Time flies...

Wow...2012 and January will be over before I know it.
Is it just me or does time speed up as you get older??!!!
I have been working on illustrations today as well as seeing a few therapy clients.
It seems that I am making marks on my paper and my clients would rather erase some of what has happened in their lives from their memory...if only it were that easy!
My reflection at the end of this day of work is that whatever is in your past just is...it cannot be changed...history has been made.
The stories you tell about that history will significantly alter your perception, however.
It is very compelling to stay in the victim, 'poor me' position.  Then we can get sympathy, help, pity and stroke our needy self.  I fully agree that kindness and compassion is needed...but that those things are not the end.
If we can learn something, be deepened emotionally or spiritually by the experience, use our anger at the 'injustice of it all' as a springboard to change, to better boundary setting, to a deeper self-awareness about our light and our shadow, then we can grow tremendously in any situation.
This is my challenge to myself and to you today.
I have no idea who might be reading this bvut if any of my words seem to fit your situation, I encourage you to embrace what you need from what I have written.
Love and deepening peace to you where-ever you are.
from New Zealand
Sandy

happy accidents

Hello again.

Today I am blogging from a house on Waiheke Island which is a short ferryboat ride from where I live in Auckland, New Zealand.  It is raining here today and I am seated in a pleasant room full of friends and small children. 

In front of me is a wooden feasting table.  It is actually a giant-sized table with giant-sized chairs, I imagine similar to the ones Jack would have found when he climbed the beanstalk to the giant’s house.   The small children here are dwarfed by the size.

The table is covered with coffee cups, candles, magazines, pinecones and folded sheets, in happy disarray…signs of life and living.  Even a bowl of seaweed, collected by a passionately excited three year-old, takes pride of place. 

 In this moment I feel wealthy, not in the monetary terms but rich in friendship and the blessed sense of the mundane.

My good friend is seated nearby at her computer engrossed in her poetic musings.

Earlier today I spent an hour experimenting with the “Paint” function on my computer.  It was interesting to notice how difficult it was to manipulate the lines and I remember again that mistakes can become ‘happy accidents’ as new images emerge from the background as if by their own volition.

It occurs to me that life can be like that.  Mistakes in life can lead to accidental discoveries that extend us and help us to grow.  Even when we have made choices that we now regret, no experience need be wasted.  I have often found that the things I discover accidently, alert me to different possibilities in life that I had not previously considered. 

A friend has encouraged me to be open to these possibilities rather than being closed and fearful of embracing the change that new awareness offers.

As I embrace this, it feels like freedom…

...it feels like hope…

Who wouldn’t want to share that?

If you find this ‘note in a bottle’, maybe it is meant for you.

I am casting it into the sea, from the shores of Waiheke Island, New Zealand and I trust that the tides will find you.

message in a bottle continued...

So...supposing that you have read my first post...what comes next?  Contact me and we could email in order to plan a suitable program, just for you. If you are currently in therapy please consult your therapist first).

We can discuss what you need, your goals and what I can offer.   We could also discuss an appropriate and affordable fee then.

(e.g. Intensive: for providing a daily creative exercise, reading your self-awareness report which you would email through on a daily basis and replying with a follow-up email, 5 days a week, over 6 weeks my fee would be US$500;

 or for a one day, five hour workshop, with an online component and a Skype conversation with me US$350 for individuals or US$500 for a group of 4 people. The Skype conversation would be limited to a half hour session each in the group setting.

If the message in the bottle found you and you are interested then I look forward to hearing back from you.

Sending kindness and hope.
Sandy

Who is out there just waiting for this?

I have been sitting at my desk wondering how to get what I have, to the people that need it... Maybe thats you!

 I am a therapist who works in New Zealand, a rather small country in the south Pacific Ocean.  I had the idea of extending my online business internationally and this is my first step.

There will no doubt be people who read this who are hoping for a solution to years of distress and would love to pursue personal growth and inner-healing using creativity, in the privacy of their own space.

I would love to offer you a way to do just that.

As an experienced therapist I can 'tailor-fit' the process to the person.  Something that suits you, at your own pace and with your personal goals in mind. 

This is not an art class but a way to facilitate a journey of discovery, self-expression and healing.

We will take the difficulties the pain and the grief and transform them by encountering them in a safe and therapeutic way.

If you have stumbled upon this blog and found me it could be a serindipitous moment for you!!!

This is a little like a message in a bottle...I am in new Zealand and casting it into the sea right now.

I hope that it finds you.

Good-bye for now
Sandy