Ā 

Inner Surprises Blog

SoulCollage Inspiration

By Anne Marie Bennett

Subscribe to updates

Tara Brach- Community Suit

by

Sctara Tara Brach’s book, Radical Acceptance, literally changed my life.  I read it the year before I started SoulCollageĀ®, and knew immediately after my first workshop that I wanted to create a card to honor this wonderful, compassionate teacher, counselor and author.

Who are you? I am the one who wrote the book Radical Acceptance.  I am the one who teaches you to accept your self and life and everything about it- to accept it completely, utterly, radically, freely, no matter what.  I am the one who teaches you to pause, to listen within first.  I am the one who teaches you to breathe, to move through life slowly and with conscious awareness.  What do you have to give me? I give you the deep joy and peace that comes from fully accepting yourself.  I give you a sense of completeness, wholeness, and beauty that you didn’t have before. What do you want from me? I want you to accept yourself, to love yourself deeply- all of you, to live consciously, to not hide, to truly accept and love your radiant blossoming self.                                                                                                                       *************

This card has shown up a few times in my Daily Readings as well… and with profound messages for me whenever I’ve drawn it.

3/11/06- What I say to you today is this: sit and rest with yourself today.  Enjoy your own company, BE your own best friend.

9/23/06- It is no coincidence that I have shown up in your reading today, Dear One.  You are struggling with your body image all week.  I am the one who says that the pathway to joy and wholeness is a deep, abiding self-acceptance.  I am the one who is passionate about living in the moment, about being aware.  I tell you, you are not a failure.  I tell you, the road to true self-acceptance is a journey and you are a traveler on this road.  It’s not somewhere to “get to.”  The journey itself is the point.  See?  Look at yourself in the mirror today and instead of seeing how heavy you still are, see the ten pounds that are already gone.  Stand back from ______ today and don’t judge yourself for criticizing him and wishing he wasn’t the way he is… see instead how far you’ve come that you were able to turn to your SoulCollageĀ® cards today for support and advice and encouragement.

Inner Critic- Committee Suit

by

Sccritic_1 Meet Ethel, my inner critic!  This is one of the first SoulCollageĀ® cards I made because I’ve been aware of her voice since I was in grade school.  I only recently began working with her, though.  Here is what Ethel has to say:

Who are you? I am the one who criticizes everything you do, who keeps you awake at night questioning everything, who scowls up at you and stops you from doing whatever brings you the most joy.  I am the one who thinks you are fat and ugly, and questions why people cherish you so much.  I am the one who pops up from the septic sewer of your mind and offers nothing but sludge to slow you down.  I am the one who draws big X’s in the shadowy dirt of your mind. What do you want from me? I want you to listen to me. I have important things to tell you about how you’re living your life and if you don’t pay attention, your life is going to go down the toilet.  And I want you to do YOUR job…. which is being aware of when I’m being helpful and when I’m not.  It’s really tiring to have to be in charge all the time.  Let me have a rest once in a while.  I don’t have to be the only one in control of your life. What do you have to give me? I give you good suggestions and ideas sometimes.  Like when I help you with the technical parts of your writing. I also know exactly when it’s time to get your hair done again! 

2 Sexuality Cards– Committee Suit

by

Sexual Re-Emergence

Scsexual I made this card last summer, and I made it intuitively, just loving the images of the women and the gorgeous, lush, rich colors, but not really knowing what else it was about.Ā  I made it during a time when I was questioning my sexuality: for the four years since my breast cancer treatments began and I was immediately thrust into menopause, my sexual self took a back seat.Ā  Way, way in the back.Ā  Maybe even in the trunk with the lid tightly closed. So in working with this card, I was delighted to hear what she was telling me:

Who are you? I am the one who is curled into myself, protecting myself from too much openness.Ā  I feel safe sitting with my arms around my knees like this.Ā  I am the one who is looking out of the corner of my eye at the part of me who used to be open and lingering with my sexuality.Ā  I am the one who loves the vivid colors and hot exploding possibilities of sexual expression.Ā  I am the one who is dwelling inside these hot possibilities and observing them from the outside at the same time.Ā  I am the one who is longing to be sexually free again, as I once was.Ā  I am the one who is not sure how to go about opening up sexually again.

