Little Bo Peep, The Innocent,  As A Metaphor

                                           

Bob and I created the following metaphoric story as one possibility for our new painting, "Little Bo Peep, The Innocent, As Entrepreneur."

The Peep family have been in the sheep business for over 200 years. A nursery rhyme eventually evolved, and became famous around the world, telling the story of the innocent, Little Bo Peep. Her only crime in life was to lose her sheep, but there was no consequence as the sheep always "came home, wagging their tails behind them." The elders of the Peep family had always chosen one family member to represent the innocent "Little Bo Peep," attracting visitors from around the world to come visit their sheep business and see Little Bo Peep. Each adolescent young woman chosen to be the new Bo Peep, would reign for four years, until the age of eighteen. As a highly prized role, every young girl wanted to be the chosen to become Little Bo Peep.

Jane Peep, a sweet and innocent child, had always dreamed of becoming Little Bo Peep one day. On her fourteenth birthday, she was thrilled to be selected to take the place of her older sister and become the new Little Bo Peep. She took such good care of her sheep and became known as the best Little Bo Peep ever.

As Jane approached her eighteenth birthday, she became more and more tense with the thought of losing her treasured identity as Little Bo Peep. Jane had become very attached to her "angel" role and her new identity and refused to give it all up. Instead, she decided to move her flock away from her family and become independent, creating her own business as Little Bo Peep, The Entrepreneur.

Jane was so exited and happy with the success of her new business that she was not aware of the affect her business had on her sheep. The rams were angry and wanted to punish her for not keeping her feminine role as "caretaker" of the flock. On becoming aware of the type of business Jane had created, her sheep became nervous and upset and planned an escape.

Crossroads: Life Changers Big And Small

Crossroads are more common than we realize. They can occur by chance, accident, or on purpose. Some require little in the way of change while other crossroads are major events that may require a significant change in the core perceptions and routines of our daily lives. The most useful definition of a  crossroads is that of a turning point. the direction of one's life may be altered significantly leading to many important adaptions that may create a change of how we define ourselves and how others see us and like or dislike us.

Kinds Of Crossroads

1. There are crossroads that develop because of a change in the way you think of your habits and behaviors. An example: Last year Donna talked of her concerns about out diet. She wanted to mostly eliminate my habit of barbecuing beef, pork and chicken as a main course for dinner. So, at her strong request, we routinely prepared turkey, chicken breasts and fish for dinner, avoiding other high fat meats. My adaptation was to give up steaks and such delights at home, but steaks remained my first choice when eating out. There was the loss of the great flavors of the BBQ habit but in January my doctor pointed out that my cholesterol levels had improved and Donna lost the 6 pounds that she quarreled about. I was not working on my cholesterol levels but my doctor was pleased. There is something about making your doctor happy.

This is the sort of crossroads that comes about as a result of thinking and awareness. The changes may occur on a gradual, logical basis. Through treating the diet issue as a crossroads, we changed some habits that became health benefits. I gave up many of the tasty BBQ flavored foods that I had learned to make over the years. Compromise!

2. There are crossroads that develop suddenly, unexpectedly because of an accident. We used to have two automobiles until last year when Donna hit a large deer at a high freeway speed. The car was totaled and Donna required many visits to the chiropractor to work out some back spasms. Another consequence is that now we have only one auto. We were spoiled with the convenience of a two-car availability. We decided to wait awhile to replace the totaled car and get by with just one auto. It has been well over a year and we might buy one some day, but have not yet done so. The consequence of this crossroads is that we found a rather easy adaptation to having just one car and the savings of not having a second car. The loss: having the convenience of 2 autos. The gain: thousands of dollars of dollars in expenses and more room in the garage for other things.

This sort of crossroads that develops from an accident usually requires an immediate response. The changes necessary may require immediate action. In this example, Donna's collision with a deer caused her to temporarily cancel her trip to see her family. She also experienced many weeks of discomfort in her back until the spasms were healed. The realization that we needed one auto was good for our transportation budget, an unexpected positive consequence of the crossroads. Now Donna rents a car if she wants to go see her family or gets a ride from a friend going the same direction.

