[30 days ’till Daily Peace] As the countdown continues to my 2015 Believing is Seeing e-course, I thought I’d take these next few days of December to check in with a few students who took the course this past January 2014. Many of them have continued to engage with the materials long after the “official” end of the course and several have continued to take classes with me. For my first interview I’d like to share Judith’s story. We have been working together for over a year connecting peace with children’s books and personal transformation. It has been a great honor to witness Judith journey. She is amazing.
Maya: Welcome Judith! You have quite possibly been the most engaged person, besides my own self, with the peace materials than anyone. I’m curious what draws you to this work in particular?
Judith: Basically I’m drawn to this Peace work as I have a very deep desire to connect with Peace or Spirit and Creativity with a big C. I know now all three are one and the same. That big desire is coupled with a drive, and underneath a strong fear, to evolve or transform from the traumatized, abused little girl I was. She rarely knew what Peace could be or what it could feel like unless she was reading a book or playing with her dolls. So it’s a motivation from the inside out into the real essence of me through creativity. Doing the Peace course is an affirming, healing, and being vehicle for this transformation.
Maya: You have proven to be quite an adept and your commitment to your true self is beautiful. Believing is Seeing has a lot of layers and different ways of engaging and it can affect many areas of your life. Do you feel differently about some area of your life because of your peace work?
Judith: Oh, yes! I do feel much more at peace overall. Most deeply, I believe more in me as an artist and am now beginning to be able to draw my deepest heart stories, especially the hardest heart-ache ones. Now that I’ve begun this journey of drawing these heart stories. I can’t wait to evolve this ability. The other day I was listening to an interview with Harold Bloom, one of the foremost experts on Shakespeare. He said that Shakespeare made each one of his thousands of characters, even the minor ones, a unique, identifiable, individual. Imagine if I could draw and write my characters that way!!
Maya: You seem to be on a journey of profound transformation, what would you say has changed the most for you from engaging with peace in this way?
Judith: Seeing the “Peace Me” and believing in me is the biggest change I have made. I’m not 100% there yet, but at least half-way from when I started January 1, 2014. This is a huge shift from the me who was notoriously lacking in self-esteem. I’m beginning to believe that I may really have a place for me on this Earth and a true purpose in serving children now through creating books for them. I know I was a good teacher for over four decades in inner cities, but I am trusting I can expand that service to more children through books and Peace and Being Me.
Maya: Is there anything else you’d like to share? feel free to ask yourself anything!
Judith: I am grateful that I am now connecting with Peace even when it’s rough and revealing of the dirt-mud parts of me. Peace helps me turn or transform the mud into diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and especially turquoise, which is my birthstone! I can now embrace that wounded little girl inside of me and let her draw and write more to her heart’s content. I can also embrace more fully the real children in my life. Children truly are so precious to me.
Maya: Thank you so much for sharing and allowing more of us to witness your transformation. I love seeing your strength come forward! I’m excited too that you’ll be joining me again in 2015 for another round of Believing is Seeing!
Learn more about:
Believing is Seeing: Daily Journal of Transformation
31 days of life-altering, soul-quenching peace in an invigorating online course that challenges you to commit to your own personal peace revolution and take action to manifest the life you want. You’ll use the book & journal I See Peace as a framework and guide to transform your everyday habits and infuse your life with peace. Let the peace begin January 1st!
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