Using Art for Healing, Self-Expression, and Spiritual Guidance with Tamara Liz

Sheila Franzen

welcome to the Spiritual Geek podcast, Wisdom for Modern Times, where we focus on living with intention to consciously create a life you love and celebrate. I'm your spiritual geek, Sheila Fransen, and I'm so excited to share another episode with you. Today, we have Tama with us, and we're going to talk about art and healing and how those things can go together. Tama Liz is a Puerto Rican artist, art therapist, and Ascension Guide based in El Paso, Texas. With over two decades of experience in the arts and a master's degree in art therapy, Tama's work transcends the canvas, inspiring self-expression and inner exploration. As a 7th-level Ascension initiate, she helps others discover their inner wisdom and foster spiritual and emotional growth through transformative workshops, art classes, private sessions, and an array of bespoke art services. Welcome, Tamra. It's great to have you here.

Tamara Liz

Thank you, Sheila. It's an honor to be here.

Sheila Franzen

So, Tamra, is there anything as we dive Can you dive into this fun conversation that you want to share about yourself, your journey?

Tamara Liz

I guess I would like to say that everything is art. We are all art, and we are all artists. Sometimes, even the artists that have been doing the thing for many lifetimes, for many years, in our minds, there's always the inner critic, too. Everybody has that little voice that says, No, you cannot do that. No, you cannot. No, it's not looking good. The idea, no matter what level of art we see, we have, even if we're doing figure sticks, is to let go of that little voice and just enjoy the process.

Sheila Franzen

I love how you started with we're all artists, and What popped in for me in that moment was my intention around this podcast is that people consciously create their life. I'm like, That's really being an artist, right? When you take this to a larger perspective of looking at our human journey, we talk about being the creators of our life. But really, there's an aspect of that that is about being the artist for your own life. What are you creating? Are you creating a beautiful canvas for the life that you're choosing to live? Are you creating a canvas full of pain and misery, or are you starting to put in some new beautiful things on that canvas? I've never thought about your entire life. To be the artist of my life or the artist of my body, That's a beautiful, fun representation to play with.

Tamara Liz

Yes. Excuse me. It's very pertinent to think of us as artists because there's so many different perspectives about the artist. But the reality is that it's just being us, the inner us, the one that sometimes most people don't want to show. It is being at your core, the child, the one who wants to play. We forget how to play and how to just bring joy to any occasion. We just being a little playful. That's being the artist of our own lives, yes, it does require to be present, but the most important thing, it just to get to know you because what you're going to create, it's all about you. It's you. Most of us, we don't take the time to really tap into ourselves. We are always bombarded with the next thing, with being distracted, with so many, well, so many different distractions. That's about cover set. Taking the time to really tap into ourselves yourselves within, it can be challenging for most people. But that's part of the path. That self-discovery was very important. That's the number one step to begin to create your life so that you get the joy to meeting yourself.

Sheila Franzen

Right. That aspect of our true self, that frequency that is ours and Sometimes that requires uncovering a whole lot of... I don't know, maybe we're old paintings with... Now I'm having a lot of fun with this analogy. I don't know who's dropping these ideas into me, but you think about past lives, it's almost like if you took a painting that you were trying to preserve the original painting, and then people paint over top of things, or they have layers in a picture frame of canvases over canvases if you're trying to hide some original painting. That's the layer. It's another fun way to look at the layers of our... Instead of the layers of an onion, it's layers of a painting. Where do we get back to that original painting, that true essence and frequency of who we are?

Tamara Liz

Look at what a beautiful way to represent that idea. We often tend to look at things. It's all about perspective. And we often say, the onions of these layers that we're peeling, it's so uncomfortable and so difficult.

Sheila Franzen

Yeah. And who really likes to play with an onion? I mean, they smell, they make you cry. The whole thing is a terrible analogy.

Tamara Liz

Exactly. Right. So we do these things to ourselves. And it comes all down to what I call the feelings, the in Spanish, feelings is sentimiento., which is the word for feel, feel, and then lie. And that's how I believe we have led most of our lives in believing lies that we tell ourselves. It's not real. It's a story. And most of all, it is a lie, right? We make ourselves suffer. That's why all the Buddha said, We don't have to, right? It doesn't have to It doesn't have to suck.

