07/09/2026
𖤓𖣠 ⚛🔯𖣠𖤓
Hello, beautiful souls and lightworkers I hope you are well.
Today, I’d like you to think about the last time you challenged a deeply held, negative belief about yourself. Ooooh ... Perhaps you’ve never really thought about that one.😊
I see these core beliefs appear frequently in energy work and in my work with my beautiful writing clients. They can show up as self-sabotage or as an automatic conclusion that we aren’t good enough, worthy enough or capable enough.
They are often formed in childhood and can follow us well into adulthood, sometimes without us even realising it. We simply decide we can’t do something, and never venture in that direction again.
𖣠𖤓 ⚛🔯𖣠𖤓
As many of you know, I love nothing more than being in the flow: channelling words and messages, writing, and helping others do the same.
A couple of years ago, I felt called to challenge a core belief I had carried since childhood, the belief that I wasn’t any good at what I considered to be “real creativity”.
I love writing. I couldn’t exist in a world without it. Writing has sustained me throughout my career, helped me heal, and enabled me to help others heal. I love books. I love reading other people’s words. Writing is my thing!
BUT I also adore colour and design. I love creating spaces that evoke emotion and offer a feeling of warmth and safety. I love being surrounded by art, and I feel most at home among creative people.
There was no shortage of artistic inspiration in my family, or good genes. 😆 My brother and sister are Fine Art Honours graduates from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee. My mother was accepted into the iconic Glasgow School of Art in the 1960s. Her father was a landscape artist and, on her mother’s side, her grandfather was a silversmith.
I remember being about five or six when my mother gave me a tutorial on how to draw an eye. Hers looked so lifelike that I begged her to teach me to draw just like her.
Alas, I was a huge disappointment.
If I hadn’t wanted to please her so much, it might have been funny. But she seemed genuinely incredulous that she could have given birth to a child so obviously lacking in basic artistic talent.
My page was covered in grubby fingerprints and creased where I had repeatedly tried to rub out the lines. From the exasperated expression on my mother’s face, I understood one thing very clearly: I was no good at art.
It is incredible how quickly a core belief can form in childhood and how quietly it weaves itself into our perception of who we are.
In my case, the belief was probably reinforced by a throwaway comment my mother once made about being unable to take up her place at art school because I came along. Somehow, I absorbed that double helping of disappointment. I’m sure she would never have wanted me to feel that way had she realised.
The belief remained unchallenged even though I later achieved consistent 'A's in Art at O Grade and Higher level, and studied Graphic Design at college while cutting my teeth in journalism.
By then, my younger brother and sister were displaying immense natural ability, and I’m sure my mother was relieved that she had only produced one dud in the family. 😆
My first three jobs were in design, including one with a chic boutique agency on the outskirts of London, before I crossed to the dark side of communications and then editorial. At every stage of my career, I briefed and worked closely with designers.
The evidence was everywhere. Yet the belief persisted because, by then, I was the one perpetuating it.
I continued to dabble in the ‘arts’, but I gradually stopped because I didn’t feel I had the right to draw or paint, not when I compared myself to the rest of my family. I didn’t need their pity 😆
𖤓𖣠 ⚛🔯𖣠𖤓
Then, last year, I decided to do something simply because I thought I’d enjoy it, even though I “knew” I was no good.
I signed up for an incredibly creative and sacred journey with Julia Ingles, who taught me her method of creating Spirit Dolls.
I could talk all day about the synchronicities between Julia’s life and mine. She is a talented and impressive creatrix based in Tasmania, with strong cultural ties to Scotland and Ireland. She works in ways that feel familiar to me, through old wisdom and many of the same frames of reference. There was a certain knowing when she appeared on my path with her magical work.
Apart from generously sharing her knowledge and talent, Julia gave me another gift: she helped me silence the perfectionist voice and the inner critic and encouraged me to step into the flow, just as I do when writing, channelling and working with energy. I realised this was exactly how I mentored those who wish to learn how to use writing as a healing modality. To do this, you HAVE to forget what you were taught at school. Those rules hold you back from accessing that inner knowing, the place you need to reach before true healing can begin.
My first Spirit Doll is precious to me because she took form within my hands without conscious control or direction. She is a channelled elder who was waiting to come through in this form.
I had never experienced channelling through anything other than healing or writing, yet my hands seemed to know what to do. By the time I had finished, I felt that I knew her. I knew she was an ancestor from the Isle of Lewis, even though at that time, I wasn’t aware of such an ancestor (that’s another story for another time).
She is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but she holds the essence of something familiar. There is something very real about the energy she carries.
The sheer joy I felt when I realised she didn’t resemble a strange little science experiment was incalculable. 😆
And even if she had, that would have been all right too (although, of course, the perfectionist did pipe up from time to time).
