Humanity Sleuth

01/06/2022

01/05/2022

Hello! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here. I’ve been busy the last few months caregiving for family members, but today I decided to share how leaning into intuitive play with expressive arts during this time has reinforced the belief that I am supported. That despite the circumstances in my life, I am supported - always. And so are you.

The first photo is a card my Uncle made for my parents years ago when he was a part of Community Living in Georgina. I found it recently cleaning out my father’s house, preparing it for sale. My Uncle, Dad’s 40 year companion, is awaiting a new home in long term care. My Dad is also preparing for a new beginning.

And this is what happens to many of as as we get older: inevitably there are changes in abilities, moves, loss.

Going through my Uncle’s amazing creations was hard because he can no longer create those things anymore. So I decided to turn to intuitive play to explore this complex part of me who is a caregiver. Rewarded with so many moments of pure love exchanged between vulnerable humans, yet exhausted and consumed with caregiving at times, and just plain old lumps of grief on my heart and in my throat at others.

I started painting with the idea that I am more than a caregiver. Specifically, what is the opposite of my stuck notion of caregiver? The words “flow” and “guide” came to mind, and so I painted until I felt finished, not trying to make anything, but embodying the energy of those words.

Afterwards, I looked at the painting and engaged the figure in a dialogue on paper (a good fiction writing technique for getting to know your characters btw). The following is some of what I heard from the painted figure who called herself Sophia.

Me: Can you tell me about yourself?
Sophia (S): I am pure creative and explorative energy, pulsing, being, knowing.
Me: How are you to help me?
S: I am here to keep you on creative track. To let you know you can trust what is within calling you. What is you, my dear.
Me: (At this point I was excited to feel love at a time of despair) What is me? (Gulp!)
S: You are pure love energy. Let it flow. Let it flow. You are ready to emerge like a flower in full bloom. Trust what you know, my dear.

Okay, so this dialogue is one of many I’ve had with all types of inner guidance over the last 12 years, from when I was enrolled in a program in Spiritual Direction. The reason I’m saying this is I don’t want you to compare my way with yours, or be discouraged from beginning an exploration of your own inner guidance because it’s not like mine or someone else’s.

The way you are is exactly right. Period. It’s taken me 50 years to trust and believe this.

So here I am in the middle of an often intense caregiving experience still loved, still on the right path, and still willing to love.

Wherever you are is right for you, too. You don’t have to be anywhere else right now. When it’s time to move and shift you will. In the meantime, know that there is something for you where you are. And trust that wherever that is you are supported.

This is what I’ve learned.

Happy New Year to you all!

With Love and Play,
Jacqueline

04/21/2021

I've been talking with so many people this week who are feeling anxious about several things in their life: job or lack of, sick family members, hospital capacities, children's mental health, vaccination, etc. etc. For those of us that have a lot of worries right now this post is a reminder to consciously do some grounding - that is focus your attention on the present moment.

In addition to taking deep breaths, paying attention to your senses is a great way to come into the present. Here's a quick little Expressive Arts activity you can do using your senses. Fill in the blanks: I see... I hear... I smell...I taste...I can feel..,on my...

If you've got time, go ahead and draw how you're feeling. Use lines and shapes if you don't have an image or idea in mind. Or put some music on and let your feelings come through movement. Expressive Arts provide many harmless ways for you to express what you need to and come into the present moment.

It's not a "time-waster" to do this. In fact, it's a "time-gainer." When you put what you can't control aside, you gain the life you experience in the moment.

Best Wishes,
Jacqueline

01/26/2021

This quote rings true for me today? How about you?

It's made me think about not just who I think I should be, but about how I hold myself back from being all I can be because of the way I think life right now should be.

When I get caught in a pit of "If only things were the way they were pre-Covid I could or would just..." I'm disempowered. I get nowhere. I help no one. Yes, there are restrictions in my life, but the biggest restrictions holding me back today are the ones in my own mind.

