by Tina Greene | Dec 9, 2015 | Art, Wisdom Wheel
There are times in life when it seems that I’m living on a see-saw. One day, life is wonderful and I am full of energy and hope for the future. The next thing I know, all I can manage is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. To keep taking one breath after another and having faith that this too shall pass. The last month has been one of those times for me. The night of the Paris attacks was the Opening Artists Reception at the first art show I’ve entered in San Francisco. A long-awaited night to celebrate community and creativity had also become a night of deep pain as once again we faced the affects of rage and hopelessness and asked ourselves “why?” How do we do this? How do we hold what feels like polar opposites and not tear ourselves apart? How do we remain present to the reality of our world AND not let the darkness overwhelm us? The only answer I know is choice. We have to CHOOSE to live in the light, to be the light. It’s not always easy, but with every breath, I choose love. Over and over and over again. So at the Opening Reception, I shared the message from my painting, She Hears Our Cries. It’s a message about light and darkness, about holding both and it brought great comfort to many who were there that night. “Beauty in the darkness Color in the night I will hold your heartaches I will bring the light.” from She Hears Our Cries,...
by Tina Greene | Oct 1, 2015 | Overcoming Fear
“Be more curious than afraid.” -Ishi I am calling BULLSHIT on fearlessness. Fearlessness is a myth. A set-up. An illusion. On the other hand, fear is a natural, often healthy response that arises deep in our reptilian brain. Evolutionarily speaking, it got us here. It helped our species survive in a world that really wasn’t safe, when “not belonging” to a family or a tribe really was a matter of life and death. While there are no more saw-tooth tigers threatening us, our reptilian brain – and its fear response – is not going away. Trying to get rid of fear is like Sisyphus trying to roll the stone up that mountain. It’s a no-win. That’s why I’m calling BULLSHIT on fearlessness. If fear is here to stay, how do we move beyond it? Here’s my current fear challenge. I long to move out into the world. To give what I know I came here to give. Yet, when it comes to acting on my desire, I am often paralyzed by fear. It feels like I’m on my own personal see-saw. One breath, I’m up, ready to take off. The next breath, I’m down, so scared I can’t move. It’s crazy-making. Does this sound familiar? How often do we find ourselves here? Too many to count right? Sigh. Each time I wake up in this place, I have to re-remember that I can be scared AND move forward at the same time. I can choose to move through – and beyond – fear, if I’m willing to practice – a lot! – compassion, curiosity and courage. ...
by Tina Greene | Aug 26, 2015 | Facing Mistakes
I’m sure you’ve experienced it before. That sudden horrible realization that you’ve forgotten something really important…like, um, your best friend’s birthday. One moment you’re fine, the next it feels like the floor has opened up and swallowed you whole. The flush of shame comes over you and all you want to do is curl up into a ball and disappear…or slink off while no one notices. It sucks doesn’t it? Being hit in the gut with the realization that you messed up BIG TIME. You can apologize. You can call and text and email. But no matter how hard we try, there is no way to undo what has been done. No way to “fix it” or “make it better.” As I’m sure you’ve guessed, this happened to me recently. Yup. Me, the queen of it’s-not-possible-to-make-too-big-a-deal-over-birthdays. I forgot my best friend’s birthday. (For the second year in a row, she now tells me – god, can it get any worse?) Sure I could fall back on excuses (aka “reasons”) that may actually be true, but the stark reality is that I Messed Up. Pure and simple. I hurt a woman I love dearly, a woman who has not just walked beside me, but often carried me, literally and metaphorically, for more than 20 years. What do we do when we screw up so badly with someone we really love? First and foremost, we have to recognize that the flush of shame will pass and NOT act while we are in it. That flush – you know the heat that starts in your gut, moves often...
by Tina Greene | Aug 6, 2015 | Overcoming Fear
What a wonderful time to be alive! Summer is here. The days are long. The gardens are growing. There is so much to be grateful for! I am deeply grateful that YOU chose to join me on this incredible journey we call life. I know that you have more than enough material in your inbox and am honored that you chose to add mine to the mix. These last two months have been a whirlwind of activity, causing me to dream wistfully of those wonderful lazy summer days when I was a kid and the most important question was whether to stay in and read a good book or go out and PLAY. Ahh, yes, little did we appreciate how lucky we were! Just like giving a new workshop for the first time, launching my website reminded me of the big plays we used to produce in high school– the intense preparation, the thrill of production, and the “let-down” when it’s all over and suddenly there is a vacuum. It feels like I’m learning all over again how to maintain momentum so that I can continue to connect, inspire and do the work I want to do in the world. And that makes me wonder about you. What brings you joy? How do you respond to the vacuum? How do you manage the let down and maintain momentum? One of my personal tricks is to remember that the journey of 10,000 miles begins with every step. When I feel overwhelmed by all there is to do, I remind myself that just like...
by Tina Greene | Jul 2, 2015 | Lotus Wisdom, Self Care
I have a confession to make. When I launched my website, I said I would be sending out bi-weekly newsletters. In case you didn’t notice, I didn’t. Ouch! Not exactly how I wanted to start. When I realized that I was going to miss my very first goal, I immediately felt the flush of shame. My inner mean girls took over and they had a heyday! “HaHaHa. We said all along that you couldn’t do this! “ “You BLEW IT, Tina. No one will ever listen or trust you now!” “You’ve never been good with planning ahead, what made you think you could do this anyway?!” “You SUCK!” I know intellectually that I’m probably the only person watching the days tick by and that many others have tripped up in the beginning. But that knowledge didn’t help silence the negative voices screaming inside. I was embarrassed and ashamed that I hadn’t delivered my first official newsletter “on-time.” I struggled with what to do, what to say, how to recover. So, I did nothing. And of course, that just made matters worse. It was a nasty, self-fulfilling prophecy. The more time passed, the more I beat myself up. The more I beat myself up, the more stuck I became. This is not a new pattern for me. It’s something I’ve worked with my whole life. I become so afraid of what others will think or say or do, that I am frozen in my tracks, crippled by my conviction that I will be rejected if I don’t do what I think I’m “supposed” to do...