Since then, I’ve continued experimenting with wool, herbs, shells and the elements. My fabulous neighbour, who keeps alpacas, even gave me some alpaca wool to work with. The whole creative process has been a gift. It feels very much like women working together in the old ways. 😁
Most importantly, these sacred little beings take form without any preconceived idea of how they should look.
And that is the message I want to share with you today.
If there is something in this world that makes you think, “I’d love to be able to do that,” or “I’d love to try something creative,” please do it.
Life is short, and you may surprise yourself.
Even if you believe you are “no good”, perhaps you simply haven’t found the right form, application or expression of the craft you are longing to explore. Perhaps you haven't found the right mentor who speaks in a language that resonates.
For me, the healing came through surrendering the need to please the inner critic. It meant reassuring my inner child that perfection was not necessary when creating with joy and love. Perfectionism holds you back from experiencing that sublime flow.
I stopped trying to create something that would please someone else. I released the idea that creativity had to look a certain way to be real or valuable. I allowed myself to enjoy the process. And that has been the Medicine these little vessels carry for me.
In working this way, I have begun to dissolve the old belief I held about myself.
I should say that I still can’t draw. 😆 But I love painting with acrylics and watercolours. I find it wonderfully relaxing, and every now and again something beautiful appears on the page, quite by accident, of course…lol.
I love painting my home and creating spaces that carry meaning and emotion. I love colour. I love photography. And, of course, I love writing. So, I suppose I am creative (she says scrunching her face up...lol) I had simply become fixated on being good at that one particular thing because I wanted to create the kind of magic my mother could make on a canvas.
That’s the thing about negative core beliefs: they can prevent us from seeing all the evidence that tells a different story. We just see the evidence that supports our beliefs. Isn't it weird how the positive stories are just a little harder to believe about ourselves?
Sometimes, we need another person to give us permission to do things differently, or to recognise our gifts and reflect them back to us.
Parents, teachers, mentors, carers, older siblings and cousins hold enormous power in the lives of the children around them. Children absorb everything, every encouraging word, every disappointed expression, every emotion left unspoken, yet heard loud and clear. Children weave what they have absorbed into beliefs about themselves and their place in the world. By the time we get to adulthood, it can be difficult to recognise the threads that rob us of joy or prevent us from doing something we would love to do.
But let’s not forget how powerful a kind word, gentle encouragement or supportive mentor can be too.
My mother may have made me feel like a “coo with a gun” when I was five or six 😆, but do you know the part of the story I haven’t shared with you?
My mother taught me to read and write before I started school.
She used to read to me all the time. She’d put on the voices of the characters in the book and make every story come alive. That was when I felt closest to her.
What a gift she gave to me.
The love of words, story and making meaning has sustained me and carried me throughout my entire life, whether professionally, spiritually or philosophically. My love of words grew because it was a moment of emotional connection with a mother who, through no fault of her own, didn’t know how else to connect with me. It grew because the message was reinforced while I was still a child, so it became a core belief.
A positive, life-affirming core belief that helped me look after myself and my daughter when we were on our own in Sydney. For that, I am eternally grateful.
That is the story I always chose to focus on, but now I realise it doesn't mean I'm 'no good' at everything else. Now I know that I am creative. I simply have to add my own flourish, my own signature to whatever I create, without comparing my expression with anyone else’s.
We are all unique, with something valuable to contribute. We are all creative beings. That is part of what it means to be human.
Each of us is a unique expression of the same universal creative Source: individual patterns within the greater pattern, like the repeating fractals of the Flower of Life.
𖣠𖤓 ⚛🔯𖣠𖤓
Over time, I will introduce you to the Goddesses, Guides, Wisdom Keepers and Spirit Companions who have been taking form beneath my hands.
Each one is precious to me, not only because she was channelled and brings through her own message, but because she embodies what can emerge when we challenge an old belief and allow our creativity to find its own form.
Perhaps your Medicine is waiting within something you have always longed to try. Or perhaps, among these sacred little beings, there will one day be a Wisdom Keeper whose Medicine feels as though it has been waiting especially for you.
I’d love to hear about a life-limiting or long-held belief you carry about yourself. Would you like to challenge it? Can you trace back to where this belief started? Tread gently and with compassion. You may discover a sacred thread woven through your ancestral line✨
Love & Light beautiful souls.
I may dip my toe in the Akashic realms or bring forward some Tarot wisdom in the coming days. Feel free to let me know if you have any general (not personal) questions you would like me to ask✨🥰
In the meantime, it's time to release the beliefs that have been holding you back ✨💫
𖣠𖤓 ⚛🔯𖣠𖤓
