Trust and Faith...

900 kilometers...HMMM...Saint Jean Pied de Port, France to Santiago, Spain to Finisterre, Spain...

Two months ago...I knew very, very little about Camino de Santiago. As I look back, I see how the guidance Source provided, including planting the idea of walking El Camino de Santiago in my head two months ago...has brought me here...now...today. I am post-integration of the 5-day Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain workshop. And the Dancing with Source Graduates workshop. Drawing On The Right Side is a workshop I wanted to take 5..6..7 years ago and did not fit into my schedule.

Well...Synchronicity Abounds...4 or so weeks into navigating through the Artist's Way book with a group (which I had not done before--we began 25 April), I remembered that I'd wanted to take a drawing class. And remembered this workshop. Voila...it was being given at Fort Mason during July. Synchronicity Abounds. Despite Money and Ego saying "we're on a budget", I took guidance from that still voice inside me (AKA Source or Right Brain) who said "Sign up for the workshop NOW".

On 18 July, my fab-o group of 8 (including me) completed the final chapter of the Artist's Way book -- Recovering A Sense Of Trust. And I add Faith! The Drawing On The Right Side workshop picked where that book ended. Synchronicity Abounds!

To Trust. To have Faith. To remember the Right Side Of My Brain. And as the workshop in entitled Draw "ON" It. AHA. I need to draw ON the Left Side. And ON the Right Side. And for different reasons. And at different times. And I want both sides to work as a team. Just as I want Ego and Dark Teachers to work with me as a team. We all need to work together. To learn from each other.

My other take-away from Drawing On The Right Side...when "drawing" the "object", check out the relationship in the drawing with those in the object. To reality-check if I have mis-perceived something in that "object" and thus transferred that mis-perception into the "drawing". That still-voice inside me KNOWS! when I have mis-perceived. And what to do to re-calibrate, re-adjust, re-focus. One step at a time. Until the drawing and the object are in sync.

This takeaway applies to life in general. When do I get so involved in what I am thinking, believing, doing, etc. that I neglect, forget to reality-check it against what the still inner voice is saying to me.

Source keeps telling me...show up. practice. K.I.S.S. (keep it simple sweetie). S..L..O..W..D..O..W..N. And drawing definitely helps me do all of that.

All Good! Buen Camino!

P.S. I'm very impressed with me as a drawer! As these two self-portraits, capturing a moment in time, tell me. The first I did on Day 1 of the workshop! The second on Day 5, the last day of the workshop! LOVED see everyone's drawings as most of us admitted we could not draw (do I hear the Left Brain, Ego, Mind, etc, etc talking--smile).

Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain

Today was the first day of a 5-day drawing workshop based on a book by the same name. The day went by very fast. AND I was amazed at the results from my second drawing exercise! Check it out! Was so happy walking home from the class!

The one on the top is my drawing!
:-)

El Camino Began The Day We Are Born

I recall telling a group of friends a month or so ago...that each of us is already walking El Camino. We've each been walking it from the day we were born. And I really sense that as I walk around my home city.

I moved here in 1988 and have been car-free since then. Daily I walked. To and from my workplace. To explore this new place I lived. To and from the grocery store. To and fro somewhere. Usually carrying a backpack filled with things like snacks, water, layers as the weather can shift from micro-climate to micro-climate. And in the past 10 years or so, I notice that my pace is slower. Part of that is physical stuff. Huge part of it...Source keeps telling me...S..L..O..W..D..O..W..N... And in slowing down, I have time to say Hi to a tree. A rose. A plant. And thank it for smiling at me. To look at the changing sky with its awesome shades of blue one day. Gray another. Dark another. Cloud-free. Clouds galore. Oh how I miss the clouds from my childhood in Virginia. For here, they aren't as billowy, fluffy, 3-D-ish. To notice the rush all around me--people, traffic, bikes. Tourists don't seem to rush. That's probably the reason one of my personal business cards says "Live life as if you're on holiday!" To sense which direction is a way to go or not. To be grateful.

I smile now because, we never know what tomorrow will bring. In January when my friend June and I were planning our 21-day trip to Italy and France, I had no clue that I would go from that trip to walk El Camino de Santiago. And once I leaned into my resistance and fear, I realized they were all illusion to keep me from walking there. From letting go. Having faith.

All Good!
Buen Camino in your day-to-day walk in and with Life.

Testing 1-2-3

It's 4:42 pm here in San Francisco--21 julio 2012. And I'm out walking. After two weeks of resting my strained right calf and arch muscles, I am slowly returning to walking more than a few blocks. PERFECT timing because for the past three weeks I've been getting on the bus at 8:30 am to go to Spanish 1A summer session class at City College. M to Th for five weeks. 10 to 12:30. Muy intensivo! And All Good!

Gives me time to stare out the bus window and watch all the interesting sights!

And finding all sorts of ways to use my iPhone--like right now I discovered I can use Google Blogger! So this is a test as I'm seeing how light I can travel when I leave for El Camino de Santiago!

Buen Camino!

Fierce Conversations

There is a book Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott. I have read the book and referenced it a few times since I was introduced to the book during 2003. More recently I was thinking about a passage from the book where Susan Scott speaks of "conversation" being from Spanish and its meaning in the context of what she writes. Probably because I am taking Spanish 1A at City College summer session. And I like the positive side of fierce -- robust, intense, passionate, powerful, unbridled. I requested the book from the library since I could not locate my copy of the book.

When I randomly opened the book (as I often do with books I've read before), synchronicity abounds. The page was entitled...Getting Real With Yourself. She calls it taking an integrity scan. Source is so funny sometimes. Seems El Camino France will give me lots of time to do an integrity scan.

I distill her integrity scan to "Do I love ____?" AND "Do I want to be with _____?" If either or both responses are No, then I need to move my attention and focus to something where my responses are both Yes.

Another synchronicity, last night I completed with a group of 7, the book Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. The last chapter is entitled Recovering A Sense Of Faith. The facilitator will be starting up another group to go through Julia's book Walking In The World. I told the group I will miss them. And to think of me, as I will literally be Walking In The World when I leave on walkabout soon. And I do so with Faith.

Meanwhile...in case you want to do an integrity scan...here's the questions Susan asks...

What values do I stand for, and are there gaps between those values and how I actually behave?

Have I absented my spirit from my work? My significant other? My relationships? My family? I really love these questions because I know what it feels like to "absent my spirit" from something. Thus it's fab-o to be reminded to check-in with Self.

What activities do I have my heart in?

What am I called to do?

Is the personal cost I'm paying worth it?

Where am I going?

Why am I going there?

Who is going with me?

How am I going to get there?

Am I realizing my full potential?

Am I fully extended in my capabilities?

Is there value and fulfillment in my work today?

What unmet needs am I moved and positioned to meet?

Happy Scanning!