10 Minute Visioning Yields Big Results

One of the best things about being part of the Visioning(R) community is that all of the graduates keep in touch by group emails. Lucia recently shared that when she wanted to journal while away from her house, all she had was a magazine and pen. So she wrote directly in the magazine. After she journaled, she realized that the images that were on page reflected exactly how she was feeling.

I decided to give the technique a try.

I spent Sunday morning being out of sorts. Although I was productive, I still didn't feel good and couldn't make a decision about what I wanted to do. So I wrote out a practical shopping list for the local hardware store and headed out for the day. I ended up noshing on breakfast for lunch at Starbucks. While I was there I was inspired to text a coworker to meet me ­at Famous Footwear. I had 20 minutes before they arrived. This journal exercise took less than 10.

First, I used my intuition and chose the magazine I wanted to use before leaving the house. Then, I focused on what I needed to know and quickly flipped through the magazine pages while at Starbucks. Something about the image of an actor tugging at her hair caught my attention. Since I know the actors name, I simply addressed her with my Dominant Hand and let the non-dominant hand respond.

DH: Dear Kate, what do you have to say to me?

NDH: I am able to focus on one thing at a time if I want to feel good. Try it. You'll like it.

DH: If I go to Ulta, I'll focus on Kerasilk. At Famous Footwear, I'll focus on shoes! Thanks for your truth. I appreciate you.

This was exactly what I needed to hear.

While I  have been very productive, lately I haven't been having much fun. I've also felt scattered and isolated. I don't have many connections in this new town, so texting co-worker Elisabeth (who brought her two daughters) was exactly  what I needed. While shopping, I focused on the kids, and only skimmed the racks. Although they only stayed for a short time, their visit gave me energy. After they left, I continued shopping in the spirit of fun. While I did end up with several items on my list, fun connection is what I actually wanted.

This morning I tried it again. I selected a magazine based on intuition, not my left-brain. Then I turned the pages quickly, skimming until I found an image that grabbed me. I held a  general question of "show me what I need today," which is Monday. The first thing I noticed was an article that answered a different question, which I pulled out to read later, and continued turning pages.

I journaled with my dominant hand, asking the first question.

DH: Hey kids, what do you have to say to me today?

NDH: We are your fun reminders. Both of us like to play, after all! Take us with you. We are your fun strength. Focus on feeling good.

DH: What map are you looking at?

NDH: The fastest path to fun. It's not a straight line! It's a breath, each in the present moment. We love presents!

DH: I do too. Thank you so much! I love your wisdom.

These answers spoke volumes. 

I did smile a lot more during work while I kept the over-serious accounting Self focused on the books. 
I felt drama-free, yet productive.

Tomorrow, for even more fun, I'll remember to bring my iPod.

blog by Dorothy Segovia, certified Visioning(R) coach and author of My Body, My Car: How to Coach Yourself Through Life's little Accidents. www.writeinside.com

Join Lucia at her next workshops: For a detailed description about the 1st workshop visit Lucia's website and click on the Calendar.

Family Constellations,Transgenerational Healing workshop. 
Sunday, March 22, 2015   10 AM - 5 PM
Morro Bay, CA at Ruby Dragon 
To register: Call (805) 772-1100
Fee: $100 per person

Inner Child, Inner Family

Healing Ourselves, Healing Our Relationships

A one day workshop      April 19,  2015    1 - 6 PM

(based on her bestselling book, Recovery of Your Inner Child)

Kindred Spirits, Claremont, CA

Fee: $120.00 (includes drawing and writing materials)
To register: Call Kindred Spirits  (909) 626 - 2434

It was a Very Good Year: Lucia's 2014 Surprises

As I prepare to create Visioning® for 2015, I am struck by how everything on my 2014 Visioning Board (a 4-part collage) came true. What really struck me were the surprises, so I want to share those with you. In the "grab what grabs you" phase of shopping through magazines, I often have something specific in mind. Other times, I follow my intuition and select images because I want more of what I think they represent in my life. But sometimes, life throws a whole new meaning at me as the image unfolds into reality over time. 

