Soul Restoration 1 redux

So, the wonderful women (and men) over at Brave Girls Club are running a giveaway for posts about Soul Restoration 1.  I wrote about SR1 shortly after the experience, and now, a little month after SR1, I have a bit more to say... (of course I do!)

I didn't say much about the art therapy of the workshop, but it's fun, simple art that takes you "inside" the weekly lesson.  I am a big fan of art that asks you to get messy... get your hands dirty, because making art should be visceral.... it should grab your guts and squeeze a little.  That little squeeze helps you make some room in what is probably an overstuffed insides; it allows the lesson some room to become a part of you.

I didn't say much about the process of digging around inside my head so that I could find the doors that needed to be nailed shut and the ones that needed to be pried off their hinges so that they could stay wide open, but I alluded to the process.  In the getting messy art projects, my hands got busy while my head got quiet and I  got a chance to really hear my own voice again.  I am usually quiet, no, silent, because I am a girl who tells the truth instead of a girl who says what is expected.  Don't get me wrong, I'm polite, but I won't make nice of something that is not.  In my experience, few people actually want an answer; they want to be told that they are right or that it will all be okay, or  that it's not what it seems...  Yeah... I'm not that girl.  I'm going to tell you when you are wrong, that you're strong enough to handle what might not be okay (or smart enough to get help handling it) and that when it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and ruffles it's tail feathers in your face and says "I'm a duck" and you insist on telling me it's a peacock, I'm going to pin feathers on your behind and ask if that made YOU a peacock.   So... I don't talk much because planet Kaere is really sacred to me, and hurting you with what I see, what I believe, what I think I know isn't why I tell you it's a damn duck, fool, it's just that I don't have your experiences to see planet YOU.   It is easier for me to hush than to be worried about how you'll hear what I have to say.  In my first post about SR, I said that I  re-learned that just because you have something to say doesn't mean you should say it, and I repeat it here now because it may be one of the most important things I took away from this course.   The community fostered by the SR workshop puts you in touch with A LOT of women... and there's a lot of good stuff going on in there, but just like real life, there are people who are careless, people who are uniquely unqualified to be giving you advice, and people who need to be heard more than they need to hear what you've asked.   You know what? that's great.  Because we need to be reminded that just because somebody told us, doesn't make it true, that just because someone doesn't agree with us doesn't make us wrong, that just because someone said something we don't like, doesn't mean we don't like them...  The community of SR will strengthen not only  the way you relate to women but also the sound of your own whispers so that you are sure of your voice, even when you don't like what you are saying.  You will learn to trust your voice, and that there are things in all of us, yes ALL of us, that are not things we want to have in us... for some of us, those are big ugly drooling monsters with gnashing teeth that eat babies, for others they are dust bunnies that mar an otherwise perfect floor... and you know what?  they feel EXACTLY the same.  And I don't just believe this, I know it. 

I did talk a little about forgiveness, and letting go, and getting on with it.  Because at the end of the day or the beginning of each day's journey, what it really is all about is getting on with it.  Life is a great big beautiful mess and we are unique and amazing creatures who are making our way throuh this mess, leaving footprints, fingerprints and handsmears all over the place... can you see your way as a path for those who come behind you?  Can you see your way as the indelible art of life?  You can .

make something beautiful with your heart and your hands,

Kaere