who have been invited to share their heart felt experience and soul.

 Rita Rivera Fox

I had the priviledge to be apprenticed to Rita Rivera Fox for about 5 years when I was studying with don Miguel Ruiz. Her teachings are life changing. The Video above is Part 1 of a series. the full interview was an hour long.  This first part centers around Fear and learning some tools to use that fear to wake up, and move toward what your heart desires.

At the end of the video she says we are “free to move into action” somehow that last word got cut off. So sorry about that. I hope you still got the spiritual download. And come back for another installment as an extra blog post – very very soon!

For more information on Rita Rivera Fox, visit her website HERE

Rita is offering

an incredible opportunity

TONIGHT

for a FREE teleseminar

” ToolKit for thriving in Challenging Times “

for more information click on this link below

http://www.ritariverafox.com/calendar/conscious-cocreators/

What gems did you learn in today’s interview?

Please share your experiences – how you related to the conversation – and what you’ve done to help you move through fear to reach your hearts desire.

xo

*c

Here is a great topic about how to build Confidence about your work. How to deal with your own inner critic and how to deal with the judgements of others.

For me personally – this took time to develop. I still have fears and doubts. That chatter may always be a part of my daily inner dialogue. However, it doesn’t rule my actions as much as it used to. Fear and insecurity used to paralyze me. I was so afraid and so filled with self judgement that I could barely look people in the eye, or share my opinion. I didn’t have many opinions unless they came directly from whomever I was dating at the time. My opinions were their opinions. I was crawling out of my skin and had such discomfort within my self that my life was just a huge reaction to that discomfort. Whatever I could do to avoid feeling it – I would do. And that led me to make all sorts of decisions that were harmful to myself including abusing drugs and alcohol, smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day, changing my clothes 3 times a day because I didn’t feel “right”, not valuing who I was or thinking I had anything of value to share with the world, lacking any sort of self confidence, and not really showing up to face life. I felt a deep need to fill up what felt like an emptiness inside of me. I filled it with all the above and nothing really worked.

After I got sober and started to face life on life’s terms….I had to face myself. I sought help with growing my self esteem in many various ways. As my self esteem grew, the more available I was to show up more in my life. Therapy, Spiritual Practice, self help books, expressing myself through my artwork, etc. It all built on itself. It helped me create a foundation from which I could figure out what made my heart sing. Creating my artwork was a major life changing and self esteem building process. I was able to express in my work a lot of the feelings I had about life and about myself. I didn’t have to say all of that out loud yet it was still getting worked through and looked at. The meanings were often hidden in my artwork so I could show it to others without feeling totally exposed. Id did feel a bit “naked” when I shared my work at first – especially when it was so deep and personal to me. It took time to work through that, by continuing to show the work and move through that discomfort.

I think confidence is something we all work on. We had it when we were younger – but lost it somewhere in junior high maybe? Don’t get me started on Junior high….

Not everyone loses it. I’ve been so impressed with those kids I see who really KNOW who they are and are filled with a sense of purpose and a knowing inside that they are valuable. I LOVE seeing that. I love seeing people who never really lost that. It encourages me to keep going! It’s a mirror that shows me that it is possible.

I think the Toltec Work I did with Miguel Ruiz really helped me push through a lot of the self limiting beliefs I had that kept me from living my life to it’s fullest. I looked at all the thoughts and beliefs I had that were holding me back and recognized – through years of work – that I have a mind – but I am not my mind. The chatter is still there – but I have learned that I am not those limiting thoughts.

One thing that has helped me a great deal is to take responsibility for the fact that this is my life – and I am the only one who can change the direction that I’m heading. Putting my artwork out there for all eyes to see and judge ( good or bad ) can only harm me – if I believe on some level that I’m not valuable. Believe you me, when I was in art school – this was exactly how I felt – you can imagine going through art critiques with a group of “real” artists and ME! ( I didn’t think I was a “real” artist – I was just a girl who was recently sober and liked to draw and paint and take photos ) I hid in the back of class and hoped no one asked me to share. When it came to my turn my entire body wanted to shrivel up and disappear.

But I kept moving forward, taking actions, and learning how to deeply care about myself and for myself.

This is an ongoing practice. I’m not done with this process. It’s a journey and I love the adventure. I’m deeply curious about HOW to live the best life I can. I seek out personal freedom from these limiting beliefs – because I feel like life is so incredible when I am fully IN IT.

