Welcome back to The Way I See It! Today I am sharing with you an art demo video for the illustration, which you can see above, that I created for episode 7 of The Way I See It Podcast! This is one of a series of 8 illustrations each representing in visual form the concepts I discuss in each podcast episode. (If you would like to listen to any episodes, you can do so here.)

I had fun coming up with a visual concept for Give Your Self a Voice. One of the issues I address in the episode is when you feel unheard. So I decided to use megaphones as a motif of sorts and a emblem of action and amplification for that voice being heard, which is of vital importance! 

Often when I begin a new illustration, I don’t plan the color scheme in advance, as was the case here, using warm colors of orange, red, and wine/purple. Lots of layers went into each aspect as you will see if you watch the demo. 

I always enjoy the process of determining what type of lettering I will use, and how it will impact the overall visual impact of the message. I really wanted the SELF to pop, so I kept the letters white inside for that purpose, and for the SELF to Shine! 

And the VOICE can have some flair, with an unusual design element of almost a winglike appearance, so your voice can have lift and carry where it needs to go! 

Her stance with the hand on the hip is one of authority, saying, “I mean business.” So we better listen! 

Are we listening to our own voices? What about our message really resonates the most and why is it important to us? Take these questions to your journal for deeper clarity as you look to give yourself a voice…because you deserve to be heard. 

Do watch the demo and let me know in the comments what you think or if so, how you were inspired in your own creativity. :) 

Note: Background music is a piano rendition of my spiritual song, My Way Home. 

Copyright 2022 by Dawn Herring for video content and music. 

Welcome back to The Way I See It! I’m excited to share with you a new art demo featuring my illustration, Saying Goodbye! You can see the finished illustration below. After the initial sketch, I used colored pencil as my medium. This is one of 8 illustrations in the series I created for my podcast, The Way I See It. Saying Goodbye is for episode 6 where I talk about Saying Goodbye to a life cycle that has ended and Saying Hello to what is new! Thus the Life Cycle symbol is shown on the sign my figure is holding as she waves goodbye.

Included in the demo video is the entire illustration process behind the scenes with my voice over explaining the steps. You will also hear a piano rendition of my spiritual song, My Way Home.
I hope you enjoy watching this peek into my creative process; if so, please give it a thumbs up on YouTube. I greatly appreciate your support!

All content in the Art Demo for Saying Goodbye, including art and music is Copyrighted to Dawn Herring, 2022.

Welcome back to The Way I See It, where I share with you from my Life Lenses. For this post, I will focus on my art and illustration and share a art demo video so you can actually view the process of my illustration that I created for the 5th episode of The Way I See It Podcast titled, Music Mind.

I decided to create a colored pencil cartoon illustration to make visible the concepts that I discuss on my podcast. It’s been very fun to come up with a composition, determining what my cartoon will show to tell the story visually, as well as placement of lettering, objects, signs, color of garments on the figure, and the facial expressions that convey emotion.

So I decided to share a demo video (sped up for quick viewing!) of the process, so you could see the step by step of this particular illustration. I don’t necessarily do it the same way every time. It’s a rather intuitive process which is one of the reasons I enjoy it so much! From choice of color to concept made visible, it’s all the interesting experience, from start to finish.

I trust watching the demo will inspire you in your own creative pursuits or at the least, pique your curiosity! It’s a pleasure to share it with you.

I also included background music, a piano rendition of my song, My Way Home, along with my chatting about the process. I hope you enjoy! If so, please give the video a thumbs up, and if you would like to see more, do subscribe to my channel; and your comments are welcome.

I’ve included an image of the illustration so you can see what it looks like finished.

Music Copyright 2022 by Dawn Herring

Welcome back to The Way I See It where we focus on Awareness, Attitude and Intuition, which I see as keys to more confident decision making and aligned living.

For today’s post/episode 8, which I have titled, Respect is the Golden Rule, I would like to touch on the topic of Respect, especially Self Respect, what that can look and feel like, and why it’s such an important element in our every day relationships and interactions with others.

I’ll start this conversation with a definition of respect that truly aligns with what I’m talking about: It’s defined as due regard for the feelings, wishes and rights or traditions of others.
And the definition of self respect is pride and confidence in oneself and a feeling that one is behaving with honor and dignity.

With those definitions laid out, I wanted to share with you ways I show myself respect, why I think it’s important, if not imperative to do so, and how that directly impacts how we can communicate with others with an underlying mutual respect in place.

