Waters Under The Bridge
Inspecting A Life in Motion
by Reginah WaterSpirit
Circles of Motion...
Certain images grabbed my attention early in life; water, puppets on strings and a life sustaining mantra, "Well, I'm a person too!"
This mantra seemed to stick for many years as I navigated my way through childhood and most of my early to mid adult years. Paddling the stream of life, sometimes down and many times up the rivers’ flow, I came to notice that the images of water, puppets and “voices” brought clues for my life’s journey.
Learning to listen to the water spirits and noticing how I operated in life, not unlike my childhood Alice in Wonderland puppet set, became support for my personal growth. An awareness process continues today thanks to much help along the way.
In the mid 70’s and 80’s, after decades in the clothing business and years abroad in Europe as an artist, I experienced formal training in studies concerning the consciousness movement. The Psychology of Selves and the Aware Ego Process developed by leaders in this field of the Consciousness Movement, Dr. Hal and Dr. Sidra Stone had a profound influence on the direction I would take in life. I heard people talking about their tool of Voice Dialogue. Intrigued, I found myself wanting to learn how to have more choices in my life. Great fortune as it was, to meet and study with these sincere and knowledgable teachers, the ‘powers that Be’ had other challenges for my acceptance or rejection. At that time, I met my to-be 'heart side,' Bear Heart. The learning curve continued to climb a steep mountain when I crossed paths with this traditionally-trained Native American. Both a ‘medicine person’ of the Muskogee Nation-Creek Tribe and a multi-tribal spiritual leader, Bear Heart, a.k.a. Rev. Marcellus L. Williams, initiated me into other worlds and eventually, I re-entered this world.
Water, Puppets On A String and "I'm A Person Too!" So perfectly did the universe provide teachers to allow the sacred sheath of interconnectivity to take me in and wrap me in a way to be of service. I am grateful.
Ma-doh
Thank you.
Reginah WaterSpirit
Reflecting on her childhood, Reginah remembers her fascination with Alice In Wonderland puppets. She found the costumes, the colors and the characters of Alice, the Mad Hatter and the Queen intriguing. She reveled in being the puppeteer who could control their actions and dramas.
In retrospect, this attraction proved an indication of the life path she was to take. It led her to the discovery of the Voice Dialogue Method, a tool for developing an awareness of "inner" selves who direct our behavior and actions, developed over two decades by world renown clinical psychologists Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone.
Reginah found that to achieve far reaching results in our life and work, we must be able to listen to an array of inner voices or parts of our personalities that have conflicting points of view. Each of these selves, such as an Inner Pleaser, Pusher, Perfectionist, Judge and numerous others, go about trying to persuade us that their way is the best and only way. They each do have tangible gifts which we can receive if we are aware of how these selves operate in our lives. Even an Inner Critic who is relentless in criticizing our every thought and action, if honored and listened to with sincerity, can become a creative asset.
Reginah believes that knowledge of these "selves" gives us real choice in life. That without awareness, we are like puppets on a string with little ability for compassion with ourselves or others and no room for growth.
Some of the benefits of this work are:
becoming more decisive
speaking with authority
being less judgmental of ourselves and others
having more confidence
acting less defensive
increased energy
seeing solutions more clearly.
Over the past 23 years Reginah has consulted for and conducted hundreds of workshops in companies and organizations interested in improving communication, and creative thought. Before his passing in 2008, Reginah had been in collaboration with multi-tribal spiritual leader, Muskogee Nation-Creek Tribe, Marcellus Bear Heart Williams. Together they created the "Inner Vision Quest" workshop which combined her work with Dr. Hal and Dr. Sidra Stone and the American Indian philosophical ideals imparted to her by Bear Heart. Her own unique experiences within a culture unlike the one she was raised in brought a seasoned deepening.
Highlights of her years in teaching are the opportunity to share her work at the National Security Agency (Native American Forum) at Ft. mead, Md. and for DaimlerCrysler in Warren, Michigan. Her heart is still connected with retired U.S. Forest Service people who managed our nations forests and those who directed employee development programs.
Reginah's workshops are interactive, exciting and experiential. She feels that our ability to support significant change in others, depends on our ability and willingness to integrate change into our own lives.
WaterSpirit's
BEAR LODGE/Tools for Peace
[email protected]
(505) 348-6612