by Tina Games | Oct 4, 2013 | Authenticity, Connection, Inner Wisdom, Life Story, Tribe
Kathleen Adams writes in Scribing the Soul, “Humans are tribal people.”
Yes, we are. It explains the human need “to belong.” And in periods of pain and darkness, it is imperative to make that connection with “one’s tribe.”
No one understands a feeling or a situation any more than someone else who has been through it – or who may still be going though it. This is what “finding your tribe” means to me.
If you’ve ever felt disconnected – and “on the outside looking in” – I highly recommend David Whyte’s collection of poetry, “The House of Belonging.” He approaches this deep-rooted human desire in the most eloquent of ways.
David Whyte – House of Belonging
As you continue on your journey of life, think about who you can share your joys with, cry your tears with, and who (or what) will give you the space “to be you” without any form of judgment. There is no need for perfection in a circle of support. This is a place where you can be your most vulnerable and still feel loved and appreciated for who you are.
As you ponder your own tribe, consider these words from American writer, Starhawk. ~ “Somewhere, there are people to whom we can speak with passion without having the words catch in our throats. Somewhere a circle of hands will open to receive us, eyes will light up as we enter, voices will celebrate with us whenever we come into our own power.”
Somewhere, there is a tribe waiting to welcome you with open arms and an open heart.
You belong. We all belong. This beautiful planet isn’t just for a chosen group of us. It’s for ALL of us!
We all have a place in this world. Don’t let anyone tell you any differently!
If you feel called to join our Journaling Moms tribe, you can find us on Facebook via the link to the right – under the “Connect with Tina” section.
Or for a richer, more spiritual experience, consider joining our Full Moon Empowerment coaching circle. More information is available via the Moonlight Coaching tab above. If you have additional questions about the circle, please don’t hestitate to reach me by e-mail. You’ll find a direct link at the bottom of this page on the right.
I’m always ready to welcome you!
by Tina Games | May 1, 2013 | Authenticity, Creativity, Fulfillment, Legacy
As a creativity coach and life purpose intuitive, I attract highly-creative women who are looking for more meaning in their lives, both personally and professionally. Part of the work we do together involves honoring their authentic voice.
Who are they when they show up fully and completely? And how does this voice get expressed in their professional work?
Many of my clients are artists, writers, innovators and trailblazers – all of whom have their own unique spin on what it is they do as creative professionals. And when this is expressed authentically, they make an everlasting creative mark on the world.
So how does passion play into making one’s mark in the world? And how does passion feed one’s creative voice?
Today, I’ve invited one of my early mentors, Eric Maisel to join me in this rich discussion. Eric was instrumental in my becoming a certified creativity coach. Through his books and teachings, I gained a deep understanding of what it means to “make your creative mark.”
Eric’s most recent book, Making Your Creative Mark: Nine Keys to Achieving Your Artistic Goals proves once again why he is widely-recognized as a top creativity expert. Here’s what he had to say about the relationship between passion and voice.
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A logical — and vital — relationship exists between passion and voice. It is very hard to be passionate about what you’re doing if you haven’t found your voice as an artist. Imagine being forced to sing an octave too high or an octave too low, straining to hit notes that you can’t really hit and that aren’t natural to you. It would be very hard to be passionate about singing in that situation.
It is exactly like that with respect to whatever art you are creating. Whether you have been forced by circumstance not to create in your own voice, or whether you’ve avoided creating in your own voice for psychological reasons, the result will be a tremendous lack of passion for what you’re doing. Creating in your authentic voice produces and sustains passion.
With that in mind, here are ten tips for finding or reclaiming your voice. They are framed in terms of visual art, so if you are not a visual artist you will need to translate them so that they make sense for your art discipline.
1. Detach from your current visual library. A very common problem, and almost always an unconscious one, is the need an artist feels to make his work look like something he holds as “good art” or “real art” — very often old master art. Because he possesses an internal library of the successful artworks of well-known artists, without quite realizing that he is doing it, he aims his art in the direction of those successes. It is vital that an artist detach from that visual library — extinguish it, as it were — so that his own imagery has a chance to appear.
2. Try not to rest on skills and talent. Maybe you excel at producing dynamic-looking cats or turning a patch of yellow into a convincing sun. That you have these talents doesn’t mean that you ought to be producing lifelike cats or brilliant suns. Your strongest subject matter and style choices depend on what you want to say rather than on what you are good at producing. By all means, parlay your skills and talents — but don’t rely on them so completely that you effectively silence yourself.
3. Allow risk-taking to feel risky. Very often the personal work you want to do feels risky. Intellectually, you may find a way to convince yourself that the risk is worth taking — but when you try to take the risk, you balk because you suddenly feel anxiety welling up. Remember that a risk is likely to feel risky. Get ready for that reality by practicing and owning one or two robust anxiety-management strategies (more than a score of them are described in my book Mastering Creative Anxiety).