Lucia's 4-part Vision Board 2014

A cluster of flowers blooming in the upper right hand section signified that I wanted more cut flowers around the house and was looking forward to my iris garden due to bloom in the spring.What I didn't know was that I'd take up water color painting again, after a long hiatus (inspired by seeing a Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit) and that I'd be painting mostly flowers (mixed bouquets as well as iris from my own garden). What a joy that has been! 

Other surprises had to do with Health and Balance. A woman is meditating and beneath her another woman is floating in a pool. The words Balancing Act...LIFE...well, well, well... WATER (Don't) think tank appear next to these images. While creating the collage I was thinking: "I need to meditate more to balance a lot of left-brain work I've been doing". (I am a long-time meditater.) I thought the meditating woman meant I'd be doing more sitting meditation. 

Unbeknownst to me at the time, 

the answer to "meditate more" was in the floating figure. I was already using a physical therapy current pool at my local gym on a regular basis, so the woman in the pool illustrated a conscious choice to continue pool exercise. What I didn't realize was that my exercise in the pool (which I have all to myself) has become some of the best meditation I can remember. After I've done my exercise routine for physical strengthening and flexibility, I allow my body to move in any way it wishes. Through this spontaneous dance in warm water, I often enter a trance state of "no thought" which has become a wonderful form of meditation for me.   

Another surprising outcome grew from the image of a young woman sitting on suitcase.

She spoke to me about a need for more recreational travel in my life. I wasn't sure where I'd be going, but I did notice that her luggage consisted of old vintage style suitcases like the ones we had when I was a kid. Not the canvas bags on wheels I travel with now on planes. 

It crossed my mind that this woman might be waiting for a train. Lo and behold! In the summer I found myself on a train from the central coast to visit friends in San Francisco! My first train ride in many years. Although the upper left portion of the 4 collages was dedicated to Vacation Travel that I had already planned (Cabo San Lucas in December) with pictures of pools and tropical lushness, the summer train trip was unexpected and quite a surprise.

These serendipitous happenings show how we get previews of coming attractions by following our hearts and intuition. 

2014. It was a very good year, indeed. As this photo of a theater marquis announces in a photo on my studio wall: You are the writer, director and producer of your dreams. 

Looking forward to Visioning® 2015 and watching it unfold. 

Join me in creating your 2015 at my upcoming workshop: Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your DreamsSunday, January 25, 10 AM - 5 PM at Ruby Dragon in Morro Bay, CA. To register, call (805) 772-1100 or email rubydragonrocks@aol.com

On Sunday February 1, 11 AM - 6 PM,  I will be conducting a workshop in Southern CaliforniaAwakening Your Intuition: BodyMind Healing and LIving from Higher GuidanceKindred Spirit, Claremont, CA  To register call (909) 626-2434

Visioning(R) and Intuition Road

Here's a typical detour on intuition road:

"I didn't end up walking around the grounds or into the national park as much as I planned. I could say the snow deterred me. But is seems as though I wanted to be deterred. I spent most of most of my time on that blue couch devouring self-help books about writing and creativity while my window pane frosted. I remember thinking, 'You're spending money to sit on a couch and read?' But reading seemed like the thing to do. 

Gradually I sank into the space, holed up in my womb of a cabin, in a blanket of quietness, protected by snow and thick beams of wood. I stopped fighting myself, pushing myself to walk or write or instantly settle down into my expectation of tranquility. I read and I cried and I stared at pine trees. It seemed like the thing to do....

That trip broke my spell of doubts and heaviness and the larger pattern I'd had in my life of being nice to myself only when I had succeeded at something." - Tama J. Kieves, This Time I Dance!

In this scenario we learn that life has it's way with us regardless of where we think we are headed. Tama paid for a retreat to hike and write. Instead she ended up snowed in, crying and nurturing herself. After her pricey retreat weekend, you know she felt cleansed.

Visioning(R) is yet another way our heart's guidance speaks. Let's face it, we're multi-tasking, multi-planning, goal-getting people and we need help listening. A vision collage lets our creative, intuitive voice whisper loud and clear. 

