Category: Clarity

I have exciting news!

by Karen, posted in Being BRAVE, Clarity

I have finally decided to #BeBrave and put my own name on my online presence. I am gathering up my author website kwrites.com and my coach website karencoaches.com and uniting them into one shiny new website, KarenCreamer.com!

balloons

You can still follow me on both of my Facebook pages: K.M. Creamer, Author and Metaphysical Nurse.


Clarity is a wonderful thing!


You will still find all the great content you have become accustomed to: book and movie reviews, holistic health topics, my online classes, all of my books, events, and doings, and of course, the monthly BRAVE Interviews. There will also be some new features!

I will no longer be posting on these websites effective May 11, 2018 and will close them down shortly thereafter. I want you to stay with me, so please CLICK HERE to keep receiving email notifications about new posts.


I can’t wait to connect with you on my new website: KarenCreamer.com  

The BRAVE Interview #22 May 2018: Melanie Delorme

by Karen, posted in Being BRAVE, books, Brave books, Catching women being brave, Clarity, comfort, family, Interviews, relationships, The BRAVE Interviews

Welcome to this month’s BRAVE Interview with Melanie Delorme!

I am a teacher, a wife, a mother, an author who was given the role of bereaved mom in 2008 when my 8-year-old son, Garrett, was accidentally shot and killed in a hunting accident.

It would have been so easy to allow this horrific experience to define me as a grief-stricken mom for the rest of my life. I’m not sure how long it took me to realize that Garrett deserved a better legacy than that.

I also realized that healing and moving forward was my choice.

I try to choose every day to celebrate Garrett’s life and to remember that knowing him for eight years made me a better person.

I spent a lot of time writing in a journal during the first few years after Garrett’s death. I have since turned my writing into a book and published it. It is entitled, After the Flowers Die: A Handbook of Heartache, Hope and Healing After Losing a Child. I do not want any bereaved parent to ever feel alone.  I have recently created a website, promoted my book at book signings, participated in my first TV interview, participated in a live grief webinar. Currently I am working on creating a journaling course for grieving parents.

When I think about the word Brave, I realize that sometimes bravery is simply getting out of bed and facing the world every day.

Sometimes bravery feels more like survival. While I don’t feel brave every day, I will continue to choose to move forward keeping my son’s memory alive through my writing and speaking.

My website: www.MelanieDelorme.com

My book on Amazon:  After the Flowers Die: A Handbook of Heartache, Hope and Healing After Losing a Child

 

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, Melanie!

Read the other BRAVE Interviews here: The BRAVE Interviews

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR THIS SERIES ABOUT SOMETHING BRAVE YOU HAVE DONE IN YOUR OWN LIFE, SEND ME AN EMAIL HERE: karen@karencreamer.com

The BRAVE Interview #21 April 2018: Stormie Grace

by Karen, posted in Being BRAVE, Catching women being brave, Clarity, no fear, relationships, The BRAVE Interviews

Welcome to this month’s interview with Stormie Grace!

Being Brave…

Hello everyone I am Astrologer Stormie Grace! …….really what I am is just a human! That comes with its pretty standard fears, insecurities, Delights, Mysteries, and all else that encompasses The Human Experience pause. The two qualities I’ve been invited to talk to you about today from my experience are fear and bravery.

No matter how it presents itself, fear always has this low-level vibration telling me I am somehow not enough as I am, and God forbid I get any different because then I’ll definitely be not enough.

If you know what I’m talking about, you know what I’m talking about, but really, in my experience what Fear actually is actually is the thief that robs me from my life. It should absolutely be classified with stealing, yeah, because it robs me of the moments I could be experiencing how enough I am! And how much Beauty there is in the enough to notice.

And while that’s all wonderfully philosophical, I was in fear! It left the zone of fun for me and became a pure hiding mechanism that was fear. I wish you could guess what it was? My hair! For years and years I have enjoyed the playful decorating of my head with many different hairstyles, from wigs and weaves to braids and crochets! It is in my very nature to enjoy decorating beautifying and making things look and feel absolutely luxurious, so of course my hair was going to fall into this as well!