4. Complete projects for the sake of making progress. When you make new work that you think aims you in the direction of your genuine voice, try to complete that work rather than stopping midway because “it doesn’t look right” or “it isn’t working out.” You will make more progress if you push through those feelings, complete things, and only then appraise them. It is natural for work that is a stretch and new to you to provoke all sorts of uncomfortable feelings as you attempt it. Help yourself tolerate those feelings by reminding yourself that finishing is a key to progress.
5. Think at least a little bit about positioning. You may want to develop your voice independent of art trends and say exactly what you want to say in exactly the way you want to say it. On the other hand, it may serve you to take an interest in what’s going on and make strategic decisions about how you want to position yourself vis-à-vis the world of galleries, collectors, exhibitions, auctions, movements, and so on. It isn’t so much that one way is right and the other is wrong but rather that some marriage of the two, if you can pull it off, may serve you best: a marriage, that is, of marketplace strategizing and of intensely personal work that allows you to speak passionately in your own voice.
6. Try to articulate what you’re attempting. Artists are often of two minds as to whether they want to describe what they are attempting. Paraphrasing a visual experience into a verbal artist’s statement often feels unconvincing and beside the point. On the other hand, it can prove quite useful to announce to yourself what you hope to accomplish with your new work. By trying to put your next efforts into words, you may clarify your intentions and as a consequence more strongly value your efforts. The better you can describe what you are doing, the better you may understand your artistic voice — and the more passionate you can be in talking about your work.
7. Try not to repeat yourself. Repeating successful work has a way of reducing anxiety and can bring financial rewards as well. But it may also prevent us from moving forward and discovering what we hope to say. A balance to strike might be to do a certain amount of repeat work, for the sake of calmness and for the sake of your bank account, and to also add new work to your agenda. If you keep repeating yourself, it will prove very hard to remain passionate about your work.
8. Revisit your earliest passions. Life has a way of causing us to forget where our genuine passions reside. You may have spent decades in a big city and completely forgotten how much the desert means to you. You may have been so busy painting and parenting that your burning passion for creating a series of cityscapes fell off the map somewhere along the line. Finding your voice may involve something as simple and straightforward as making a list of your loves and starring the ones that still energize you. This is one of the simplest and smartest ways to discover what you are passionate about and what you want to say.
9. Think about integrating your different styles. Maybe you make two sorts of art, abstract relief paintings and realistic flat paintings. This division may have occurred at some point when, perhaps without consciously thinking the matter through, you decided that the one painting style allowed you to do something that the other didn’t. It may pay you to revisit this question today and see if the two styles can be integrated into some third style that allows the best of both current styles to come together. Whatever you discover from that investigation — whether it’s to move forward in a new way or to recommit to your current methods — you will have helped yourself better understand your artistic intentions. A lot of new passion can arise from these efforts at integration.
10. Accept never-before-seen results. It can feel odd to speak in your own voice and then not recognize the results. Because what you’ve created may be genuinely new — and completely new to you — it may look like nothing you’ve ever seen before. That can prove disconcerting! Don’t rush to judge it as too odd, a mess or a mistake, or not what you’d intended. Give it some time to grow on you and speak to you. Your voice may sound unfamiliar to you if you’ve never heard it before!
Remember: one of the keys to maintaining passion and enthusiasm for your work is finding your own voice and speaking in it!
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Eric Maisel is the author of Making Your Creative Mark and twenty other creativity titles including Mastering Creative Anxiety, Brainstorm, Creativity for Life, and Coaching the Artist Within. America’s foremost creativity coach, he is widely known as a creativity expert who coaches individuals and trains creativity coaches through workshops and keynotes nationally and internationally. He has blogs on the Huffington Post and Psychology Today and writes a column for Professional Artist Magazine. Visit him online at http://www.ericmaisel.com.
Excerpted from the new book Making Your Creative Mark ©2013 by Eric Maisel. Published with permission of New World Library http://www.newworldlibrary.com
by Tina Games | Apr 26, 2013 | Authenticity, Creativity, Life Purpose, Spiritual Growth, Synchronicity
What’s Your Purple Possibility?
Have you ever felt like throwing the entire game board of LIFE up in the air – and seeing where the pieces land? Are you curious about what you might find underneath all the rubble? And are you eager to know how all the pieces fit together – in a way that honors who you are as an authentic human being?
This has inspired my newest programs, the Purple Possibility Studio and the Purple Possibility Diamond – designed to inspire the divine possibilities on your life purpose journey. Through creative exploration and an open mind, you’ll be gently guided into a more heightened awareness of what’s already present as you shift your focus toward connecting the dots of life’s synchronicities.
It’s a unique and spiritually-rich approach to exploring life’s possibilities by following the path of synchronicity. It’s designed to take you out of your head – and into the depth of what is possible for you when you step out of your comfort zone and claim your purple diamond of authenticity.