What do you have to give me? I give you a vivid, clear reminder that I am here.Ā  I am still here!Ā  I give you knowledge that I remember how it used to be and that I really want to express myself sexually again.

What do you want from me? I want you to be patient with me.Ā  I want you to be gentle with me as I slowly re-emerge from the cold dark places where I’ve been hiding these past four years.Ā  I want you to be aware of your own sexuality.Ā  Your breast cancer journey has led you away from this but it’s time now to return to the lush gorgeous inner reaches of your sexual self.

What this part of me had to say led me to a very big question, so I turned the question into a reading with my SoulCollageĀ® deck.Ā  I asked “Who will help this sexual part of me with her re-emergence?”Ā  I drew 4 cards, and the answers I received from them are helping me immensely on this new journey.

*

Low Libido Scsexfrozen

All of the work above led me to create a card for the part of me who was pushed aside during and after the breast cancer surgeries and treatments.Ā  I found the image of the ice cube resting on the bed/pillows a long time ago and held onto it, not knowing why.Ā  It plays a huge part in this card for me, almost completely covering up a very sexy woman in a red dress with her arms thrown over her head.

Who are you? I am the one who used to be sexually red-hot, who used to be passionate, who used to love sex and sexual touch.Ā  I am the one whose sexual passions have been frozen over with the icy winter of chemotherapy, tamoxifen, aromasin, and early menopause.Ā  I am the one whose warm and passionate self is hidden, smothered, by this icy frozen wasteland called “Low Libido.”Ā  I am the one who was thrust into this frozen wasteland unwillingly, who was kidnapped into menopause and low, practically nonexistent. libido.

What do you have to give me? I give you a place to hide from true intimacy. I give you an excuse to avoid deepening your relationship with your husband.

What do you want from me? I want you to free me from this wasteland of zero libido.Ā  I want you to honor my voice and my presence, which you always took for granted.Ā  I want you to not just sit back and accept that this is how things are.Ā  I want you to remember me, to listen to me, to honor me, to value me.

Story- Council Suit

by

Scstory I made a card for the concept of Story as an archetype for my deck, because Story has always played a sacred, healing role in my life. Who are you? I am the one who blesses the world with story.  I am the one who shapes stories with my light.  My stories take the form of books, songs, movies, TV shows, rituals and stories passed on orally through families, generation after generation.  I am the one whose stories are full of life, drama, comedy, and all the sacred beauty of life. What do you have to give me? I give you a deep-rooted love of the written word, movies, television, music, and stories shared by friends and family.  I give you the gift of telling your own stories and receiving others’ stories as well. What do you want from me? I want you to consider every story sacred.  I want you to embrace the stories you hear and see all around you every day.  I want you to remember that the stories you hear on tv and in movies are just as valid and powerful and important as those in books.  I want you to receive each story with a glad expectancy, and to be open to the seeds of truth in each and every one. Which of my inner committee are you in charge of? Your: writer, journaler, artist, creative child, dreamer, fire diver, music lover, mystical child, book lover, and theatre lover.

Perfectionist- Committee Suit

by

Scperfect_1

I’ve been doing a lot of inner work with my Inner Critic lately, and part of that work included reading the book Embracing Your Inner Critic, by Hal and Sidra Stone.  Their teaching includes the fact that the Inner Critic is entwined in our psyches with two other inner parts: the Rule Maker and the Perfectionist.  I had a major aha! moment when I read about these three parts, and immediately began working on cards for these new parts I’d discovered.  So here is my SoulCollageĀ® card for my Inner Perfectionist.

Who are you? I am the one who has to do everything perfectly right, all the time.  I am the one who lies awake at night worrying and wondering how I can be sure to do everything perfectly the next day.  I am the one who spins my mind around and around until I’m dizzy with the desire to get everything just right.  I am the one who is centered in and focused on the gold star.  I am the one who loves to get the gold star each time. What do you have to give me? I give you the impetus to do your best work.  I give you the desire to do well.  I give you a good critical eye. What do you want from me? I want you to always do your best.  I want you to know that my energy gets out of control and keeps you up at night because you allow that to happen, and it doesn’t have to be that way.  I want you to remember that making a mistake is not the end of the world, and that you can learn from your mistakes too.