Reconnecting with Creativity: The She Dares Boldly 2024 Calendar Journey

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Louise Gallagher

In the midst of uncertainty, I can sometimes become lost in the confusion and chaos. That’s why the February page for my 2024 She Dares Boldly calendar speaks so emphaticaly to me. “In the midst of chaos, she dares to create calm.”

In the midst of my uncertainty, I am choosing to create calm through creative expression.

Which is why I’ve made a decision. After many request, I’ve chosen to overcome my hesitancy. The She Dares Boldly 2024 calendar is a definite “go.” This decision didn’t come easily, as I’ve found myself pulled in different directions and faced with unexpected obstacles. But now, with my newfound determination strengthening my spine, and calmness easing my pounding heart, I’m excited to share the journey of creating this calendar.

My hesitance to commit to the calendar project stemmed from several factors. Over the past few months, I haven’t spent much time in my studio. My work computer took over the space last spring, and the inconvenience of moving it every time I wanted to create became a bigger impediment than I initially thought. Plus, summer isn’t typically when I find myself in the studio.

However, as I began to compile the artwork for the calendar, reality struck: I need to produce five new images and quotes before I can send the calendar to the printer. This became my motivation to rekindle my creative spirit.

First things first, I relocated my work computer back to its original desk. It’s a small adjustment since my current contract ends at month’s end, and the computer will be moving along. This change cleared the way for the magic to happen.

Then came the weekend when two women emerged: Ms. February and Ms. June. These were not just months; they represented the rebirth of my creativity. The act of splashing paint, finger-painting, layering colors, and textures ignited my soul. It was a soul-nourishing experience, one that reminded me of the sustaining power of creative expression.

I had forgotten.

Creative expression is a gift—one we can choose to use or lose. The beauty of art-making is that you don’t actually lose the ability; you merely forget how vital it is for mental health and well-being.

I had forgotten.

But over two days of playful interaction with paint, I was once again immersed, feeling alive, refreshed, and replenished. Yet, there’s a challenge ahead: discipline. Alongside preparing the calendar for printing, I need to tackle marketing tasks to ensure it’s ready for the holiday season. Simultaneously, I don’t want to lose momentum on the play I started writing during my time in Ireland. Additionally, there are a few loose ends to tie up for the not-for-profit I’ve been working with before my contract concludes.

Discipline becomes a fragile concept, especially when I’m immersed in the studio. However, knowing what I’m working toward and what it means to me to achieve my goals is essential.

For me, releasing my calendars (and any creative output for that matter) into the world brings immense joy. I relish the way people respond to them, how the quotes attached to the images resonate with them. It fills my heart with joy.

And so, I return full circle to the calendars.

Creating them brings me joy.

And that’s a wonderful thing!

Stay tuned for more updates on the She Dares Boldly 2024 calendar—it’s eager to make its mark on the world!

Baking scones at 4am

Posted on October 10, 2023 by Louise Gallagher

Jetlag has a peculiar way of rearranging one’s schedule. It was 4 a.m., and there I was, wide awake, having been stirred from slumber at 2:30. Not having spent much time doing anything domestic while on my travels, the kitchen beckoned. Before I knew it, flour, sugar, and butter were sprawled across the island, with my hands deep in a bowl of flour, sugar and butter, crumbling butter into pea-sized morsels.

Doesn’t everyone bake scones at 4am?

Thankfully, my journey home had been uneventful — truly the best kind of flight.

Upon landing, my beloved was waiting, with our imitable Sheepadoodle, Beaumont, peeking out from the backseat. We were en route to a Thanksgiving dinner with dear friends; a quick stop at home wasn’t on the agenda.

I held onto my wakefulness as long as I could, staying alert till 7 p.m. — or what felt like 2 a.m. back in Dublin. But then, sleep’s sweet lure proved irresistible. A brief hour-long nap on a sofa later, I tried to rally, but by 9:30 p.m., I was soundly asleep in my bed.

