creative harvest

A guest post by Sara Rauch for the Creative Harvest series

Words. Spiny, succulent, sharp, relentless, daring, beautiful words.

I’ve been in love with words for as long as I can remember. And so I’ve built a life around them—studying writing as an undergraduate, pursuing an MFA, sending work out and getting published, working for a independent book press for six years. I believe in many things, find beauty in many places, and none more strongly than words—so many of us are writers, artists, creatives—and despite what people may say, reading is not on the decline, and writers continue on, despite so many rejections and other reasons not to.

I’m constantly inspired by others’ words: poetry, novels, songs. Creativity helps us survive and thrive—as individuals and as a culture. Without art, we are nothing. As a writer, I know how important it is to be heard, to feel a part of a community. There are plenty of literary journals out there, but there’s always a place for more—always space for more creativity, always more need to display how brilliantly talented we artists are.

And so I founded Cactus Heart, a literary magazine. Its tagline—”spiny exterior, succulent interior”—encapsulates my vision of good writing and art. It stings and it’s vulnerable. It lures and keeps at a distance. It evokes fascination and thrives in the most difficult environments. It is dramatic and unexpected and perfectly marries form and function.

The premier issue is a full-color PDF—100+ pages of amazing poetry, fiction, nonfiction, book reviews, photography and art—and there will be approximately 6 e-issues released each year. I received submissions from all over the world, words poured in, waiting to be heard. Narrowing down the choices included in Issue #1 was tough—there were many great pieces that I just didn’t have room to include. But there’s always Issue #2 and beyond! There is also a plan to expand to print in 2013.

A big part of being a writer and artist is being seen and heard. Everywhere I look I see creative people making art and looking for a place to show that work. Cactus Heart is my small way of joining the conversation about literature—and I feel blessed to live a life so saturated with words. Cactus Heart‘s exists as a showcase for literature and art, to build a new community where creativity thrives.

Issue #1 is now on sale, and you can buy a copy here. Roots of She readers get a discount of $2 using the code ROOTS at checkout. And submissions are now open for Issue #2. I hope you’ll join our new community, and bring excitement, wonder, and beauty along!

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Sara Rauch believes in simplicity, fresh air, and kale, and is a writer, feminist, and coffee-lover.

Her writing has appeared in Earth’s Daughters, The Black Boot, The Q Review, Inkwell, and in the anthology Dear John, I Love Jane.

She lives in Northampton, Mass., with her partner and their four fat cats, where she is working on her MFA and her first novel.

Connect: Website | Facebook | Twitter: @CactusHeartP

A guest post by Stephanie Gagos for the Creative Harvest series

As a little girl, I didn’t have many safe spaces to go. I had to keep big secrets in order to survive. I found comfort in writing stories and drawing girls without arms, with houses and flowers and trees and white puffy clouds. I was expressing even then my own sense of powerlessness, finding a way to tell my story safely. I lost myself in those stories. They saved me and I held my longing for something more tightly and protectively within me for many years. As a little girl I was physically and sexually abused repeatedly and when I grew up I longed for spaces to speak my truth and heal my wounds. I allowed my longing to blossom and began to make my way out of the darkness into safe spaces where the loving arms of others also on the healing journey, held me with a knowing of where I had been.

I found so much healing throughout the years and while I was healing I learned a lot about what we all need in order to heal.

As a survivor and now Life and Healing Coach, I found myself wanting to share what I’ve learned and the ways I am healing my life. I dreamed of opening a big house for women to come and retreat, giving them the space and time to heal their childhood wounds in safety and love. What I didn’t realize then is this big house would end up being an online sanctuary for women on the healing path and that I would be able to reach women from all over the world. Sometimes life dreams a bigger dream for you.

The Healing Truth Sanctuary is a sacred space online for women who have done some healing work around their childhood wounding but may be looking for more. I consider a childhood wound as any event or series of events that altered the way we look at ourselves and/or the world. Divorce, neglect, loss of a parent, abuse of any kind, any childhood trauma, be it one time or thirty, it is welcome in the sanctuary. In the sanctuary we hold space for the truth of our stories, we ask the hard questions of ourselves, we are brave enough to face our shadows, we mirror each other with love and support especially in those moments when we feel too broken or beyond repair. It is a place of learning about trauma and how it affect our bodies, a place to honor the little girl still living within us. It is a place where we can begin to reclaim ourselves, bit by bit, layer by layer through art, writing and embodiment practices. It is a place of healing on a mind, body and spirit level.

Each month members engage with a healing theme such as self image, boundaries, trust, embodiment, using art journaling and writing exercises to tap into our truth. All levels are welcome, and there are plenty of beginner materials to begin with. We all have the innate desire to make marks on a page, be it through words, images, doodles, scribbles. This kind of creative expression allows us another doorway to healing and feeling our feelings and unleashing the creative child within.

