by Megwyn White
Telling someone that you love them is sometimes much more aptly expressed in something that goes beyond words. Often it lives in the imagination. The imagination holds the sacred chord to the place beyond words. It is often times through the portal of creativity that we get to not only see our love of the other but also are able to become more present to the depth of the dimension of the other. One of my favorite tools that I have discovered on the path of Digital Intimacy is to make art for those that I care most deeply about.
One of my favorite apps is an app called Photo-tangler, which allows me to make “essence collages†out of those I hold most dear. Through a collage I can express my heart and also gift another through the “lens of my loving.â€
I have found that exploring this way of expressing myself has not only opened up new dimensions of feeling, and intimacy between myself and another but it has also served as a powerful tool to harness my intuition.
Here’s how it works:
First, download Photo- Tangler and the Aviary App to your iPhone or smartphone.
Next step:Â Is to source your images. I try to do this in as little time as possible. I usually give myself a maximum time frame of 10 minutes to find images. That way I get out of my head and into the true essence of the feeling.
Next step: Is to begin opening putting the images together inside of the app. I try to stay as close to the feelings in my body as I’m exploring this process as well. I tune into where “the images want to go†and try to also see how the “images want to interactâ€. It’s again a process of getting out of the head and the more you explore this process which is almost like a dance with images the more you will open up to your inner awareness as how to lay them out most beautifully.
Last step: Is to download and filter your image through the Aviary app. I love this app in it’s ability to add filters, borders, words, and whatever else might enhance the image to look more beautiful. But minimally you’ll want to filter the image so that the images themselves blend more beautifully together.
Example of Essence Collage (Exploring dreams that still exist within)
The image on the right was made for one of my dearest friends after a conversation we had around her wanting to take up the cello. She had always wanted to play the cello but her mother said she was “too small†and that the cello would be far too cumbersome to take on. The image that formed spoke to me from me hearing that her deep desire to play music had not gone away and that it might also be crucial to her finding the freedom in her heart to express through the dimension of music.
It was a few months later that she posted on her Facebook wall that her mother actually went ahead and purchased a cello for her and that she had decided to finally take on lessons.
What she wrote on her FB wall:
When I was 9 years old I wanted to play the cello. For no reason except for the passionate whim that a nine year old holds with supreme certainty. Over the years I have held it as a regret and a secret desire. This year my mother sent me one. It is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen and I’ve been practicing everyday. I’m not good. That doesn’t matter. I haven’t even learned how to use my left hand. But, I am for the first time learning about music, tuning, and all of the mysteries that I have forever dated men to experience (always a thing for a musician) She rocks my soul and completes something that feels older than me and from long ago. I am so grateful for this gift. Thanks Mom! And Thanks Kieran McManus for the first lesson and the photo to prove it!
I have been ever evolving into allowing myself to experience the pain of not knowing how to do something, being incredibly shy and awkward about it and busting through to the sheer joy. Not that long ago I was not a mystic, a singer, a healer, a dancer or…. a musician.