This week was not a full week of practicing and writing, but I’m getting back into the groove after my trip to Europe. In today’s post, I’ll share how the week has gone, some art that moved me during my trip, and highlight a synchronicity I experienced this last week.

---

100 Liminal Days is an experimental project of embracing my current transitional season after exiting my business by sharing an honest, real-time account of my self-initiation experience in daily posts. I’m sending shorter weekly recaps only via my newsletter. Visit Day 1/100 to learn more and sign up in the footer of this page to get the weekly recaps delivered to your inbox.

---

The Artist’s Way Week Three Check-In

How many days this week did you do your Daily Pages? How was the experience for you?

This week, I managed to write my Daily Pages six days out of seven. The day before we left Germany to head back home was packed from breakfast to dinner so that was the one day I missed this week.

Most of the days during the trip were missed, but I made time to scribble some words into my journal on the plane rides, one bus ride, and there was one day I was feeling sick so I stayed at the hotel instead of going on the tour to visit Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in the Bavarian Alps. That rest day gave me a chance to write my pages, meditate, pray, and practice qigong. Taking myself out of the activities of the day to reset with my favorite practices really helped me see how much these practices actually make a difference in my life.

Did you do your Artist Date this week? What did you do? How did it feel?

I did not get an Artist Date in this week due to the travel. Although a key element of a true Artist Date is solitude, some of the activities with the Beaches of Normandy Tour still inspired the artist within me. Some of the sites we visited had art installations to honor the people most affected by World War II. There were two pieces of art that moved me the most.

Veteran, Bill Pendell, in D-Day 75 Garden on Gold Beach, Arromanches, Normandy

The first is a statue of a British soldier named Bill Pendell as an old man. He is sitting, looking out toward Gold Beach at Mulberry Harbor, and the central figure within his gaze is a ghostly sculpture of his 22-year-old self and his comrades in battle. I lingered with this piece, imagining how a 97-year-old man might feel revisiting the place where war took from him his friends and his innocence, and left dark memories and scars in their place. I allowed myself to cry, to feel as much of the pain as I could tap into with my empathy for my fellow human. And as I looked upon the 22-year-old version, I let myself feel gratitude for his sacrifices.

This one piece of art depicts a span of 75 years. It reminds me of how we hold time within our hearts, too. The power of art connected me to the essence of D-Day in 1944 while also connecting me to the spirit of 2019, when veterans visited the site for the 75th anniversary. Unfortunately, Bill Pendell passed away in 2018 and was not able to see this beautiful art designed by John Everiss. Here’s a really cool video about how the sculptures were made.

---

Dachau Nazi Concentration Camp Memorial Sculpture by Nandor Glid

The second most poignant piece of art that moved me was at the Dachau Concentration Camp just outside Munich, Germany. The artist, Nandor Glid, was a Yugoslav Holocaust survivor who’s father and most of his family were murdered at Auschwitz. The sculpture depicts a common, horrific scene. Emaciated humans being electrocuted by the electric fence that surrounded the perimeter of the camp. When these prisoners became forever hopeless, they often threw themselves into the fence.

This one is harder to write about. The image speaks for itself. My heart was heavy for so much of this trip, but standing on site of the concentration camp, walking through the crematorium, touching the walls of the barracks gave me an overwhelming sense of sadness as I attempted to connect to the spirit of the past. We must never forget.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

– George Santayana

Now to continue the Week Three Check-In…

Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it?

Synchronicities, as coined by Carl Jung, are meaningful coincidences where two or more events seem significantly related but lack a discernible causal connection, often interpreted as a sign or message from the universe. Julia Cameron says that as we begin this act of recovering our creativity, synchronicities will become more frequent. I believe this is the case for any of us who are actively seeking our own spiritual truths because to see synchronicities, we must be looking for them.

One cool synchronicity for me was related to another dream I had. The dream began with me sitting at my desk in my studio, looking up out of the small square window that is up high on the wall and faces my backyard. My yard has a beautiful canopy of trees covering it, and in this dream, I could see those tree branches through the window. Then, I saw a hand saw dangling from the highest tree limb. As soon as I noticed it, it fell from the tree and landed in the grass just outside of my studio.

The dream scene changed and I was outside at a table that was placed over where the saw fell. I was part of a team working on something, and one of my teammates noticed the saw under the table and picked it up. We celebrated finding the saw “just in time” and talked about how grateful we were to find it. The dream briefly continued, and when I interpreted the dream, I believe it was showing me that my ability to make strategic leadership decisions effectively stems from the grounding practices I have committed myself to daily, and that my future plans will include me leading a collaborative team once again.

As part of my dream interpretation process, it ends with a simple ritual to let our dreamer know we are listening, so I decided to hold a hand saw and thank my dream for the message. I hadn’t done the ritual yet when I went for a walk with Emily and Fritz after dinner. It was already dark, but we had some leftovers we wanted to take to our friend, Michael, a man who lives in a tent down the street from us. I gave him the pork chops and vegetables I roasted, chatted for a moment, and then as we turned to walk away, I notice something in the grass next to the sidewalk. It was a hand saw! I picked it up and handed it to Michael. He said he was looking for that and needed it. Looks like I found it “just in time.”

It may not seem like much, but these synchronicities always feel like little God-winks. A nod to let me know that I’m on the right track. A little something to make me laugh or smile at how the universe really does have a great sense of humor. So as small as it may be, I say thanks for something like this. We’ll see what gifts next week brings. 🙂

---

Weekly recaps of 100 Liminal Days are emailed on Tuesdays only to my newsletter subscribers. If you want the summaries, share your email at the bottom of this page to get on the list.

You’ll also instantly receive a free Notion template I use every single day to track my habits and reflect on the day.