Mistakes – Antidote to Perfectionism

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Contemplative Handwork, Creative Coping, Creative Healing, Creativity, Gifted, Jungian psychology, Perfectionism

Mistakes: Antidote to Perfectionism, As Revealed by  One Day’s Contemplative Handwork™ CASIGYs™, AKA Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive, Intense, and/or Gifted You-s are known (among other things) for their vulnerability to perfectionism. We can have pretty (OK, very) high standards for ourselves, and sometimes for others, too. Those high standards can easily slide into personal expectations of doing everything perfectly.  This can translate into expectations of BEING PERFECT. Confession time: One day not long ago as I made meandering quilting stitches on the dark fabric of the face of this small wall quilt in-the-making, the nasty inner voice started up again: …

Love’s Labor; my SoulShirt™ Process and Surprise Effects – Part 3 of 3

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Contemplative Handwork, Creative Healing, Soul Care

My inner dialogue with my SoulShirt™ continues. This is the conclusion of my current blog series on Creative and Contemplative Handwork™ – making things with our hands that represent and facilitate our inner process.  We pick up the thread from last week’s post with my inner dialogue: “Ripping stitches out and starting over will take too much time. I don’t have that much time. I had planned to be far ahead of this by now. I hate this. Gary will show up again any minute, and I will bite his head off for sure. And if I keep ripping stitches out, the …

Creative Guidance from a SoulShirt™ Adventure, Part 2 of 3

Sharon Barnes Creative Coping, Creative Healing, Creativity, Inspiration, Jungian psychology, Soul Care

Continuing my story when my SoulShirt™ spoke to me, not literally, but by listening with my Inner Ear─ We’ve all had creative moments; some have even felt divinely led by an inner voice. How do you practice connecting with  your heart and soul? Or are you searching for a way to feel the aliveness and results from trusting your inner voice? My Heart told me that it felt warmed and nurtured by my wearing something made solely to meet its needs. My Soul spoke about the nourishment it received by being honored at the risk of my Ego looking silly …

A SoulShirt = Wearing Your Soul On Your Sleeve – Part 1 of 3

Sharon Barnes Contemplative Handwork, Creative Healing, Creativity, Soul Care

Are You Facing Tough Problems in Your Life? Ones that leave you feeling stumped?  Take heart! Making your very own SoulShirt could change all of that. Would you like to       Experience a fun and funky way to strengthen your inner psychological core so you can face your biggest challenges with confidence and poise while simultaneously expanding your creativity?       Maintain a grounded, yet hopeful connection to your dreams and goals- so you can reach for the stars while keeping your feet on the ground?       Expand your creative problem solving skills so they encompass any difficulty you may …

My Recent Adventure: Making a Soul-Shirt from a Cast-off Jacket

Sharon Barnes Creative Healing, Soul Care Leave a Comment

For eons, people have marked significant life passages, prepared for goal achievement, invited desired changes to show up in their lives through making things which represented the intangible, hidden, archetypal aspects of the coming event. We still do. We celebrate graduations, weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, even birthdays and other events. Often this includes special clothes to wear as part of the specialness of the celebration. In ancient times, not-so-wonderful changes such as deaths and other losses were also commemorated by wearing ‘special’ clothes: people wore black for a specified length of time to mark, honor and even facilitate the …

My Scrap Angel: Life Lessons Learned While Quilting

Sharon Barnes Contemplative Handwork, Creative Healing, emotional resilience, Existential Depression, Grief and loss, Hero's Journey, Overcoming Adversity Leave a Comment

Have you ever started a creative project that went so badly you trashed it? I have–more times than I’d like to admit. I had heard that mistakes can be our finest learning experiences, but I’d not relished that idea until I reclaimed one of my discarded pieces, and unexpectedly discovered how to reclaim my life, too. An hourglass quilt block I had made from scraps contained too many mistakes to use, so I pitched it. The triangles didn’t have points; I could have done better when I was nine years old. The parallel lines weren’t parallel–they would have made a …

Remembering Columbine: Helping Creative, Highly Sensitive & Gifted Adults Heal from Trauma

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Healing, Gifted, gifted children, Grief and loss, Highly Sensitive, highly sensitive child, trauma Leave a Comment

Remembering Columbine – healing trauma for creative sensitive gifted people. Nineteen years ago this Friday, April 20, 1999, my husband Gary and I connected for a rare lunch together. As we munched on our sandwiches under a restaurant patio umbrella, we saw police car after police car roaring south through Lakewood on Wadsworth Blvd, sirens wailing . Chills went up and down my spine as we also heard the rumble of big military type helicopters overhead. We saw that they were all heading for Columbine-our new neighborhood, where we had lived for only six weeks.  We knew something BIG and BAD …

5 Intuitive, Creative Steps to Heal from Life’s Hurts

Sharon Barnes Creative Coping, Creative Healing, Overcoming Adversity Leave a Comment

An Intuitive, Creative Approach to Healing from Life’s Hurts Or, How to E-E-E-K-K Your Way Through Adversity to Destinations of Delight When tough times hit and our life’s path seems to disappear in the fog; when we are faced with illness, loss, financial reversals or other adversity, it can be easy to feel like we have lost our moorings.  We may struggle to keep our feet under us, or to change the metaphor, to keep our heads above water; we may be overwhelmed by it all or we may want to pretend that all is well even when we know …

Sensitive Gifted New Years Tools

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Contemplative Handwork, Creative Coping, Creative Healing, Holiday Advice, Inspiration Leave a Comment

Is Facing the New Year as a Creative, Sensitive or Gifted Person Daunting? Here’s Inspiration and some Creative,  Sensitive Gifted New Years Tools – As one year ends, and a new one begins, we tend to ponder our lives. We ask,  “Is my life where I want it to be? Are my relationships the way I want them to be? My finances? My spiritual/soul life? My work? My health?” Just in case they’re not, and you, too may sometimes wonder if you (or your creative, sensitive, or gifted kids)  can actually craft a life you (or they) love to live, here’s …

FREE Webinar: How CASIGYs™ Can Thrive Through the Holidays

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Coping, Creative Healing, emotional resilience, Existential Depression, Gifted, gifted children, gifted relationships, Highly Sensitive, highly sensitive child, Holiday Advice, Inspiration, Jungian psychology, Self-Acceptance, Soul Care Leave a Comment

Are you Creative, Super-Sensitive and/or Gifted, AKA a CASIGY™?  Have Previous Holiday Seasons left you feeling frustrated or hurting emotionally? Are you Thinking, “THIS YEAR the Holidays MUST be BETTER!”? Here’s Hope and Help from Sharon M. Barnes, MSSW, LCSW, Therapist for Sensitive and Gifted.  I’m giving a Free Webinar: How CASIGYs™ Can Thrive Through the Holidays! Join me in this Free Webinar, where you’ll learn: Life Lessons We Can Learn From Classic Holiday Movies That Can Help Us Improve Our Holiday Experience as CASIGYS How To Bring Soulfulness In, So Your Holidays Have Depth And Meaning How To Sensitively Navigate Difficult …