However outside of the beautification process, I crossed a fine line and I didn’t even know I had crossed it.

I left the space of fun and authentic expression and stepped onto the shore of fear. I stopped playing with my hair and creating beautiful designs to share with the world as an expression of my soul and simply began hiding underneath each woven state of my expression. I reached a place where my natural hair was no longer acceptable because it wasn’t long and luxurious and beautiful!

Fear allowed me to forget my enough-ness in any state!

For 5 years I invested dollar after dollar into not expressing myself, but into hiding in fear. What if someone saw my natural hair? Then they would never buy my products. They would never love me. They would never–I would never– and so on! The idea of stepping out in public without some long luxurious piece on literally made my skin crawl. I can remember a day very specifically where I had taken my wig off for the evening and was putting it away, and I only was able to take a half glance of myself in the mirror, because this natural hair was just not acceptable in its unruly State not trundling down my back, waving like Rapunzel to my sweet prince to come and save me! It was solid fear! And this continued for years!

And as juicy and tragic as that sounds, especially because it’s real life, this is actually where it gets good…

In this summer of 2017, the universe saw fit to bring me together with a man who I had been friends with for many years. Except this time we came together in romance instead of just friendship! And as it goes in the beginning of our new relationship it was sex and intimacy and giggling and stroking and playing until the wee hours of the morning, but he noticed I would never let him touch my hair! And of course with this big luxurious mop up there who wouldn’t want to touch that deliciousness? And finally, I sat him down and had the conversation that black women sometimes have to have with their white boyfriends about the fact that this hair was not mine, he could not touch it, but that it was in fact a piece of me. Universe, bless this man, because he just accepted it as truth, all while looking me right in my eyes and saying I would think you are beautiful without it.

Now for whatever reason which I still cannot explain, my soul heard what my head could not wrap its head around for years.

So the next day I went into the bathroom I took the wig off, I washed and styled my natural hair, and I sat in the bathroom incredibly uncomfortable judging myself, but also beginning at a very low-level to feel whole!

See, what I know about what happened is that LOVE (NOT ROMANCE), but LOVE drew me out and allowed me to walk through the fear in safety and acceptance.

The next day, I got to step into the fear and watch it transform to bravery, but making my first set of videos that would go to the public, with my natural hair. AND I DIDN’T STOP THERE … I went to my favorite shops and restaurants and even to see my cousin the beautician (who almost died that I was in public without weave. Not because my hair isn’t gorgeous, but because she had only seen me in fear)! I figured, “Heck I might as well take this bravery show on the road!” LOL! I could not have imagined how much emotion, hope, security, individuality, and love was wrapped up in my hair, in women and their hair, and it changed me.

Being brave enough to go INTO my fear changed me! I am free!

I have since gotten into so many hair related facets that I have made new friends (get new places meet new faces type deal), and I have allowed myself to unfold as needed! Today when I wear a wig, or braids, or a wash and go, I am free to do it and express myself that way because I am no longer hiding in the open. Today I am brave, I am love, and I am free!

Sending you love to stop fear in its tracks! Don’t let it rob your life, instead, GO WHERE THE FEAR IS…BE BRAVE!!!

XOXOXO

Thank you so much for sharing your brave story with us, Stormie! Check Stormie Grace out on Facebook at Stormie Grace Astrology!

Read the other BRAVE Interviews here: The BRAVE Interviews

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR THIS SERIES ABOUT SOMETHING BRAVE YOU HAVE DONE IN YOUR OWN LIFE, SEND ME AN EMAIL HERE: kmcwrites@gmail.com

Visualize your future

by Karen, posted in Clarity, Meditate, my one word, online courses

Every year we have a blank slate, don’t we?

We have a chance to start fresh.

What get the opportunity to ask ourselves questions like:

  1. What do I want to accomplish this year?
  2. Where do I want to go on vacation?
  3. What do I want my work life to look like?
  4. Who do I want to spend time with?
  5. What hobbies do I want to devote more time to?
  6. Should I change how I eat?
  7. Should I be more active?
  8. Am I saving enough money?

