Creativity Goes Wild — Meet Suzanne

 

Note from Napkinwriter:  I am sharing a guest blog from creative friend , writer, creative journey leader, workshop presenter and Coach, Suzanne Murray. I hope to be on a trip with her one-day, it won’t matter much, where — it will be a grand adventure just being together.

 

CREATIVITY GOES WILD NEWS – December 2012

plus Creativity or Writing Coaching Packages

& Spring 2013 Yosemite Retreats &

The Heart & Soul of Ireland – Journey to the West of Ireland, May 2013

 GLOBAL PEACE

I recently re-read Maya Angelou’s beautiful poem for the Christmas season titled Amazing Peace. As I read I could feel my heart open more fully and tears form in my eyes as I could feel the truth of the words working through me. We can all feel the need for peace in the world and in ourselves. And the poems reminds me of the power of poetry and all creative acts to open our hearts and expanded minds to new possibilities and solutions

One of the solutions for world peace is keeping an open heart and sending from your heart compassion and care to areas of the world troubled by storms, war and other crisis. This is exactly what the Global Coherence Initiative organizes people to do. An offshoot of the Institute of Heartmath they are a group of scientists working with the discovery that the magnetic field of the human heart is in direct communication on the energetic level of feelings with the magnetic field of the Earth. (This discover was made by a NASA scientist studying fluctuation in the earth’s magnetic field who on September 11, 2001 noticed an off the charts fluctuation as people around the world poured their heart’s concerns over the events of that day in America.) This lead scientists to the awareness that by sending focused care from our heart’s to areas of trouble we can calm the Earth’s weather and people’s fear and distress during disasters.

The Global Coherence Initiative suggests that by focusing your attention in our hearts and breathing our love and compassion into the planetary field for all those suffering from weather events or conflicts and also send our coherent heart energy to leaders to keep working together to find sustainable solutions for global problem and hold the vision for increased peace on the planet without putting time restrictions on it. Peace will result as we increase our collective ability to get along.

To help with the inspiration I’ve included below two of my favorite peoms on the theme of peace. One is Maya Angelou’s Amazing Peace.

Wishing you the peace of the season, from my heart to yours.
Suzanne

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

Amazing Peace

 

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to
avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done
to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension,
Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness
high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence
and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged
as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth,
brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches,
breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft.
Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now.
It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound.
We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war.
But true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth’s tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.

– Maya Angelou

INDIVIDUAL & ONLINE COACHING FOR LIFE, CREATIVITY OR WRITING

plus Access Conscious The Bars Class & Spring Retreats to Yosemite & Ireland

THE HEART & SOUL OF IRELAND – Journey to the West of Ireland

Dublin, Galway, County Clare, The Aran Islands

May 9 to May 16, 2013

for more info go to http://creativitygoeswild.com/west-of-ireland/

YOSEMITE RETREATS – Writing for Wisdom, Clarity & Creative Exploration

Traveling by Train

 

Weekend Retreats Spring 2013

http://creativitygoeswild.com/yosemite-retreats/

Join me as writing teacher, life & creativity coach and professional naturalist for a Weekend Retreats where we draw on the inspiration from the beauty and magnificence of Yosemite Valley for wisdom and clarity. I’ve has been going to Yosemite all my life and lived there when I worked as an educator for Yosemite Institute. I’m really excited to share the wonders and secrets of this place with others especially during the time of year when there are fewer visitors and you can more easily feel the power of the place. These are three full days and traveling by train makes them very relaxing from the start. We arrive at the lodge at noon on Friday with time to write, relax, enjoy a walk or the spa. No writing experience necessary. We will work with simple, powerful techniques to working with your creativity imagination in writing for self discovery or creative expression.