Ahhh, the sweet comfort of one’s own bed and surroundings!

However, the early hours found me awake again.

Though an unconventional choice, baking seemed fitting. After all, I couldn’t very well unpack or start laundry, not with Beaumont and C.C. peacefully asleep beside me.

Post my baking escapade, I snatched a few more precious hours of sleep and, when morning broke, Beaumont and I headed out to wander the paths along along the riverbank, the landscape painted with the fiery hues of autumn.

The season of long shadows is upon us. The sun barely grazes the horizon, as though even it yearns for winter’s rest. The mornings greet us with a cool embrace, but by midday, warmth seeps in.

This is a time for introspection, for prepping home and soul for the impending icy gusts of a prairie winter.

For now, I cherish my walks by the river. Though its name might not resonate with the historical echoes of the Liffey, its melody is just as enchanting.

It’s the thing about rivers, no matter where in the world you go, the poetry of the river flows freely.

Ain’t Life Just The Best!

Posted on September 6, 2023 by Louise Gallagher

Autumn days slip in with practiced ease. I am as practiced at resisting as Autumn is at falling.

The tips of leaves turn burnished orange and gold. The tendrils of my mind push back thoughts of winter days to come.

I want to linger in this shoulder season of summer turning into Autumn. I want to push back against the earth’s orbit to create a longer season for summer’s lingering breath.

I am as powerless against pushing back against earth’s orbit as I am at willing The Seasons, The Weather and Mother Nature to do my bidding.

And still, I imagine the possibilities.

Such are the foibles of my human mind.

I want to believe I am powerful beyond all measure while knowing I am only as powerful as I am willing to allow myself to be seen and known as who I truly am.

I only have power over, within and of me.

I remember as a child wishing I had the power to stop my parents arguing. To will my mother into happiness.

I tried. I wanted to be the good girl she needed me to be. I failed a lot.

I pushed. I wanted her to see me as I was, not as who she wanted me to be. I became who I am because to be who she wanted me to be forced me to figure out who I am. It was impossible to be someone else when I didn’t know where I was starting from.

Ahhh. The silliness of being human.

We want to be ‘somebody’ as easily as a leaf is itself yet resist Mother Nature’s urgings to simply BE. Here. Now. Present.

Without resistance. Without pushing back. Hanging on. Clinging to or Holding out.

Summer days give way to Autumn. I give way to ruminations of being myself, just as I am. Here. Now. Present..

Ain’t life just the best?

____________________________________

If the question, “Who am I?” intrigues you, if you’re interested in diving deeper into your essence to discover your incredible power to be truly yourself, check out DISCOVERY SEMINARS. The five-day program (plus two weekends) begins tomorrow here in Calgary.

It’s an amazing journey of discovering your true beautiful, magnificent self.

And no, I don’t get paid to say that. I just know what the seminar has created for me and want others to experience for themselves the absolutely joy of coming alive to their own magnificence!

In The Flow

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Louise Gallagher

It’s called being in the flow. It’s that magical state where time loses its grip on you, and you find yourself completely absorbed in whatever you’re doing.

I’ve been experiencing it a lot lately.

As I delved into research and worked on my book, I became fully immersed. Every fiber of my being was engaged.

At first, I attempted to listen to a podcast as I often do while creating an art piece. It turned out to be a misguided idea. When I write, I need to let the words flow, and having someone else’s voice in my ears distracts a part of my brain, draws my attention away from being present to the creative process..

The same goes for music. When I’m in the studio, adding splashes of color and texture to a canvas, I adore listening to songs with lyrics. They ignite my desire to dance and sing along. My splashes of paint become more free, more expressive. But when it comes to writing, the fewer words, the better.

Classical music and new age compositions work wonders for me. The only exception I make for music with lyrics while writing is the recordings of 13th Century composer and convent Abbess Hildegard von Bingen. Her music stirs my imagination and liberates my writer’s mind from any creative blocks.

