Let the alchemy begin...

"Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay." Maya Angelou

Dear Wild Hearts,

Twelve years ago I embarked on my first online, global collective art project, inviting readers of my blog  - enhance the everyday - to submit photographs of wandering hearts found in their homes and environment. It was called My Heart Wanders: Finding subtle hearts in unexpected places. The intention of the project was to encourage us all to be more present, to connect with the nature around us no matter where we lived, and to connect with our hearts: the intuitive part of us that often gets forgotten about, lost and can go unheard for years.

One of my favourites from the original project, by Nadia Q. Dole learn more from the original project here.

For months I had submissions pouring into my inbox and shared as many as I could keep up with on my blog, there was incredible beauty in the work I received from so many places in the world – not only did it turn out to connect us with the hidden magic wherever we happened to live, it connected us to each other. We met people we would never have known about, had our hearts not found this way to communicate through this project.
 
And there was one more outcome that I had not anticipated  - not only did this project become an integral part of my own creative career but it was a catalyst for many others too. In 2011 My Heart Wanders became a beautiful photographic book about my own personal journey of following my heart, and over the years since I have received emails from people all over the world letting me know my book has touched their hearts in a way they didn’t know was possible, and launched them into transforming their lives, turning their dreams into their reality.
 
This is the Everyday Alchemy that I love.  

Subtle hearts everywhere in my work - always look for it in my photographs, there may be one in there for you to find.

Not only is the heart central to all that I create, colour has always been a huge part of my career, my life’s work, my offerings and service in the world. My love and connection to the colours in nature are what ignite my creativity everyday.

Without the power of colour, I would not be able to do what I do.



Colour, particularly in abundance, has the power to create radical transformations in our lives. In my photography and visual storytelling, I use colours to evoke certain emotions, and in my mentoring, I assign certain colours to clients for a period of time as a way of connecting them to their intuitive centres to transform their everyday lives into the one they’ve been dreaming about...

My heart takes me to places I dream about and I let it.

For the past two months, my heart has been beckoning me to extend this colour wisdom to you and with you, starting with one of the most powerful colours that exist as a way to assist us in the shift we are collectively going through at the moment. 

Are you ready for another adventure together? 

Today, in the darkness of the new moon, I invite you all to embark on this journey to transform our everyday by invoking the power of the colour  GOLD.

Gold is known as the master healer. It opens us to truth & transformation. It strengthens us in all areas of our lives and releases fear, making space for hope to grow. Using social media, we are going to flood our feeds with the power of gold...

Found: elf wings, hidden in plain sight, on the forest floor.
find out more here

This is not so much about the gold mined out of the earth - unless its been beautifully crafted by your own hands or that of an artisan you love - but the gold in our everyday lives: gold in nature, gold in light, gold in the food we make, and gold in what we make with our hands. 

There are many layers to this, which I will explain in my instagram posts over the weeks to come, but mostly its about healing, transforming, and authentic connection. This is an opportunity to become visible, to anchor ourselves into the earth & ether as the waves around us ebb & flow; to share our own light and to share each others light through intentional re-sharing whatever we resonate with and brings us joy. By flooding our feeds with the power of the colour gold we will be creating an alchemical process within ourselves and with the world around us. Just like we once looked for hearts in our everyday made by light and shadows and with our own hands, now we search together for the gold in our everyday. It's subtle and it's simple, like the heart shapes, but it's powerful. 
 

So how will we do this? 

• Using instagram and facebook, we will use the hashtag #everydayalchemyingold (that's: Everyday Alchemy In Gold) every time we post an image that has gorgeous golden hues. I'll start posting lots of my own photographs as well as those of others so you can see the effect of the images coming together in the feed. 

• Re-share or repost any and all images you love - whatever sparks that sense of joy in you, no matter how subtle (we want to build on this within us and create it in others) so that other people can see who we are inspired by, and it will create the colour flood - the more involved the more powerful the alchemy. To start with you can re-share my images as they come up, and then you'll start to see others come through and you will start to see the gold in your own images to share... 