As we work through our past on the page, we find ourselves processing feelings long held with us, voiceless and often ignored out of a need to protect ourselves from pain. It is the NOT FEELING which cuts us off from the joy and love we all truly deserve. It is the stifling, the cutting off, the burying and pushing down of our feelings which keep us from fully living. And so this space is about facilitating those opportunities to FEEL, to gently guide you down the path of FEELING that which you have suppressed and kept buried, so that you can step into your greater truth, the truth of who you really are underneath your wounding.

Alongside what you will be doing as members of the sanctuary, you also have the opportunity to take courses with me that are more in depth. This year I am offering The Truth Project I and 2, The Inner Child Healing Adventure, Healing the Mother Wound and Reclaiming Our Bodies. We have particular rooms available for the growing needs of the women in the sanctuary, an SOS room for some quick support, a Truth Room to speak your truth freely, a survivor sanctuary room for survivors (not all members are survivors), and a room for wounded healers. As we grow, more rooms will emerge.

The Healing Truth Sanctuary is this place I dreamed of for me and now I lovingly offer it to any woman who has felt pain in her childhood. I am fellow journeyer, facilitator, keeper of the space, mirror and sister. I hope that you will join us and soak up the love and healing that is there for you in the sanctuary. To register email me at sgagos@aol.com. All details can be found here.

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Stephanie Gagos is a Certified Life and Healing Coach, survivor and blogger at Finding Your Voice of Truth.

She trained in the Shalom Process at Shalom Mountain Retreat Center and has done extensive body centered work.

She loves art journaling, writing, walking her dog and giggling any chance she gets.

Connect: Healing Truth Sanctuary | Blog | Facebook | Twitter: @sgagos

A guest post by Tracey Selingo for the Creative Harvest series

I’m amazed at the power of chicks. And by chicks, I mean chicks.

In just 21 days they develop and hatch, equipped with nothing more than an little tooth to poke a hole through warmth and security. It’s not easy to poke a hole through anything, let alone those two things.

And yet chicks do it based on instinct. When they reach day 21 there simply isn’t enough oxygen left in their comfort zone for them to thrive. Their warmth and security could, in essence, just kill them.

We chicks really aren’t that different, are we?

By the time we’ve lived 21 years we begin to know and direct our energy toward that which helps us thrive. Some of us hatch at that age, some before, some long after. The lucky hatch again and again. That’s because recognizing that warmth and security isn’t always the best way to thrive is a process that, as humans, we must continually remember.

And our little tooth? It’s this notion called belief—

• belief that we can do better
• belief that we can be stronger
• belief that we can soar however, wherever, whenever we choose

I’ve spent almost two years writing about just one of the elements that fuels belief: promise.

You see, we start out like that little chick: ready to thrive. Our life ahead is full of promise. But little by little a new shell forms, one that’s comfortable and warm, secure and solid.

Our heart may tell us that maybe there’s something better on the other side of the shell, but too often our head convinces us to just stay put. Stay protected. Stay encased in the life we know.

We forget the exhilaration of entering the unknown, gasping for fresh air, ready to thrive. We forget what’s it’s like to leap, because the promise that once filled our world is gone. Safety doesn’t fuel belief. Safety sucks the promise out of it.

When we start to make promises to our soul, though, we begin to strengthen our belief, and in doing so, we empower ourselves to thrive. It’s with this notion that I’ve compiled leap, 29 empowering promises worth making with your soul.

 

It’s not a self-help guide. It’s not a manifesto, but it could be your manifesto. Each promise could lead you one step closer to hatching for the first time, or maybe the fifty-first (lucky you). The promises are soul-filling, thought-provoking, aha-poking for your notion of belief in yourself. Each is intended to give your inner champion a little dose of oxygen until she’s had so much that there’s nothing that’ll stop her from poking through her shell and thriving on a new level.

I’d recommend feeding one to your soul every day. See how you feel in that moment when you let a little light in, when you break through the paper-thin barrier that’s between where you are right now and where you’d rather be.

It’s what helped me leap to this space. Hatching right before your eyes.

 

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Tracey Selingo is a freshly-hatched author, impulsive-dark-chocoholic-belly-laughing-promise-maker at twistedpinky.com, and communication consultant who helps people get a word in edgewise at inkengage.com.

You can connect with her through either website or on twitter and linkedin.
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A guest post by Sara Blackthorne for the Creative Harvest series

When I was young, my mum and I often drove to visit my grandmother. This trip took us away from the pine forests of our home and into the flat prairies and rich farmland near her house. The journey was always the same: country music on the radio, my nose in a book, and my little sister {when she came} telling stories to her toys.

The thing I remember most from this frequent journey is the willow tree. On the ride home, it meant there was only an hour of quiet left before we arrived back to the chaos and frustration of our family life. I imagined the car pulling over, letting me out. I would climb into her branches and rest, with my books, forever. My child’s heart understood that there was security in those limbs. A security I was always seeking.