Her melodic chants soothe my soul.

Entering the flow-state is a powerful experience. It enriches my being, causing time to fade away. All that matters is the present moment, the only place where I want to exist.

In that realm, magic happens. Wonders unfold, and I am awestruck by the mystery of it all.

Ah, the mystery. It weaves through life, creative pursuits, and the words that appear on the page seemingly of their own accord. As I sit here, fingers dancing across the keyboard, focused on my one task, I lose track of time and space, surrendering to the flow.

That’s the beauty of the flow-state. When I am immersed, my soul dances. My spirits soar. Ideas appear as if of their own volition as words flow out to express themselves without my thought-ridden ministrations hindering their appearance.

Now, my bathroom… well, let’s just say it is suffering from my lack of attention. It’s a disaster zone!

Okay, perhaps it’s not that terrible, but you get my drift…

When was the last time you slipped effortless into ‘the zone’?

When was the last time you granted yourself the gift of immersing in something you’re passionate about, allowing your creative nature to flow freely as you mind (and body) dance with abandon in the pure joy of being so engaged, there is no time, just you and your endeavours?

The flow-state isn’t limited to the realm of arts. It can manifest while solving a scientific equation, baking, walking the dog, running, or riding your bike. All of these activities, and more, have the potential to draw you into that state of flow.

It’s different than mindfulness or meditation. You’re not trying to still your mind and simply sit quietly. You’re consciously bringing your attention to whatever you’re doing so that you can create or build something, find a solution to a pressing problem or mystery, or simply learn something new.

I hope you embrace it often. There’s no judgement in flow state — only the doing.

Let it all flow like a river, finding its path effortlessly.

And if you want to know more about flow-state — the brain even behaves differently when you’re in it — this website has some great information including ideas on how to enter it’s healing and creative spaces.

Beyond the Rubble

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Louise Gallagher

I am working with a dear friend on writing her memoir.

As a child, she and her family lost their home and survived the bombing of Warsaw which began September 1, 1939. They fled to a family estate on Poland’s eastern border only to be deported to the Gulag when Russia annexed that part of Poland in 1940.

Her journey to Canada is remarkable. As is she.

It is because of her inspiration, I paint today. Along with her husband, they were integral to my story of surviving an abusive relationship. They have always stood with me, giving me love, friendship and an extended family to belong to.

We have been friends a long time and working on this memoir with her is a journey through history, the horrors of those war years and the aftermath, and so much more. There’s a love story, poetry written between two hearts separated by thousands of miles. There’s the tumultous years of raising a family. Standing with her husband as he climbed the ladder of success he promised to build to provide for his family. And there is joy. In particular for me, the joy of our friendship.

This morning, as I do every morning, I pulled a card from my DeepTalk deck. “What was missing from your childhood?”

The trite answer could be so many things. A feeling of safety. Of being unconditionally loved. Of feeling wanted…

Yet, if I step back from pulling out the response from the pocket of my ‘victim story’ I keep stored in my memory that I have been known to haul out to soothe the edges of life’s inevitable sticky moments, I see a bigger picture. A more wholistic view of my childhood that transforms me from ‘victim’ to a powerful architect of my life today.

I am who I am today not despite my childhood and all the perceived wrongs and shortcomings of my parents. I am who I am today because of my childhood. Because of everything that happened throughout my life that made me, me.

I like me. Heck. I LOVE me!

I am the most fascinating person I know, if only because I know myself, inside out, better than I know anyone else. Better than anyone else can know me.

And that’s the beauty of writing your life story. (or working with someone else on writing theirs)

It gives you perspective. An opportunity to reflect, assess, and claim the things that happened not as things that broke you, but things that broke you OPEN.

In that openness, you have the choice to build back better.

My friend’s story starts in the first days of WW2 in Warsaw, Poland. She and her mother are baking a cake for her father’s birthday. And then, the bombs start falling. Five days later, when they emerged from the cellar to view the carnage, their home was gone.

