Friday, October 2, 2015

Soulful Story Card Session

In our Intentional Creativity Teacher Trainings, an early assignment was creating a deck of 'Soulful Story Cards'. These area deck of colourful and personal affirmations, tied with a Red Thread.

Over the years, I've worked with Affirmations in a number of ways - in a Loving Yourself class, taught by my friend Joyce Marvel & based in part on the work of Louise Hay, we made Affirmation cards, sprinkled them with glitter, & posted them on our mirrors, carried one in our wallet, & wrote them in our Journals.
 
A year or so later author Douglas Bloch, author of 'Words that Heal' gave a talk to a women's group, & gave us a practice for bringing the negative voices out, and listening for the negatives, then rewriting the affirmation, back & forth, over & over, till the affirmation became the dominant voice! 

Soulful Story Cards
In The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron writes: "An affirmation is a positive statement of (positive) belief, and if we can become one-tenth as good at positive self-talk as we are at negative self-talk, we will notice an enormous change." Like Bloch, Julia suggests writing out the affirmation, then the 'blurts' which counter it, & suggests identifying their origin - who told you that?

The Soulful Story Card practice comes at the affirmation by first writing out the  'stories' that hold you back, critic chatter, or negative beliefs on one side of a slip of paper: "I never have enough time!"  "I'm too old" (or too young, or too busy) "I'd love to do my art, but I don't want to end up a starving artist" ... and then writing an antidote on the other. These are done on index cards or slips of paper, then the Antidote is transferred to your Watercolour paper & decorated. 

When a client or friend 'affirms' a negative belief, I often ask if they wish to reframe that, & affirm something positive instead! I'm offering Soulful Stories as a Red Thread Session this weekend, and will guide a group of Soul SiStars through the process of bringing old beliefs to light, and creating their own Storycard Deck.


Biz-Muse
I also finished my Biz-Muse, with her Visionary glimpse into my values, offerings, & whom I'll be working with, my Beloveds! 

October is a month of appreciation for this year's harvest. I am grateful for the wonderful teachings & supportive community of Shiloh Sophia and the Red Thread Sisterhood. As I move toward Graduation (in November) & completion of the assignments, this cycle of visioning and claiming who we are & how we wish to show up!





Happy Paint Party Friday!!

6 comments:

bellefrogworks said...

Those cards are a great idea. The positive thoughts are healthy and you get to draw and color with no pressure

Lisabella Russo said...

I love the blues of biz muse, she is so lovely!

DVArtist said...

What a great idea. I also love biz muse. Have a nice weekend
Nicole/Beadwright

Neesie said...

I'm always trying to ignore my negative voice which is always quick to shout forth... I'm getting better at waiting for the positive to come forth at a much slower pace, but I'm getting there.
Your cards are beautiful. Good luck for your graduation and Happy PPF to you.

Giggles said...

I love affirmation cards and have two sets in my powder room that I pull from daily! I have for years. Its a wonderful practice...and affirmation books got me through some difficult times..so I appreciate what you are doing!! Congratulation on your graduation!

Hugs Giggles

Nadya said...

Thank you!! The class was great - the students got REALLY involved painting the first side, but had already reworked their 'old stories,' so got some affirmations on the cards! & they LOVED the interference paint - I do too!!
Deep breaths - I will catch up on my coursework!! (have a couple of the other business pieces to complete)