What to Do When You Get Stuck

Above: “A New Lease on Life” Oil based painterly print created during my Artist residency at Little Knife Sanctuary thanks to the generosity of Frank Sander and Patricia Canelake.

1. What to Do When You Get Stuck.  One thing I’ve learned from poets and the practice of shamanism is that life is a conversation with everything.  So, I last week when I was feeling SO STUCK.  I decided to invite STUCKNESS to speak….to converse with me.

What STUCKNESS told me was that mostly…. it was scared..to make art..to try something new.

Once I realized that it was just fear AGAIN….funny things started to happen.  I ran into my art mentor while walking on the highway (literally) and ten minutes larer I was standing in her printmaking studio learning how to do monotype prints.  You are going to love it she said.  And I was still scared. But I showed up two days later and worked solo for 4 hours straignht and it was SO AWESOME!

Try it yourself:

Dear stuckness-
What do you want
me to know?

Signed,
your friend {insert your name here}

(Me after running into Patricia Canelake my art mentor! She owns one of my paintings-  wow!)

Me with one of my first prints in the studio!  (AKA ME PRINTING SCARED!)

“Yes to the New Adventure” (click on the image above for prints+ more!)

Watch a REEL of the print studio that I made here!

The  print studio residency is an arm of the little knife sanctuary the residency created by Frank Sander (and suported by Patricia Canelake!) on the Homestead Road.  I’m working on a Conrad press and creating Monotype one of a kind (Painterly prints).

2. My Favorite Astrologer and Wise Woman for 2025 is Pam.  Everything is WITHIN US! Astrology of NOW- we listened on Monday and it was super inspiring! I have followed her for years and she’s helped me navigate so many big transformations. This is a particularly awesome recording from her! 

3. Astonishing Insight of the Week:  THE HEART IS NOT A PUMP:

“Many of us live under the medical myth that the heart is a pump, an idea borne of an industrialised culture that views the body as a machine. The heart however is so much more beautiful and fascinating than we ever could have imagined!

“Modern analysis of the heart has shown that in spite of the fact that the most powerful ventricle of the heart can shoot water six feet into the air, the amount of pressure actually needed to force the blood through the entire length of the body’s blood vessels would have to be able to lift a one hundred pound weight one mile high” – Stephen Buhner

So how does the blood move around the labyrinth-like vessels of our body?

It moves of its own accord.

You see, blood flow is not a simple stream like we once thought.

It is in fact composed of two streams, spiralling around each other much like the image of a DNA double helix, at the centre of which is a vacuum.

“Blood flow through living vessels is much more like a tornado than anything else:  Such a vacuum is necessary for producing a vortex” – Stephen Buhner

How cool is that?

This spiral dance is not only found in the bloodstream, but also in the blood cell itself!

Blood cell’s in fact spin on their own individual axes of rotation.  They are smaller spinning cells in a larger spinning vortex.

If your mind is not blown yet, let’s go back to the heart.

The heart itself has recently been discovered not to be a mass of muscle, but rather a ‘helicoidal myocardial band’ that has spiralled in upon itself, creating its unique shape and its separate chambers.

Pair this with discoveries that the heart functions as an endocrine gland, has its own nervous system that makes and releases its own neurotransmitters, and emits an electromagnetic field that is far stronger than the brain’s, and we begin to move from the idea that the heart is simply a mechanical pump.

It is a spiraling organ of perception.

If that’s not beautiful, we don’t know what is”

~ Nimbin Apothecary (at facebook)

4. Death anxiety is REAL. More than a handful of folks I see in my practice each year come with a fear of death. It’s the absolute unknown quality of it I think.  Part of my shamanic training involved facing death…its important to have it as an ally.

I have been thinking about making a guided meditation to help people face these fears.  I believe the more we lean into everything that scares us- the better life gets:)  This poet + podcaster is a marvelous new discovery and she tackles this topic with panache! 

My 100 day project this summer is writing death haikus (a haiku written as if it was my last day on earth from the perspective of what mattered most!)

Here are a few for fun. Sometimes it feels scary writing them- as if I am inviting death closer.

with much love,

Sarah

P.S. Is NOW the time you’ll finally seek out that shamanic healing you’ve longed for? Or maybe you are ready to change EVERYTHING in your life and could use a guide to walk alongside you? Book a session here. 

This newsletter is reader supported!

The best ways to support me are to:

1. Order your own copy of my NEW BOUNDARIES WORKBOOK! (or GIFT ONE!)
2.Order my “How Good Are You Willing to Let it Get?” CARD DECK  today.
3. Invest in yourself with a 1:1 session of coaching or shamanic healing.
4. DOWNLOAD my APP for IOS for Divine Wild BEASTIE Support!
5.  BUY ONE OF MY 7 BOOKS  OR   Listen to one at Audible 
6. Leave a brief review for any of my books at Amazon or Goodreads.
7. Purchase a print, mug, t-shirt, framed print, tote bag, shower curtain or other magical thing that I’ve created at MY ART SHOP.
8.Purchase an original painting from me that will support you in your home. 
9. FORWARD this newsletter to somebody who you suspect would enjoy it!