Red Thread Nation – We Are All Meant to Shine!

This evening I found in my daughter’s backpacks little books and bracelets they had made for me for Mother’s Day at school in their first grade class. The little books had prompts throughout for them to answer questions about me. I giggled and felt my heart melt as I read through both of them. How lucky for me that I have twins and get two I thought. It was also quite eye opening to know how much they observe and know about me. Aubrey shared that I like to paint and go with the cowgirls. That last comment about “go with the cowgirls” made me laugh out loud. Maya also wrote that I like to paint and draw. Both got it right when they stated in their own way that I don’t like to clean up their messes, and that I do like it when they don’t whine. It was sweet to read the things they like me to do for them, as Maya likes it when I read and play with her and Aubrey likes it when I clean up for her and when I brush her hair. Their ending remarks were about why I was special and Aubrey shared it is because I help her and Maya wrote it is because I love her. It just makes your heart melt to be a mama sometimes.

Being a mama can also keep you on your toes and keep your schedule extra full, if you let it. This last weekend happened to be a very full one. It began with me taking Friday off to run a bunch of errands, get the yard in shape and do a few other chores. On the agenda this weekend was my daughters 7th birthday, Mother’s Day and then my hubby’s birthday following up close on this next Tuesday. My twin daughters Aubrey and Maya had requested that in lieu of birthday cakes they wanted pumpkin pies and I had hoped to get those made Friday too. In the end my list ran too long and my husband saved the day and made the pies.

Our weekend festivities began with my sister Wendy arriving early on Saturday, as well as my parents, both in their 70’s with three of their great-grandchildren ages 5, 4 and 1 in tow. How they find the energy amazes me. We let the kids play in the backyard in a sprinkler to stay cool and entertained until it was time to head over to a gymnastic center where our daughters were joined by school friends and they celebrated their 7th birthday very energetically with trampolines, a foam pit, a bounce house, balls and climbing ropes. The pumpkin pies were eventually set aglow with candles as we all sang the birthday song and amazingly many of the children requested pie instead of the more traditional cupcakes we had also brought along.

Our busy weekend continued into Sunday with the hubby hopping out of bed extra early to make our daughters, my visiting sister and me special vegan crepes. Nathan surprised me later that morning, after departing on a secret mission, with supplies to add two new raised garden beds to our back yard. I had been talking about it for quite awhile. He built them and as we finally mixed the different soils and such together, I commented laughingly that it was also a gift to our family and the mother of all mothers, our planet, Mother Earth. Gardening always feels to me like a way of nurturing our planet, giving back and being in greater connection with her. We have a huge yard and we are already so grateful to have a variety fruit trees, including a cherry, pear, plum and pomegranate. I have tried to grow veggies in smaller containers, but I have never been all that successful at it. I am excited for us to grow more food on our very own plot of land.

Motherhood can be incredibly exhausting. So can fatherhood. Yet the lessons it can teach us, the growth it can inspire and the joys and gifts it bestows upon us are remarkable and life changing.

What are your experiences with motherhood?

We all have a mom, though our life experiences with a mom of origin can vary dramatically. What was your experience like with your birth mom?

Sometimes other people come into our life to mother us, nurture us and love us unconditionally. Have you felt mothered and nurtured by other people in your life?

If you are a mother consider how that experience shaped and/or continues to shape your life. What are some of the things motherhood taught you about life and yourself?

Consider writing a letter to your mom or about your mom that could be sent or saved or even burned afterwards. What would you most want to tell her?

Two years ago I helped to plan a party for my mom’s 70th birthday. I created a book for her and a slideshow. The book also included letters, memories and quotes from family and friends. Below was a letter I wrote for her and a page I designed to share my thoughts, feeling and memories. If you were to do something similar for someone or something that mothered and nurtured you what would you write, how would it look and what adjectives might highlight the person, thing or experience?

Lastly come read a beautiful tribute to mothers

by Shiloh Sophia called A Mama Day Blessing.