The Soul*Full eCourse is the result of my passionate desire for all of us to really feel empowered, free to live fully, deepen our connection to ourselves and the outside world, let go of those fears and act with more love towards ourselves. It’s a brave thing to show up and move forward when fear feels like it has you.

I encourage you to take a look at your fears and limiting beliefs that hold you back.

What is holding you back?

Is it time to let these things go?

Are you addicted to the habitual story you tell yourself that you are a piece of Sh*t? ( did I just say Sh*t? why yes….yes I did and I’m not sorry! )

Are you attached to the story you tell yourself around not being enough?

How is that serving you?

It IS serving you in some way to hold on to those thoughts and beliefs. Dig deep. excavate. Let go.

Write down these beliefs that are on constant repeat in your mind and create a ritual around releasing them. Tear up the page and toss it into the fireplace or in the trash. Write down the opposite and post those all over the house. What sort of ritual can you create for yourself – that feels right for you – to help you let go? Is it a walk in the woods to bury your page of beliefs in the earth? Is it a trip to the ocean to write them out in the sand and watch the water wash over them? Think on this today and make a date with yourself to do this one act. Give yourself the opportunity to shift your attention from fear – to love. This is a loving act and you certainly deserve it.

Imagine if it was easy. What if it was easy to share your work with the world. What if you were embraced fully by people you thought would judge you. Imagine if your body, heart and mind were filled with the kind of confidence and sense of purpose that made you take risks you never thought were possible?

That is possible you know.

It really truly is.

Give yourself permission.

See what happens when you start shifting your awareness away from those limiting beliefs – toward fully loving yourself and KNOWING you are meant to live that life you always dreamed of.

Leave a comment below on ways you have conquered fear – and taken risks that have helped you feel empowered and free.

What helps you when you feel fear?

What tips can you share?

What books, spiritual teachers, eCourses, retreats, mentors have helped along the way?

If you did the letting go ritual – how did it feel for you? What have you learned about yourself from reading this post?

xo

*c

If you are interested, It’s not too late to join us for the April Session of the Soul*Full eCourse.

If you feel the call to start living a more Soul*Full life – join us!

who have been invited to share their heart felt experience and soul.

Happy

Dyana Valentine’s

Day!

( I couldn’t resist! )

I’m so honored to have Dyana Valentine share her wisdom and insights with us today.

Go grab a cup of your favorite tea ( or whatever beverage makes your heart sing ) .

Go ahead – I’ll wait….

Get in a comfy chair and get ready.

Dyana is not messing around.

Don’t miss the gift of her generous, insightful message.

It’s rich, deep, meaningful…yea, she’s incredible.

Watch Dyana Valentine at TEDx Ojai Women

But wait – there’s more!

Learn all about Woke up knowing:

Woke Up Knowing

Check out more of her magnificence here:

DyanaValentine.com

What did you think? What touched you? What made you sit up and say YES! What resonated for you? What message did you hear – that was meant just for you?

Comment below

Share this post with your friends on facebook and twitter. Spread the love. xo*c

Here you go! Some ideas for Valentine’s Day for the photographer in your life.

And here is a downloadable Valentine’s Day Gift Guide for Photographers

with suggestions from some of my favorite artists and entrepreneurs.

Today I am so honored to have Jess Greene from Seek Your Course join the Soul*Full Tribe and share her wisdom with us.

A Path Of Passion Is Rarely Straight

When I was a child I wanted to be an artist or a writer when I grew up. I guess I was a fairly intuitive child because that is pretty much what I now do. But passion and interests are funny vehicles to ride when it comes to cruising down the path of life and the road has been all but straight forward.

When I was a child I wrote, illustrated and constructed my own books and illustrated greeting cards. My dad would buy cards from me and then I would take the money, walk across the street, pass the office building and buy a popsicle. It was a simple enterprise, but satisfying. I was passionate about making things and life was good.

When I was old enough to handle my dad’s 35mm Nikon, that became my medium. I learned about shutter speed and depth of field. I loved it. When I was fifteen I had an internship at a photography studio and started dreaming of being a photojournalist.

College opened all the doors and everything changed. The ideas and opportunities flooded my mind. I poured over the course catalog and tried to decide which fields were most appealing. I changed my mind several times from art to photography to architecture to political economics to community development to sustainable agriculture to teaching science. By the time I graduated I had over 150 credits and ended up with a degree in Agricultural Resource Economics, a minor in Plant and Soil Science, and enough general science classes in various fields to go into a Masters in Education program to teach Middle School Science, which I completed a year later.