Sheila Franzen

Right. We don't have to suffer.

Tamara Liz

Exactly. You can create the life that you want. But definitely doing that is part of tapping into yourself and shifting your belief system in a way that supports what you want to create. So it's not a streamlined because sometimes, well, I don't even know what I want to create. What do I want from life? I don't What do I want? I just want to be happy. But what does even happy look like for you? You understand? It's so many these layers of the painting. So next time, I definitely will Stop using the onion.

Sheila Franzen

I love that analogy. So thank you, whoever shared that with us.

Tamara Liz

Yes, it is beautiful. It's indeed. It brings it into a different to prospect this.

Sheila Franzen

Yeah, and it's more fun, right? I mean, that's what we're going to dive into here is how art... But the other thing before we do that is the other thing that popped into my mind when we play with this analogy of being the artist of our own life is our mind and our intellect is the paint brush, right? That's this aspect of choice, right? It's what are we doing with the paint brush of our lives, right? How are we shifting the colors of what we're creating with our mind? That's the power of the aspect of artistry, of being a creator. Even the dictionary Excuse me. While the dictionary says an artist is a person who produces paintings or drawings, the other definition is a person skilled at a particular task or occupation. What we're really I don't know, I'm really excited about this. What we're doing is as an artist of our life and these skills that we're learning through your people's spiritual journeys, through their self-help journeys, through their personal adventures in life is we're becoming skilled at life. And that's what we're really talking about. And what I love talking about with people on this podcast is what are the ways they've learned?

Sheila Franzen

How do they help people will become more skilled at life to be the most amazing artist that they can be with their life and with everything that they are creating? So, yeah, super fun.

Tamara Liz

Yes, absolutely. I mean, how many times will people think of themselves as an artist? They don't often, right? They don't often believe that they are.

Sheila Franzen

No, we don't. And yet we are. We just have to claim it, just claim it and have fun with it.

Tamara Liz

Exactly. Bring in that joy, bringing that joy of creation. And it can be anything. Creativity and being in the flow is not limited to paint. It's like you said, all of us in our different jobs or particular skills that we have, we can tap into the flow of creation. We do. People use it for problem solving, it's science to discover new things. How do you think scientists are doing all of this work? How do they even get inspired to look for these particular things? It's a beautiful process because I feel what we're doing as artists, we're connecting to the greatest creator, right? And it's tapping into that frequency that allows us to see beyond, tapping into the divine. So that's one of the most marvelous things that can happen when you let yourselves create and just enjoy it. And it's all about the process. Sometimes when we're cooking a meal, that's another skill or another process that we can tap into the divine and tap into this creative process as us as an artist. And sometimes Sometimes when we're cooking our everyday meals, we're definitely not thinking about making a work of art or anything like that.

Tamara Liz

We're just like, I'm just hungry. We just need to eat. It's just a task. But if we shift everything we do into something positive like, Oh, how joyful. I'm making this beautiful meal, and let's infuse it with a little... Let's sprinkle a little love, and let's sprinkle a little healing. It makes the process more beautiful for you and for everybody because now you have infused your love into your meal. And that's art. That is art. And it may not even look pretty when maybe you end up with some weird-looking spaghetti or whatever it is that you're cooking, right? Or meatloaf, whatever. The point is that the process, how it was created, it was made with love, right? It was made with joy. So it may It will not look perfect at all, but it will only not be tasty. It will have good feelings with it, good vibration. Yes, we do. We are conductors of energy, right? So just as we're tapping into these unseen energies that bring us joy and that uplift us, we can transfer those vibrations into whatever we create. And may it be food or the canvas, which is why they say that a lot of the art that has been created thus far, it's mostly negative.

Tamara Liz

So that's why either we have to change it with energy healing, radionics, whatever people want to use, or be mindful of getting the art from somebody that is high vibrational and creating this with the intention of bringing forth these beautiful energies that will support you because everything has an energy signature. Everything has energy, vibration, Well, that's what we are. We're just aspects of source.

