Rely on the Kindness (and Co-Creative Curiosity) of Strangers

There is masses of research in the wonderful field of Psychology of Happiness, Neurobiology and more [1] that proves something we all knew all along deep in our hearts: that when we give to others we are much happier.  What’s more, when we are part of a community and connect to others, we are also happier. Put another way, giving to others helps us connect with people and meets one of our most essential human needs - relatedness[i].

I love this!  I know this in my own life… and I am passionate about how being aware of this can increasingly influence our lives and decisions about how we go about things.

Oprah Winfrey recently shared about Biologists Jennifer D. Calkins, PhD, and Jennifer M. Gee, PhD, who raised $4,873 to study quails in Mexico. Scott Wilson pulled in nearly $1 million to design a wristband that turns the iPod Nano into a watch—and his creation is now sold in Apple stores. Musician Jenny Owen Youngs came up with $38,543 to record an album. Each of these projects owes thanks to Kickstarter, a Web site for creative types.  What's Kickstarter? - Well, it allows you to post detailed proposals online and solicit pledges to make them happen. International artist, film-maker and director of the Passionate Presence Center for Creative Expression,  Katheryn Trenshaw is definitely such a "creative type" and now her In Your Own Skin Project is doing just this.

The Kickstarter fundraising campaign is currently live to build the co-creative support that happiness is partly made of, and raise $20,000 for a community art project, enabling the In Your Own Skin documentary short to be produced. This will be the first milestone in a far-reaching social art project.

The fabulous online platform provides you the opportunity to discover the power of creative projects like In Your Own Skin. For as little as $5 you can become a part of this. In exchange you can receive rewards, such as signed posters, signed copies of books illustrated by Katheryn, DVDs, photo shoots with the artist, or even your own private In Your Own Skin documentary screening (with up to 20 friends) in a Devon eco-venue complete with sauna and views of Dartmoor with the film-maker.

This is where the community and social nature of In Your Own Skin comes in. Check out the Kickstarter Link at www.inyourownskin.org and then join in the excitement and help build momentum for this Social Art by sharing this link with your friends and networks. You and your friends can even become involved by simply sharing the link because you love it and want to share the wealth and happiness it spreads; or support with a financial pledge in exchange for fine rewards to allow the next stage to happen. Cool huh?

Together, with the kindness and curiosity of strangers, we can take In Your Own Skin forward and provide the opportunity for more people to experience the power of revealing hidden truths. We're all potentially part of an incredible, international art exhibit with the power to bring happiness and freedom to so many others.

So if you want to feel good, do well!

FYI: Live events coming up:

Sunday Evening Passionate Presence Practice Group - Freedom of Being

EdenRise nr Totnes:               

Autumn: 7 Oct, 4 Nov, 2 Dec, and then mainly last Sundays in 

2013: Jan 27, Mar 3 & 31, Apr 28, May 26, and June 30.

IN YOUR OWN SKIN: A multimedia social art project inviting authenticity and connecting us all by asking people around the world a simple question: What is true of you but not obvious to strangers? What would you share?

GREAT NEWS!!! We have lift off.  The IN YOUR OWN SKIN Kickstarter* campaign is officially live!  Please share on your Facebook page, Twitter, E-mail and telegram with your peeps? Thanks loads!

*Kickstarter is a collaborative funding platform for creative projects in return for rewards.

Sunday Evening Passionate Presence Practice Group - Freedom of Being  EdenRise nr Totnes: Autumn: 7 Oct, 4 Nov, 2 Dec, then mainly last Sundays in 2013: Jan 27, Mar 3 & 31, Apr 28, May 26, June 30.

Oct 18 In Your Own Skin FUNdraiser at Totnes Civic Hall w/ Chris Paradox, Madrum, Jo Hardy & more Totnes Civic 7.30  http://www.inyourownskin.org

Please join the IYOS community on FB and share the wealth with your friends. And please support this touching dynamic artful series of portraits in art and a documentary to come to the world. 