In college the shift from an art/architecture/photography focus to a humanitarian/political economics/human services focus was deliberate and intentional. I was two weeks into my introductory architecture class when I suddenly realized that I didn’t like it because it wasn’t helping anyone. In fact, architecture represented the opposite of helping people. The field of architecture is often wasteful, caters to the whims of the wealthy, and usually values pure aesthetics over ethics. Obviously these are generalizations and I am still deeply in love with architecture and the process of designing and constructing living and working spaces. But I realized then that designing and constructing were not fulfilling a deeper longing and desire of mine: to help people.

So from architecture I shifted to international agricultural development work. This was fulfilling and interesting. I had fabulous teachers in my departments and that is where I stayed….until my last year of college when I made a drastic turn and decided to teach.

For the last year or so I have been cursing that part of myself that made that last-minute change that put me in a middle school classroom for the last five years. I loved it at first but not recently. For the last two years of teaching I have hated a lot of what teachers have to deal with. Then this past summer I quit.

I still don’t really know why I suddenly decided that last year of college that I loved working with teenagers enough to change my whole plan.

I now have two creative jobs that are growing and becoming a new life for me. I am an artist who paints mainly in encaustics (hot wax) and teaches art workshops. And I run a website called Seek Your Course, which is a database of creative opportunities such as ecourses and art workshops. These two jobs keep me busy and they each have their own creation story.

I am now into month #8 of working for myself. I am starting to gain some perspective. I am just now starting to marvel and wonder at the path I traveled for the last couple decades.

And now that I have enough perspective to see where I have been I realize that I had it all figured out when I was a child. I knew then that writing and making art were my calling. Should I have just taken the risk then and spent my college years majoring in writing and art? No. The wild, crazy, windy, path climbing hard mountains and traveling through low valleys that my passions have taken me on cultivated me. There was a greater purpose and an ultimate calling to all of those changes and all that time invested.

Sometimes a pilgrimage teaches us much more than the sacred place we are trying to get to.

Passion, though, has always been the thread. I was passionate about design and architecture. I was passionate about helping people. I was passionate about providing food to the hungry people of the world. I was passionate about teaching and designing good curriculum. And I still am passionate about all of those things.

What I am realizing now is that even though all of these passions are apparently quite unrelated there is a reason I pursued them all and a reason why each led me to something else.

I am now fairly certain that my true purpose here on earth is to inspire, encourage and teach people to create, expand their sense of possibility and ultimately find the purposes for which they were created.

This is why I was drawn to good design, helping people, feeding people, and teaching people. I have learned so much through each of these phases of my journey. I have always been looking for the signs and willing to take the risks to make sure I was following my true calling. I often felt very lost and was absolutely certain I had made a mistake when it came to teaching these last couple years. But I have grown into myself and my purpose. A decade or so of changes is really not a long time when I think about all that I have done and the way I have come into my own.

What about you? Can you see that your path has taken you through a hard or seemingly-not-related-to-your-calling place but it ended up being the exact place you needed to be?  Are you looking for the signs that you are on your path to your true calling, even if that path seems to take you to strange places?

In Part 4 I talk about where I found my inspiration when I first started creating Self Portraits.

Here is a list of links that will help you research new ways to think about creating your own self portraits.

Women Artists and the Surrealists Movement

Abajo Del Rio

Francesca Woodman

Cindy Sherman

Duane Michals

Aline Smithson

Lenscratch

A few extra links to add to your research:

Cig Harvey

Vivienne McMaster

Nicola Taylor ( who you might remember from my Soul*Full Tribe Series )

Do you have a favorite self portrait photographer? Or inspiration you’d like to share? Please add that in the comments below. And if you found this video and post helpful please share it on twitter and facebook.

xo

*c

Today I am so honored to have Jenn Gibson from Roots.of.She join the Soul*Full Tribe and share her wisdom with us.

Lessons on Gratitude

I’ve always been a person who expresses gratitude.

You hold the door open for me, I say thank you. You check in on me to see how my day’s going, I say thank you. You send me a card or letter, stop over for a visit, help me when I need it, thank you, thank you, thank you.

It’s easy to be grateful when things are going well, when it’s something that makes you smile or lights you up, but finding gratitude when everything unravels? I had no idea how to do that, until the day where it was the only thing that I could do.

Let me rewind: Last summer, I bought a house. A month after I moved in, Hurricane Irene came through town. A tree toppled over and went through my house.