Sheila Franzen

Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry.

Tamara Liz

No, you could. Go ahead.

Sheila Franzen

Well, when I think about that aspect of art having vibration, right? And just because the vibration, rather than thinking of art being, I don't know, for me, rather than thinking of it being negative or positive, it's just everything has a frequency. And art that might not inspire me might be a high enough frequency that it inspires somebody else. So that's that aspect, I guess I look at everything has a vibration and a frequency in the universe. And so we never know where any individual soul is at on their healing journey. They may need something that is just above where they're currently at, and so that inspires them. And yet for somebody else, it may not inspire them. And that's always the amazing part to honor everybody's creations, right?

Tamara Liz

Oh, no. We definitely must honor everybody's creation. Yes, that's a number one thing. Even the The figure sticks, they are important because they're not only... They are expressing a part of us, and that's just beautiful. Everything of you is, well, your spark of the divine. You are the divine, right? Even if you haven't reached your highest potential, you are still... We are who we are. You know what I mean? And even the expression of a figure stick, that is beautiful, and that will be important because it expresses a part of who we are. And yes, art, it can work in so many different levels. Just looking at it, it's one aspect because our brain can mimic the figures. Whatever they're feeling, we can identify with it. Even if it's completely different what the artist intended, we can see what we want to see in each artwork, which is the beauty of it. It resonates with us on the level that we're at. It's magnificent like that. When it comes to the vibration, though, it's a whole different. It might be absolutely beautiful art, but if the artist created it in a state of mind that was not exactly...

Tamara Liz

I've been there myself. I didn't start creating art in meditation and in beautiful awe. You know what I mean? And it might not necessarily be the most beautiful art. There's absolutely more art that is even more highly regarded. It's amazing, and it's just the realism or whatever it is. There's different skills level. The skill level or the representation that we're looking at doesn't necessarily mean whether or not it's having... It's emitting blessings or good vibrations. I guess the thing with art is that we can... Whatever we are feeling, even thinking, whatever we're going through, It's energy, right? So even if I'm painting an apple or whatever I'm painting, if my state of mind is I'm going through a difficult thing and that's all I'm thinking and that's what I'm working with, it can get transferred into the artwork. And that's the healing, one of the healing aspects of it, because that part that has been difficult within you, you can just bring it out and put it in an artwork. When it comes to the process of sometimes in art therapy or I do ascension guide or whatever, and whenever I'm using art as a tool to look into what the person is, it's going through, there's different levels of it.

Tamara Liz

You can do art to get messages from the divine, but you can also do art to explore the difficult aspects that you live through. When that is the specific purpose, that's what's on your mind, that's what you're thinking, that's what you're working with, well, that's what you're putting out. And so you might just do a beautiful tree, but if you were thinking about your family relations, there will be certain symbols and certain things. And that's not even vibration, only speaking, you will see what you're going through in the artwork. And this is, for example, a person that has not felt in their life that they had a good family system, supportive system, that they have mom, dad, grandparents, all of that. So you will see that the tree that they create is not well rooted. Those are like little symbols and things that you see. And when you start talking about those things with somebody that can guide you, well, you can explore all of it. You know what I mean? Well, wow, that is incredible. This right because I didn't feel like my family was dysfunctional or this and that. So whatever you create, it's a reflection of your inner self, too.

Tamara Liz

That's why it's so beautiful, because even if it's like I said, the figure sticks, that figure stick is telling your story. And I mean, I honor that. You know what I mean? How beautiful. How beautiful. What an honor to see you in your life. It's just a real gift to be able to process with people their life stories. Because at the end of the day, when we go to therapy and everything, that's what we're doing, just processing our life stories and trying to get the perspective, maybe gain tools. But a lot of the times people just need to be seen and just understood like, Hey, I'm here. I'm valuable. I need somebody to listen to what I'm going through.