"Intuition speaks to us in dreams mental images, symbols, feelings, extra sensory perception, and artistic expression. Actually, intuition is the prompting from our creative self, speaking through the voice of the creative conscience. Our innate intuitive wisdom points toward what is going to unfold in the future. Visionaries have reported that their collage were uncannily precise. After their dream came true, pictures and phrases that appeared irrational or impossible when they made their collage turned out to have great validity. Composing your Vision collage is a great technique for strengthening your intuition, an ability that we all have, but often disregard."-- Lucia Capacchione, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams.

If we take the time to Vision what we want in life, first...then listen with our eyes and hearts, instead of resisting action, we flow. Instead of getting wrapped up in our puny preferences, we open ourselves. Instead of pitching a fit because we can't hike outside, we hang out in a cabin and gain insights into how to take care of ourselves.

Intuition is made into a big ole something-something because when it comes down to actually following this voice, it doesn't seem all that sexy. That is, the action step is often what we've been avoiding in the first place! Call that person, now. Make that appointment, today. Did red flag number two just appear on the steps of your great new place? Better ask the tough questions before signing that lease.

I think of intuition as allowing ourselves to be led on a glorious journey. We may have to hang out in a couple of waiting rooms, but when we step off the plane in Shangri-la, hey, we're in Shangri-la!

Find out where your intuition is leading you by joining Lucia's next workshop:

Awakening Intuition, Body Mind Healing and Living From a Higher Guidance.

Sunday, October 11, Morro Bay, CA. 10am-5pm. Location given at time of Registration.

805-772-1100. $95.00. Details at: www.luciac.com

Dorothy Segovia is a Visioning(R) coach, blogger and author of My Body, My Car:How to Coach Yourself Through Life's little Accidents. Visit her at www.writeinside.com.

Vision the Holiday

This the perfect time to create a vision board. Regardless of past holidays, family wants, Hallmark images and advertisements for the latest gadget, how we feel about the holidays is our choice.There are countless ways to celebrate, the important thing is that you feel like you are celebrating, not obligating.



 It is not necessary to make a large scale collage. A small 8 1/2 by 11 collage will suffice.  Here are a quick review of the steps.

1. Make a wish.
2. Search for images and words.
3. Focus on the vision.
4. Compose the design.
5. Explore and find order in creative chaos.
6. Create the collage.
7. Articulate the vision.
8. Reinforce the dream.
9. Embrace the reality.
10. Celebrate the dream come true.

So what feeling do you want to create this holiday? Lots of activity with family and friends is one way. Spending some time alone to reflect or taking an evening walk to see the lights is another. Eggnog by the fire listening to music is yet a different choice. By taking time to collage with your Creative Self, you are sure to cut through the plethora of decisions if you let your heart guide you.

Finally, the Mayo clinic has great tips for beating the stress. Not surprisingly, acknowledging your feelings is at the top.


Celebrate, appreciate and create.

Dorothy Segovia is a certified Visioning(R) Coach and author of My Body, My Car: How to Coach Yourself Through Life's little Obstacles. Read more of her writing at www.writeinside.com.

Visioning Step 10: Celebrate the Dream Come True

"There's no way to know when it's the right time to do this step. You'll have to decide. It depends upon how your dream unfolds and at what point you feel the need to start celebrating. It may take a few weeks, months or more, depending upon the complexity of your heart's desire. The creative self has its own internal rhythm that gives us what we need when the time is right. Dream your dreams, do your work, but have patience and faith as well. Turn the results over to your creative self and trust the process. And remember that it is a process; there's no end point. Celebration occurs when you feel like acknowledging yourself, your creative self, and others who have helped you in your journey." -- page 161, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams.

These are the concepts in the above paragraph that catch my attention: "feel the need to start celebrating," and "celebration occurs when you feel like acknowledging yourself."

Photo from ladieslotto.com

I generally thought of celebrating as "the cookies are done, now we can enjoy." But throughout the Visioning(R) process, I have found all sorts of reasons to celebrate. 