We have a chance to re-evaluate our choices and maybe set our course in a new direction.

Maybe we  realize we are very frikkin’ happy with how our lives are going just as they are. This is welcome news, for sure, but I if you’re like me, you are probably interested in making your 2018 look a little different (eg: better) than 2017. Vision boards help us reframe our thoughts, reframe our thinking.

I find the practice of making vision boards to be an extremely helpful tool in helping me focus my activities and thoughts on what I want, and not what I don’t want.

I have made them all different ways, and for many different purposes. Recently I discovered my 2015 Vision Board (the photo above) and was surprised to see how different it looked compared to this year’s. For one thing, there was a lot more white space in it! I was also surprised to see how many things keep reappearing on my board from year to year (going to Italy!) that I haven’t yet accomplished. Time to do something about that…

Over the years I have streamlined my practice and designed a process that it works better for me.

I believe in this so much that I’ve created an online course to share it with you.

Check it out here:

Visualize to Actualize!

 

The BRAVE Interview #18 January 2018: Carrie Frail

by Karen, posted in Being BRAVE, Catching women being brave, Clarity, The BRAVE Interviews

My name is Carrie Frail. I’m 37 years old but I feel like I’ve lived several lifetimes.

I was a teenage rebel, who rushed headfirst into any and everything.

I went to college, dropped out, and then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force by age 18. I was married by 19, a mother by 20 and bought an idyllic family home by age 23.

Everything seemed to be great on the outside, but internally I struggled daily.

Later diagnosed with a slew of mental illnesses from Bipolar Disorder to anxiety, I was also an addict. Since I had to maintain a security clearance for the government, I pursued my addictions legally…alcohol, prescription pills, attention from men, bad relationships, shopping…anything I could do to not feel so empty and broken.

It didn’t work.

Years later, I was no longer married. I had lost my job and my health insurance and couldn’t afford my daily medications. I had turned to drugs to self-medicate and I was spiraling down. I had been trying (and failing) to get clean for a year. My house was in foreclosure and there were warrants out for my arrest for driving my illegal, unregistered car.  I had just gone through yet another devastating heartbreaking breakup and I wanted to die.

I had taken a large bottle of pills with some alcohol and I was laying on the couch, waiting to die.

 As I closed my eyes, I thought of my daughter coming home and finding my corpse on the couch.

In this, my one brave moment, I decided to live. To die then would have been the easiest thing in the world. To live meant getting back up. Admitting my life was screwed up and putting in the work to fix it and most of all, to learn to love and forgive myself.

I decided to live and I got back up. I ended up in the hospital, then to the psych ward at the VA, then to an inpatient rehab program. There were lots of ups and downs after that. I lost my house and my ex-husband moved several states away with our kids. I got a job, then had health issues and left it. I still struggle with mental illness, and some days are better than others but overall, my life is worth living today because I appreciate it. I have had a lot in my life. Some was given to me and some I earned. Most of it I’ve lost and none of it really mattered in the end.

In the end, what really matters is doing that One Brave Thing day after day.

Making the decision to get up and live.

Carrie, thank you so much for sharing your brave story with us. We are honored and humbled by your words.

Read the other BRAVE interviews here: https://kwrites.com/?s=The+BRAVE+Interview

If YOU would like to be interviewed for this series about something brave you have done in your own life, send me an email here: kmcwrites@gmail.com

 

Pairing a crystal with your “One Word”

by Karen, posted in Clarity, Crystals, my one word

Once I have chosen My One Word,  I like to have some fun with it.

This year is no different.

Once you’ve settled on your word, the first thing to do is to start noticing anything that catches your attention when you are out living your life. Since I love rocks and crystals, I was very alert to a talk that I was listening to online that mentioned my word (CLARITY) in the discussion of the crystal. As soon as it was over, I looked it up.

Tanzanite!

Three tanzanite: the blue stones atop the chunk of pink rose quartz.

I found this online about Tanzanite from Healing Crystals for You:

“Tanzanite is a deep blue and purple zoisite crystal. It is known as one of the most valuable stones for metaphysical healing. 