Sheila Franzen

You're mentioning there this aspect of art as a tool, right? Our intention, and I'm coming back to our intention of our paint brush, of our minds, even in our painting, whether you're doing it in meditation to try and create something for someone else, or you're doing your own inner work. But if we dive into this aspect of the inner work part of art as a tool for healing, I've been talking a lot about healing and energy healing and types of healing. Over the past many podcast episodes, it feels like it's almost like a series that's getting created, trying to introduce people to all these different kinds of healing. When I think about art as a tool for healing, and I'm pondering this concept of how does... There's all these modalities of energy healing, right? And we have Reiki, and we have... I can't even... There's so many types, sound healing, and all these types of what we more think about of energy healing, and a healer being really a conduit that we're talking about of a particular type of healing or a gift of sight or vision that helps people move and guide forward. When we talk about art as a healing tool, how would you talk about this concept of...

Sheila Franzen

I get it, but I want to hear your perspective of how does us expressing art through whatever form shift our energy? How does it shift the aspect of energy when we talk about the fact that we're all energy and we all have a frequency? How is our expression or this art as a tool doing that?

Tamara Liz

Well, I see it as different aspects, depending on what you're working through. The very most basic sense of art shifting energy is because, again, we are conduits, too. We are conduits. So this energy, not only do we receive it or we hold it, because energy gets stuck in the body. But that energy that gets stuck, that energy that we're working through that is difficult, it can be brought out through the art. So it's just that it's no longer as heavy. You're moving it, literally moving it through your hands. Because we're working with the hands, too. So there's something there, right? Raking with the hands, all of this. You're using your hands as this tool. So you use it as a tool with your hands to move that energy from you, from inside of you into the canvas or into whatever you're working with. That it's the... I want to say simple because it's not... I mean, it sounds simple to me because I'm like, Oh, yes, I do this all the time. But it's not as simple as for somebody that doesn't know anything about It's like, what? But it's a process that, although it can happen intuitively, you're not even maybe thinking of it.

Tamara Liz

In fact, most of the time when I teach how to do it, I teach how to do it intuitively, how to go to that process, because that's going to help to shift what needs to be shifted the most at that particular time, whatever we're needing help It's through an intuitive process that you just whatever, even just doing a little drawing, even just moving your hand through this as you are meditating. Because it's art is a process where we are engaging through different levels of tools. It's not just the one tool. It's a tool that help us self-reflect. We go within, right? We're going within as we're painting or we're coloring, whatever we're What we're doing is it's slowing down and using this kinesthetic tool to rest or whatever, wondering your mind is not all crazy. It might be it's still going like, distracted, just like when we're in meditation, that we have to pull our attention back. Because what's the saying? Where our attention goes, energy flows. The The process of using the art as a tool is that you're keeping your intention and you're keeping your idea of what you're working with and looking at more stably, if that makes sense.

Tamara Liz

You are working through it, you're thinking about it, you're processing it, you may even be talking about it while you paint, while you draw. It's just an internal process. That's the internal process. It's a healing process. That's what they always tell us, right? Go within, go within. And art is just a tool that facilitates going within, introspection, going to that deep self-reflection. And then through that, through that whole process, we not only are self-expressing, yes, that's a given, but we self-discover. And so things that we didn't even know that we were keeping inside, they come out through art. It's like we didn't even know that we were feeling that, we didn't even know that that was going to trigger that or that it's even unconscious. It just comes out. It's a tool that help us heal in ways that we cannot fully understand because sometimes we don't understand ourselves. It's just giving a prompt. Suddenly, that process of introspection takes out whatever needs to be shown. That's one aspect of how it's It not only brings the unconscious to the conscious, but it's just a way of retrieving some energy, some aspects of ourself. It's completely transferring energy.

Tamara Liz

It's a process They say, The hands don't lie. So whatever it is, it's just going to come out. And it's beautiful, right? Because if we're not fully aware of what is happening, sometimes that's how energy works. We don't even know. Unless you're really skilled and that's a really high to achieve a process that you know how energy is shifting, where energy is coming in. Sometimes the process is that we're oblivious to it. But through art, it makes it, I don't know, it feels more tangible in a way. However, there's all this other aspect, and it works similarly. You're just shifting your intention from from the core of an issue to the divine. So when we create and we're shifting our intention to work with the divine, then or guidance, even if we're thinking like, I have issue with this or whatever, I need to learn about this aspect. I need guidance. And you're thinking about the situation that you need guidance. Lo and behold, your artwork will show you some symbols, some keys that will open up more information for you to self discover and understand how to navigate these energies or these situations. It's almost like the same system that works with tarot cards or oracle cards, But you created yourself.