Katheryn Trenshaw

+ 44 (0) 1803 863552

post@ktrenshaw.com

www.ktrenshaw.com 

[1] More information for you on Happiness

(Thanks to the wonderful Action for Happiness organization)

Scientific studies show that helping others boosts happiness[ii]. It increases life satisfaction, provides a sense of meaning, increases feelings of competence, and improves our mood and reduced stress. It can help to take our minds off our own troubles too[iii].

Kindness towards others is the glue that connects individual happiness with wider community and societal wellbeing. Giving to others helps us connect with people and meets one of our basic human needs - relatedness[iv].

Kindness and caring also seem to be contagious. When we see someone do something kind or thoughtful, or we are on the receiving end of kindness, it inspires us to be kinder ourselves[v][vi]. In this way, kindness spreads from one person to the next, influencing the behavior of people who never saw the original act. Kindness really is the key to creating a happier, more trusting local community[vii].

---

[i]  Algoe, S. B., & Haidt, J. (2009). Witnessing excellence in action: the 'other-praising' emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(2), 105-127.

[ii] Post, S. G. (2005). Altruism, Happiness, and Health: It's Good to Be Good. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12(2), 66-77.

[iii] Midlarsky, E. (1991). Helping as coping. Prosocial Behavior: Review of Personality and Social Psychology, 12, 238-264

[iv] Algoe, S. B., & Haidt, J. (2009). Witnessing excellence in action: the 'other-praising' emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(2), 105-127.

[v] Algoe, S. B., & Haidt, J. (2009). Witnessing excellence in action: the 'other-praising' emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(2), 105-127.

[vi] Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). The How of Happiness. NY: Penguin

[vii] Fowler, J. H., & Christakis, N. A. (2010). Cooperative behavior cascades in human social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(12), 5334-5338.

Already Home

Unpredictable as life itself, the practice of listening is one of the most mysterious, luminous, and challenging art forms on earth.

-Mark Nepo

As an artist, I have what many would consider an eccentric flair for living. I have been a practicing professional artist since I was 16 (but my mother says it all began when I got ahold of the opposable thumb.) I have lived in many countries and cultures. I have been torn between many pulls in opposite directions frequently: Creative Chaos, Moving Stillness, Empty Fullness. And, within this unpredictable wonderful paradox dance, I have also been passionate about finding “home” most of my life.

One day, in the midst of suffering from trying so hard to understand it all and feeling horribly displaced, I had an epiphany. In my seeking, I was like a woman trying to catch the wind with a butterfly net and eventually, I sat down and experienced the wind. This is a little bit like my journey home. I became more and more interested in simply being here. What a relief! I was listening. I was home.

And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles

no matter how far, but instead by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very humble & arduous & joyful 

where we arrive at the ground at our feet and learn to be at home.

-Rumi

In addition to being a visual artist, I have been a movement practitioner since my early 20s. My movement work began in the USA, where I am from, with one of Gabrielle Roth very 1st student teachers named Lia. This 5 rhythms practice via Gabrielle Roth and Lia opened the door to this deep internal place called “home.” Authentic movement, contact improvisational dance, Qi Gong all form a base of my movement practice and foundation. These combined with my work in dynamic creative expression and art therapy. Thank goodness for such wise choices we make in our youth.

Life has been a powerful teacher too. Just over a decade ago I had the blessing of my life seeming to fall apart. I had 3 huge bereavements within a year: I ended a long term marriage, then lost a child, and then also a lover. I was forced, “kicking and screaming” at first, to stop and take stock. And as luck would have it this is when my practices of art and movement really came into their own.  I could even go so far as to say that these practices saved my life. I found a new teacher who met me in a whole new depth of presence way with whom I still work. I completely stopped everything I was doing and took space.  I moved to France for a term with my young son to a village of 300 in the Ariege, got clear, got lonely, got connect, skied a lot, had great fun in the snow with my son, learned much, got my French back into shape, and got happy deep inside. I hit the restart button for my life.