If I hang out in fantasies of how things should be I completely miss what's here for me now. What are the blessings I have now? I can write. I can read. I can type. I have access to the internet. I have a warm home. I have food. I have water. I have soap. I can walk. I can talk. I can think. I can talk to friends and family. I can choose what I want to focus on...

Many days I take these things for granted. I don't see them as privileges or blessings. I skip over them looking for other things I don't have. But what would someone else give to have what I've got? To be able to get out of bed on their own, go to the bathroom on their own, to have a bathroom, to have running water and hot water, to have cupboards and a refrigerator full of food (even when the kids say there's nothing to eat, there's food). To feel safe inside their home and out.

These are not little things, they're huge things. If you're reading this right now, you have access to the internet, and while that's not everything it's a whole lot. I want to begin a movement of radical noticing. Inviting ourselves to notice moment to moment all that we have working for us. For example, If you're able to get to your kitchen and get a glass of water, what things need to be in place in order to do that? You need to be able to move your body to get to the water, swallow the water, digest the water, use the water, and excrete the water. You need oxygen coming into your body. You need your lungs to oxygenate your blood so your heart can pump it around and keep every part of your body alive and functioning. And what about all the other trillions of things our bodies do inside to keep us going that we don't even think about?

When we skip over the miraculous in our own being and focus on trying to be popular and rich we lose our way in the world. We don't have time to notice what we have within that is of value. We don't know who we are.

Knowing, loving, and sharing our best selves in the world is an inside job. No one can do it for you and no one is stopping you but you.

Blessings,
Jacqueline

10/21/2020

“Where is the love?”

This is not just a song lyric, it’s a question many of us ask in times of struggle and conflict.

To remedy our pain we seek support and love outside of us, but depending on what people can privide on any given day we are often left feeling lack and fear.

I would love to help you connect to the love that is already within you.

One of my favourite ways to connect to love is through the Expressive Arts. Contact me for creative coaching sessions that explore paths and barriers to love.

💚 Jacqueline ~ Humanitysleuth@gmail.com

10/21/2020

“Your task is not to seek for love but merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”~ A Course in Miracles

09/22/2020

Being present in the moment is so so powerful 💚

Artwork: Maud Tousey Fangel

09/10/2020

Pour energy
-in the form of attention- into what is right with you.
Jon Kabat-Zinn

08/23/2020

Creativity is the ultimate act of integration...from our heads to our hearts through our hands.
From Brene Brown’s
Rising Strong

08/21/2020

“When we swallow our truth we turn our bodies into graveyards.”
Tama Kieves

08/18/2020

“When loving-kindness bumps into suffering and stays loving, it becomes compassion” The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook

08/14/2020

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

05/17/2020

“The spontaneous imagination is often disregarded as inconsequential. It is as if we deem these fleeting inspirations to be frivolous noise. On the contrary, it is the judgments and barriers that we erect that are the frivolous noise, not the images that come to us. If you take your inner life seriously and with respect, you begin to see that there is an intelligence behind the seemingly random suggestions it presents, and that it is in your own best interest to follow them.”

From the inspiring book Life, Paint and Passion Reclaiming the magic of Spontaneous Expression by Michele Cassou and Stewart Cubley

🎨🪕🎤🎬🖌 Jacqueline

05/06/2020

Hello. Welcome to Day 12 of 21 Days of Spontaneous Creativity. Today is a day for going out in nature, using your senses, and following your curiosity, just as you would in creating art. It’s so great to take a little time enjoy the present moment outside.

05/02/2020

Hello! I felt so creatively inspired after re-reading the wonderful book Life, Paint & Passion Reclaiming the magic of Spontaneous Expression that I made this video to inspire you to connect with your creativity.

In fact, I felt so creatively inspired that I decided to make more videos and offer them for free during the Covid 19 pandemic.

So if you want more creative inspiration and guidance on connecting to your intuitive process, I invite you to join me for 21 Days of Spontaneous Creativity on my Facebook business page Humanity Sleuth

Take Good Care!!
Jacqueline