Living Well: Finding your authentic voice

Thursday, April 09, 2009

By Teresa Griswold

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Mindfulness is about being fully awake and present in our own lives. When we become truly still and listen to our hearts, minds and bodies, it opens us up to greater possibilities.

Barbara Erb, a clinical social worker, knows this first-hand. When she welcomed a new chapter in her life after closing her private practice sixteen years ago, she embarked on a journey that led her to a different practice, that of mindfulness meditation. Subsequently combining that with yoga, painting and writing, and completing an internship program in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, she now teaches mindfulness and creativity, guiding others towards discovering their true path and bringing them back to who they really are.

One principle of mindfulness that is essential to finding your authentic voice is non-judging, she says. By withholding judgment, it allows the space to be ourselves. “By accepting and allowing things to just be as they are, we get major insights,” Erb said. “Accepting different parts of ourselves makes room for more.” That emptiness becomes the field of all possibilities.

Erb exudes a quick sense of confidence as she explains the seven principles of mindfulness and brightens as she illustrates how each contributes to the creative process.

It begins with the willingness to ask yourself a few questions like, “What is my gift to the world?” and “What is the voice of my soul?” Answering these questions mindfully allows us to access the unique expression of who we really are and sets us firmly on our highest path, according to Erb.

Having a beginner’s mind helps. As one of the principles of mindfulness, it is as if you are looking at the world with the wonderment of a child, experiencing it with all your senses. “What a relief it is to not think we have to know everything,” Erb said. “When we have beginner’s mind we begin to really see what is. And when we do, we see the indescribable beauty of what is.”

When we sense and feel with our bodies, great insights come.

The principles of mindfulness apply to life and to writing and creativity. When we connect with ourselves first, and we learn to feel, and when we get used to this – to being fully present in our own lives, then we are fully experiencing being alive.

Next week, Erb will teach the principles of mindfulness in a two-day meditation and writing weekend, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. It will be a model of the creative process and include periods of guided meditation, writing and sharing. PJH

Because the weekend is free, registration is required, 733-2164 ext. 135 or odoherty@tclib.org.

PERMALINK:
Living Well: Finding your authentic voice | Planet JH News Article: Living Well

Reader Comments

Hello. My name is Carla, I live in Salt Lake City, and just today I had the opportunity to "speak" with Ms. Erb on the telephone, unrelated to her courses. In fact, how I found out about her upcoming course is because I was so interested in who she was from our conversation that I "googled" her. Well, I believe that she is everything that this article says she is. She is willing to keep going to get to the bottom of what's working and not working, always moving the conversation towards understanding, fairness and listening to one another. I hope to have the opportunity to meet Ms. Erb when she comes to my town soon, and I would say that if you have the opportunity to meet her and take her meditation and creative writing course, jump right in!
Carla Davis