They are strong stones to assist you to develop psychic power, so this aspect may help you if you are considering entering psychic employment.

They are high crystal energy stones. These crystals have a quite high vibration and are known as stones of transformation.”

So, you can’t make this stuff up, right? The Metaphysical Nurse is my alter ego. All of the points I just listed above are things I will be working on in 2018. I love having the support of the crystals as I create my best life in the coming year for the highest good of all.

And so it is!

 

My One Word 2018 Preview

by Karen, posted in Clarity, Meditation

It’s that time yet again. An exciting and sometimes confusing time.

Time to choose my one word for the coming year.

According to MyOneWord.org, this is a “simple process”. I beg to differ! After many years of engaging in the practice, i can say with authority that–for me, at least– this is rarely an easy or simple process. If I think too hard about it, I have quite a bit of not-simpleness.

This year, my word for the upcoming year came to me very early on.

I would say that I’ve known for weeks and weeks already what my word is to be. “Clarity”. Done deal. Ready to go. Got my engraved rock already and everything!

However, in the back of my mind, I’ve had a little niggling of something else, that maybe not all was said and done on this matter yet.

And then I had a dream.

I only remembered it because my daughter woke me up in the middle of it.  I decided to thank her instead of yell at her (as is sometimes my way when I am awakened before I am ready).

In the dream, someone was saying this to me: “It’s okay to choose career as your one word.” At the time I was awakened, I was at a point in the dream where I was looking for the page in my notebook (the very notebook I carry around with me every day!) where I had started the list of candidates for the 2017 word so that I could add “career” to the list.

SERIOUSLY!

So since I am always alert and watchful for signs, I have a feeling that I need to take this under advisement.

What would YOU do?

Be an overcomer

by Karen, posted in Being BRAVE, Catching women being brave, Clarity, Grace, health, Music, no fear

We all have things happen to us in life. Some are wonderful. Some aren’t. It’s how we respond to adversity that makes all the difference.

 We can succumb…or we can overcome.

Most of what happens in our daily life is probably fairly benign.  It’s when the big things, the unexpected, the often unwanted things happen that test us and help us remember that we can respond or react. The choice is ours. Often, a fair amount of grace is required to help us not succumb, to support us to overcome the adversity and carry on hopefully stronger and even better than before. Even if at first we don’t realize it.

I think Mandisa captures the essence of this magnificently in her song and her video, Overcomer.

Maybe you’ve heard her song before, but if you’ve never watched the video that accompanies it, then you’re missing out. I am posting it right here below.

And here is my challenge to you:

Listen to the song and watch the video. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to do this so you can see what I mean. It’s something you will feel in your body as the music and images play out. Please watch it to the end, and then post your thoughts in the comment section below.

Kary Oberbrunner, Exposed! Behind the scenes at the Igniting Souls Conference 2017

by Karen, posted in author, Being BRAVE, books, Brave books, Catching women being brave, Clarity, education, friends, no fear, Travel, writing

Ever wonder about this Kary Oberbrunner guy?

I first met him online in a chatroom…No–wait! Kidding! I first met him online at one of the free webinars he hosted:

How to Turn a Book into a 6-Figure Business

My expectations were low.  Full disclosure: I watch a lot of free webinars. I am never motivated to buy anything at the end of them.  Anyway, the information that I got was so interesting and so in alignment with what I already knew and was currently doing (or trying to do), that I had to find out more about what this guy was teaching.  Also, I had to find out more about this guy in general.

So I did what women everywhere have been doing since the beginning of time when they needed to find out more about a guy:

I googled him.

Not one bad thing. Not one. On the entire internet.

This led to me becoming part of the Igniting Souls Tribe, which led to me going to the Igniting Souls Conference this year.

This was a much bigger deal for me.

I was taking big risks to go to this conference! 

  • I hadn’t flown alone since 1990 and had never changed planes before to get anywhere. If changing planes was required, it was a deal-breaker.
  • I would be leaving my daughter alone for a few days, and she didn’t want that.
  • Who would feed the chickens while I was away?
  • How would I get to the hotel from the airport?
  • What if I got stranded there? (I did, actually)

Yep; I was feeling the fear (nod to Susan Jeffers)

In the end, though, I did the thing I thought I could not do! (Nod to Eleanor Roosevelt)

I packed up all my fears and I went to Ohio. Alone. On the plane–two planes. No, four, counting the fights home!