1. I dared to name what I want in my life.
2. I committed my dream to collage.
3. Following the journal steps in each chapter gave me the feeling that I am moving towards my dream. 
4. Turning my dream over to my creative self allows me to reach my dream in ways I never imagined.

Finally, when a dream manifests I know I'm going to collage another. And another after that.
Yes, achieving a goal is fantastic, but celebrating the steps make the journey even sweeter.

Dorothy Segovia is a certified Visioning(R) Coach who dreams big. She is the author of My Body, My Car: How to Coach Yourself Through Life's little Accidents book with music CD. She can be reached at www.writeinside.com.

Visioning Step 8: Reinforcing the Dream

This phase of Visioning invites you to simply contemplate your collage. You do this by looking at it as well as picturing it in your mind's eye. This is how you reprogram your mind to believe in the reality of what you truly want. You are undoing the programming we've all received that says: believe only in what you see, feel, hear, taste, and touch in the present moment or what you experienced in the past. page 138, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams

The key idea in Step 8 is the great undoing. That is, you are taking a stand for your heart's desire that flies in the face of outdated beliefs of where you think you should be in your life. The undoing is releasing self-judgment, outer criticism or comparing yourself to anyone. Colorado life coach Tama Kieves has this to say about the importance of undoing in her July Mojo message newsletter. ..A life of vision means you are following what you cannot see– but know. Following your heart is radical. It’s the commitment to follow a juice not of this world. Your life may look like less than you imagined, but do not be deceived. You do not yet know how to imagine. If you want to live a singular life, you cannot compare yourself to other. I suggest you take back your freedom. Take back your focus. Take back where you place your attention...

Reinforcing the dream by spending time with the completed collage seems deceptively easy. Yet, this is where many dreams fall by the wayside. Because the work phase of actually creating the collage is done, it is easy to look at the collage for a few days, then jump over to the next collage.

But contemplating and burning your dream's images is an act of creation. Activating the feeling of living your dream is serious play. Allowing yourself to become immersed in the collage images sets the stage for the images to come true. By spending time with your dream a minimum of 3x a day, you are telling the powers that be: yes, I'm ready for my dream to become reality.

Dorothy Segovia is a long-time dreamer, and author of My Body, My Car: How to Coach Yourself Through Life's little Accidents. www.writeinside.com.

Visioning Step 5: Explore and Find Order in Chaos

The hardest part about this step is the word explore. The reason is that if I am in chaos, I want out. Now. Even if I claim I'm willing for the chaos to shift into order, I still want it to happen yesterday.

Here's what Lucia has to say about this vital step in the creative process.

“In Visioning we are reshaping the images in our heads to catch up with the vision in our hearts. The heart leads, or more accurately, it allows...it wants us to experience the creative self: its ecstatic highs, unfathomable depths, and everything in between.” Visioning Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams. page 104.

Traveling with Pomegranates co-author Sue Monk Kidd describes her journey with chaos while collaging the outline for her fiction work, The Secret Life of Bee's.

“...It was pretty much an unconscious process. I told myself I was being creative, turning my play instinct loose to roam around and find what fascinated it. Inside, I was thinking: This is nuts.

I ended up culling the pictures to twenty images and randomly gluing them together. Among them: ...A whirling cloud of bees. A black Madonna wrapped in chains... A banner that reads Walls For Wailing."

Kidd goes on to describe her doubt over her idea to write a fiction book. Up until this point, she had only published non-fiction. Kidd also reflects on sharing the collage with her daughter and co-author, Ann Kidd Taylor.

“...When the idea came, it felt inspired, but knowing how capable I was of doubt and how cold my feet would get, I wrote a note to myself: 'Sue, this is a really good idea. Before you dismiss it, remember how you felt when it came to you.'

If it hadn't been for that note, the idea never would have survived. I still wasn't sure whether it was perfectly ridiculous or ridiculously perfect.

