Perspective: You Can Fly If You Want To

Perspective: You Can Fly If You Want To

By Laura Toller Gardner

By Anahata Katkin, available from Papaya! http://www.papayaart.com/home

Potential takes wing with ample doses of unique, co-creative perspective. Our innate brilliance may lie dormant, forgotten, or denied for a lifetime if our belief in its possibility and power isn’t engaged, nurtured, prioritized. Prioritized!

Perspective knows: there is more here than meets the eye;  I can fly if I want to; perhaps this very instant is My Time.

The true and sensual power of perspective lies in the fact that it is choice based. At any moment I may edit or overhaul my perspective based on my choice of beliefs. Some external super power may lay no claim to my perspective, it is all within my inner authority to determine my perspective on any given subject. That sounds like the foundation of FREEDOM! Good news.

Please dedicate one week (longer if you are focused and dare I say, disciplined — wink) to contemplate what sacred perspective yearns to be unleashed in and through you. Right now I am immersed in the perspective “an end to chasing what it is I need and want.” I continue to be fascinated by the myriad ways this new perspective manifests through allowing.

I am confident that you and I can fly if we want to — choose to. I honor our burgeoning wings! And with that I introduce the wise perspective of Cosmic Cowgirl, Artist, Coach and Guidess Cat Caracelo. Cat’s work is innovative. I know she will intrigue you; I invite you to take her counsel to heart. She’s a woman who travels a courageous road. Brava Cat!

By Cat Caracelo

“Sekhmet Mask” by Cat Caracelo

I am a dynamic, creative, multifaceted, spinning (smile)…artist of life, juggling dozens of roles. At times, I am elegant in my dance with life and deliver my gifts in the world with ease.  Other times, when it all falls apart, I become the vulnerable lost girl or the ancient one stripped of energy, most often I am the frantic mad hatter tipping over my tea and dropping my magic behind me. Years ago I would have been challenged to admit the creative chaos I spin, it was a well-kept secret. A subtle and effective perfectionism was my reigning queen.

Ten years ago, I embarked on a life-changing journey to rediscover and claim myself. My husband and I let go of marriage, my last chickens flew out of the nest and I gathered a few shreds of my brilliance back to me and journeyed deep into transforming my life.

I wrote a letter to my departing spouse describing my lost-ness. Shared from the perspective of a gypsy-girl, I communicated my needs as I shared her voice. I was the young one, a dreaming self who had so much hope and zest for life. I shared that Gypsy was discouraged early, that she had to bury her deepest self to respond to the needs around her. She had to quiet her dance and bury her jewels before they were set and worn.

These are the other things I know, now:

Gypsy became the wise woman over the years and she was served well by her training. She discovered hidden gifts within her and turned to the owl wisdom of intuition to lead her, but she often had no idea what she was doing. Gypsy, as she was being stripped of her light-hearted dancing self, became vulnerable and returned to her inner orphaned child as she was bearing her own children. This too, became difficult for her to balance – she could not sustain her responsibilities and be a vulnerable child. The pressure of meeting the needs of young children and a man who was struggling with his own pain, weighed on her. Gypsy had to find a strong ally. The wise woman within birthed the warrior, and there was no room for Gypsy. She had been put away. The warrior, ever practical, could respond to any crisis and in fact had a sixth sense of when a storm was brewing. The warrior could always bring up the wise woman, to nurture and respond. But the warrior felt she had to remain ever vigilant and responsive.

In that first letter, I wrote that it was my time, the time for my Gypsy self to return. The loss of her spirit was too great to bear and I was desperate to dance and be danced. In the midst of my gray world, and my gray self, I invited my life to unfold in new ways.

At the time, I did not realize that this letter marked a place of entering. The voice of Gypsy, came to me through a deep need to find out who I was. This voicing was a mythic opening into a journey of healing and transformation.

It was at that moment, that I quietly replaced Perfectionism with Perspective.

“Stringing Stories” by Cat Caracelo

I became my own storyteller and unraveled the threads of ‘truths & tales.’ Exploring the content of my life through lived and intuited experience, known and unknown stories. I approached each thread of information through the lens of multiple mediums, and I turned ‘what I thought I knew’ upside-down and inside out. Perspective was always a useful tool, scanning and evaluating allowed me to meet my fears with action and armoring, but DYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE became my greatest teacher. As I shifted and realigned my own understanding, I created space to connect with all aspects of my self; I welcomed back my disowned parts and embraced the ‘good, the bad and the ugly.’ This practice evolved over many years and through the journey my perspective became more multi-faceted and layered. Mirroring the complex mythic and psycho-spiritual nature of my art making, I incorporated a theories-based investigation as well. I was approaching my soul work as an artist, an academic and a healer. I had answered a calling.

Incorporating right/left brain and sensory systems, I integrated my ancestral ways of knowing through shamanic journeying and transformative art. I broadened my understanding of how to embrace a multi-perspective approach as a path to authentic wholeness. The journey itself, revealed to me who I was and how I could live into my life, be connected and serve others.

Through the years I have been led back to the stories held by my gypsy self, often revisited in art and process. Her stories have helped me to discover deep pools of wisdom. Many incarnations of my gypsy-self are found in my art; she is an orphaned girl, a dancing goddess, a shadowed con artist, a wounded healer, a flame-keeping hermit, a heart centered guide and the raging powerful Sekhmet. She is my creative muse, and my reigning queen. Finding Gypsy is the archetypal pattern of my journey of art and life. Listening to her, and embracing the wisdom of perspective, helped me to claim what was mine all along.

Cat Sparkle

Cat Caracelo, MA is a Life Coach, Artist and Guidess who lives and works in California. Cat guides others through transformative process, depth coaching and conscious life design. Cat works with individuals and circles, both internationally and locally, incorporating art, cross-cultural myth, depth psychology, dream work, shamanic journeying and creative visualization into ‘art & life’ process. Cat’s Mythos and Quest Journey Work honors the deep need for authentic reclaiming and re-story-ing. Her global tele-circles combine wisdom-based material, inspiration, process and creativity, delivering a dynamic, transformative and generative experience. For more information about her work, blog and tele-quest visit www.catcaracelo.com

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Notorious Author Laura Toller Gardner

Laura Toller Gardner  I am a liberating thought leader.

An empath from my first memories, I apply my knowing to help people and animals harmonize our interconnected healing and thriving. I also partner with entrepreneurs to tap their intuitive well-of-creativity through insightful strategy and storytelling. I love writing {irreverent} non-fiction that explores what it means to release the cult of perfection, personal liberation ignited by inner authority, and heart and soul sovereignty.  Some day I may write fiction and try to lighten up. We’ll see.

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