In the morning before the first session of the conference started, I heard a song playing over the speakers. I could feel it inside me. This wasn’t just any song.

This was one of my favorite songs in the world:

Con Te Partiro by Andrea Bocelli.

Translation: Time to Say Goodbye. And I realized that I had done exactly that. By making this trip, I said ‘Goodbye’ to my fears and ‘Hello’ to my faith and confidence in myself. When I heard this song playing, I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be, doing exactly what I was supposed to do.

So, who is this Kary guy? He’s the guy who you can’t find anyone to say anything bad about. And at the Igniting Souls Conference, there were hundreds of people saying only good things. About him. About each other. It was one of the best gatherings that I have ever been part of. Ever.
Thank you, Kary, and thank you to all the amazing members of this tribe, in which I am blessed to be included.

I am leaving you with this, my favorite version of Con Te Partiro, which Andrea Bocelli sings with Sarah Brightman. I hope you feel it, too.

Here is a slideshow of some moments from my trip and #IgnitingSoulsConference17

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

The BRAVE Interview #15 October 2017: Allyson Bright

by Karen, posted in author, Being BRAVE, books, Catching women being brave, Clarity, Interviews, no fear, online courses, relationships, The BRAVE Interviews

This month, we are meeting Allyson Bright!

 

  1. WHO are you? I’m 36. An artist, a woman in love, a widow, a crafter, a teacher, and a seeker of joy. I live in Wisconsin with my boyfriend, TJ, and my Beagle, Gracie.
  1. WHAT is your One Brave Thing?  It’s hard to pick just one – honestly, it’s been a journey. I was 32 when my husband died by suicide. After that, I found that I had to face new fears and learn how to create a new life for myself.About nine months after he passed, I went away for a week by myself. I was having trouble trusting my own decisions and I knew I needed to leave my comfort zone in order to move forward. The trip was transformational and ultimately led to my decision to leave my home in Iowa and move to Wisconsin for a fresh start.  Art journaling and crafting were such a vital part of my healing process, and I really wanted to share that with others. My ultimate brave thing was to leave my day job in order to start a business teaching art classes and offering coaching services. 
  1. WHEN did you do it? I started my company, Determined to Shine, about 18 months ago. It’s been a bit of a crazy journey, to be sure. But without a doubt, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.
  1. WHERE did it occur? Right here in Madison, Wisconsin.
  1. HOW did you make it happen? One step at a time! Determined to Shine has grown into so much – weekend retreats, several online workshops, and even one-on-one coaching services. Sometimes it can seem like all of that happened at once, but it’s been a gradual process. For those looking to make a career change – don’t let the size of the task overwhelm you! Pick apart each task into small chunks, and just get started.
  1. WHY did you do it? The idea for Determined to Shine had been in my mind for several years. Ultimately, I realized I was just going to have to take a leap and be willing to fail. I didn’t want to wake up in three more years and still be talking about it. Taking that leap was terrifying, and I had to build my plan along the way. But everything that’s worth anything is scary. Determined to Shine has brought so much joy into my life and the lives of others – I can’t imagine what life would be like if I hadn’t done that one brave thing. 

Thank you, Allyson, for sharing your brave story with us!

Allyson is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Scrapbook Projects Illustrated.

You can find Allyson’s FREE online class here: 30 days of Art Journaling. I have taken this class myself and I enjoyed it very much. I highly recommend all of Allyson’s classes. Find them all here: http://www.determinedtoshine.net/

Check out Allyson’s online book club: Get Artsy Book Club

Click here to find out more (act fast! It’s almost time for this!) about Allyson’s Determined to Shine Fall Retreat!

Read the other BRAVE interviews here: https://kwrites.com/?s=The+BRAVE+Interview

If YOU would like to be interviewed for this series about something brave you have done in your life, email me at kmcwrites@gmail.com!