Lately I feel too much
the mother of all sighs
heaves its weighted breath
outward from my chest
leaving my body
raw and weeping
eluded by solace
I nudge my site inward
in search of
beauty
excerpt- Feeling too much
Kate Langlois 2014
Tonight I’m tying prayer knots into red thread for the students in Nigeria who were kidnapped. It is said that an invisible red thread that connects us. That whenever we feel alone, in need connection and support, a tug on our piece of it reaches out to our greater circle in the world. I’m casting out this invisible thread to each of these girls that they keep feeling connected, keep up their hope of rescue.
The girls and their families who in seeking an education and something better, perhaps unwittingly ended up risking their lives. It’s a massive tragedy and one that I hope is not soon to be swept under the media rug and silenced. Marches, protests, petitions, prayers, and yes, even painting is happening as we as a world community attempt to take action and process the horror.
For the past couple of years, using Intentional Creativity, I’ve been pouring my thoughts and prayers into the layers of paint canvases. I feel a yearning to share voices of the unheard and the unseen, bringing a sense of beauty through symbols to their images as a sort of healing salve. Many are women and children, victims of social injustices most of us scarcely can imagine.
Taking Human Rights issues to the canvas is what I care deeply about. My paintings are a prayer for all beings. A reoccurring symbol is the earth and often angels beings pregnant with or holding the earth. I am calling out to them to come and heal us all. My Singing Mother theme is inspired by the painted clay figures of the same name, created by renowned artist Helen Cordero of the Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico.
I feel all people are part of my greater circle of family, my earth family. Mothers, Sisters, daughters, children, brothers, fathers and sons, all part of this planet all connected. Too often we focus on our differences, the things that separate, the faults. I prefer instead to focus on the wholeness, similarities and connections. As the Hopi elders and others have said, we are dreaming our world into existence. I try and envision the outcome as existing now. This is also a theory in the study of Quantum Physics. That if we can shift our thinking from one of ‘one day’ to one of it already happening in the present, it may be possible to bring about the change more quickly. It’s not easy to do and it’s an ongoing attempt to hold this vision for sure. There’s no guarantee it can or will happen, but I figure it’s worth a shot. I have great hope.
I believe in the unseen energetic connection that flows between us all. That our thoughts and feelings affect one another and our planet in ways we can hardly comprehend. So if this group earth consciousness does exist, what will it take for us to reach a catalytic shift if we all place out intention on healing all beings on our earth? What small step can each of us take? Is it painting our prayers, writing a poem, volunteering with children or at a shelter? Perhaps you place your intention into your knitting or while cooking dinner for your family. Bringing intention into form as we move through our day to day lives, right in the thick of the chaos we strive to keep together. By tuning in to the greater world view and refusing to lay down our piece of the red thread, we become part of the healing foundation, part of the song of healing for our planet and for each other.
I had never heard of musician Jennifer Berezan before going to a production of Song for All Beings, a Celebration of Lovingkindness last fall as part of our first annual Color of Woman Alumni gathering. Her music, a beautiful prayer, was accompanied by an array of singers against video imagery of extinct or endangered animals and nature. Hilarious skits in the midst of the heartbreak where a woman learned about unconditional love from her dog and another where falling down and getting up became one move. You fall down, you get up. One move. Wouldn’t that be great instead of falling down and staying down? 
I invite you to explore with myself and any one of the Color of Women Teachers, creative pathways to healing, shifting parts of our lives where we are stuck or in need of transformation. Let’s make it one move together to get back up and running towards that which we love. Kate Langlois is a Visionary Artist and Color or Woman Teacher creating paintings using Intentional Creativity. Her the style of the Contemporary Symbolism Movement. Kate’s JOY is in painting with women and girls to spark their own unique creative paths. Kate’s images give voice to her own journey and to women throughout the world in the shadows, without pathways for such expressions. Her paintings are a celebration of all women, and connection to the mystery beyond the physical world we all play in. All artwork © 2014 Kate Langlois