Such a big dark night of the soul has been a great University like no other.  It has had a huge influence on me, my life, and my work. And also my base of Movement, Art, Psychology: These seemingly disparate strands of my life interests have given me not only an incredibly interesting life but also a strong foundation from which to move and teach.

Throughout all of this I never stopped exploring with a mad passion and respect this place of belonging and connection. I love the power in revealing the concealed/shadow* aspects and find our greatest treasures. The passion and presence that live deep inside us.

I’ve come to realize I don’t trust people who hide their shadows. Within those shadows lies our connection, the place we touch each other, the portal into intimacy. All of us are imperfect, so there’s no point judging each other or ourselves. 

In the understanding of this truth lies our perfection.

-Dr. Lissa Rankin

Consciousness dances with paradox. Imagination and creativity unlock juiciness and sexuality. I am an expert at failing. And, I have learned that by relaxing into our true nature we are free to fail, to be imperfect and flawed and real and human. In that freedom is, paradoxically, our magnificence. I love this and am so moved by this paradox.  The more I show my flaws, the more beautiful I am.  Go figure!  But it is my experience over and over. Just like the Wabi Sabi practices in Japan, when something is not truly beautiful unless it shows a slight flaw, a bit of rust or some asymmetry, we are more beautiful as we are, from the inside out.

Through this work my life has truly been turned inside out. This is not always been easy. And ultimately I find the Movement of Being work that I am part of combined with creative expression to be the most efficient and effective way of healing, and living fully and with greatest freedom. There is a natural intelligence that we all hold and long to live from.  There is deep passion bubbling up in each of us in a very unique way. When I relax more and more into being who I really am, it is all very simple. When I listen, there is a full emptiness and I am already home.

*Like in my In Your Own Skin Project: a multimedia social art project revealing hidden personal truths from around the world to spread authenticity and happiness. What would you share?
Find out more here.

** Wabi-sabi is the art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in earthiness, of revering authenticity above all.


For more info on one-to-one sessions, courses, art and events:
www.ktrenshaw.com

Happiness is: a walk to work

I walked to work today. Because I work at home this might seem a bit strange. But because I find the fresh air and exercise so beneficial, I try and walk to work as many days a week as I can. Today I was especially aware of the simple small things that can happen on a short 30 monute walk that set my day up in such a satisfied way. Feeling simple gratitude makes all the difference.

The trick of course is to notice. Today, I happened to notice. 

Here are 7 things that happened on the way to work:

1.) I walked across the field with high grass overlooking the local castle. Today I took a moment to enjoy this view on my way up that hill. Delicious. 

2.) So many flowers and plants are bursting out of their coiled state in and among the hedgerows along the road and path I take. This outrageous and passionate display of nature warms my heart and reminds me that I too am a part of this fertile display of natural expression.

2.) At the top of the path where I walk, I can see an incredible view of the natural outcrop that is the wonder of Hay Tor. Today it was clear enough to see for many miles up to this vast area of Dartmoor. The breadth and depth of this view keeps me connected to the bigger picture and the spaciousness within my life.

3.) I had a brief chat with the farmer on an all-terrain motorcycle. He was standing at a T junction and I wondered if his bike was out of order. He assured me he was fine and that this was the 2nd time today he had to get his bullock back after he escaped into neighboring field. Cows and sheep are a feature of Devon that I still find charming and a bit odd. I am definitely not in the urban “Kansas” I grew up in anymore!

4.) I admired the array of about 40 solar panels in a new land development that is partly buried in a hillside. I have no idea whether this is domestic or other, but I'm very curious and interested. I'm also delighted that whatever they do they're using the south facing angle of their great location.

5.) I got to throw a tennis ball for a beautiful 5-year-old golden lab “puppy” as I meandered down the footpath. She was very proud to be walking her human. 

6.) I chatted briefly with a man preparing his drain at the base of his driveway. As I approached I simply heard some swearing from someone a bit frustrated. When asked if he was okay, he smiled broadly showed me everything was great and invited me to enjoy the sunshine as he was.