- Would you like to shift from a mindset of “impossible” to “possible?”
- Would you like to create the space to manifest the “purple possibilities” in your life?
- What opportunities are already present – that you may be overlooking?
The name Purple Possibility came to me when I started thinking about the possibilities that lie in “grey” when we step out of a black and white mindset. And then I began to think, what if – we “colorized” the black and white and made it red and blue? What possibilities would be available to us if we chose to look through a purple lens?
What would we see? And how could this alter the path we’re currently on?
By connecting the dots of synchronicity and following the “thread of purpose” – where would we land? And what doors would open from there?
Are you curious about your Purple Possibility?
Join me on this complimentary call with one of my favorite colleagues, Retreat Muse Karen McMillian as I define what I mean by “purple possibility” – and give you some ways that you can connect with yours.
This is my gift to you as valued subscriber!
So what’s your Purple Possibility?
Join me and I’ll help guide you into the land of purple possibilities!
by Tina Games | Mar 15, 2013 | Authenticity, Inner Goddess, Inner Peace, Self-Care
As a creativity coach and life purpose intuitive, I attract mothers who desire a more spiritual and authentic approach to life, one that’s filled with purpose, passion and creative expression.
In our work together, whether it’s through private or group coaching – or in a workshop or at a weekend retreat – I gently guide moms on a journey of self-discovery by inviting them to explore the areas of their life that feel out of balance. This invites deeper questioning around the concept of “wholeness” – and what emotional, spiritual, and practical shifts may be needed to bring life more into balance.
In order to attract and manifest a more fulfilling lifestyle, it’s important that mothers connect with their own sense of what it means to feel grounded, at peace – and more complete. This is what opens the door to a deeper relationship with self – and a more authentic connection to the external world.
Today, I’ve invited Renee Peterson Trudeau, author of Nurturing the Soul of Your Family to share a few words of wisdom about reconnecting and finding peace in every day life.
Here’s what she had to say as it relates to Five Ways to Nourish and Renew Your Spirit:
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It’s 1976, and my mom and dad are sitting quietly with their eyes closed, hands resting upward — thumb and index finger touching — while my younger siblings crawl on their backs and shoulders. My older two brothers and I sit nearby, holding our own meditation poses, bored, rolling our eyes and counting the minutes until this ritual will end.
At least once a week or whenever things got stressful, my parents would pull all five of their children — ranging in age from ten to one — into our library for a family meditation. As much as I complained, a part of me yearned for this spiritual practice.
Spiritual renewal is essential to our emotional well-being. It helps us nurture our essence, feel centered, build inner strength, live in integrity, and trust life. It allows us to experience a connection to a higher power, feel a sense of purpose, and experience meaning in our lives.
There are many different ways we explore and nurture our spiritual lives. For some this includes spending time in nature, yoga, prayer and meditation, or musical or artistic expression. Some of the daily practices that provide me spiritual nourishment include:
Creating Ritual
We all crave sacredness and ritual in our everyday lives — not just around birthdays and weddings. Rituals can be both carefully planned events and casual but regular remembrances such as voicing gratitude before a meal or creating dedicated space in your day for contemplation.
When we mark important transitions or milestones in our lives — whether it’s your daughter’s first period or your son starting kindergarten — we connect to the sacredness of everyday life. We remember that life is mysterious and we’re more than our to-do lists!
Cultivating Stillness
Stillness, whether experienced through prayer, meditation, or reflection, is our time to be alone and connect to our inner wisdom or our higher power — what I call our internal GPS system. It’s essential for all of us to carve out time for quiet reflection each and every day.
One of the biggest gifts I’ve received from a daily meditation practice is the ability to live more comfortably with what is–whether that’s my husband’s recent layoff or a car accident. Life is like the weather in Texas — constantly changing. Meditation has helped anchor me, so that despite this impermanence and turmoil, I’ve learned how to be still and find my center in the face of it all.
Practicing Service to Others
Mother Teresa says, “The fruit of love is service.”
We are all interconnected. The more we reach out and are present to one another’s pain and suffering, the stronger we become and the easier it is to embrace the esoteric idea that we’re all one. I believe huge shifts in consciousness can occur when we reach out and help one another navigate this sometimes scary, often isolating and perplexing, but beautiful world. Sometime that might look like serving soup at your local homeless shelter and other times, it’s helping out your neighbor who just lost her husband.
Living in the Present
Many great spiritual teachers believe the answer to everything is to just “be here now,” and that our suffering and emotional distress would end if we simply stopped resisting the present moment.