Beyond taking care of myself physically, such as eating good food, moving my body in a way that feels right and good to me, and getting enough sleep, I also see my attitude toward myself as vitally important as a way to show myself respect.

Appreciating myself for Who I Am is the significant foundation toward self respect, in all my foibles, as well as my skill sets, and everything in between.
Here are some examples:
I respect my skill as an artist, in varying mediums, from pencil to watercolor to pen and marker, no matter the subject matter.
I respect my acquiring skill in music, from song writing to composing on piano. I make time for it because I respect my desire to express myself that way.
I respect all I’ve learned and implement as I work in our electrical contracting office and fulfill the duties necessary to running a business.

I also respect my limitations, of what I can or cannot do in a day. I respect the times when I need to take a break and not guilt myself for it.
I respect myself when I look in the mirror and see how I’m aging, gracefully and with full acknowledgment of what is.
I am hyper aware of when I’m being too hard on myself for my “mistakes” or perceived “errors” when I’m not satisfied with what I’ve accomplished.
I’m learning to be more gentle with myself and create as much ease in my daily tasks as possible.

I also respect my need to fill my creative well, whether it’s reading a good memoir, watching a good movie, or getting inspired by the art I see online as I scroll social media.
I respect my unique way of expressing myself through the way I dress, how I use music to communicate in conversation (which I talk about in ep 2 of The Way I See It Podcast), and The Way I See It from my many Life Lenses as wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister and friend.

Coming from that place of self respect, after having recognized the value of Who I am inside and out, mutual respect is an extremely important element of thriving relationships with others.
Recognizing the value of each one who I am in contact with and seeing that reciprocated through word, action, and response to our mutual ongoing communication is what makes those relationships meaningful and satisfying.

As I have practiced self respect over the years, I have come to recognize when a communication with another disappoints because of that lack of mutual respect, whether overt or subtle.
Sometimes it’s hard to detect at first, but wisdom grows over time with life experience as I engage with others, and I find myself most appreciative of that mutual respect that we all expect and rightfully so since it’s not necessarily easy to come by.

That’s why it’s so important to start with self respect; when you respect yourself and make the effort to appreciate Who You Are from the inside out, it helps us to gain more confidence when it comes to communicating with others with the expectation that we will receive the respect we deserve. And when that doesn’t happen, we can then, with confidence, draw a line in the sand and say, this isn’t working for me. We need to give ourselves space, creating a safe boundary from unnecessary conflict, no matter where it’s coming from. And we need not apologize for it.

If another wants to communicate, it must be in the bounds of mutual respect; otherwise, they are not recognizing the value of The Way You See It.
Just remember that The Way You See It Matters.

Allow the gift of your intuition to feel into whether or not you are respecting yourself and in turn, whether you are experiencing the mutual respect of others. And Act Accordingly.

A Journaling prompt for you:
List off the ways you currently express self respect. Get as specific as possible. No item is too small because sometimes the smallest of ways build that important foundation of respect that is vital to our well being.
When you’re ready, you can record one way that you would like to start respecting yourself more, whatever the area of life it entails. Perhaps give yourself permission to express yourself creatively or setting boundaries where needed. Whatever comes to mind intuitively in this entry, allow it to flow.
Remember not to beat yourself up when you don’t show yourself respect. Just becoming more aware of when this happens and why can go a long way to helping you align with Who You Are from the inside out.

The Way You See It Matters. Honor and Value that from the heart. Because your heart won’t steer you wrong.

Copyright 2022 Dawn Herring

Welcome back to The Way I See It, where we focus on Awareness, Attitude and Intuition for more confident decision making and aligned living!

In this post/episode (7), My aim is to give you strategies to Give Yourself a Voice, especially when you feel unheard.

We all know that it’s perfectly normal to talk to ourselves in our daily lives. Picture arriving in your kitchen and forgetting why you went there! So you say to yourself, “What was I in here for?” as you stand there puzzling for the momentary forgetfulness. Yes, we’ve all been there, done that!

Technically speaking, you were giving yourself a voice even if it was not in the best of circumstances, since you were probably feeling frustrated with your loss of purpose.
But we can be much more intentional with the way we talk to ourselves, which is actually a very important element of personal empowerment.

We all have situations where we have shared our point of view, the way we see it, to another, whether in conversation with a friend or loved one, with a colleague or a boss, or with our kids or grandkids. And in some situations, we feel like we keep repeating ourselves, because no one seems to be listening. And that can be frustrating. No one likes to feel unheard.

