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Just ask any of my friends and they will confirm I am not artistic. And when I say that, I don’t mean that I’m not creative, I just don’t have talent for handiwork. This is a big disappointment for me, because I come from a long line of very talented women, and my daughter is a very gifted artist in her own right. But it seems to have skipped me!🤷🏻♀️😂
So you might be surprised to learn that I recently agreed to attend an introductory course on glass blowing with some friends🔥It was hosted by Fleming College at the Haliburton School of Art and Design. My friend, Kelly, suggested this as a fun way to spend a Saturday during a girls' weekend at her cottage. So of course I agreed! What couldn’t be fun about working with molten lava? No potential danger there, right?!🤦🏻♀️😬😳
I hadn’t given it much thought until a few days later when my engineer friend, Always Prepared Jen, sent us the materials list, which included all sorts of respiratory equipment to prevent us from doing permanent lung damage working with glass particles. Now the panic was starting😳🫣
A few emails back-and-forth with the course administrators, and I was back to feeling confident and relaxed about our upcoming foray into glasswork.
Until we arrived at the studio.
We walked into a beautiful, well equipped, bright studio, which was also very hot and loud. Several ovens were roaring on one wall, along with the oven which held the enormous crucible full of molten glass. As the other participants arrived, and our instructor began to explain what was involved, I could feel the panic mounting in my body🫠
In a worst-case scenario, I imagined myself either inflicting severe burns on me or another or possibly setting the entire studio space and college alight! I know, it was a bit dramatic, but what can I say? I am a woman *sometimes* prone to extremes. I blame my four planets in Scorpio😉♏️🖤
As we moved over towards the ovens to begin gathering the glass, I softly said to my friends that I didn’t think I could do this, but I would just be happy to watch. My ruminating mind had fully taken over and was about to sabotage the day.
Luckily, for me, our wonderful instructor, the talented glass artist, Sébastien Duchange noticed my reluctance, or possibly recognized the fear in my eyes, like a deer in the headlights🦌He gently guided me through the process, giving me confidence as he carefully explained what was required & kindly encouraged me to give it a try.
That was all that was needed to shift me from flight to fantastic!
The rest of the workshop, while hot and sweaty, was wonderful! Everyone created a beautiful piece of glass work, with a little help from our friends, Sébastien and John. Want to see me in action? Take a look here
I thought about this experience for several days after, and it reminded me of how often I speak with people caught in the same cycle of fear and freeze. They are not happy with the state of their lives and yet feel paralyzed and incapable of changing.
That’s where I come in.
I am not some kind of relationship superhero, who’s going to save the day🦸🏻♀️ Only you can do that. But, like Sébastien, with his experience and skill, gently leading me through the correct steps to take to create a beautiful piece of glass art, I can help you bridge the gaps between relationships that are barely surviving to ones that are thriving💞
Friday, the Sun shifts into Cancer ♋️ and we celebrate the Solstice! This is a crucial turning of the wheel of the year, celebrated for millennia throughout cultures on earth. We are at the midpoint now. And it is an important time to pause and take stock of what has unfolded for you since the Winter Solstice in late December. What do you want to create for the next six months? What are you opening to and inviting in?
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