Spark My Muse

Can anyone be an Icon?

Can anyone make one?

We don't use the term the same way any more so...What is an Icon?

I'm taking on Iconography and inviting you along.

View photos at the direct link here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21189370 (or at patreon.com/sparkmymuse The post for [SSL107] Soul School 107)

I've always thought icons looked ...well...basically, creepy.

But, there is an entire history I was unaware of. There is rich symbolism in everything included. There is a world of code is colors and details used; in specific techniques and steps. Just the intention one has in the creation of them is a spiritual practice in itself. Even their creation works like a door to the liminal, let alone the beholding of them.

My biggest misunderstanding was in thinking that Icons were expressions of religious Art.

Listen in!

Can anyone be an Icon?

Can anyone make one?

We don't use the term the same way any more so...What is an Icon?

I'm taking on Iconography and inviting you along.

View photos at the direct link here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21189370 (or at patreon.com/sparkmymuse The post for [SSL107] Soul School 107)

I've always thought icons looked ...well...basically, creepy.

But, there is an entire history I was unaware of. There is rich symbolism in everything included. There is a world of code is colors and details used; in specific techniques and steps. Just the intention one has in the creation of them is a spiritual practice in itself. Even their creation works like a door to the liminal, let alone the beholding of them.

My biggest misunderstanding was in thinking that Icons were expressions of religious Art.

Listen in!

Can anyone be an Icon?

Can anyone make one?

We don't use the term the same way any more so...What is an Icon?

I'm taking on Iconography and inviting you along.

View photos at the direct link here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21189370 (or at patreon.com/sparkmymuse The post for [SSL107] Soul School 107)

I've always thought icons looked ...well...basically, creepy.

But, there is an entire history I was unaware of. There is rich symbolism in everything included. There is a world of code is colors and details used; in specific techniques and steps. Just the intention one has in the creation of them is a spiritual practice in itself. Even their creation works like a door to the liminal, let alone the beholding of them.

My biggest misunderstanding was in thinking that Icons were expressions of religious Art.

Listen in!

The new book by Dr. Dan Siegel MD (August 2018) called: "Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence" has been one of the most immediately helpful and useful books to me that I've read in a long time.

In our conversation, Dan and I discuss his work. He shares how the Mind is much more then something we possess on the top on our bodies that is skull and skin encased.

We also converse about how focused attention practices (like the Wheel of Awareness practice that he has used with great affect on over 10,000 people) helps us in a myriad of ways. "Integration of of the whole person (through such practices of awareness) creates well being and transformation."

Dr Daniel J. Siegel MD received his medical degree from Harvard University.

He completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training in pediatrics and child, adolescent and adult psychiatry.  He served as a National Institute of Mental Health Research Fellow at UCLA, studying family interactions with an emphasis on how attachment experiences influence emotions, behavior, autobiographical memory and narrative.

Dr. Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA.

An award-winning educator, he is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and recipient of several honorary fellowships. Dr. Siegel is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational organization, which offers online learning and in-person seminars that focus on how the development of "mindsight" in individuals, families and communities can be enhanced by examining the interface of human relationships and basic biological processes.

Be sure to chip in $1 and access the bonus content for this episode. The direct link is [https://www.patreon.com/posts/21017217 ] Or find it at patreon.com/sparkmymuse for Episode 140. You will find links to the guided Wheel of Awareness meditation, the Wheel, Rim, and Hub graph, all the book's Dan mentions which he has written or co-written, his website, and more.

Please share this episode widely. It will undoubtedly change people's lives for the better!

The new book by Dr. Dan Siegel MD (August 2018) called: "Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence" has been one of the most immediately helpful and useful books to me that I've read in a long time.

In our conversation, Dan and I discuss his work. He shares how the Mind is much more then something we possess on the top on our bodies that is skull and skin encased.

We also converse about how focused attention practices (like the Wheel of Awareness practice that he has used with great affect on over 10,000 people) helps us in a myriad of ways. "Integration of of the whole person (through such practices of awareness) creates well being and transformation."

Dr Daniel J. Siegel MD received his medical degree from Harvard University.

He completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training in pediatrics and child, adolescent and adult psychiatry.  He served as a National Institute of Mental Health Research Fellow at UCLA, studying family interactions with an emphasis on how attachment experiences influence emotions, behavior, autobiographical memory and narrative.

Dr. Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA.

An award-winning educator, he is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and recipient of several honorary fellowships. Dr. Siegel is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational organization, which offers online learning and in-person seminars that focus on how the development of "mindsight" in individuals, families and communities can be enhanced by examining the interface of human relationships and basic biological processes.