Ann does not laugh or roll her eyes. 'So where do they go?' (Ann is referencing the plot scenario that Kidd explained while sharing the collage outline.)

This is the part that makes me nervous, the part over which the novel has stalled.

'I have no idea,' I say.”

Hum. If exploration through collage was Sue Monk Kidd's process for ordering chaos into The Secret Life of Bee's, then by all means—let the chaos begin.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SUE MONK KIDD BOOK AND WHY?

PLEASE POST YOUR ANSWER COMMENTS! 

Guest blogger Dorothy Segovia is an author, songwriter and certified Visioning coach living in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. She can be reached via her website at www.writeinside.com.

Visioning Step 4: Composing the Design

When I am facilitating a Visioning (R) workshop, this is the step where I end up taking someone's glue away.

After all the photos are collected, after the words are in place, now it's time to place the images together on the page. This is designing the composition—and because we are the designers, there is no wrong answer!!! But designing and gluing are two different steps. Here's what Lucia has to say,

In putting your Vision collage together, you'll let your creative conscience lead the way. You'll mix and match individual elements, fitting pictures with words to find meaning. Like Alice in Wonderland, things will mean what you want them to mean. The significance you assign to the pictures will be personal and specific to your heart's desire. When you have the right match, your heart will say, yes. When the pieces of your dream find each other, you will feel it in your body. - page 91, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams.

Ann Beazer explained it like this in the following excerpt from her letter to Lucia.
(Minor editing for continuity.)

“In the visioning session you led in June 2001 when I first met you-- I recall being so thrilled with my collage - something I had never done before - because it was a pleasure to look at.  That was a break through beyond my inhibitions of drawing or painting.   I realize that I still feel the same today having made dozens and dozens of collages since. Since the invitation to attend that event was from someone who leads a nutritional organization for women I had assumed our June 2001 evening would be about health; not so for me.   The focus phrase of my vision board was My New Future. That evening I immediately decided that I wanted to learn with you - so I took details of your CJEA accreditation and was with you in Cambria in March 2002.  The rest is history as they say!  I have never looked back. I love teaching Creative Journaling and liberating people from all the rules and releasing them from the boredom of writing all the time.”

The wonderful thing about this letter was that Ann actually put Lucia's logo in her collage (image at the top left) before she knew what the Creative Journal logo was.



Ann Beazer's collage: My New Future.


Click here to see Lucia's logo at the top right.

Step Four is about allowing your heart's desire lead the way to the design of your life.

Ann Beazer is a Certified Creative Journal facilitator and Visioning (R) coach.in the United Kingdom.Her core workshops are Creative Journal, Work with Passion, Visioning and Living Well. Each workshop is supported with complete sets of materials to use during the workshop and afterwards. Contact her at ann.beazer@me.com

Dorothy Segovia is the Visioning Coach blog manager and certified  Creative Journal facilitator and Visioning(R) Coach. She specializes in collaging your way through obstacles. Her how-to book with music CD, My Body, My Car: How to Coach Yourself Through Life's little Accidents, is available at www.writeinside.com.

Visioning® Affirmations

One of my favorite ways to play with my Vision board is to create affirmations out of the non-dominant hand dialogues. This brings my dream deeper into my body and expands my energy towards what I want. Working with an affirmation paves the way to allowing my hearts desire. It is a daily feeling reminder that I am heading in the right direction.
“In addition, Visionaries are committed to taking all the steps necessary for giving birth to their creations. Their attitude is: whatever it takes. Like Disney and Fuller, they face doubts, fears, rejection, disappointment, delays and other obstacles that everyone faces in life. Yet, they hold true to the creative idea, knowing that sooner or later it will take form in the physical world. Some gestation periods are longer than others. One idea may take twenty years to hatch, another may take twenty days. The creative thought is the thing. Nurture it, charge it with energy and enthusiasm, and the world will be drawn to it as a magnet.” - from Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams. Page 26.

"I live in a safe and sacred home in Ventura." 5.26.12

Here are the steps to creating a daily affirmation writing practice.

