Maybe you've been there.... tiptoeing gingerly around your house trying not to set him/ her off!  Or worse, giving into buying her/him the chocolate bar or new shiny toy... not because you want to give him/her a treat... not because it's good for him/her... not because you can afford it... but because you will do anything to keep the peace in the middle of the department store!  

It was my super sensitive beautiful baby daughter who helped me realize that the more I tip-toed trying to avoid the blow up, the tighter she got wound and the more explosive the blow up. It wasn't fun... for anyone in the family. Then I saw this quote... "Parents who opt for peace at any price find the price of peace gets higher and higher." (Unfortunately I do not know where it originated but I am pretty sure it was someone wiser than I who wrote it... I was still stuck in trying to keep the peace!)  How true! It hit me like a lead balloon that is exactly what was happening in our family.  And that is what drove me in search of new ways to deal with disturbing situations and to stop playing that crazy game.

I learned to stand in my own power and decide what I will do... not what I will make my child do.  I learned to allow her to express her frustrations and hold her with compassion (although not necessarily physically). I learned how to find the peace within me even in the midst of screams and tantrums.   And I learned how to help her understand and deal with emotional turbulence.

This is exactly what you will learn when you read 9 Ways to Bring Out the Best in You & Your Child  available here.

I didn't believe I had an artistic bone in my body until I was 32 years old and REQUIRED to take a university fine arts class.  While it was an introductory class, all of the other students had obviously considered themselves artistic and had continued drawing, painting and exploring art all of their lives. I had not... I quit in about grade eight when mandatory art classes quit in school.Oh it wasn't that I didn't LIKE art. 

It was that at 6 years of age I'd surmised that I was NOT an artist. How did I know that?  Because I remember vividly coloring happily beside my childhood playmate and family friend when my aunt came up behind us.  "Oh Cherie!" she exclaimed, "How beautiful! Ma-a-ble," she hollered, "Come and see what your daughter is doing!" Turning back to Cherie she continued, "YOU are such an artist... just like your dad... Ma-a-able, come see!" And then, realizing that I was sitting right beside Cherie, and I am sure not wanting to ignore me she added quickly, "Oh and that's good too Maggie."  I still remember my heart pounding and shame at my own coloring pulsing through my veins.  Decidedly I was NOT an artist.

I buried the pain and shame back then but it arose with a vengeance during those first few months in art class.  It was at its worst when our art instructor would direct us to go around and look at each others’ art work. "No!" I cried inside, "Anything but that!" But of course we did wander around and I looked enviously and incredulously at what others had created.  "How come theirs looks beautiful and mine looks like this?" I felt hopeless.  No matter how hard I  tried to do all of the left-brained things I'd been taught in elementary school like shading the outside to make something look rounder mine still looked dead... dull... and uninteresting. 

I blamed part of it on the instructor... I couldn't even see the beauty in any of the brown, black, and grey items he heaped upon the table.  Turns out, this was the real problem... not that I couldn't draw, I simply couldn't see the beauty. One day as we were studying value... the amount of light in objects…our instructor asked, "What is the lightest value here?"  "Duh... I thought, "It's that cream colored water pitcher... everything else is brown, grey or black."

Luckily the woman next to me was quicker to respond, "It's that pin prick of light shining off of that beer bottle."  What!  Holy s*** she's right! That point is the lightest... wait a minute... not only is that lighter but there are shapes of lightness and shadows in that bottle... that's what they are seeing - and drawing!!!

It was an awakening for me. I felt like a very dirty windshield I'd been looking through all of my life had been wiped clean.  How life now sparkled!  I now saw beauty everywhere... I looked more deeply and with greater curiosity into everything... I saw beauty in the minutest details I'd overlooked all my life:  the snow crystals shining luminously on the oregon grape leaf; the suds bopping up and down and exploding in the dishpan; the joyous wonder of the rinse water cascading over the clean pot. New beauty was everywhere!