But I would like to share an important practice that we can all engage in that can enable us to have a voice and in the process, validate and affirm ourselves from the inside out, even when no one seems to be listening.

I believe it is imperative that we listen to ourselves, our higher voice that speaks to us, that voice of intuition. And one of the ways we can do that is to give that voice our attention. How?
Well, I’m here to share with you my tried and true approaches to doing just that.

First, My absolute go-to is keeping a journal. My journal is the perfect place to give myself a voice, even if it’s only written. My thoughts are important and when I write them down, it gives them presence more so in my life because I have honored those thoughts in word form. Now I can see and read what I am thinking, and even vocalize them if I choose to. In this way, I am honoring The Way I See It. It gives me a chance to share my point of view from my varying life lenses that give meaning and purpose to my every day existence.

Along with sharing my thoughts in word form, I also choose to draw an illustration that reflects my emotional response to something from my day that I choose to highlight. It’s sort of like a visual diary that I can look back on and see what I have experienced, no matter what emotion is represented, whether it be frustration, anger, elation, joy, happiness, humor. It is all equally represented. You could choose to simply draw a smiley face or a frown face or whatever intuitively works for you if you don’t want to draw how you feel in an illustrative approach.

Another way I choose to give myself a voice is through verbal affirmations. I have reminders that come up on my phone on a daily basis, and when I see them, I often read them aloud. It brings me into the present moment and inspires me to remind myself of what I am. Whether it be strong, resilient, creative, present, etc. Pick words that have relevant meaning for you and read them aloud.

The mirror can be our best friend; we can simply look into our own eyes and say, “I love you!” This is a tremendously empowering action to give yourself a voice and to validate and affirm yourself, both visually and audibly.

Music is one of my favorite ways to give myself a voice; and this one is especially meaningful because I express my appreciation for my Connection with Spirit when I write songs inspired by my study of sacred text and reflect on what it means to me. From lyrics to melody and then composing my songs on piano, and then singing as I play, I give my Spirit a voice as well. This is one of the most satisfying experiences I have on a daily basis.

Perhaps you may choose to write a lyric, a poem, a paragraph of something meaningful to you; then read it aloud. Relish each word as you speak it; knowing that it came from your heart and soul. Or choose your favorite song and sing with enthusiasm! You might want to dance as you sing, giving your body a voice as well.

I think one of the things that is so vitally important and linked to giving yourself a voice is recognizing your innate value; appreciating yourself for who you are.
Listening to yourself, giving yourself a voice, is a powerful way to recognize the value of what you have to offer, of The Way You See It. When you listen to yourself first with appreciation, honor and love, this will give you a strong foundation, and a more distinct confidence when you relate and communicate with others. Because you are already listening. Your ears are open and aware of what you are feeling, and how you want to express yourself.

Always remember that when you feel unheard, to give yourself a voice immediately by listening to your own thoughts and expression in whatever way feels right and natural to you in the moment. When you regularly practice giving yourself a voice, you will always be heard; this will impact the way you communicate with others. Because The Way You See It Matters.

A Journaling prompt for you:
Write a list of all the ways you could give yourself a voice, whether by word, or audibly, or in whatever way comes you to intuitively. Don’t dismiss any as silly or irrelevant. Just write them down as they come to you. Think of it as a brainstorm of affirming activity. Then choose one of those ways and do one right now! The more you engage with your own voice, the more you will appreciate it!
Now record an entry about the last time you felt unheard. What were the circumstances and what were you trying to convey? Express appreciation for The Way You See It in that situation and read your entry aloud. You may want to speak an affirmation aloud to yourself, such as The Way I See It Matters! My opinion and point of view have value.

Always Give Yourself a Voice; because you deserve to be heard.

Welcome back to The Way I See It, the place where we talk about Awareness, Attitude and Intuition, and how, with these Three Keys in our power pack, it helps us to gain more confidence in our decision making which leads to more aligned living! And that’s exciting to think about and experience, isn’t it?

For this post/podcast which I have titled, Saying Goodbye, I would like to talk about Life Cycles, how to recognize when one cycle is ending and another is beginning, and ways that I try to make it as gentle and seamless as possible, which is no easy feat!

First let’s talk about what a life cycle can look like. It can cover many facets of life, from where we live, to what job we have, to moving our residence including upsizing or downsizing, getting married or divorced, dealing with individual relationships, or even how we spend our leisure time.

We are always in a cycle of sorts, whether it’s just beginning or one we’ve been in for a while. There are natural ebbs and flows with each cycle. But how do we know when we’ve been in a cycle and the longevity is waning because it’s no longer serving us or our life circumstances have changed?