Be sure to chip in $1 and access the bonus content for this episode. The direct link is [https://www.patreon.com/posts/21017217 ] Or find it at patreon.com/sparkmymuse for Episode 140. You will find links to the guided Wheel of Awareness meditation, the Wheel, Rim, and Hub graph, all the book's Dan mentions which he has written or co-written, his website, and more.

Please share this episode widely. It will undoubtedly change people's lives for the better!

The new book by Dr. Dan Siegel MD (August 2018) called: "Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence" has been one of the most immediately helpful and useful books to me that I've read in a long time.

In our conversation, Dan and I discuss his work. He shares how the Mind is much more then something we possess on the top on our bodies that is skull and skin encased.

We also converse about how focused attention practices (like the Wheel of Awareness practice that he has used with great affect on over 10,000 people) helps us in a myriad of ways. "Integration of of the whole person (through such practices of awareness) creates well being and transformation."

Dr Daniel J. Siegel MD received his medical degree from Harvard University.

He completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training in pediatrics and child, adolescent and adult psychiatry.  He served as a National Institute of Mental Health Research Fellow at UCLA, studying family interactions with an emphasis on how attachment experiences influence emotions, behavior, autobiographical memory and narrative.

Dr. Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA.

An award-winning educator, he is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and recipient of several honorary fellowships. Dr. Siegel is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational organization, which offers online learning and in-person seminars that focus on how the development of "mindsight" in individuals, families and communities can be enhanced by examining the interface of human relationships and basic biological processes.

Be sure to chip in $1 and access the bonus content for this episode. The direct link is [https://www.patreon.com/posts/21017217 ] Or find it at patreon.com/sparkmymuse for Episode 140. You will find links to the guided Wheel of Awareness meditation, the Wheel, Rim, and Hub graph, all the book's Dan mentions which he has written or co-written, his website, and more.

Please share this episode widely. It will undoubtedly change people's lives for the better!

Today I discuss longing, hope, joy, and darkness.

You can find extras at patreon.com/sparkmymuse for [SSL 106] or this direct link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/20860321

Also, I announce my first Tuesday class (Beginning in the Contemplative Way). Join me for a free Live presentation Tuesday, September 11th, 2018 - at 7:30pm EDT (NYC - American EDT time) at facebook.com/sparkmymuse - Save-the-Date! Enroll in the 6-week Course at sparkmymuse.com - All Live presentations can be watched at later times if you are enrolled.

Thank you for sharing this program with family and friends!

Today I discuss longing, hope, joy, and darkness.

You can find extras at patreon.com/sparkmymuse for [SSL 106] or this direct link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/20860321

Also, I announce my first Tuesday class (Beginning in the Contemplative Way). Join me for a free Live presentation Tuesday, September 11th, 2018 - at 7:30pm EDT (NYC - American EDT time) at facebook.com/sparkmymuse - Save-the-Date! Enroll in the 6-week Course at sparkmymuse.com - All Live presentations can be watched at later times if you are enrolled.

Thank you for sharing this program with family and friends!

Today I discuss longing, hope, joy, and darkness.

You can find extras at patreon.com/sparkmymuse for [SSL 106] or this direct link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/20860321

Also, I announce my first Tuesday class (Beginning in the Contemplative Way). Join me for a free Live presentation Tuesday, September 11th, 2018 - at 7:30pm EDT (NYC - American EDT time) at facebook.com/sparkmymuse - Save-the-Date! Enroll in the 6-week Course at sparkmymuse.com - All Live presentations can be watched at later times if you are enrolled.

Thank you for sharing this program with family and friends!

At the time of this recording, I didn't realize that Anya Krugavoy Silver had only days left in this world.

She had been fighting fiercely a battle with terminal breast cancer for the past fourteen years. However, we conversed in ways that seemed to indicate that she was all at once very cognizant of her morality and fatal disease and yet living each day fully. She had just gone to the beach with her husband and son. She was writing poetry and planning for months down the road, including working on her fifth book of poetry (as the project with her award as a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow in Poetry recipient) and we planned to visit with each other in person.

Editing the audio for the episode was very emotionally painful for me as I had to accomplish it knowing she was gone and I would not be able to hear her voice again. It was a tearful few hours of production too, knowing that she would not be able to author another poem and we would not be able to meet as we had hoped. I lost a friend.

That makes this episode, I offer now in her memory, even more special. In her honor and memory, I also am making available BONUS AUDIO (about 30 minutes-worth) which was recorded after the podcast was finished.

Anya was inspirational, kind and encouraging. Condolences to those of you who grieve her.

Find links to all of the extra audio and references that occur in the episode can be found at sparkmymuse.com for Episode 139 or at the Podcast Support Website - Patreon.com/sparkmymuse for Episode 139 ( This is the direct link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/20598647 ). Your monetary contributions and help spreading word about this episode are truly appreciated!

Thank you.