7.) As I crossed before a line of bungalows, I found a heart-shaped leaf wanted to come home with me and remind me of the simple things… Like noticing things on this walk… to carry into my day-to-day work, play and parenting.

And with this I am like to and refreshed to begin my day starting with this simple blog.

 I feel incredibly grateful for the simple things that come my way. They are happening all the time if I notice. Enjoy the simple things in your day-to-day.

__________

Katheryn Trenshaw, director Passionate Presence Center, is a teacher, consultant, artist and writer. If you would like to explore more about her passionate presence work or other courses, the next Sunday evening course is indefinite on July 1 from 7 to 9:30 PM. The next residential weekend is called Coming Home from the Inside Out.  More information at www.passionatepresence.org or feel free to join our mailing list for events or Email us.

Facebook: Katheryn Trenshaw, In Your Own Skin Project and Passionate Presence Center

Freedom: Making Space

I went to visit my friend Pete yesterday who is dying. We all are dying, of course, but for Pete this is more obviously immanent. A year ago this friend was suffering from a toothache that wouldn't go away. He was extremely fit and he led and extraordinarily healthy lifestyle. People often guessed he was 10 to 15 years younger than he was.  This 60-ish man is now hobbling across a corridor door as he ushers me into his flat for my long overdue visit. Since I saw him a few months ago he has lost perhaps half of his body weight. The cancer has spread all around Pete's body in spite of doing all that is possible to stop or slow its growth.

It is of course rather shocking to see my beloved friend. But all of those obvious changes aside, what strikes me most is his dignity and grace and generosity. Pete shares what his process has been like these last weeks and what he values now, but mostly he wants to hear stories from the "outside world"...Nothing is too mundane. He wants it all. I have known Pete for over 20 years. We share a love of music, hot tubs and are both ex pats. We have seen each other through thick and thin. And we cry together now as he endures a wave of pain. We cry together, as well, as he celebrates with me how well my life is going after a long "dark night of the soul” period. He loves my film and book projects and has seen them gestate over a long period. He knows more than most what I have lived through. And now in his last days or weeks or months in this life, his being broken open stops time. It doesn't matter what we are talking about. All that is important now with Pete is physically touching, preferably where it doesn't hurt too much and the quality of sharing. We are only concerned with disposition.  The content is a bonus or even an incidental thing.

And it was great to be able to joke with him that finally after all these years he "got me in bed with him" as I snuggled up to his good side to hold him! It was wonderful to see and hear and feel his laughter. 

And what I'm left with now, besides feeling incredibly grateful and gifted, is something he said; He spoke about how we can't run away from our traumas. And Pete feels that for him this experience is directly related to undigested trauma from very early life. He thought he had resolved most things, but now can see that this process is to do with completing some of that time in his life. Regardless of how one feels about such things, it was incredibly touching to feel his dignified response. His taking response-ability for his life. He is making his life count right to the end. And in so doing, he is inspiring the privileged few of us who get to spend time with him. I am inspired more than ever to to let things go that need to be released and to live an authentic imperfect perfect life.

As I write this I am again brought to tears thinking of my own sadness for his discomfort. And I am also filled with gratitude and inspired with more vigor to continue the work that I have chosen to do... because I love it and because it makes it difference. Over a year ago, before all of this, my now dying friend was kind enough to be a part of my In Your Own Skin project in which he, like all the others who took part, share something that is not obvious to strangers.   I wrote on his skin for photographic portrait. He chose the words “space maker.” At the time, this referred to a congruency in his life both his early life as a landscape architect as well as his latter life as an extremely skilled and sought after masseur. Now, as his body shrinks in size and the funeral arrangements have been made, he is preparing to make even more space and to embrace the the space of empty fullness that is death.  

My friend Michaela recently sent out a touching little note in her shock and grief at the sudden death of her co-teacher James. She noted with poignancy that his last contact in the Social Networking world was this, "The more you commit to life, the more you can commit to death." She also noted that, especially recently, he lived with a deep freedom. What more is there at an essential level?