No one was home, I’d holed up over at my brother’s house once the electricity went out.

Driving back the next morning, we saw power lines down, trees that had fallen and landed on cars, limbs and leaves and debris everywhere. Then we pulled onto my street.

The tree, the big tree that I had expressly asked not to fall on my house, had fallen on my house.

And that’s when my lessons in gratitude began.

How? Because I couldn’t stop crying and didn’t know what to do. Because I got so mad when people kept telling me how I should be grateful — it could’ve been worse, I was lucky I wasn’t home, at least the tree didn’t crush the house completely. Because it hurt that someone could stare at something that broke my heart and render judgement on how I was or was not handling the situation.

I was stuck inside of anger and overwhelm, and it gave me chances over the next several months to redefine my relationship with gratitude: how it looked and felt, how I expressed it.

One of the first things I did was make a gratitude journal and in the beginning everything looked a lot like this:

I am angry that a tree fell on my house, but I am grateful I wasn’t home.
I am upset that my insurance company is giving me the run-around, but I am grateful I have insurance.
I am sad that I can’t live in my house right now, but I am grateful that I have somewhere safe that I can stay.

Really basic, but completely acknowledging and honoring how I was feeling, and giving gratitude space to appear.

Over time it turned into this:

Today’s gratitudes: My family having my back. Soundingboards. Visiting my house and seeing the babysteps towards it being rebuilt. Sitting on the beach. Hot tea. Blue skies. A bumpy road towards learning patience.

My gratitude did not look how other people were telling me it should look: It was an authentic, messy reflection of how I was feeling.

It softened all of the frustration and anger and sadness. Gratitude left my heart a tender place where I could sink into stillness and see each tiny blessing inside the chaos and noise, to where I could start just saying thank you again.

I learned that I needed to dive into the cultivation of an attitude of gratitude. When I started to acknowledging the pretty parts and the ugly parts, when I could see the gifts in each of them, I was able to start to let go of so much.

What are you grateful for today? What pretty and ugly parts do you want to say thank you to? What lessons are gifts in disguise?

Jenn Gibson believes in dreaming big : she’s the creator of Roots of She. She loves yoga and the beach, is a photographer & writer, and isn’t above stealing snuggles from Bean the Boy Kitten.

Daily parts of her life are paper journaling, talking to her dear sweet momma & sky-gazing.

Website: http://www.rootsofshe.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/roots.of.she
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rootsofshe

If you enjoyed this post please share it on Twitter and Facebook and comment below on what you are grateful for today.

xo

*c

Today is Part 3 in a series of videos focusing on Self Portraiture.

This time you get an exclusive peek at my favorite camera for Self Portraits and what I consider fascinating about long exposures.

Below you will find a few examples of Self portraits I’ve taken with the Pinhole Camera as well as some links to some handy resources.

xo

*c

Big Ben.

4×5 Pinhole Camera, long exposure while holding the camera. The film captured the movement of my body while I was breathing while I held the camera so I feel that this is a self portrait of myself and Big Ben.The movement of my body alters the landscape or buildings. It’s evidence that I was present during the creation of these photos.

Priory

London Bridge

Self Portrait with the Trees. Arizona

Oct. 22 #2 Maui, Hawaii. from the Honeymoon series

Here is another long exposure with the pinhole camera.. This time I put the camera on the dresser and exposed the film overnight and into the morning. You can see ghost like images of us in bed. I feel that this is a portrait of the time we are asleep but still connected in our dreams.

This is our wedding night photo. Long exposure with ghost like images of us. The box you see on the bed is Polaroid 4×5 film that I used to take this photo. It’s so great I have that in the shot since Polaroid its no longer manufacturing this product. But that’s an entirely different topic I’ll save for another video!

You can view more of this Honeymoon Series HERE

Resources:

Pinhole Photography

Pinhole Resource Website

Where to find Polaroid now ( you won’t believe the prices now that it’s no longer made! )

Fuji 4×5 Film Holder

Fuji 4×5 instant film

Long Exposures in Self Portraiture

While I was doing research for this blog post – I ran across this photographer who did a bed time series as well.

Check it out!

http://mikedote.com/archives/451

finding this series inspired me to start doing this series now! So stay tuned and see what new sleepy time self portraits I create in the upcoming months!

I hope you enjoyed Part 3 of the Self Portrait videos.