Today, my friend lives a beautiful life. Not despite the hardships. Not despite the losses and grief and sorrow.

Her life is beautiful because from that rubble, she chose to find beauty in all things.

It is one of the most remarkable things about my friend. In the over 40 years I have known her, she has always created beauty all around her. A gifted artist, her paintings shimmer with the beauty that is at the heart of who she is. Her home radiates the serenity that lies at the foundation of her nature and her friendships reflect the loving care she puts into creating all things.

What was missing from my childhood?

Nothing. It was exactly what I needed to become who I am today.

I am a brave woman touching hearts, opening minds to set spirits free to dance in a world of Love, joy and harmony.

A world where beauty matters.

This morning, I choose to say, Thank you my friend for reminding me through your story, what is important in mine.

This morning, I choose to give thanks for my childhood. It was filled with all the things I needed to grow up to become more and more me.

Much gratitude

Namaste

One word at a time

Posted on May 1, 2023 by Louise Gallagher

May 1. A new month. Spring is bursting with its giddy desire to show off its finery and bloom.

And I am feeling the pull of memory.

It is May. The month I was set free, 20 years ago this May 21st.

I don’t often think, nor write, about those days, but this month, I plan on writing a bit more often about the recovery from that darkness. About how I made it back into the light.

It’s really simple, my decision to do this. I have begun to write my book about this healing journey called life.

Over the weekend, I created a working title — it helps me focus my writing. Love Yourself First: A simple guide to healing the past so you can live now in love.

I’ve identified my target audience – older adults 55+ and crafted an outline. Noted Key Themes to guide me, drafted each chapter outline and did some research on some of the topics I want to discuss: Things like, Our human need for love. The role of belonging. The importance of bravery. The need to continuously deepen self knowledge, the power of letting go, the value of resilience, the gifts of healing the past and the acceptance of imperfection.

I feel ready. Excited. Motivated.

I’ve got a writing buddy, *thank you Linh) and a Daily Intention buddy (thank you Jane) and, I’ve got a deep desire to ‘get it all out’ – One Word At A Time.

Years ago, when I was released from that relationship that was killing me, I awoke to the grim reality of the devestation that relationship had caused in my life and the lives of those who loved me. I had seventy-two cents in my pocket, a few clothes and my Golden Retriever, Ellie. And I had people who loved me who were hurt and angry. I had betrayed the sacred trust of motherhood. I had betrayed myself and everyone who cared for me with the lies I had lived while in that relationship.

I was broken.

I was blessed.

My sister and her husband gave me a home, a safe refuge to weather the aftermath of the storm. Everyday, Ellie, who had travelled the final two years of that journey with me, and I would walk into the woods at the end of the street where my sister lived and I would breathe deeply in the freedom of walking without ‘his’ voice repeating over and over again in my head all the reasons why I didn’t deserve to live, all the ways I had failed him and was a failure as a human being.

As I walked, I remember thinking of the problems I had to face. The burden of finding a solution to their totality weighed me down. They looked so big. So daunting. So over-whelming. To give myself peace, I would look up into the limitless blue of the sky overhead and whisper to the heavens, “Okay Universe. Here’s the deal. Can you please carry the burden of what I must do so that I can focus on doing one thing today that will bring me closer to my goal of healing and reconnecting with my daughters? Will you please carry the load so that I can breathe freely and take one small step each day towards reclaiming my life.”

One small step. It was all I needed to take to keep myself moving forward on the healing path. Healing didn’t have a destination. It had a journey that could only be taken – one small step at a time.

Twenty years ago, walking in the woods, as soon as I asked the universe to carry the load, the burden lifted. I would feel lighter, more peaceful and calm. And in my renewed strength, I could take the next small step I needed to take to heal. And that one small step became a path of steps leading me away from the turmoil and pain of what had happened with him, into the joy of what was happening in my life without him.