3. There are crossroads that develop due to the conscious or unconscious behavior of the person or persons that are centrally involved. The person most involved in the crossroads often creates the crossroads and he or she is the one most powerfully affected by the consequences. At times such a person does not even realize he or she is the creator of the crisis that develops. More and varied examples will be shared in a later blog.

The Warrior Archetype

Archetypes

Archetypes, universal ideals, provide the deep structure for human motivation and meaning. When we encounter them in art, stories, or in individuals or groups, they evoke deep feeling within us. These archetypes become imprints, which are hardwired in our psyches and are incorporated into the scripts we adopt while growing up. Carl Jung, Psychiatrist, was the first to call these elemental forms archetypes. Carol S. Pearson has built upon Jung's work and has created a system of 12 archetypes. Pearson describes archetypes in various ways depending upon whether you are a spiritual seeker, an academic, a scientist, a religious person or someone who is interested in human growth and development. We use the term as a metaphor and as a guide to assist our understanding of ourselves as we travel along in the journey of life.

The Warrior Archetype

As the Warrior archetype is hardwired into our nervous system, therefore, instinctual, we will benefit by becoming conscious of this archetype. We are then better able to bring about positive manifestations of its energy. The Warrior wants to win and fears weakness and powerlessness. The Warrior has the energy of courage, high levels of assertiveness and self-control and is not afraid to take risks. The Warrior is also adaptable. Such a person exhibiting warrior energy is able to be confrontive, and fights for what really matters. Carol Pearson in her book, Awakening The Heroes Within, describes the well-developed internal warrior as necessary to protect our boundaries and to give a defense against the demands and intrusions of others. When we have an addiction to the behavior and thought patterns of the Warrior to achieve and have success, we become out of balance and less likely to experience our authentic Self which can result in limiting our life and our choices.

Our Artwork

"Ancient Ritual," represents the "Warrior Archetype," in a crossroads moment. The two men have found themselves in a deadly contest to become the alpha male in their struggle for the lovely woman in the mirror. The situation calls into play their warrior self. Nature has wired in strong sexual energy as the desire motivating the cowboys to activate their warrior identity in order to become the alpha male. In their warrior self, the cowboys live out their battle as scripted by nature and ego. Each is willing to fight to injury or death to win the attractive female. As a crossroads, this particular story art represents an event that could have been avoided without the strong script embedded by nature.

A Personal Example

An example of a time I had to call upon my warrior energy occurred after my mother had a major stroke from which the doctors did not expect her to recover. Wanting to avoid the experience of loss, and continuing a denial of her condition, some family member held on to the idea that she would recover at some point. I was convinced, by my mother's health directive and what she had shared with personally, that she was ready and wanting to move on even before her stroke. I was assertive in my effort to reach a conclusion on how to handle our mother's situation. I felt I was doing battle to fulfill my mother's wishes. With the help of the medical staff, the choice became clear, to let her go or to "warehouse" her without any hope for further rehabilitation. Even at this point, my Warrior self had to figure out a way to let her go that worked for everyone. There was no way to avoid the grief and feelings of loss we all felt in the end. The family eventually recovered both from the battle and also from the deep loss of our mother.

Sharing Stories

We plan to cover many different archetypes through our art and writing and hope that you will share examples from your life in the comment sections.

We offer our art to stimulate your imagination to make up a story that you might want to share with us. Although we will present specific art works on this blog, you can also choose one from our website gallery:

ArtOfBobAndDonnaSellers.com

About Us

About Us

Since 2001, Bob and I have been creating art with a focus on the archetypes of the feminine. We create painted story montages that dramatize particular archetypes that commonly influence our lives. Two examples of these archetypes are the “Warrior” and the “Butterfly. We will discuss these and other archetypes in future blogs. We will be encouraging you to use humor and imagination to create stories capable of shifting your perceptions and increasing your options for change especially when encountering crossroads in your life.