Suzanne thanks for the wonderful weekend. Your superb guidance, the food, the accommodation, the train were all perfect. It was such a rich, relaxing and transformational experience. I feel new and expanded! – Elizabeth Markum

THE HEART OF WRITING – Four Week Coaching Package
Do you want to ignite your creativity and show up to your writing on a regular basis or go deeper into the process and craft? I offer online coaching to support you and coach you through any resistance or problems along the way. I can send you daily lessons and assignments that cover important aspects of the writing process and information on craft. Or we can tailor our work together to really fit your specific needs. I hold the space of unconditional acceptance and support to nurturing your unique voice  and work on the stories that are really important to you.Includes a half hour phone session with four weeks of online support with regular assignments and check ins for $195

CREATIVITY COACHING – Four Week Coaching Package
Do you want to experience the pleasure and joy that comes from adding satisfaction and meaning and a sense of well being to your life through creative expression. I will offer practical, emotional and soulful strategies to help you fully uncover your creative gifts and support yourself in expressing them. I will provide encouragement and support in understanding of the creative process and its stages and exercises for accessing the wisdom of your imagination. I’ll help you set realistic goals and support you in achieving them. We will work with tools for coaching yourself through the issues that get in the way of your creativity including career concerns, blocks, limiting beliefs, relationship issues and the existential and spiritual questions that can arise from wanting and needing to create.

includes a half hour phone session with four weeks of online support with regular assignments and check ins for $195

Access Consciousness The Bars Class
I have been working with Access Consciousness for almost two years and it has certainly expanded my life in wonderful ways including a deep sense of inner peace and more space to create a life a love. I am now a certified Access Consciousness Bars Facilitator available for both individual sessions and to teach The Bars classes in Sonoma County. The Bars has assisted thousands of people in changing many aspects of their body and their life including problems with sleep, health and weight, money, relationships, anxiety, stress and so much more! At the least you will feel like you have just had the best massage of your life. At best your whole life can change into something greater with total ease.

About The Bars Classes In this one day Access Bars Workshop you are guided through the process by giving two sessions of the Bars and receiving two sessions. By the end of the day you will be certified as a Bars practitioner and able to “run the Bars” the on others. It’s a great beginning of your own healing practice or a wonderful addition if you already work with other modalities.

Sunday, December 2, 10 am to 6 pm

downtown Sebastopol, Sonoma County

$200 for first time, $100 if repeating within one year

Transformational Coaching

Discovering Your Joy and Purpose with Creative Exploration
I am really excited to offer a new variation to life coaching where we work with the expanded intelligence of our creativity to discover our heart’s desire. Take a couple of minutes and imagine the life you would be living if you really could have anything you want. Imagine that you are living from your full potential and that all is possible. Where would you be living, what would you be doing, who would you be with, and what contribution would you be making to the world. Then consider where you are now in your life, what’s stopping you and imagine trying to get where you want to go all on your own. If going it alone feels like too much of a stretch or you have no idea where to start you might want to consider coaching. We also work with tools that work with the belief systems that get in the way. For life coaching I am offering a free 20 minute consult to see if coaching is right for you. For more information on a special offer visit www.creativitygoeswild.com/ life-coaching/

For more detailed information on all my offerings check web site at www.creativitygoeswild.com or call Suzanne Murray at 707.360.7776 or email suzmurr@yahoo.com. Also check out my Blog at www.creativitygoeswild.com/ blog for ideas on writing, creativity and life coaching.  Follow me on Twitter at wildcreativity where I tweet inspirational quotes for creativity and life.

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The Birds Do It, The Bees Do It

Photo by Christine Whitelaw – Australia 

In his writings, his Holiness, the Dalai Lama says, “…taking care of the planet is nothing special, nothing sacred, and nothing holy. It is something like taking care of our own house. We have no other planet or house except this one…we have no alternative, we have to take care of this home.”

“After all, the human being is a social animal,” I tell my friends.

“They have no need to study philosophy, these professional , complicated subjects,” he continues.  “By simply looking at these innocent animals, insects, ants, bees, etc, quite often I develop some kind of respect for them. How? Because they have no religion, no constitution, no police force, nothing. But they live in harmony through the natural law of existence or nature’s law or system”

“We human beings, what is wrong with us? he ponders. “We have such intelligence and human wisdom …so often used in a wrong way or direction. As a result, in a way, we are doing certain actions which essentially go against basic human nature….”