So here is to making space in your heart and your freedom! And blessings on my friend, on James and on all of us as we live until we die.

Poetry and Potential

Poetry and Potential

Today, I am buzzing around between my office and meetings and errands. Among all of these things which are a part of a normal work day, I am delighted to be scheduling 3 meetings  with people along with interviews and photoshoots in London for later in the week. 

People are amazing! And these 3 individuals with whom I will soon meet are inspirations to me in very different ways. One is the director of an organization dedicated to increasing happiness in the world and workplace, another is an advocate for asylum seekers as well as  a refugee himself, and the third is a performer who has lived through incredible physical challenges. They will all be modeling for me this week for the  In Your Own Skin  portraits and revealing something concealed.  I will have the privilege of engaging in an inquiry with them to decide what word or phrase they will chose to share. Its such an incredibly wholehearted and surprising process because it is simple and real. And, at the moment as I progress with the lead up to the launch of the first major crowd sourcing for my In Your Own Skin Project documentary, I am blessed with so many positive responses.

These 3 Londoners with whom I will soon meet are extraordinary and also, of course, very ordinary folks. As I prepare and pack my bags for the journey, I am struck once again by how the combination of these portraits with words on skin create a simple giant poem to humanity in all its shades. And I am further reminded in my own life and via others by how we are even MORE beautiful when we are deeply present in ourselves, especially with the thing we fear the most or something that is concealed.

In the midst of all this, as luck would happen, I stumble upon the Aimee Mullins talk on TED.com (March 2009) where she asserts in her inimitable style that "Poetry matters. Poetry is what elevates the banal and neglected object to a realm of art. It can transform the thing that might have made people fearful into something that invites them to look, and look a little longer, and maybe even understand."

I could not have said it better. And the very gorgeous Aimee Mullins, a double amputee with her collection of prosthetic legs, who set records in the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, and who has a modeling career as well as an acting vocation sure knows about “celebrat(ing) those heartbreaking strengths and those glorious disabilities that we all have.” She is amazing.  And far from “disabled.” by the traditional definition. In fact, she asserts that, “From an identity standpoint, what does it mean to have a disability? Pamela Anderson has more prosthetic in her body than I do. Nobody calls her disabled.”

And thank goodness for the power of art to transform.  It is the vision of an artist and scientists that created those amazing woven carbon fiber sprinting prosthetic legs modeled after the hind leg of a cheetah for Aimee to win track and field events in.  It is nothing other than alchemy…. Transforming straw into gold. Transforming the hidden into treasure. Transforming the vulnerable into the most valuable form of happiness.

And on a much more everyday level, how delicious it is to have the space within the busy fullness of the day to take the time to notice this simple poetry that is a part of all of us, with all of our wonderful imperfections. The things we once thought we were afraid to show are our juice and vitality. And we can breathe it all in and say simply, thank you.

PS  And Aimee, if you are reading this, would you like to be a part of my In Your Own Skin Project Please?

In Your Own Skin is an social art multi-media project to spread authenticity and happiness with photographic portraits from over 100 people who have shared for a moment what is hidden as a gift to us all. What word or phrase would be absolutely true about you but not obvious to strangers?

"Katheryn Trenshaw's In Your Own Skin Project confirms my faith in deep essential human beauty and the innate benevolence in us all. It is an inspiring visual anthem to humanity."

-Jamie Catto, musician and film-maker, creator of dance music super-group Faithless, Grammy award winning 1 Giant Leap

_________________

In Your Own Skin Film Trailer Premiere & Fundraiser June 13th @ the Barrelhouse, Totnes UK 7.30pm.

With special appearance by Juliet Russell (singer and BBC 1’s The Voice coach) and Matt Harvey and many more.

For more information:

In Your Own Skin:  http://www.ktrenshaw.com/InYourOwnSkin.htm

FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/In-Your-Own-Skin-Project/177799442314881

Passionate Presence Events:  www.passionatepresence.org

Katheryn Trenshaw:  www.ktrenshaw.com