Art opened my eyes to astounding beauty everywhere, ignited my imagination and infused my mind and heart with a thirst for creative adventure in day to day life. I see more beauty in nature... and the more beauty I see, the more beauty I feel inside of me! Not only that, but the beauty that I could now see, the curiosity that had been awakened, spilled over psychologically into my relationships and other parts of my life.

Today, beauty and color abound as I tap into rivulets of colors and shapes, spinning and turning, only to carry me deeper into the mystery of the moment.

I want to share this with you! Come and enjoy the process of artistic creation.  We have a very special format that will teach you how to focus on enjoying the process rather than critiquing and comparing your work to others every step of the way. You'll discover how to allow your own inner flow to ripple out onto the paper.  And without the critique it's so much easier. 

This glowing experience, the insights you'll gain about yourself  - will overflow into other areas of your life.  The more you flow the more you glow!

What do people like most about these playshops?

“Being given back the right to play - to laugh more and often. I have been given the freedom to be who I really am. I don't have to be everything to everybody."

“I loved all the activities and the sharing. A real environment of caring and trust was created. Loved the play exercises and listening to your emotions and inner child.”

"Learned to live from my inner self. Come dare to be your Self."

Are you ready to unlock your inner artist?  Join us for this life-changing experience!

To Join us for the next Paint Your Heart Out Paintshop  Visit Upcoming Events

Look before you leap, think before you speak, plan before you act… sound familiar? It is what we have all been taught and sometimes it is indeed helpful! But what if this deeply ingrained conditioning is what CREATES anxiety and separation between us and others? What if it is what keeps us tied up in knots of perfectionism? What if this prevents us from enjoying the life and connection we seek with others? 

A sense of Belonging is one of the greatest human needs, second only to food and basic survival needs.  Yet we often hold ourselves separate… waiting to be perfect before we connect.

How often have you found yourself thinking… thinking… thinking… about what to say, how to say it, and how it will be received… only to miss the opportunity to say it in social conversation?  Do you ever struggle just to get a word in edge-wise? Or perhaps you’ve been so busy thinking about what you will say and how to say it that you miss what the current speaker is saying and end up blurting out something irrelevant… only to beat yourself up later about how you coulda-woulda- shoulda said it better! What if you could just allow communication to flow easily and naturally?

Conscious Communication Circles provide a safe environment for you to learn to TRUST your ability to listen deeply to others and to think and speak spontaneously.  How it would change your life and relationships if you could connect easily and comfortably in every situation… even if you are put on the spot to address a larger group? There is no way to learn this skill except to practice it!  Conscious Communication Circles are highly interactive and give you lots of practice speaking from your heart and responding to others’ heart-felt sharing in ways that encourage them to share more. Imagine what a difference these skills could make to your relationships and in your life! Check out upcoming events for information on the next Conscious Communication Skills.

Wow! Ever notice how the mind takes and turns and spins something into such a big deal that you avoid it altogether? Well, maybe YOU don’t do that but I do! That’s what’s been happening for years so I am coming out of the spin closet and sharing right now.I have had such resistance to putting myself and my thoughts “out there” on social media… oh I have dribbled and dabbled but it hardly spurts out let alone flows! So here is my way of shifting… JUST DOING IT! Getting it out of the spin cycle in my mind… that spin cycle that can completely take over my life if I let it.Perhaps your resistance isn’t to social media… but I wonder, do you notice your mind building up stories about stuff that is happening in your world… and the stories make you so miserable that they fill your mind and actually taint your world with their poison?I notice that most of what I worry about isn’t really happening at all… it just fills up my life with misery. I also notice that many people worry a lot… that can make for a very miserable life!As Richard Bach says in Illusion, “Life is where you put your attention.” Sometimes I’m not fully aware of where my subconscious attention is going… but I know that this underlying resistance to social media has tainted my world for far too long. There! I said it publicly and now commit to sharing and wondering what resonates with you.“Press the Post button Maggie… and don’t worry about how this is received!”