As an adult, living and breathing in our crazy, chaotic world, I longed for a sanctuary. I wanted a place to tell our honest stories, the ones we {as women} keep locked in our hearts and spirits. I craved a way to connect with the women I meet online, the ones who see my heart as I see theirs. At the time, I was seeking a more meaningful connection with the world, both physical and virtual. And so I created A Forest of Stories. It started small, a workshop here, a workbook there. But nothing seemed to quite match that deep intimacy I desired. I started writing about this longing, trying to identify the kinds of connection, of witnessing, I wanted to facilitate for my sisters.

Through this journaling, I came upon the ideas for Bearing Witness and Exposing Your Truth. I wanted to recognize the principles on which I founded A Forest of Stories: Witness, Expose, Nurture, Co-Create. With these in mind, I found a way to bring my personal values and my need for connection into my business: something I think is critical to any heart-centered work.

Bearing Witness is a one-on-one, intensive experience to excavate your true stories and personal narrative. Working together, we identify the writing you want to create, build a timeline for that creation, and support you in that process {through writing exercises, weekly check-ins, and twice-monthly skype dates} to bring your dreams of writing your truth and sharing it with the world.

And how many times have you wished you could convey just the perfect sense of honesty, brilliance, and realness on your “about” page, but not been able to get quite there? Exposing Your Truth is about capturing the essence of who you are and bringing that to your audience. I ask a series of probing, intimate questions to get you to core of your hearts work, and then bring that truth into the language of your “about” page.

The motivation behind every act I create is this:

You are a soul-filled being,
creating your stories with every breath.
These stories are more precious than gold.
Let’s share the moments of brilliance,
and the moments of shadow,
with the world.

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Sara Blackthorne is a curator of women’s stories and wisdom.

She builds forests of stories and shares intuitive wisdom for seekers and dreamers on the journey.

When not writing, she is a photographer, story catcher, and lover of raw beauty.

A guest post by Molly Mahar for the Creative Harvest series

I always tell my coaching clients that for the first year or two of Stratejoy, I cried at least every three days because I was scared. And stuck. And doubting my abilities to create the community I was imagining.

I was still writing and teaching and dreaming up new ways to reach my tribe, but it was a constant struggle in the face of my self-doubt.

Half my “working on my business” became “working on myself” so I could get really comfortable with putting myself out there, time over and time over. And I realized my Joy Equation (the basis of my work) was missing a vital piece!

After witnessing my own progression into truly living a life on my own terms and helping others through the process, I realized I had neglected the very first piece…

Fierce Self-Love. It’s the base.

The vital building block to an authentically joyful world. The rock-steady lighthouse to which we always return.

I know you have brilliance to share with the world, but if you’re hiding in fear of putting yourself out there, it will never be seen.

If you’re letting self-doubt and lack of confidence hold you back, you’re getting in the way of your own gifts.

And honey? The world is thirsty for your gifts.

Cultivating Fierce Love (Fierce Love = inner resilience and a strong sense of self-worth) is the springboard for “more” and “bigger.”

It’s the puzzle piece that allows your best intentions and dreams to take form, to be realized.

I know that you are immensely powerful. I know you already have everything you need to activate your amazing. I know that you can love yourself in this very moment: mistakes, quirks, fear and all.

I know it and I want you to know it too.

I’m absolutely thrilled to be sharing the work I’ve been teaching for the last year on Fierce Love in digital course format. The Fierce Love Course launches on Feb. 22. It’s a joyful exploration of

• Fierce Love
• Self-Care
• Dealing with your Inner Critic and Committee
• Activating Your Amazing through Inner Confidence
• Supportive Systems
• Forward Movement through Love, Integrity and Alignment

The digital course is offered through a gorgeous workbook, videos, audio sessions, and a 30-day supportive email sequence that delivers the goodies in bite-size chunks.

Can’t wait until the 22nd? Me either! We’re currently in the middle of a luscious blog crawl focused on The ABC’s of Self-Love in support of the Fierce Love Course. Twenty-six radiant writers are sharing their thoughts all over the interwebs.

I’ve grown into a gutsy and grateful woman, wife, and coach because I spend time building my self-love and confidence muscles on a daily basis.

I want the same for you.

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Molly Mahar is the founder of Stratejoy, a positive corner of the Internet that provides women strategies and camaraderie to lead authentically joyful lives. She is a full-time coach, facilitator and creator of the online Joy Equation Course, Joy Juice Prompts, and Create Your Magical Year Kit.

She helps women live life on their own terms, celebrate their worth, value their strength, and change the world through individual fulfillment. She also laughs loudly, swims naked, and wears a lot of costumes.

And she’s expecting a tiny boy person on June 2, which will her give her loads of opportunity to practice fierce lovin’.

Connect: Website | Facebook | Twitter : @stratejoy