Tamara Liz

You just tapping into this universe. I don't like using the word universe and energy. I just like to say the divine because we really want to work. In the universe, there are many things, the astral, many things, the good, the bad, the ugly. We want to just work with the light and be very intentional about just working with the light. That's a few of the different ways. The process is similar because it is a process. It's a step-by-step thing that you can be guided through because you have to engage in a particular way to get what you need. And even if you don't know what you're doing, it can still happen. You don't necessarily need the step-by-step process. Some people need the step-by-step process or They prefer it. But some people can just start doing the art or doing the thing, and they will feel the benefits. They feel lighter because, of course, they just transfer that burden into a canvas. And then the next layer of that, not only did that energy shift, it's just that when you share that, when you share what you have created, it's a whole new layer of healing because you are saying, Here I am.

Tamara Liz

This is me. This is what I've done. And just being brave enough to be authentic like that, are you kidding me? That's one step that a lot of people struggle with, right? So you're doing that. You're putting yourself out there and you're being vulnerable, which is another skill that we have to learn to navigate relationships in life. So here you are. I am here. Look at me. This is what I've done. So adjusting that action alone, there's layers and layers of healing that go through, right? But then you share with other people and then you start connecting with them like, oh, my God. Yes, I felt that, too. Oh, I've been there, too. And you feel that you're not alone. You're in this together. But we forget I guess I know that that's how it works, so that we're in this together, but we forget because we're not constantly supported or we're not always sharing with people that understand or that can support us in the way that we need. Because most of the people we may share with, they don't have the skills to support us. You know what I mean? Or they might be too invested in us, so they try to give us advice and tell us what to do.

Tamara Liz

And we don't need to be told what to do. We have that knowledge within. It is something very, very beautiful, interesting. It is layers of healing that we may not I think we're getting further into how it helps. There's a lot of research now that bring it back to the body in terms of just doing the art like, Oh, yeah, it reduces cortisol. While you may not even understand it, but guess what? Energy, the energy getting stuck, that's what happens. I mean, their body reaction is that you will get cortisol. So even though they might not say how it's working in the energetics, the healing still occurs. You know what I mean? Okay, so your heartbeat gets slowed down and it helps in cardiovascular health or your brain. There's so many layers of how engaging in a creative process has been documented by science now to help. That's just even the tip of the iceberg, Because it's not really understanding how we can connect to these divine energies and bring information that not only helps us self-discover, but can totally guide us. I mean, this is definitely, for me, obviously fascinating. I'm like, This is my jam.

Tamara Liz

But there is so much to discover, which makes it exciting, too. It's like, Wow, look at this field that we need to tap into and discover. It's beautiful.

Sheila Franzen

Yes, it is beautiful. Coming back to what you started with of we're moving energy, and I was thinking about that. Before we even jumped on the podcast, we were talking about this aspect of there are so many tools, and we have to use our tools so that we can move through challenging situations in life. When I think about moving energy with our hands, I know when I'm having a hard time, whether I'm angry or upset, or irritated, or just feeling stuck, for me, I always go to something with my hands. I will organize something in my house because afterwards I'm like, Oh, that's a piece of art. I just created something for me that's beautiful and organized and makes me feel good. Or I'll fix something because I want to do something with my hands. I'll be like, Okay, where are my house projects of something I need to fix? Or I'll go take a walk, or I'll listen to music because music, again, moves energy because we're hearing something different. And Also, there's many times I haven't had them out, but often I would leave out the coloring books. I love to color within the lines.