Sometimes life hands us an abrupt change that we didn’t see coming. Like having a rental home sold out from under you and you’re left to find another place to live and where you’ve been is no longer affordable? Or a major job change that brings you to an area you’ve never been to and you know no one, and are feeling isolated? Or perhaps, you’re in a place where you’ve just entered the role of single mom because the relationship with your significant other became toxic. Or maybe you’ve just entered a whole new neuro-divergent world with a diagnosis of autism in your child and you feel lost and uncertain about what the future holds.

There are some cycles in life that last for many years, such as a long standing marriage of 50+ or living in the same house for your entire married life or living in the same neighborhood even from childhood.

But what about those situations that last only a few years or even a few months? Perhaps a friendship becomes disconnected because your interests have change or one moved away and the distance creates a void. Or maybe you’ve been a full time caretaker of a special needs person and someone else takes over; or your spouse is in the last stages of an illness, and it’s time to say goodbye.

We could also look at each day, each month, or even each task as a cycle, which just shows the natural ebbs and flows that we can experience.

We can also look at our creative output cycles. Perhaps how change occurs as we paint, draw, sing, play an instrument, write books, or blog posts, or host a podcast? Sometimes, as we change, our content changes with us. 

Now that we’ve looked at all the types of cycles we may encounter in our life time, let’s talk about how we can recognize the signs of when one cycle ends and another begins.
Sometimes it can be really tricky to know. Other times it can be really obvious.

This is where AWARENESS is so key. The more we can sustain an active awareness concerning where we are in a cycle, the more readily we will be able to see the signs of when a cycle is coming to a close. Sometimes it just happens naturally and we just need to move intuitively through the process. Other cycles are ones we create for ourselves; this is when we have to be more proactive about recognizing when the cycle we are in is no longer serving us, especially when we feel out of alignment because of it.

One of the things that really helps me in dealing with a cycle that is waning is to feel into my body about what’s happening. What emotions am I feeling? Am I more frustrated than usual? Do I feel blocked? Am I agitated and wonder why? Do I feel resistance rather than flow?

It can be helpful to write down how you’re feeling, whether on a piece of paper or in a journal, depending on whether what you write will be preserved or tossed. Sometimes just getting it out on the page can give you just the right clarity in the moment to recognize a changing cycle that you weren’t already aware of.

Now I’d like to address how we can let go of an old cycle (even if it’s a short one) in order to embrace the new one that is beginning. This can be especially difficult to navigate when it’s a big change, such as caring for a loved one that required a lot of time and energy, or making a big move across the country. That’s why I titled this Saying Goodbye. It’s important to look at the cycle that is ending and see all the benefits you have experienced from that time. In a sense, it gives you the opportunity to honor your life’s experience and how it helped make you who you are today.

And as you do this, you can begin to say goodbye in a way that is gentle, kind and compassionate, toward yourself especially, which is vitally important! And as you do this, it enables you to tap into that intuitive wisdom that you need to guide you into what is next for you in that new cycle that is just beginning.

I will say that it can be very hard to let go…especially when you’ve taken on responsibilities that were challenging. It can sometimes feel like you’re in a free fall, which can feel disorienting and even overwhelming. Thus the gentle awareness can help us ease into that next place, as we open our hands and let go of what is no longer necessary or essential for us to do or have.

And we can celebrate how we have grown into who we are today that makes what is coming next possible, which helps us to fully align and move into that place with more ease and grace, with the least amount of resistance and stress possible.

Yes, I notice that sometimes when I’m in the process of letting go of an older cycle, I may experience a bit (or a lot!) of grief or sadness. But I remind myself that opening my hands to let go of what was (sometime I do this literally with my hands; it helps ground me in the present moment) can then lead to receiving what is to come, what is literally at the door of the new cycle that is beginning! And that’s worth celebrating!

I find when I get stuck in my head concerning the ending of one cycle and the beginning of another, the logistics can really slow me down and give me a feeling of powerlessness. So I have to remind myself that I don’t need to know all the details just yet. If I received everything I think I needed to know now, that would truly be overwhelming and completely unnecessary. Gentle beginnings can help us take it in one step at a time. And each step we take is worth celebrating as we Say Goodbye to what was and begin to Say Hello to what is new! And as you do this, I celebrate with you!

