Nikki Starcat Shields's Blog, page 25
February 18, 2016
Dreams, Play, and Creativity
“Creativity connectswaking and dreaming reality, and is in itself a threshold in which the waking and dreaming selves merge to form constructs that belong equally to each reality. You cannot begin to understand how you form the physical events of your lives unless you understand the connections between creativity, dreams, play, and those events that form your waking hours. In one respect dreams are a kind of structured unconscious play. Your mind dreams in joyful pleasure at using itself, fr...
February 10, 2016
When Challenges Arise…and They Will
It seems like a lot of people I know are having quite the challenging winter so far. I’ve been sick with a cold, with its lingering cough, for more than a month. This week it decided to ramp back up, complete with revolving issues like sore throat, earaches, and of course the cough. Not fun. In fact, I’ve taken some time off just to rest and recover, and haven’t been online much at all. This post started out as a Facebook status update, to say I’m back and to offer some support, but now it’s...
January 30, 2016
Manifesto for Daily Being
This month I’ve been doing the Infinite Possibilities 30-Day Project from Mike Dooley, which has been fun and awesome. As I wrapped up the final session today, I was looking back through the notebook I’ve been using for it, which is also my “Starcat’s Book of Positive Aspects and Processes.” While I was reading what I’ve written, drawn, and doodled in my notebook, I re-discovered a Manifesto for Daily BEing that I wrote last summer during the Yescapades retreat with my Play Nexus friends.
Re-...
January 27, 2016
On Work and Play
Over the past year or so, I’ve devoted myself tocrafting a life where I enjoy (pretty much) everything I’m doing. I’ve done it partly by choosing to do the things I love, and partly by adjusting my own attitude. I mean, who loves doing housework? (Yeah, I know there are some of you out there who do, but that’s just weird). But when you cultivate an attitude of being present in the moment, you can authentically enjoy doing the dishes, folding the laundry, or whatever task you’re focused on.
La...
January 16, 2016
Starcat’s Favorites: Inner Enthusiasm
Last weekend I had the chance to go to Play Church, which is a new offering from the Play Nexus crew. Their playshops are full of energy, joy, expansion, and high vibes. After some pondering, I decided I wouldn’t go, and BlackLion seemed to think that meant I was feeling low-energy, or not well in some way.
I explained that I was actually quite high-vibe, but in an inner way.
Sometimes my zest for life expresses itself quietly. A morning at home in a comfy chair, with warm clothes, hot tea, a...
January 15, 2016
Transform Your Life
I just realized I hadn’t shared with you one of the big projects I’ve been up to as we begin the new year. BlackLion and I have been updating and improving our Alchemy of Core Beliefs online course, and it’ll be starting January 25th. If you’re looking for a way to transform your life in 2016, here’s an amazing set of tools that will be uplifting and life-changing. Join us!
When an old, hidden core belief is holding you back, you know it. It feels like an inexplicable struggle, like trying t...
January 12, 2016
Starcat’s Ten Best Books of 2015
City of Refuge photo from starhawk.org
It’s that time again! Here are my ten favorite reads from last year. As always, please note that these aren’t necessarily books that came out in 2015. They’re just my top favorites of the 53 books I read during the year.
Oh! And before we get started, I wanted to mention the book I’m reading right now, because it’s just that good. If you get a chance, grab your copy of Starhawk’s City of Refuge. It’s the sequel to one of my all-time beloved books, The Fi...
January 5, 2016
To An Authentically Amazing 2016
Last year, my word of the year took a while to find. This year, it came to me in early November, during a guided mediation at a retreat.
This past weekI’ve been reading back over my 2015 journals, something I do every year in order to jot down notes on creative ideas, themes, or other things I’d like to follow through on. I’ve found several references to this word becoming important to me. I love it when the Universe gives me hints!
So, AUTHENTIC it is, then! Here’s the vision board I create...
December 29, 2015
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Our table just before Christmas dinner, with a glimpse at the new paint job.
I love the winter holidays. I really do. I’m blessed with a loving family and a community of terrific friends. At the same time, though, the last part of the year, leading up to Winter Solstice and Christmas is always super-freaking-busy for me.
This year, that was even more true than usual. Along with all the holiday preparations, I was finishing up my new book (a month or so later than I’d originally hoped), planni...
December 19, 2015
Starcat’s Favorites: Nearly Winter
As I write this, it’s nearly the Winter Solstice. We’re getting ready for our annual Solstice gathering, and for the family Christmas festivities after that. The moon, when it peeps out from the clouds, has been so gorgeous this week. We’ve been having rain rather than snow, which isn’t quite as festive, but makes for easier driving.
Last night a friend and I went to a Winter Solstice ceremony that another friend, a yoga teacher, was offering. It was lovely to relax into some restorative yoga...