1. Choose a non-dominant hand conversation that resonates with you today.

Example: I am choosing the sea lions on the beach because that is my latest manifestation. Although the conversation was written in May, I can use the reminder.
DH: What do you have teach me about my safe, sacred home in Ventura?
NDH: Let your home open and call to your soul. You don't have to be struggling.


2. Create a short, single phrase to write and speak out loud from the NDH writing. In fact, use your NDH to create the affirmation so that you are coming from your heart, not your head.

My affirmation is: “I allow my home to open and call to my soul.”
This affirmation is in alignment with what I discovered during a transformational energy session with my coach, Leyla Atwill. We discerned that the most important work I can do is to locate my Higher Power within my body, and connect with it throughout my day. This is my true home, regardless of where I physically live.

3. Write the affirmation. I work with affirmations for about a month. The reason is that in the beginning, I allow the critical voice to have it's say immediately after writing the affirmation. I do not converse with the voice. I simply allow the energy to release, and continue to write the affirmation. Also, I use the first, second and third person in my writing.

Example:

I allow my home to open and call to my soul. Bullshit.
I allow my home to open and call to my soul. Yawn.
I allow my home to open and call to my soul. Whatever.

Dorothy, allow your home to open and call to your soul. Like, open sesame?
Dorothy, allow your home to open and call to your soul. What are you talking about?
Dorothy, allow your home to open and call to your soul. What? You are crazy!

Dorothy allows her home to open and call to her soul. Dorothy who?
Dorothy allows her home to open and call to her soul. Puhleeezzzz.
Dorothy allows her home to open and call to her soul. Shut up!


I have been using this affirmation style for about three months. It has opened up new pathways because I am able to discern and stop the habitual blocks that keep me from my dreams. I usually write the critical blurts for about a week, or until the critic energy dissipates.

Sometimes, if the affirmation is too long, or the idea too big of a leap, I have to change affirmations. I usually write each phrase ten times in the first person, ten times in the second person and ten times in the third person. For instance, because I not only want to move, but create new work, it was better for me to make a collage about my “Safe and sacred home in Ventura.” The assumption is that I have the right work. Trying to create a collage about right work in May was too big of a leap.

Also, depending on the blurt, I might come back and explore the idea, phrase or question with the critic. For instance, the blurt, “What are you talking about?” can be an excellent way to explore my beliefs about my interior home. After all, feeling safe and connected to my Self is the heart of all my desires.

To read the blog on my session with energy coach, Leyla Atwill, visit my blog Stepping Into the Dream Stream.

Guest blogger Dorothy Segovia, is a certified Visioning® Coach and author of  My Body, My Car: How to Coach Yourself Through Life's little Accidents, featuring an original music CD. www.writeinside.com

Visioning: Celebrating the Journey

While the phrase, “enjoy the journey” trips off the tongue quite nicely, the enjoyment can quickly turn into a traffic jam if you feel that your unmanifested dream is taunting you from the collage. Big dreams mean big-time investment in releasing internal road blocks. Gratefully, if you are following your vision, the answers are a journal entry away.

I live in a safe and sacred home in Ventura. 5/26/2012

 

Last week I found myself beginning Chapter 10 of Lucia's book, Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams. Chapter 10 is celebrating the dream coming true. Oops. I'm still in Morro Bay, dutifully applying for full-time work in Ventura and the surrounding areas. I looked at the journal exercises which all had to do with acknowledging myself for going for my dream. I toyed with journaling anyway, imagining that the dream came true, but that is actually discussed in Chapter 8, in the Writing by Heart exercise. This brings up an important point: reviewing our work.

Reviewing our work is the same as appreciating how far we have come. Looking back at my 6/5/12 journal, I found this entry prompted by Writing by Heart, #2, page 135. DH stands for the dominant hand; NDH, the non-dominant hand.

DH: Dear Patio Table and Chairs, who are you?

NDH: I am the seed of laughter and enjoyment.

DH: Why are you in my collage?

NDH: A strong, fenced, nurturing outside space is vital for your inner life.

DH: What qualities do you have that I need to realize my dream?