A journaling prompt for you:
Take a moment to record life cycles that you are currently in right now, from relationships to jobs to hobbies to family dynamics to how old you are. This will help you activate awareness with where you may be in a cycle. Do you see or feel any signs of a cycle coming to a close? How do you feel about this? Are you ready to release the old and embrace the new? Do you know where you want to go?
Also, you can note down what cycles you have more direct control over versus those that are more outward circumstances that you simply have to work with.
Now pick one of those cycles and determine how you can make the change as gentle and compassionate toward yourself as possible. You may want to write a letter in your journal to that cycle that is closing, highlighting the ways it has benefitted you and helped you grow in various aspects of life.
It can also help to pace yourself with your to dos or giving yourself space to create to unload pent up emotion.
And remember to celebrate all that you have experienced and honor who you are today as a result of having lived that life cycle. You deserve it!

Welcome back to The Way I See It, where I share my Life Lenses with a focus on Awareness, Attitude and Intuition. In this post, I plan to share a facet of my journaling practice that you may find intriguing. If you’re interested in journaling, or more specifically, bullet journaling, then you’re welcome to continue reading. In conjunction with my bullet journal practice, I will be touching on the Awareness Aspect to it, why it’s important, and why it matters to me.

Note: I decided to make this information available in the form of Episode 5 of The Way I See It Podcast titled, Music Mind, which you can listen to below! Please note that the text in this blog post doesn’t completely match with the audio version since the audio is a bit more spontaneous. :)

First, a bit of history. I have kept a longform written journal for 30+ years. Several years back after reading the book The Bullet Journal Method, I thought I would try my hand at using a bullet journal in addition to my longform written journal.

One of the benefits to keeping a bullet journal is keeping track of things that matter to you. In addition to the rapid log (basically daily list making) that you can create with each day's entry, there are also Collections that you can keep, which is basically a page in your bullet journal where you collect information that is relevant to you in one way or another.

One of the collections that I have been keeping in my bullet journal I have titled, Music Mind. In recent years I have become aware of the occurrence of music arising in my mind on a regular basis. I’m not referring to the situations where you hear a song in the car or in a store somewhere, and it gets stuck in your head and then plays on repeat. That sometimes happens to me but there are many other scenarios that trigger music arising in my mind outside of this particular example.

The fact that music arises in my mind on a regular basis was an instigator of great curiosity on my part, so I decided to start recording in my bullet journal the songs that would arise in my mind at any time. In so doing, I thought that it might help me to determine where the music was coming from, because I really wanted to know.

I find that when I wake up in the morning, music arises in my mind immediately. I find that music arises throughout the day. Some songs arise in my mind and stay there all day long. Some songs arise and then leave and another song arises and leaves. Every day is different. And I don’t think it’s an issue of what I’m exposed to necessarily. Although sometimes if I hear a song in a movie, especially during closing credits, or if I hear it in a store, it will arise at a later time or immediately afterwards.

So when I started this collection in my bullet journal, any time a song would arise in my mind, I would try to remember to write it down. When I would write the song down, I would try to remember if anything initiated the music to begin with. And if something did, I would write it down in parentheses.

I found the entire process of becoming more aware of when music arises in my mind, to writing it down in my bullet journal, to determining what might have triggered this music occurring, really started to give me a clearer picture of how my mind works .

There are various triggers that take place in my mind with some of the music that I notice. Sometimes a word or a phrase or a musical note might trigger a song arising. Sometimes a conversation I’m having with another person triggers a song. (And I often sing it aloud when that happens which can sometimes spark amusement, especially on my part, creating levity in that spontaneous moment!)

But, the times that are the most interesting to me are when the music that arises comes from my past, sometimes from childhood, sometimes from youth, and other times from later years. Especially with songs that really left a meaningful impact on me.

One of the things that I hope to do with this Music Mind Collection each month is that it will eventually reveal to me a pattern of music coming and going.

Sometimes I do notice when a song repeats itself on more than one day. Sometimes that can happen when the music comes from a movie I’ve been watching on repeat (especially when grandson keeps watching the same movie over and over again); but I also notice this without there being a contextual source to associate with that music, which is an ongoing curiosity for me. It begs me to ask the question, Where is it coming from, and why does it happen to begin with?

I think one of the greatest benefits to keeping this Music Mind Collection is that it automatically puts me in a state of Awareness when I hear the music arising. That state of Awareness immediately makes me more Present and slows me down. And, with the act of writing down the song, it naturally puts me in a state of pause for a moment. This pause can only benefit me because it forces me, as I slow down, to think very specifically about what is going on in my mind.

