling a bit down and confused, missing friends, kindred spirits, and uncertain of a meaningful direction in my life. I read about Lao Tzu, Chinese poet and philosopher, who, discouraged with the state of humankind, rode off alone into the mountains, never to be seen again. I thought, I know just how he felt. I said to myself, "My heart is heavy."

Gradually the thought arose that my heart is not what is heavy and sad. Rather my mind, where my emotions are registered, is feeling down. I find that envisioning the heaviness in my mind allows me to feel the peace and spaciousness in my heart. I know from my HeartMath studies that the heart has more influence upon the brain than vice versa. I also know that patterns of feelings are registered in a part of the brain called the amygdala. So feeling the peace in my heart, savoring its quiet expansiveness, has a tremendous calming effect on my brain.

I have found that making the significant switch to focusing on the quietness and openness that reside in my heart instead of attributing my sadness to my heart, allows those heavy feelings to slowly evaporate like mist in the morning sun.

May all beings find peace.

Fun Fabrics Found with a new Friend

It's always fun to go to a _____ store (you can fill in the blank - bead, fabric, art supply, etc.) and its even more fun with a like-minded soul who loves to add to her or his stash as much as you do! With our husbands occupied with their own pursuits today, we were able to dive into girl time and look freely without worrying whether our sig other was getting bored, knowing we'd hear about that for the next several years!

What a delicious event! So here are some shots of my most favorite fabrics that I found today.

I loved the human faces on the turtle and fish! They feed my ideas for some mixed media creatures with interchanged human / animal parts!

And how to resist these colorful Day of the Dead skulls? I've not seen them in a fabric before. Don't know how I'll use these fabrics, I think I often buy fabric just because it inspires me and makes me smile

or swoon!

I also recently took a collage workshop with Joyce McAdams which was fabulous. A wonderful tip I learned from her is to get color copies of my fabric or scan them into the computer (these are photos), so that I can save the original. The copies can be printed on either paper or fabric for use in collages, and they can then be altered with paint!!! How cool is that? Best, you still have the original fabric. Truly a hoarder's delight!

Enjoy your colorful world!