He calls love and compassion a universal religion…”if we look closely at human nature, affection is the key to a good heart. I think the mother is a symbol of compassion. Everyone has a seed of good heart.”

“Science and technology, together with human compassion with be constructive. Under the control of hatred, it will be destructive.”

The Dalai Lama began this topic by telling his audience that they may have come there that evening with some expectations, but that essentially “I’ve nothing to offer you.” He said he simply wanted to share some of his own experiences and views.

He said that from a certain viewpoint, religion is a bit of a luxury. “If you have religion, very good; even without religion you can survive and manage, but without human affection, we can’t survive.”

The Dalai Lama

There is a Global Coherence Initiative, which is a science-based, co-creative project to unite people in heart focused care and intention. It aims to facilitate the shift in global consciousness from instability and discord to balance, cooperation and increasing peace (www.glcoherence.org).

One of GCI’s roles is to provide education and technology for increasing heart coherence in individuals and teams.

Increasing heart coherence creates an alignment of body, emotions, mind and spirit that increases balance and effectiveness in individual groups and contributing to global coherence. This, in my opinion, is a technique needed to catch the attention and commitment of today’s leaders, powers of state and corporate and political structures. It is simple to learn, it may not be easy to effect the desire for change.

But just look at today’s world view –torn, fragmented by wars, unthinkable genicide of innocents, the hungry and homeless, the scarred Earth. Someone — somewhere– has to start doing something different from the way we’re doing it now. And I don’t think that boils down to the differing political parties.

I think it has more to do with the individual heart and mind consciousness that will rise up in bigger numbers than the individual alone and change whole systems in doing so — and there is no better place to start than in the heart.

We are studying and practicing the simple technique  of Heart Resonance in our Birth 2012 on-line course with Barbara Marx Hubbard.  The course also offers a glimpse of other styles of leadership, reaching group agreement, not by the battle of wills and egos, but by truthfully searching for the highest good of the individual, community, country or world. I don’t think these methods have much chance of success and use in the world unless we sincerely do the heart work first and are willing to commit to this for the good of humankind.

Can anyone watch the news these days and not have their heart tugged on a little bit or a lot. There’s too much that goes against nature going on in our world, and it would be a shift, indeed, if each human looked into their own heart and soul and discovered what it is that would be natural and in harmony (like the birds and the bees) for them to do — in big or little ways — that will increase the amount of goodness in the world on a daily basis.

The attitude of “I can’t do anything about it” is just not viable today in our world.

The technique of Heart Coherence was developed the Institute of Heart Math by Doc Childre. It is a simple, yet powerful technique to release stress, bring more coherence into your heart rhythms and build resilience. Once you’ve learned it, the technique only takes a minute to do and you can do it anywhere, anytime.

By the way, this is just not a “do-gooder” ideal. Simply by incorporating this as part of your life and prayer practice, the Institute has demonstrated by scientific tests, that you are creating goodness and health in your own body. Your own self-healing   powers (which many of us do not know we have; the birds and the bees know it!) will activate on many levels.

Physically, you may heal a wound, unblock a blockage, or intuitively know who you want to bring your treatment needs to; mentally, you may lighten up and find paths to uncomplicate complicated issues you wrestle with; spiritually, you will, for certain, develop a taste for this compassion that the Dalai Lama says is so necessary. And you will find a sense of connectness to others that most likely did not exist before.

I intend to bring Heart Resonance into my teaching workshops in the fall and spread its availability to learn in my little portion of this Earth.

This is science and technology with compassion and it works.  I can do my little part in nature to encourage harmony and love.  These qualities do need to be birthed into our world in ever increasing numbers. Our planet and its people are depending upon it.

For further information, www.heartmath.org

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