It gives me the opportunity to ask questions about where this music is coming from. In a sense, it helps me to honor the way my mind works, knowing that music is an essential part of who I am.

In some ways, the whole process I’ve described here is a mystery. It shows the many layers, if not worlds, that exist, not just in my mind, but in my heart and soul.

In other ways, it shows me what matters to me, how I think and how I communicate. I realize that some folks think in words, some in pictures, some in numbers. I think in music!

I have shared several images from three different months from my Music Mind Collections so that you can see what it actually looks like. Sometimes there’s a question mark (?) In the place of a title because all I hear is a melody or a few words, and I don’t recall the title of the song. I just know that there is a song arising and I’m not able to identify it right away or at all.

Sometimes I record the movie or place I heard it. Sometimes I’ll mark down the vocalist or group that sings it.

And if the song arises repeatedly, I sometimes look up the lyrics to the full song to see what meaning it may have for me right now.

Music will always have a special place in my life, and my Music Mind Collection is the perfect place to honor my Music Mind!

Here’s a journaling prompt for you:
How does your mind think? Are you pictorial or like a movie playing, or do words take center stage? Are numbers your game?

Give some thought (no pun intended!) with the primary way your mind works. Take a few days or a week or more and write down what arises in your mind naturally. See if any patterns emerge. Reflect on what those patterns may be speaking to you. By slowing down enough to experience this process, you honor how your mind works. Prepare to be fascinated!

Welcome back to The Way I See It with a focus on Awareness, Attitude and Intuition through my many Life Lenses. In this post, I’m sharing a new music video! As many of you know, I am an aspiring musician, learning to play my spiritual songs on the piano by ear, just over a year ago. I’ve been writing spiritual songs for about 4 years now, inspired by my Connection with Spirit, my meditative studies of sacred text, and journaling lyrics in my bullet journal. This process never fails to inspire me and put me in a creative flow. I then record a vocal to preserve the melody of the song. I, then, later choose a song to compose on the piano.

The following song is the one featured in the video clip on my YouTube Channel. It is titled, The Evidence. The general essence of the song focuses on how Trustworthy Spirit is because I’m always taken of, no matter my circumstances or challenges. The lyrics to this song are below, so when you listen, you can sing along if you’d like. My aim with sharing this spiritual song is to inspire you so your spirit may be lifted. Our world is in such a challenging time on so many fronts; perhaps remembering where we come from, The Source of Love, will encourage you.

My heart goes out to the many people suffering from the ravages of war, trauma and acute illness and other situations entirely out of their control. May you have strength, presence and love to carry you through the hardest of times. Peace to all!

The Evidence
by Dawn Herring

I see Your Light; It opens my heart
It assures me of my steps from the start
A true place of encouragement
A Place of Peace
A rest to my soul and a great release

You will provide for my soul
You will give all to me
I hear your voice in my heart
It rings true as Truth indeed

I never need to question your faithfulness to me
The evidence bears the verdict
I know I can trust
And believe without regret

My arms are open wide
For the love you give inside

I see your light; it open my heart
It assures me of my steps from the start

Music and Lyrics Copyright 2022 by Dawn Herring

Before I leave you today, I will would like to offer a journaling prompt for further reflection:
When you are in a difficult life situation, what is your first go to ground yourself and bring yourself back to center, back to HOME? Now, Make a list of the activities that revitalize you consistently. Describe the entire process from start to finish. Now, take note of how this process makes you feel and describe that in detail. Does it lift your spirit? Does it raise your body vibration? How does it benefit you in the short and long term? Now take action and do one of those activities Today. Taking care of yourself is KEY to aligned living. YOU deserve to feel good today!

Thank you so much for stopping by The Way I See It!
I so appreciate your interest in my musical journey and trust it has inspired you to tap into your own creative flow!
Let me know what you think of the video; because The Way YOU See It Matters…to me!

​

Welcome back to The Way I See It, Where we talk about Awareness, Attitude and Intuition and how they aid toward more confident decision making and aligned living.
For this post, you will find Episode 4 of The Way I See It Podcast, available both on my YouTube Channel and on Spotify, for your listening pleasure.
Episode 4 is titled, Resistance or Flow. We will talk about how the key of awareness can bring us to a place of personal empowerment as we deliberately choose whether we will look through the lens of resistance or flow and how it impacts how we feel on a daily basis.

