| This year we are hosting our family for Thanksgiving. We live in an old farmhouse that is bubbled with other old farm houses. This bubble was once called New Augusta, nestled in the northwest corner of Indianapolis. It is a sweet space to call home, grow veggies and flowers in the side yard and squeeze the whole family in for food and songs. My nieces and nephews are showing us that they are going to be little singers so it felt like a good time to learn a simple song to sing before dinner this year. Gideon is helping with the singing and hand motions, silly older cousins are THE BEST! Our dear friend from North Carolina, Ashley, inspired me to name a gratitude for each day of this month. Simple songs and family singing time is mine for today! I am attaching a free .pdf file of the lyrics in case you want to enjoy this little ditty with your family too. It is set up with 4 small sheets per page to share. If you wish to strum along: 1st line - A note, 2nd line - F note, 3rd line - B note, 4th line- G note. 
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 I don't know about you, but sometimes I get overwhelmed by the responsibility shift that needs to happen to truly make efforts towards creating a sustainable way of living on our beautiful planet. I refuse to be a person who throws in the towel and says it doesn't matter. IT DOES MATTER! How do I do this effectively? I don't use all or nothing strategies. I recognize it will never be perfect and I stay committed to problem solving rather than commiserating. When I make it past that hurdle I see the little things I can do.
Usually this looks like small habits in daily life that add up to a lot over time. Most recently I started recycling stations at our dental office. Every week I bring home about 10lbs of recycling to recycle at home AND I wrote letters to several facilities who offer recycling of dental materials until one wrote me back. Oral B sent us a return label for all the dental recycling we collect in our office. So, if you are looking for a place to recycle your old tooth brush, toothpaste tube or floss container come see us at Detail Dental Kids! PS. Please be a carer, the world desperately needs carers right now. What is a carer? I carer is a heart feeler combined with an action taker with a dash of problem solver. Be that. Not just about the planet but about so many of the vitally important things in life.  This weekend I had a sweet opportunity to reflect on the transformational power of personal symbolism in dreams and a piece of what it has done for my life. There is a particular repeating dream that would come to me starting in my early 20's. Through personal reflection, I was able to connect this dream symbol to a particular health issue I had been diagnosed with. My subconscious was communicating with me about it. Through the years this symbol comes up in my dreams always keying me into something about this diagnoses/part of my body. Through alternative paths I was able to move to a nearly symptom free state with this dis-ease. I had a dream of this particular symbol, an aquarium, recently. I was scared when I first saw where I was headed. I thought, oh no, I have been healthy so long, is something wrong??? But when I arrived to the room all of the aquariums were healthy and doing well. There was an aid there taking care of everything. What a relief! When I woke up I couldn't help but feel grateful for my brain sending these reassuring symbols. The very first time I dreamt of the aquarium it was haunted by dying fish and a snake like creature with a human face. Scary to say the least. Dream Sharing is such a unique and personal experience that can be deeply enriching. Truly infinite outcomes and expressions come from this space. The healing work we can do all the way into the subconscious spaces of ourselves amazes me!
 Today as I embrace the sun in this commissioned piece I am reminded of the sun inside me... I see this as my solar plexus. This is a chakra AND an actual nerve plexus called the celiac plexus. This is a complex network of nerves (a nerve plexus) located in the abdomen, near where the celiac trunk, superior mesenteric artery, and renal arteries branch from the abdominal aorta. When you feel something in your gut, this is where you feel it! As I dance with honoring my own sense of balanced, personal sunshine, I see healing in my body and life. Striving for balance has been a life long journey. I am grateful to say at this stage my sun is shining strong and healthy. Also feeling grateful for being alive in a time where we have access to so much information and the ability to find unity in the medical and spiritual knowledge available to us. It is a wonderful time to be alive!
 Being an artist teaches me a lot about being okay with messes... AND creating beauty out of "mistakes." I had to realize this is my way, my Medicine. My house will always be decently clean but the truth is I LIVE here. REALLY LIVE here so there is a project going somewhere all the time (and two dogs, two guinea pigs and a kitty live here with us too.) I take up space and I no longer carry negative feelings about this. I hope when you visit you feel warm and embraced by a creative processes happening all around you. I am not even going to edit or stylize these photos. It is just like this - in some version - all the time. It makes me feel fully alive and present to the incredible and simple beauty all around us. The bowl pictured is a perfect example of all of this. This bowl was off centered, misshapen, probably many would have scrapped it. Sometimes I feel like this. In my heart, I knew it just needed a little nudge, a little direction and creative problem solving. Now I LOVE this piece!! It is okay to make space in your life for the artistic part of yourself... whatever that looks like. The world greatly needs it! On that note, I feel like I don't get to say this enough... my life partner is AMAZING! He loves me just as I am and embraces our version of home fully despite his desire for minimalism. He says, at least my "look ats" are rocks and art, so, it's not so bad. I don't know what I did to call this guy into my life but I am a very LUCKY person!  Teaching Dad about throwing pots on the wheel. (Rental from Ripple Mobile Arts)
 A gift this week from Mother Earth... Huitlacohe, Corn Smut, fungus Ustilago maydis... has enchanted our garden corn. Huitlacoche first caught my eye many moons ago when a friend who recently moved to South America shared of this rare find in their new garden. She mentioned the delicacy and rarity of this anomaly. I remember seeing the photo and thinking, she is so brave, I would not eat that! Fast forward several months to now, during my garden walk. Imagine my surprise, when I see this very same anomaly growing amongst the corn! It feels in my heart like a blessing and a gift. So, being a curious human, I begin several google searches to learn more about this new to me being. I remember a teaching from my acupuncturist regarding plants that show up in your garden and how they are often volunteers to heal you. The ancient Aztecs also believed in the mystical effects of this spore. The call on my heart to cook this being up with much gratitude and appreciation won over my fear of something new... and rather black... it was DELISH!!
Corn smut cooked w/butter, salt & eggs - served w/tomatoes & green onions on corn tortillas. (left) Garden tomatoes & pea seeds (right)
 Sometimes we are blessed with an opportunity, a home, a responsibility... here is a piece of ours... This sweet home holds many stories and so much Magic! As time has gone on it has become clear that this sweet barn needs some help, the kind of help only a willing human can bring. These walls speak of times long before ours on this land. These walls also need a lot of support. There have been times the job assisting this barn has felt overwhelming. There have been times we have just wanted to ignore the ever growing need for attention. The funny thing about that path is, well... what needs attention can not be ignored for long. We struggled to find viable solutions from online vendors and box stores... THEN we remembered! The Latina's Welding Guild!! While at RUCKUS Makerspace I was able to take a course with this guild and see the ripe talent of these women. So, we drew up some plans and the guild made it happen! I continue to be amazed at what the Indianapolis Community has to offer. Every problem has a solution backed by a human following their passion. I don't know about you, but it makes my heart soar to see a person living out their passion and making a difference in their community. Read more about Consuelo's dream here:
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AuthorVictoria Williams Steen, another human, here for a blink, sharing experiences, stories and teachings. Archives
November 2021
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