I am offering one-on-one and small group stream drawing workshops for adults and children at my studio. Contact me here on this site to schedule your ultra-fun, relaxing, magical and surprising stream drawing time with me. I look forward to seeing you at Cottage Studio!
Sketching on the Saugutuck: Later in the summer I will return to Westport Public Library for the 6th summer in a row! Sign up for this lovely drawing event by contacting the Westport Public Library.
In the fall, I’ll be teaching workshops at wellness centers and through Westport Continuing Education and will post more info on that soon!
When loved ones die, we kind of tilt our heads upward and ask them to look out for us, thinking they’re up there in heaven where they can help us down here. And that is true, they can, and they do. Yet there is another thing unfolding. In Jewish Mysticism (which I fell in love with in my early twenties, or before really) there is a teaching that we actually have a large impact on those who have come before us and died before us.
How do we impact them? On earth, where there is a lot of contrast, pain and suffering, we are given a chance to expand God’s knowledge through our experiences, and then bring love, forgiveness and understanding into these painful situations. And when we bring love into sorrow or healing into injury, we not only help ourselves and people involved with us here in our lives (and often many we don’t know we are impacting) we help our loved ones and ancestors who have already died by increasing the Presence of Love. Yes, that’s right–our choices help them. And they’re rooting for us!
Our learning and expansion never ends. God is a great creator and the expansion of knowing and loving never stops.So when you forgive, you eventually do it to save your own self so you’re not miserable and unhappy, but realize too that you do that for your parents, grandparents and so forth. ALL will benefit from it, not just ourselves alone or the ones directly involved in the situation!
Is there an animal you especially relate to? When my kids were little, I related to bears because mother bears are so protective of their young. I have always been completely enthralled with bald eagles. I love horses. And lions. And…
Try doing a stream drawing and see what animal pops up. This morning, I got dog (and I featured this drawing in today’s newsletter–please subscribe to receive the images I send out with the intention to inspire, support and celebrate you/me on our life’s crazy, wild ride). Dog symbolizes trust, loyalty, unconditional love and companionship. Who is worthy of my trust? Am I trustworthy?
Oh–and a blue jay showed up–I love them. They’re fierce birds, aren’t they? I have to look up meanings for blue jay. If you know, let me know!
I have the most talented, brilliant mentor and friend in Dr. Laurie Nadel, or “Dr. Laurie” as I like to refer to her. You may have read her best seller books or seen her on Oprah (she was on twice!). She writes about intuitive intelligence and is a very, very compassionate, gifted therapist and healer. Wise and caring, you’d be lucky to seek and receive her wisdom and guidance.
Dr. Laurie Nadel offers one-on-one consultations to help you heal your fears and recover from traumatic loss.
Drawing on 26 years of experience, she interprets your dreams and develops a unique blueprint for you to achieve optimal results.
Call for a complimentary phone consultation: 212.560.2333
Detail of a recent painting/ Elaine Clayton copyright 2016
As long as we have a feeling stir within the heart, which reminds us that we are not separate from those others we encounter, there is a chance for goodness, wholeness, deep love. Empathy is the act of perceiving the feelings of others as one’s own.
If we are not separate in truth, and are One in that we are all created in the image of the One God, the Great Creator, then it all makes sense to me. It is why a very old knowing was communicated and holds true: Treat others as you would like to be treated. Don’t do things to people you would not like to have done to you.
Life seems to teach us that when we do things that harm others, we get it back, in some form. This then teaches us how it feels to have been “the other person” and then we feel within ourselves that Oneness we were not conscious of before.
I see life as a kind of wild ride where we gain consciousness bit by bit, or sometimes through tragedy or crisis, through our own actions and because of the actions of others. What else is there? I’d rather be curious about others, and ask myself many times a day, “What would it feel like to be that person right now?”