I have just finished a wonderful course with Evolutionary Teacher, Jean Houston, Awakening To Your Higher Purpose. Many years ago I took my first course with Dr. Houston and found that her multi-sensory exercises and use of archetypal stories helped me redefine my major life experiences and to reach greater understanding and self-acceptance. I integrated a lot of her principles into my work as a dance therapist, and as a mind-body therapist.

A major crossroads for me occurred when I met Bob, my best friend, husband and co-creator of our art and Blog. Bob had always led his life as an imaginative person and regularly created stories in his mind since he was a small child. His major work as a therapist was to develop an effective, metaphoric psychodrama approach to create change in individual’s lives. Participants in his groups acted out fictional stories that he would suggest and that were metaphorically parallel to their actual life situation. Desired change would occur for participants without encountering the usual defenses and denials. He also discovered a great deal about himself through writing a humorous novel and began using fictional story writing with clients to bring about positive change.

Once we were together and living on the north coast, we decided to apply both of our past experiences in a new way. We were actually at another crossroads that we created and now had choices to make. We wanted to determine what direction we would go and we wanted to experience something new. We could continue the same roles we had been doing before and build a private practice as psychotherapists or we could use our creativity in an entirely new way. While we realized the power of story to assist in changing one’s life, we had never applied this concept to the visual arts. Bob had a desire to see if we could create psycho-dramatic scenes that would resonant with the viewer and possibly lead to variations in the story art being viewed.

We decided to play “as if” we could become visual artists. We wanted to see if we could create art that would encourage interest and story in the mind of the viewer.

We decided to shift our roles from therapist to artists but incorporated some of what we had learned as therapists into our archetypal story art. We already realized the power of story to assist in changing one’s life. Bob’s past experiences as a writer and therapist and my recent studies with Jean Houston reaffirmed to me, once again, the power of story. I read many accounts by Dr. Houston's students of how their lives had changed and how rewriting their life story as a myth gave them a new, in-depth look at possibilities for their higher purpose.  I certainly can attest to the power of this creative process. Many of us were already doing creative things in our lives but were open to exploring ways of sharing more with others to expand the joy on the planet. So here we are, using this blog and our collective work to share our creativity and experiences with you in a new way for us and to encourage you to share yours. 

Welcome To Our Blog

Welcome To Our Blog

*  Self-discovery through the exploration of crossroads in our lives using feminine archetypes, mythical story writing and art. 

*  Increasing your options and adaptability in the ever-changing world we encounter on our journey of life.

Joseph Cambell has written a great deal about the power of archetypal story and myth. Carl Jung has contributed to our understanding of the nature of the unconscious and how much it influences our lives. Visionary leader and teacher, Jean Houston, draws from the teachings of both Cambell and Jung, and has contributed a deep understanding of the power of the personal myth as a tool for self-discovery and understanding of our hidden potentials. Both fictional writing and art can lead you into the unconscious reservour of meaning often hidden from our conscious mind. Everyone has experienced crossroads in their life and many understand how these moments can led to the need to adapt to a possible change of direction in their lives. Recognition that change is possible and that we are the author of our life story is an important part of the process of change. You do not have to wait for something to happen to you, you can actually create what you want.

Metaphors and symbols in stories can be powerful in assisting you in the direction you choose. Whether you are happy with your life or not, finding a creative way of living your life and sharing with others can be fun and very worthwhile. There are always hidden gems to be discovered within us. We have the power to change ourselves, and the power to bring more joy into the world.

Since shifting from full time therapists and teachers, Bob and I have been developing our story art focusing on the feminine archetypes. We are happy to share our art, our written stories and our experiences to assist you on your journey. We encourage you to make up your own fiction and to share with us your stories and your art. We look forward to supporting your creativity and to having interesting and stimulating exchanges along the way. We encourage humor and play as an important part of the process and ask that you be willing to set aside your inner critic and just have fun.

While both Bob and I have been therapists, it is not our intention to give advice or therapy but to share our enthusiasm, our creativity, and our personal experiences. We enjoy reaching out and connecting with others in a creative way. Stories and art that you send us may be shared on this site. We encourage you as the author to use a pen name if you would like. We also encourage people to respond positively to each other’s work, making this a safe place to share.