If you did enjoy it – I’d love for you to leave a comment below!

xo

*c

                                                                                                                                                                         ©CatherineJust

Soul Searching

I am on the path of mending my broken soul. A story that I am not ready to tell, needs to be told. I feel that even though my soul feels raw, cut open, broken, tender, fragile, and vulnerable, my story needs to be shared. Even if it is just for me. This is my story and my soul searching quest.

I grew up a Mormon. I loved, lived, and breathed my faith. I knew nothing else. It was me. I was it. I followed the path that was to be my life willingly and happily. I was surrounded by good people. I had wonderful friends, teachers, and church mates. I was the exemplary mormon girl. I lived to be an example to others. I knew and felt that my religion was the one and only way to God.

Sometime in my 30’s I started to get a strange feeling. A feeling of doubt. I talked to church leaders and was told this was Satan’s way of tempting me. I was told that I need to continue being faithful and all would be okay. I was told to pray, study the scriptures and my doubts would be put to rest. I did, as I always did, what I was told. I tired harder. I prayed harder. Harder, harder, harder. I really desired to “feel” no doubt. I kept most of my thoughts and feelings in my closet, up on the highest shelf. All my doubts pushed way in the back so I didn’t have to look at them. But for some reason my doubts couldn’t be kept away and out of sight. They were always there. They were looming and I could’t push them away anymore. So after about 10 years of pushing my doubts away it all came tumbling down. My life as I knew it, would never be the same.

It has been a difficult 4 years or so, for me. Feeling very lost and alone on this journey of discovery. For a long time, even after I knew the Mormon faith was not for me anymore, I kept my thoughts and feelings inside. I knew that revealing my secret would crush my friends and family. I spoke to very few people about what I was going through. It was such a sad, sad time for me. The pain, betrayal, and loneliness was at times, unbearable. It is hard to explain what I went through, the depths of despair I felt. I was scared to tell others, because for the most part, EVERYONE I knew was Mormon. I knew that my life would never be the same again. I even tried to go back to my old way of thinking. But it is much like the movie The Matrix and the red/blue pill. I chose the red pill. And I could not go back.

The stories, beliefs, and people that have filled my life up until this point will serve me with life lessons. I have wonderful friendships, family, and people in my life who are Mormon. I  love them and cherish them, always. I, in no way, feel that their life journey needs to be like mine. I have learned a lot living the faith of my childhood and I will always be grateful for the good people who have influenced my life for the better, no matter their religion.

Where am I today?  I have learned that I have to think for myself, to follow that little voice inside me telling me something is not right. I am on an exciting path to self discovery. I see the world as colorful and vibrant. I no longer look at life as black and white or good and bad. There are many paths to take in this life. I am living life for the here and now. I am reading, exploring, and working on improving me and the life I have. I have never felt such a vibrancy for life. I am finally okay with the unknown. The journey of the soul, with all of its twists and turns is wonderfully mysterious.

So, as far as me and my soul….we are going to be okay. I will forever be listening to that little voice that pushes me and nudges me along. I will be searching and learning and growing in ways I never knew I could. I will be finding others who are on a similar journey and helping and loving in anyway I can.

I truly am thankful for life lessons. Sometimes they are really really hard. Nightmarish even. But it is true, once you get through it, whatever the lesson you need to learn, I believe it is then your responsibility to help others. I am on that journey. I will be living my life to help others. This soul searching girl is excited for life because it  is full and bright.

xo

Amy Wengreen

awengreen@gmail.com

www.tinytouches.com

https://twitter.com/#!/tinytouches

www.soulsearchinggirl.com (coming soon!)

I am Amy. I love life. I love my kids. I love laughing. I love creating. I love books. I love enlightened conversation. I love chips and salsa. I am also the Owner/Creator of Tinytouches.com. I help others find a fun way to work from home.

Part 2 in the Self Portraiture series. This time I focus on ONE way to incorporate self portraits that helps you take continuous photos without going back and forth to the camera to press the self timer button.

Here is a LINK to many different options for a remote shutter release that I talk about in the video.

…and yea… I thought I’d address my use of the word “thingy” to describe the remote shutter. …I lost my train of thought and wanted to keep on going – so there you have it:

a video shoot + no script = “thingy”

I’d love to hear if you have any other tips for self portraiture. Leave them in the comments below. And if you have any questions for me – feel free to leave them in the comments and I will be certain to either answer you through e-mail OR it might be used in a Q&A video!

Have a great day today.

xo

*c