Below you will find the transcript to Episode 4 of The Way I See It Podcast:
Welcome to Episode 4 of The Way I See It Podcast!
Today I want to share a very important question that I sometimes ask my grandson and ask myself as well: Are you having a flow day or a resistance day?
Why would I ask such a question? Because it lends itself to an activating of awareness that we may not have had before. If we don’t ask the question, we often live on autopilot or simply by habit, not realizing the loss of power we can experience since we’re just letting life happen as it does. And often we’re not very happy, feeling depleted and even exhausted and not know exactly why.

We want to feel energized and aligned with each day we experience. But how do we do that? I think it’s a matter of being intentional about what kind of day we want to have. And every choice we make with our actions and attitude can really make all the difference in how we feel and experience life.

We all know what it feels like to be in flow: there is a specific ease in which we engage with our tasks, even mundane ones we deal with every day, such as washing dishes, vacuuming (!), folding laundry or taking out the trash. And we especially experience that state of flow when we are engaging with something we truly enjoy, such as something art or music based, or being out in our garden or in the woods.

But it’s the nitty gritty of daily life, such as answering the phone or choosing how we will respond in conversation, or what we will do next to check it off our to do list, where we can feel our choice the most.
I think it’s the attitude we choose to take on from moment to moment that can actually determine the energy in which we move, whether it’s based in angst, annoyance, or even anger, versus appreciation, gratitude, joy or even elation.

Our bodies feel the energy of the choice we make, whether it’s resistance or flow.
When we choose resistance, we can feel our shoulders tighten up, or our stomach clench, or a desire to block the flow of our heart chakra but folding our arms across our chest.
When we choose flow, we are open, our shoulders lift, we feel lighter and more buoyant, and we may even find ourselves laughing or engaging our sense of humor, just because it comes naturally in that state.

However, I do want to make a distinction concerning the varying situations we may be experiencing that impact how we can choose how we respond in our daily lives with either resistance or flow.

There are times when our intuition is saying, NO, to something; this is a gift of discernment we are given so we can protect ourselves from danger, harm or trouble up ahead. We should always pay very close attention during those times and not go against what our intuition is telling us to do.

I am also not referring to situations completly out of our control, such as dealing with the direct impact of war or acute trauma or severe illness. My heart and prayers go out to anyone who is experiencing such trauma or tragedy.

​That’s not what I’m talking about here.

I’m simply referring to those times when we choose resistance simply because we are not at peace with what is, with what we need to do in our every day lives.
For example, I must admit, I don’t like doing dishes. No matter how many times I try to get into flow with it, it’s a task I just want to get over with and be done. So I feel tired afterwards. Of course, I’m glad for an empty sink and dishes in the cupboard ready to be used. Yes. It’s nice to have an orderly environment. And I’ve trained myself to do them right away after a meal for ease of clean up. But I don’t want to do it.

I don’t feel the same resistance to folding laundry though. Maybe it’s because I’m appreciative to have nice clothes to wear or they feel soft and warm out of the dryer. (Of course, when grandson’s socks are inside out, that’s a whole other story! Ha! Or have you ever noticed that undergarments are often inside out when retrieved from the dryer? Why is that? Same question we ask about losing socks, right?)

Well, anyway, we all have things we don’t want to do, don’t we? But we can make the choice to be grateful to have them to do since that shows we are living, using things as they can be used.
We can choose that state of flow more often as we ask the question throughout the day, Is my day a day of flow or resistance? How Am I Choosing how I’m going to feel today?

When grandson asks me, “Why do I have to do that every day?” I then ask, are you going to have a day of resistance or flow? It gives him food for thought. How does he want to feel? Does it feel good to move from one task to another with more ease, or would he rather feel resistant, with leads to a less pleasurable day in the long run?

We can ask ourselves the same question: Would I rather feel energized and full of gratitude at the end of the day, or do I want to feel depleted, exhausted and unhappy?

Of course it helps to choose at least one activity in our day that lifts our spirit and puts us in flow naturally. Something easy and fun. Or maybe a bit more challenging, like, for me, learning a new song on the piano! That can make the mundane tasks less undesirable because at least we did something fun, don’t you think?

Here’s a journaling prompt for you: Make a list of tasks you have for today. Yes, it can be in the form of a to do list if that works for you. Now look carefully at the items or tasks and ask yourself, does that task make me feel resistant? If so, why? Detail your response in your journal. Then ask the question: How can I make this easier? Is there a better way to go about doing this task that will make it less stressful? Detail whatever comes to mind. You may just find an answer to a long standing dilemma. Just by giving voice to your angst can help relieve pressure or resistance just by knowing why. How’s that for empowering?