NDH: Strong frame to set your tools on, to rest, to meet with friends and to work.

DH: What do you want to tell me about realizing my dream?

NDH: Light filled intention is the way to your dream. Let go of each minute and flow with the good feeling stream.

DH: Thank you so much. I really, really appreciate you being here. Please write me a poem or prose from your lovely, lovely self.

NDH: The Patio Prayer

Come close my child, come sit in my heart.

Would you not find comfort and peace here?

Be with me, be with me even if you are weary and lost.

Be with me in the sun to quench your thirst.

I am always here, my love.

DH: Thank you. I need and love you.

This entry actually did turn into a song entitled The Patio Prayer.

During this review, I realized that good dreams take time. It took 10 years to move to Morro Bay permanently in 1994, after I discovered this area in the early '80s. The surprise was that I arrived in town as a beginning songwriter.

While I am hoping that Ventura won't take that long, my work is to enjoy packing, gassing up the car, smiling at the other driver's and to remember to take snapshots of the scenic views. If I'm being prodded to “hurry up and move already,” then I know the Critic is trying to hitch a ride. Review page 109 in Lucia's book to ditch this naysayer, pronto!

One last thing. I realized this week that there are two smiling women on my collage. One is seated inside. One is sitting outside with her eyes closed, facing the sun. (That image's non-dominant hand voice yielded a different song.) Both women are smiling—happy to be where they are.

Guest blogger Dorothy Segovia, is a certified Visioning® Coach and author of My Body, My Car: How to Coach Yourself Through Life's little Accidents, featuring an original music CD. www.writeinside.com

Come hear Dorothy sing The Patio Prayer at the free concert and book signing on
Sunday, November 18, from 1-3pm at Coalesce Bookstore and Garden Chapel in Morro Bay, CA. 

Native American Healing with Visioning(R)

This months post is a letter from Vicki L. Muir to Lucia, thanking her for the healing she experienced in a Voice Dialogue session with Lucia.

Vicki is a certified Visioning(R) Coach and Creative Journal Expressive Arts facilitator working in Edmond, Oklahoma. 

Vicki L. Muir

Business Inner Circle

Email: Innercircle@Cox.net

Edmond, OK

Hi Lucia,


I wanted to thank you for the voice dialogue work we did prior to my surgery. I believe we summoned up some powerful energies that have continued to assist me in my healing journey. The images that especially speak to me are the grandmothers and the buffalo. I am still receiving energy from them. I wanted to share the experience with the CJEA group.

Prior to my surgery July 24th for a biopsy of the left lung with possible diagnosis of lung cancer or metastatic cancer, I did a collage. The collage was filled with Native American images. The images were of grandmothers singing, dancing and praying; the buffalo, a doe with her fawn; a warrior, and a central figure with spirals, animals and healing hands in a mandala. You facilitated a voice dialogue with the images, which spoke of ancient wisdom, Native practices, prayer and ceremony.

The buffalo spoke to me of power and healing as well as endurance. There were messages of connectedness, nature, and wholeness being in rhythm with the natural and universal energies. One statement said ,"journey of profound healing." This truly speaks to my experience. I believe that I summoned these energies to aid me in my journey. I was overwhelmed when the surgeon told me there was no cancer. My recovery has been remarkable with no complications. I am still feeling the energies of the images with further journaling to move me forward. Thank you again Lucia for this moving experience. I believe that the images are prophetic and hold energies of their own that come to life as we work with them.

Blessings, Vicki

PS: I would like to reiterate that this experience brought forth the importance of connection to others, spirit and the universal energies, which are always available to us. This places the emphasis on my inner connection and accessing my own power. My ancestral communication was significant because my Great Grandmother was a Native American and known as a healer.

Note: Voice Dialogue is facilitated way to interact with the collage images with the guidance of a trained coach or therapist. Using the Creative Journal method outlined in Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams is another way to allow the images to speak, for those who work with their collages on their own.

If anyone else has used Visioning(R) as part of your healing process, please share your story in our Comments section!