• Take photographs of gold in your life, particularly focussed on nature and food and all things made by hand. Are you an interior designer? Post images of gold things you love. Are you a jeweller? You know what do to. Artist? Cook? Nature lover? Share your photographs on social media and use the hashtag #everydayalchemyingold

• Follow the hashtag #everydayalchemyingold on instagram if you have an instagram account so that you will start to see other peoples golden images come through on your feed and benefit from the collective energy. 

• If you don't have an instagram account but want to join in with your own images and/or colour knowledge, send them to me in an email, and any images I intuit as having an energetic impact I'll share on my instagram account with your permission, and I'll be including your name and any links you wish to send people to so they can find out more about you and what you create. 

Let's immerse ourselves in each other's knowledge and wisdom of the colour gold, what we already know and what we learn along the way - share what you know, what you've read, what you've experienced (you might even start having dreams in gold, if so let us know!), and always credit where you've got your information because it helps others to find out more too.  Make an effort to find the original source and give gratitude by crediting. It’s a simple, important step in how we can all benefit from this collective transformation. This is about sharing your own work –stepping into your own light – and equally sharing others.
 
So, let the alchemy begin!  We will start with gold because gold is the ultimate alchemical process and we are going to make it our own, transforming it from what it has represented in the past to what it truly symbolises now and for the future. Let’s flood our feeds with gold & immerse ourselves in the healing power of this incredible energy. So that no matter what is happening in our lives, what healing processes we are needing to go through physically, mentally, or emotionally over the next coming months, you can use your eyes to breathe in the healing of this colour, anytime you need. For those who are aware of the ancient Buddhist meditation of Tonglen, this in a way is an expression of that practice using the power of visual storytelling.  I'll move us onto the next colour when I get the calling to, but for now, it's all about gold. I cannot wait to see what you post and I am so eager to share your incredible world with others. 

Please know that you are always welcome to share my images on social media as long as there is a link to me so people know where to find me. So to get you started, you can scroll through my website and find any gold images you like, save them on your device and post them onto your social media feeds with the hashtag. I have also begun a pinterest board for us titled Everyday Alchemy in Gold that we can have a look at for inspiration and repost on social media any of the links we love, and also tag me in your finds so I can add them to the board too. Invite your friends to join us, and don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions or suggestions, ideas or thoughts! 
 

Until next time, dear Hearts, may this new moon reveal what needs to be revealed, and heal what needs to be healed...

With love,
Pia xx

Perspective

Me and my bunny love, Kombucha, snuggling on the couch while we shelter in.

(this is one of my latest instagram posts that has had much interest through shares and comments - March 30, 2020)

One of the things we are all prone to forget at times, and for some it’s always - depending on the level of awareness - is that our understanding of the world is based on our perspective. And our perspective is formed by our personal life experiences. Which is absolutely of value, but is of no more or less value than someone else’s.

There is still very much an overarching & unconscious belief that some know better than others, and this is based on messaging - subtle & overt, level of education, religion, or simply ego. Without awareness we can move through life, conversing with people from this singular perspective, instead of coming to the conversation or public forum with the knowledge that what we have to share is based on the accumulation of our personal life experiences, but that doesn’t mean our ideas or understanding is ‘the right way or the only way’.

Heart Prompt:

When you converse with someone, are you asking them questions about their life experience or thoughts about what’s happening now? Or are you telling them how it is and what you believe the answer is? How much time do you dedicate in a conversation to ask questions about the other person? And actually listen?

While in solitude we can reflect on this, and practice asking more questions, especially if we reflect and realise we haven’t learnt much about someone we’ve just spoken with, about what their life is like right now.

There is a romantic notion that we are all in the same boat at this time. But we are not - we are in very different boats on the same incoming tide, and some are in no boats at all but swimming like mad in the open ocean with no life raft. It’s not to say that by having a safe boat we should feel shame or guilt over it, but it means that when we are aware that we are not all in the same boat we develop empathy, and we begin to change our mindset into not just serving ourselves but how, if we have the means, can we serve others - and not in a way that satiates our egos, but satiates our hearts.