We all have a choice to make from each moment of our day. We can choose resistance to what is or what needs to be in order for us to get from Point A to Point B, or we can choose to enter a state of flow that leads to more ease, joy, gratitude and aligned living. And to me, that place is a state I want to be in as much as possible, because it increases our experience of personal power which enables us to leave our meaningful mark in the world. And we all need Your Meaningful Mark in the World.

Welcome back to The Way I See It, where we focus on Awareness, Attitude and Intuition, and how these Keys to Aligned Living help us make more confident decisions that lead to a calmer, centered and connected life.

I wanted to address something that has come to my attention both recently as well as over time. I have had many people tell me that they admire and are impressed with the way I am consistent with my practices and that I take time every day to engage my creativity in one form or another.

Yes, it’s true that I have an extensive, comprehensive creative, spiritual practice that is layered with many ways of expression and the desire to connect deeply with Spirit. But it has taken many years of time and exposure to varying types of creativity.

I have always been an artist, from a young age, but the media used has changed over time. I didn’t discover watercolor painting until much later in life, back in 2011, which was the same time I discovered the art form of art journaling, sending me down an engaging rabbit hole of visual and hands-on delights.

I’ve always had an interest in music, from playing the recorder as an adolescent, to playing guitar (very briefly) with Dad teaching me, to writing songs and singing solos and duets in church, to later in life, writing songs, playing tambourine and now piano.

Of course, journaling became a practice in my 20s and now that I’m in my 50s (yes I just aged myself), I’m still going strong, including adding daily illustrated cartoon doodles into the mix, which is super fun.

With all that being said, I wanted to express and clarify the WHY behind all these practices that really are not necessarily separate from each other, but work entirely in tandem. Such as Prayer/Meditation and spiritual study leading to song writing, leading to piano playing. Which leads to Inspiring art journal spreads and drawings in my journal. In other words, one thing leads to another. They are special to me.

But none of these practices to me are just some “nice” thing to do. No. They go much deeper than that.

THEY ARE A LIFELINE. Yes, you read that right. A Lifeline.
The definition of a lifeline: something one depends on which provides a means of escape from a difficult situation; or a rope or line used for life-saving, typically one thrown to rescue someone in difficulties in water or one used by sailors to secure themselves to a boat.

You see, life is a daily challenge. With many responsibilities. Without my Lifelines, I would not be in a centered, aligned place, with my faith intact and my heart full. NO.
That’s what they are there for. To give me strength, to teach me things, to give me clarity, to bring my subconscious to the fore, to Give Me A Voice to creatively express myself.

In other words, they are a necessity, not a nice-i-ty.

I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy the process of creatively expressing myself, because I certainly do, deeply and with great satisfaction. But they are a gift, a present to help me stay more Present.
The More Present I Stay, the Calmer I will be. I do not want to be overtly cranky (which I get to be when I don’t take enough time!), I want to be patient, kind, understanding, wise, gentle and the like. Unless I dip into those energies of creativity that connects me to Spirit, my vibrational frequency suffers. I feel more fatigued and want space to be alone.

I much prefer to be on top of my creative and spiritual “game” so to speak. I’d rather be prepared, inspired, open, aware, tapped into my intuition, and ready to take on what comes my way.
Not saying I don’t have bad days; doesn’t anyone, right?

But I just wanted to clarify; I do appreciate folks sharing their Point of View concerning what I do. I always want to know The Way You See It, always!
But I also wanted you to understand where the rubber meets the road for me; the Why behind my consistency. The Why behind the reason doing so many creative things daily is not an option, but a requirement—for my spirit and soul.

We all have necessities. Things we must have to stay sane. What are yours? What can’t you do without? What lifts you up and gets you in a the best place you can be?

Here’s a journaling prompt for you: Write a list of all the ways you enjoy creatively expressing yourself. Put a star next to the ones that you can do daily without too much ado, ones that don’t take long periods of time to engage in. Now, put at least one of those things into your routine so you can do it and feel great afterwards. Don’t see your creative expression as something to do once in a while that doesn’t really matter. Because it does. It matters because you matter.

We all need a lifeline, something that helps us keep our head above water, with so much chaos and negative energy in our world. We need to create positive energy for ourselves every day; and then it makes a difference in the way we feel, which ripples out to those around us. Ultimately, engaging in our creative practice, whatever it may be, makes the world a better place. And we thank you for it.

​Copyright 2022 Dawn Herring