Holistic Creative Guest Post with Briana Goetzen :: Dear You
Today's Holistic Creative Circle guest is artist, expressive arts coach and mama, Briana Goetzen.
Briana is someone I connected with in one of the very first online art classes I took years ago. We even became pen-pals for a brief time, back when - despite the odds - she was hoping and praying and choosing to believe in her dream to be a mother.
Briana is a heart-centered, colorful soul, as I'm sure you'll sense for yourself when you read the beautiful guest post letter she's written for us...
Dear You,
It has taken me over ten years to put the pieces of my dream together. Or maybe it’s taken twenty. My point is, although I am a sensitive soul who listens to my intuition most of the time, my life’s journey has taken many twists and turns. Because guess what? I can’t control life. The one constant in life is change. Oh, did it take many, many years for me to figure that one out. This long road has given me many experiences and lessons that have put me in the right place for doing what I love today. This makes me grateful for the journey.
Who am I today?
I am an expressive arts coach, a mixed media artist, a writer, a photographer, and a teacher. I am a mother, wife, sister, and friend. I am the daughter of a talented artist who is blocked by her physical and emotional pain. I am the daughter of a broken man, whom I’ve had to forgive.
Creative expression is what gets me through. I write, a lot. I keep several journals and have tried various writing techniques over the years. I also want to add that I do not write consistently. I write when I feel moved to write, or when I am so stuck, I do not know what else to do with myself. I believe writing to be one of the most powerful activities for releasing the junk in our minds, so that we can get to the deeper truths of our hearts.
“Follow your heart,” they say. What does that really mean? How can you follow your heart when you’ve got bills piling up, and you don’t know how you’re going to feed your family? Through writing, healing begins. Through writing, wisdom appears. Through writing, you can deal with the present by following the guidance you hear coming in from another realm. Maybe it’s your subconscious, or maybe it’s the spirit world, or maybe it’s your soul talking to you, or . . . (name it as you wish).
Of course writing is not the only way to tap into this inner wisdom. There’s also meditation, creative movement, walking, spontaneous painting, collage, drumming, etc. My passion is this cross section between creativity and spirituality. I love trying them all on, to see what works for me. What works for you may ebb and flow. Keep exploring avenues of creative expression and healing modalities. Something will light you up, and you’ll feel it when it happens.
By keeping my truths (of who I am and what I wish for) in clear form, be it physically written, collaged, mentally visualized, and held in my heart, the universe starts to work its magic. My job is to begin taking tiny action steps toward the life I want to be living. I am not alone. We are not alone. You are not alone.
You, too, can take tiny action steps toward the life you want to be living. Start with where you are. Close your eyes and imagine your happy place. What do you see? How do you feel? Where in your body do you feel the good energy? What do your surroundings look like? What are you doing? Who are you with?
Begin to believe that what you want is possible.
After years of “unexplained infertility”, I chose to believe that I would be a mother. I started taking steps toward that dream. I asked for help and support. I did not know how it would happen. Once I healed my heart of emotional pain and began to believe, feel, envision, take action, and ask for support, the momentum was unstoppable.
I became a mother in the fall of 2012.
We are all on a journey. Your journey is unique to you. Life’s lessons may appear multiple times, but they only make sense when we are ready to receive them. It’s okay not to be ready.
In fact the first thing I mention in my workshop on forgiveness for Spectrum 2016, is that you don’t have to be ready to forgive someone else who has caused you pain. You can start by forgiving yourself for not being ready.
It’s all a process, a healing journey, taking us deeper and deeper to knowing our true light-filled, love-filled selves. It’s all about the love.
You are glowing with radiant light. You are loved, even when you find it hard to love yourself.
I’d like to close with a LovingKindess prayer for you:
May you be safe. May you be free from inner and outer harm. May you be well in mind and body. May you be peaceful and happy.
Blessings to you,
Briana
You can visit Briana at her site RIGHT HERE.
Briana is also one of our new teachers this year for Spectrum 2016!
You can join us and 40+ other teachers for a holistic-creative journaling adventure! Registration is open through November, and the program begins in May with access through 2017 ::
