Painted Stream Drawing Elaine Clayton copyright 2016

Do you notice that throughout the day different memories drift into your mind and before you know it, you’ve got a running narrative of various painful thoughts? When I stream draw with people and we ready ourselves for a memory stream drawing, the memories that generally want our attention immediately are not all the happy ones. Ekhart Tolle describes this as the “pain body”—it is like an alternate self to who you truly are–an ego construct that hangs out with you, often makes decisions for you and runs your life–if you allow it. It is a hungry separate self carrying all the pain you’ve suffered and it feeds on more pain, and it will fight hard to stay with you in your every moment. You, the real you, the whole and complete and miraculous you in essence, is not this pain body.

So why do we let memories from so long ago or even yesterday, ruin our moment in the now? Why would we let this specter, this victim of life circumstances have power over our time, each moment? We don’t have to. The moment we notice this is happening, that we replay in our thoughts things that re-injure us, this is the pivotal opportunity because once YOU realize YOU can see that this pain has staying power, YOU are no longer identifying with the pain because you are now connecting to who you truly are–the observer, the witness to circumstances. Stream drawing is one way to get into that observer mode and fast, plus it is a physical action, which edifies your intention because it puts into action, and then into physical form via the actual drawing on paper.

Stream draw to get control over the pain body, and fly over it. And have some fun!