One weekend as I sat on the couch with a full-body cold: a splitting headache, body chills and a nonstop runny nose, I thought about this principle. And, as I watched the things I was missing fly out the window — my friend’s birthday party, my son’s piano recital — I connected to my breath and felt myself arrive in the present moment. I sensed my resistance begin to dissipate and a feeling of peace slowly settled over me. I temporarily suspended my desire for things to be different and I embraced that on the couch, with a cold, was exactly where I was supposed to be.
Choosing Happiness
Three of my immediate family members died unexpectedly between my twenty-sixth and thirty-fourth birthdays. For years I let those losses dictate how much and how often, I could experience joy. Anytime I started to feel light, free, or happy, the old feeling of “waiting for the other shoe to drop” would creep in.
Can you only be happy if things are going your way and all the stars are aligned in your favor?
I believe we’re born with the innate capacity to experience emotional well-being and joy; it’s our birthright to feel good. Happiness comes from within; we’re wired for it. We just have to remember to choose this moment to moment.
It’s easy to forget who we really are. To lose sight of what really matters. To fall asleep and not remember how interconnected we all are and that we’re fully human and, at the same time, divine.
A regular spiritual practice — whether that’s daily prayer or meditation, being in a spiritual community, or singing— serves to anchor us. It grounds us and helps us navigate the challenges we face from just being human. It helps us stay awake.
So ultimately, we can begin to let go, trust the rhythm and flow of life and relax into the beauty of our true nature.
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Life balance coach/speaker Renée Peterson Trudeau is the author of the new book Nurturing the Soul of Your Family. Thousands of women in ten countries are participating in Personal Renewal Groups based on her first book, the award-winning The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal. Visit her online at www.ReneeTrudeau.com
Based on the new book Nurturing the Soul of Your Family ©2013 Renée Peterson Trudeau. Published with permission of New World Library http://www.newworldlibrary.com
by Tina Games | Feb 10, 2013 | Authenticity, Inner Wisdom, Journal Writing, Moon Phases, Spiritual Growth
Like the moon, we all go through phases in our lives. We have ups and downs, we go forward and backward – and sometimes we seem to circle back around. We may hide behind the clouds or peek from beneath the clouds. But in the midst of what can feel like a blackout, when we are open to making a connection with our authentic self, we can get to a point where we’re able to beam with full light.
During a new moon phase, the sky is completely black, with the exception of little sparkles of light in the form of stars. It’s the point in every month when the moon takes a retreat and begins to grow again, redoubling her light and reflecting new creative energy on all worldly things.
For women with a strong desire to live life more authentically, this phase represents a time for our own retreat and withdrawal from the outside world. During the darkness, it’s an opportunity to reflect on who we are -underneath the layers of life. It’s a time to turn within and write about our inner thoughts and feelings.
It’s a time to ponder where we’ve been, how we got to where we are now and where to go from here. It’s an opportunity to explore new ways of thinking and to prepare for a new path of travel – and it marks the ideal time for connecting with our inner selves and our heart’s desire.
This is a time where dots start to connect and patterns start to reveal themselves – just as the stars do in the night sky. Everything has a place and everything has a purpose. Now it becomes our job to find our place in the next phase of life’s journey.
The energies of the dark moon can feel especially potent. That’s because they are. They represent the unknown – and they can send a magnetic pull to lure our willingness and our desire to find out – “What is it that is waiting for me?”
Grab your journal during this dark moon phase and ask your authentic self, “Who am I and where do I want to go from here?”
The timing couldn’t be more perfect.
by Tina Games | Dec 28, 2012 | Authenticity, Inner Wisdom, Life Purpose, Moon Phases
One of the gifts that the full moon gives us is an overwhelming desire to come alive. Whether that’s bringing a passion front and center or finally making the decision to take a giant leap forward in a new direction that is fully aligned with our life purpose.
Imagine driving through a fast food window and placing an order – only this time the menu lists the one thing that you’ve been contemplating for quite some time.
Perhaps it’s that life-changing book you’ve been working on for eons, but keep finding yourself facing one creative block after another. Or maybe it’s that passion-filled business that you’ve been wanting to start, but you haven’t yet gotten the courage to just go for it. Or it could be the foundation you’ve been pondering, the one that’s destined to change the world.
Whatever it is – it’s on the menu right now. And the clerk (who happens to be representing the positive energies of the universe) says, “What can I get for you today?”
This is your moment! Will you order it? Will you tell the universe, “Yes, this is the right time for me. I’ll take it.”
And then the clerk says, “Would you like to super-size that?”
What would it take for you to say, “Heck yeah!”?
Whenever the moon is full, her energies are incredibly powerful. With her light beaming brightly from the sky, she showers the earth with the capacity to forge ahead. Projects and endeavors that are began during a full moon carry a special passion and energy that is unmatched during any other moon cycle.
If you’ve been sensing “your calling” knocking at the door, it’s time to answer! Open up the door – and step into a whole new world of possibilities!
What would it take for you to fully step into your life purpose?