Success isn’t necessarily found in the big leap, the giant step over the mountain. Success is found in the small things we do each and every day to walk our talk, walk our path of integrity, honesty and truth. Success is found in the grace and ease with which we overcome obstacles, embrace tribulations and infuse each moment with love and joy.

Success is found in living each moment filled with the rapture of now. It’s discovered as we let go of regret, recriminations, self-loathing and a host of other internal roadblocks that hold us back from living in the light. It’s found when we keep expressing our gratitude and joy in living this one life now, arms wide open, heart beating wildly to the drum of our one unique song – the song we each possess that only we know and all the world can hear when we boldly choose to sing it out loud and fierce.

This weekend, I wrote an outline for a book I have been thinking about writing for a long time.

It was one small step followed by others. Word by word, the book will appear and as it appears, I will better understand what its path to success looks like. For today, I shall celebrate the success each word brings..

Namaste

Wide-open spaces of time

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Louise Gallagher

I connect. I step away. I engage. I disengage. I flow. I hesitate.

I make myself busy. I waste time.

Guilt rises. I ignore it. The more I ignore it, the louder it gets.

I rush back in, like someone who’s just come out of a relationship looking to date again. Timid. Hesitant. Trepidatious.

And always, I step in. I step out. I flirt. I turn away. I rush in. I pull back. I dive in. I swim for the safety of the shores I know.

It is the constant ebb and flow of the rhythm of my dance with the muse.

She keeps flowing. I keep stepping in. Stepping out.

This weekend I had a plan that didn’t happen. Suddenly, I had wide-open time I hadn’t anticipated.

I cleaned up my office. Closed the door to my studio which opens onto it. Guilt rose. There is only one way to let it go — Face it. Embrace it. Breathe into it.

I opened the door – I like the light — stepped into the light and there she was.

The muse.

Flowing. Effortless. Present.

It is the way of the muse and my creativity. She is always there. It is always there. It’s just sometimes, I’m not listening nor heeding the call. Sometimes willfully. Sometimes, I’m engaged in other things. Sometimes, I just want to be left alone!

And yet, no matter how long I’ve been gone. No matter how disrespectful I’ve been of her offerings, the muse is always there.

I had unexpected wide-open spaces of time this weekend. I stepped into the flow and this is what appeared…

Tomorrow’s Promise ( a Poem)

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Louise Gallagher

Tomorrow's Promise
by Louise Gallagher

Mellow evening light
melting
orb of sunlight
sinking 
the horizon
softening
shadows 
hide behind naked trees’
extended
lacelike branches 
welcoming
all who travel
its snow-covered paths

Walking silently
in nature’s garden
I breathe in the beauty
of winter’s
frosty breath
lingering
expectantly 
with the heat
of a long kiss 
fending off
an inevitable farewell
opening to the possibility of
spring’s promised unfurling.

I cannot change the seasons
turning
I can only walk in nature’s beauty
savouring the light
passing
through each day
flowing 
like a river
carrying the promise
of new tomorrows.

What’s the Best That Could Happen?

Posted on March 3, 2023 by Louise Gallagher

There is a question that people often ask when faced with a decision, or the thought of doing something that feels… risky, and outside their comfort zone…

The question is, What’s the worst that can happen?

It’s a good question. As my father used to say, the worst that could happen if you ask for what you want is that they’ll say No. At least then, you have an answer.

But here’s the thing… what if the question isn’t ‘what the WORST that could happen, but rather, ‘What’s the BEST that could happen.

What if, in asking, what’s the BEST, we open the door to possibility? What if, in asking, what’s the best, we discover the inspiration to move forward, to claim what we desire, to create what we dream of, to become our true, uncensored, unlimited selves?

What if the invocation of possibility that comes with asking,What’s the BEST is the invitation to turn towards love.

