I love the creative process.

 

When I was finding images to create my Respond Lovingly to your Calling Course, the idea came to use hands and flowers.

 

I thought of our hands and how they are so related to our creative expression in the world.

 

And as time goes on with this course, I see my own soul’s journey more and more clearly.
  

 

When I first moved to Australia, I did a singing course.

 

I love to sing. It’s one of the things that brings me alive.

 

And the song I chose to learn deeply, and sing in public was “Hands” by Jewel.

 

If you want to listen to it, CLICK HERE or on the image of Jewel below.

 

 

 

 

I was often moved to tears learning it and singing it.

Here are the lyrics from azlyrics.com – click on the image to get to the original site!

 

 

 

And then there’s The Handless Maiden story – I wonder if you’ve ever heard it or read it?

The way I interpret the handless maiden is that for many women, or the feminine in men, our creative expression has been cut off by the domination culture that we have grown up in and internalised.

What do I mean by that?

Well, old-fashioned schooling and parenting systems, where children are judged as right or wrong, clever or stupid, where there is one type of learning and talent that is valued and others that aren’t, where children’s unique gifts and qualities are often not seen, where there are ideas of misbehaviour and gold stars, all of these become internalised and to a greater or lesser extent serve to chop off the maiden’s hands.

To me, that is why there is often fear for people in sharing our unique gifts.

Not because sharing our unique gifts is inherently frightening, but because of past experiences of being judged or punished or not seen or heard or our gifts not being valued – all of which have related feelings that come up in the present to be heard and healed.

Or perhaps you were told that doing what you loved wasn’t practical – that you couldn’t earn a living doing it.

The beautiful thing is, that we can reclaim our hands.

As Jewel said, “We’re all okay”.

We all have unique and beautiful gifts to share.

And there’s no right or wrong as far as gifts.

Our gifts might be caring for children, or animals, or a garden.

They might be creating art, or singing songs, or making delicious food.

Your gift might be crafting words, or creating cakes.

You might long to help other parents, or share your joy of essential oils.

You might love numbers or gaming.

You might want to help bring more love into the world.

Whatever it is that brings you alive, that helps your heart sing, that is your gift.

I am passionate about us reclaiming our hands and sharing our unique and beautiful gifts with the world.

As Ken Robinson says in his beautiful book, The Element (I highly recommend it!):

“The world is changing faster than ever in our history. Our best hope for the future is to develop a new paradigm of human capacity to meet a new era of human existence. We need to evolve a new appreciation of the importance of nurturing human talent along with an understanding of how talent expresses itself differently in every individual. We need to create environments – in our schools, in our workplaces, and in our public offices – where every person is inspired to grow creatively. We need to make sure that all people have the chance to … discover the Element in themselves and in their own way.”

I’m passionate about listening to the unique inner spark of our children, and I’m passionate about listening to the unique inner spark in each of as as adults.

I invite you to do more of what you love, to remember that each of has unique gifts that are important, and to nourish that in your child/ren so that they can flourish too.

 

And if you feel called to join in with the Respond Lovingly to your Calling Course, I’d love to see you there and be of some service to help you share your gifts with the world.

The course already over half full and we have our first Zoom call this Sunday.

CLICK HERE or on the meme below to find out more.