If you’re experiencing boredom at this time, this is the space you need to open the door to your heart. It’s a very different way of living & now is a great time to explore it.

With Love,

Pia

Find more on the Wandering Heats Collective.

How to not be an Influencer...

Something fun for everyone! I’ve been a busy bee making this over the past few weeks, in between end of school term meltdowns, mentoring and grieving. Oh, it’s been a wild ride this month but not without funny bits. And how timely is it that I’ve been working on it and then all those articles just came out this week about influencers. People right now are feeling confused and lost, so this lovely little guide I’ve created has come at the right time, to put you back on track! I do hope you enjoy it. It’s FREE. Would you like to know more? Click on the button below to get your free copy…

With love, Pia xx

Social media hiatus: RECOMMENDED...

Three weeks ago I decided to delete my instagram and facebook apps off my phone, to see how I would feel and if it would help to create space and clarity and focus. The affect was IMMEDIATE. And I knew in that moment more than ever how addictive these platforms have become and how much energy I’ve given them. Within hours I felt the shift, and in these three weeks I’ve been able to focus on all my projects, including a new podcast as well as writing new content for my first mini book, Festive Season Reimagined, which will be ready to print next week! It will be available for signing & purchase at Turn Out - a fete for growns up in Sydney which I’ll be speaking at on Saturday October 27, 2018. If you’d like to come along and hear me talk (passionately!!) about the power & importance of intuition in our everyday lives, you can register here, it’s free and I’ll have the Festive Season Reimagined hot off the press. This book will be a limited edition - it will only be available through me - either in person at Turn Out, or to purchase online through my website after the event.

During these past weeks, I’ve gained so much clarity about how I want to move forward with connecting with you, and I’ve come full circle back to this point - writing in my journal & emailing it to you. It may take some practice to get back into writing longer posts, and perhaps it will take time for you to get used to me writing in length again as I know thanks to social media we have all developed a much shorter attention span, so you may just tend to skip through to find bits that interest you (I do it too).

I’ll make a little diagram to show you how I’ll be communicating from now on. In short, the Patreon collective will hear from me first, receiving a 10% discount off everything I release, including this new book. Through my Everyday Alchemy Journal which I’ll be sending as emails here to you, I have so many incredible things ready to share - places, books, collaborations and projects I’m working on - I’ve been limiting myself to instagram, trying to fit it all in to those tiny squares that most of us scroll by most of the time (I was doing that too).

This is just a brief post to let you know where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to, but I’ll send more info about the events and projects coming up as they come to light - for now please put October 27, 4:30-6pm at Australian Technology Park Locomotive Workshop 
Henderson Road, Eveleigh in your diary to meet up for a heart to heart (don’t forget you need to register to be able to come along), and buy your copy of the book (pre-order here so you know you’ll be able to pick up your copy at the event).

Laly took this photo for me today, not sure if she meant to cut of my head?!

Oh, and my bullshit free zone t-shirt arrived and I love it! Did you get yours? Let me know, I hope you like it as much as I do. Apparently it’s still for sale if you want to order one but only for the next 16 hours - I’m confused as I thought the campaign only lasted 12 days - perhaps someone can explain this to me? I wore mine food shopping today, I felt like a rebel, it was totally empowering. Laly thinks it’s the coolest thing ever (I had to explain what it meant, she totally understood and now wants to make her own version “Bull Dust Free Zone” so we can be matching!)

Not sure if you can sense my energy resurgence through this email, but if so I put it down to all of the above, triggered by deleting the apps. I am not keen to re-install them, but I will need to as I want to keep them as places people can find me and know that I’ve posted in my journal and on Patreon, but will I be able to not look at them throughout the day?! I’ll only know if I give it a try. And if I can’t, then I’ll have to consider a permanent removal.

Sending love through the ether,

Pia xx