Because when I think of What’s the WORST that can happen, it feels like I am stepping into fear. Turning into the darkness where my motivation to do something is dependent upon the level of fear I experience in the worst I imagine that can happen.

There is lightness in thinking about the BEST that can happen. There is the invitation to move into all that is possible when I step out of the darkness of fear to claim the light of love as my own light shining for all the world to see, I am here. I belong. I am.

A Friday Ponder….

Creating Beauty: the gateway to possibility

Posted on January 31, 2023 by Louise Gallagher

I love to cook and entertain. Fortunately, my beloved enjoys entertaining almost as much as I do and finds my desire to ‘create beauty’ umm… amusing/admirable/adorable… Yeah. That’s it.

Anyway, I do love to create a beautiful experience for everyone who comes to our home. To have the table look as good as I hope the food tastes.

This is why I spend a lot (read that – an inordinate amount) of time creating placecards for each guest and a unique look for the table-setting along with a menu that is inspiring and intriguing, as well as appetizing and fulfilling.

It pleases my creative heart and soothes my yearning to create beauty in the world.

I tell you this because I believe the world needs more beauty.

I believe that the only way to offset the ugly out there, is to create beauty, in here.

It doesn’t mean I’m ignoring the ugly in the world. It’s hard to ignore when newsfeeds are full of graphic accountings of humanity’s ability to destroy one another and the planet we depend upon for our very breath.

But there is little I can do about the bigger world beyond my own sphere of influence. And so, I do my best to ensure my sphere (some might call it a bubble) is as devoid of conflict, strife and hard edges as it can be.

That also doesn’t mean I cannot be prone to being edgie at times or behaving badly. It does mean that when I do miss a step or fall down in my behaviour, I do my best to get accountable and take responsibility for my missteps by cleaning up my act whenever I can.

And sometimes (read that most times) cleaning up my acting out requires I come back into integrity with my own self, inside me.

It means getting authentic inside so that who I am in the world is aligned with who I want to be in every aspect of my life.

When I used to coach at Choices, I remember every Sunday evening at the end of the five-day training, I’d think about how I am in ‘the room’ and ask myself, “Is how I am in the world outside this room aligned with how I am in this room?”

Often, I’d find gaps in my behaviour, in how I was presenting myself out there that were not aligned.

See, in a sacred space like the Choices room where hearts are broken open to the power of love and possibility (Discovery Seminars now that Choices no longer operates in Alberta) it is easy to be authentic. Not only is the room a safe space, it is a brave space – a space where no matter your human condition, you know without equivocation, you are loved, lovable, Love in action.

In the big world out there, it doesn’t always feel safe, and being brave can feel not only scary but dangerous.

How do you stand up to a bully when that bully has a gun?

How do you speak truth when truth-speaking could cost you your life or your family’s freedom?

And how do you create beauty when everything and everyone around you feels shrouded in the darkness of anger, fear and hopelessness?

I don’t have answers for the world ‘out there’. I do, however, now that what I create in here will ripple onward, out into the world in ways I can’t imagine.

And for that ripple to be filled with beauty, wonder and awe, I must release droplets of beauty, wonder and awe into the world around me with everything I do.

We live in times that feel unprecedentedly uncertain, at times confusing, at times nullifying and frightening.

I don’t know if what I feel today is worse than what my parents and their cohorts felt during WW2, or when I was a child and the Bay of Pigs was unfolding and we children were practicing hiding under our desks at school in case of an atom bomb going off. But, what I do know is, like my mother who wanted only to create beauty and peace in her world, I am doing my best to walk in her footsteps and do the same.

It is only the steps I am taking that can fill in the gaps between fear, hopelessness and possibility.

Sometimes, knowing I am imbuing each of my steps with beauty is all I need to bring myself back into integrity.

Namaste

PS. It was my youngest daughter’s 35th birthday yesterday. To celebrate her, we held a dinner on Sunday night for family and friends. These are some of the photos. (thank you @ChristieeJames for the photos!)