It begins like this:

A Mama Day Blessing

This day we honor and celebrate
the women who have given life to us,
the women who give life to ideas,
the women who died giving life,
the women who wanted to have a child,
but didn’t get to

You can read the rest by visiting her site
Letters from the Red Thread Cafe

Painting by Shiloh Sophia

This past weekend was the annual Cosmic Cowgirl Member conference. What a journey they are each and every single time. Have you ever longed to be with people who really see you? Who really hear you? Who really believe in you? Who respect you and want to know, really know about your purpose and your vision? Those of us who have found our way to this tribe of women get to experience those very things while in their presence. Even when we aren’t gathered in real time and real space, we gather and connect via other various ways of communicating and interacting such as Ning sites, Facebook, email, texts and conference calls. We take classes or teach classes together. We paint, write, sing, dance, act and share our creative projects with one another.

I have been a member of the Cosmic Cowgirl Tribe since 2008. We are all also members of the Red Thread Nation. The Red Thread Nation is a global tribe of creatives and the purpose behind it is to nurture the soul through art and education. Each time I attend a gathering, be it the member conference, a workshop or a class, it rejuvenates my soul, inspires me and reminds me of those things I want to accomplish, the things I want to do to make a positive difference in this world and it helps me to re-energize the soul connections I have with the people in my life.

This year’s conference held the theme of “Born This Way.” We shared a Red Thread Ceremony the first night and began off with a meditative visualization about the theme. We shared what came to us as we considered the answer to the question – “I was born to….” We shared what came to us that first night in our circle.

Our main creative project on Saturday was to create a paper altar. It included painting, drawing, writing sentences or even whole letters from and to our younger selves, and then more writing from and to our present and future selves. We created images of our younger selves and then had a playful photo shoot to capture the image of our legendary selves.

Some of us discovered that our initial I was born to… statement evolved during the weekend. For others the message stayed true and strong from the beginning. Mine began as “I was born to see the beauty in everything and reflect the beauty in everything and everyone to others.” During a fun verbal exercise of trying out new ideas I came up with many, including I was born to love, I was born to inspire others with my writing, I was born to wear a red boa, I was born to see the Wow and I was born to connect.

On Sunday we heard from Shiloh Sophia McCloud, the mastermind behind Cosmic Cowgirls and The Red Thread Nation, about her recent trip to speak at the United Nations in New York City. You can read more about her experience by visiting this link: My Journey East – Notes from the United Nations

The remaining portion of our Sunday gathering was focused around the stunning and emotion filled ceremony led by Carmen Baraka (aka Spirit Warrior.) Carmen led us on a spiritual journey involving drumming, chanting she learned from her Apache grandmother and storytelling. We were each encouraged to look within, to listen to the inner messages of our hearts and guts, to stand tall as warrior women, and to remember our connections to one another always and to turn to our tribe for strength. We all know that the red thread that connects us is not just symbolic, it is very real indeed, and we need only tug on it to remind ourselves that our sisters are there for us always.

At the end of our ceremony we each received a key. The selected them with our eyes closed and allowed spirit to choose for us. I learned of the words most women selected later. My own key took me by surprise. The word was “Secret.” I sat with it for a few moments, before a very profound WOW floored me. My mind traveled back to a poem I wrote about my Legendary self during the Leading a Legendary Life course I took two years ago through Cosmic Cowgirls University.

Empa is passionate about Love and Art

Her heart beats to inspire others to love themselves,

and she knows that there is a not-so-secret path

one can take to that very destination.

It is through being a guest in one’s own heart.

It is by creating, painting, writing, dancing, singing, sewing,

and offering prayers that are but a universal song in the heavens.

Empa does not accept a narrow definition of beauty.

She knows that beauty is in the eye of the beholder

and that it ranges far and wide, is varied and eclectic

and is not for one person or one culture to define.

On Saturday the words I finally chose to write on my own altar were I was born to connect. However that key I received during our ceremony led me to share about the significance of it with the other women. I began by sharing how the word secret, in an earlier time in my life, could have had a more negative connotation about secrets and things that aren’t supposed to be talked about. However, in a testimony to the healing work that Cosmic Cowgirls serves up, the word secret instead let me right back to my Legendary story. I read the brief passage above in the closing circle and shared that that I was born to reveal the secret, as are all Cosmic Cowgirls who are going out into the world to teach and share about the healing and nurturing properties of art and education for the soul.

Come play along and take a couple of minutes to consider how you would answer the statement I was born to…

If you would also like to select a virtual key just as we did during our closing ceremony, just say the word and I will meditate on you for a minute and then pick you a key and respond with which one you selected.

With love ~ Michelle (aka Red)