Sheila Franzen

For me, there's something about the symmetry of coloring in the lines and the patterns that I can create in mandalas, or even I would doodle, and I just repeat patterns of doodling, or sometimes I would just draw randomly on the page. I'm I'm thinking about that from the perspective of how I actually do use such a variety of tools to move energy when things are stuck. That's really what we're talking about. That's one aspect of what we're talking about with using art as a tool. You mentioned the other aspect, which is using it for guidance and healing, which I'll come back to. I was thinking about how I haven't incorporated... I love having tools. That's part of the fun of life is when we're the artist of the canvas of life, that we have a toolbox, and that our toolbox could also include another tool, because all of these tools have a purpose? They all help in a different way. Any exact one of them, they all support us, and they all help, and they all get it something in a different way. If you only stick with one tool in life, it's like if you walked through trying to construct a house with only a hammer and you didn't have a saw, you'd have a really funny-looking house because you'd never be able to size it or make it how you wanted it.

Sheila Franzen

Well, it's the same thing with our healing journey. If we think that only one tool is going to get us to the best possible version of ourselves, we're missing out. We're not taking advantage of the potential of what these different tools can bring us. It's like working with only one healer will only get you so far because they're only one person, and they're only one modality that's helping you, versus the opportunity of if you want to be the best version of yourself, then it will be exploring all the different ways that you can move energy, and you can heal, and you can let go, or you can get guidance, and I don't know. I love that idea. I probably underestimate my own desire to use... I do use a lot of tools every day in my life, and I think that's the part where I am so inspired just to have these beautiful conversations with people like yourself of sharing new tools. Did you ever think that you could use art to heal? We know there's art therapy out there, but why does that work? Well, it's one more aspect of yourself that can get expressed or uncovered that might not happen with something else.

Tamara Liz

Exactly. I extend it to all creative therapies because it is all music therapy. Even if we don't have the therapy yet, you don't have to go. That's why they made it a therapy, period, because it helps.

Sheila Franzen

It helps, yeah, exactly.

Tamara Liz

They did say somatic work, all of it. That's why we need... Like I said, when we were starting to talk about before the podcast, all the different tools help. We need all of them because they don't always work, like you said, with the example of building the house. You know what I mean? But it's just about how the energies are flowing throughout the day. One day we're tapping into this energy and we don't feel like maybe dancing, right? We don't feel like dancing, but maybe we feel like coloring and we can have that tool. And having them all the time and just even when we have them, there are times that we forget to use them. So that's why it's so important to have the connection with other people. And like you said, experience different healers, experience different things, because not only will they remind you of different tools like, Oh, maybe you can do some tapping or, oh, Maybe you could do something. Even like I do on the group that I've been doing, I've been telling people to sing. It's singing Mondays. And I've been recording myself singing just to inspire them. Just saying it doesn't matter how you sound, sing Singing opens another layer of healing, and it's another tool.

Tamara Liz

But it's also fun. It's also self-expressing yourself and shaking things You know what I mean? You could just be a little silly and be like, You know what? And suddenly start singing out loud. Or maybe in the car in your commune, you'd be singing something. It's helping you move energy, too. It can shift whatever funk you're feeling, and then you suddenly start singing. It shifts within you because it's another tool that we can use to move energy. There are There are so many, and we don't have to know them all, of course, but it's important that we have the awareness of them so that we can use them when we're feeling low or just be cognizant of how they are helping us. Because sometimes we might not even know it, but we did it. We used it. We did the thing, right? We did the thing, and we didn't realize on the different levels that it was It's helping us. But when we are more present with it, then that's when things really, really, really work. You know what I mean? Because we're working with the intention. Sometimes people buy, let's say, a bunch of crystals.

Tamara Liz

And yes, they can be portals of energy. If we look at it through the shinto lens, everything is a portal of energy. Everything contains energy that is sacred. But if we don't intentionally use it for that, then it's not going to work. So we can hold the stone. Exactly.

Sheila Franzen

We can sit here and look at them all. It's like looking at all the tools to build a house. But if you don't pick one up, the house isn't going to be built.

Tamara Liz

Exactly. Or maybe you can even pick it up and you be like, Oh, what do I do with this hammer? You don't know how to use the hammer. So that's a whole other layer. If you don't know how to use the tool, then you might be like, Well, I'm just going to... And then you smack a few things with it, and maybe you did something with it. But imagine what you could create. But that's the thing. We don't know what we want to create because we often don't know ourselves. So that's why it's so important to go through this process of self-discovery, of knowing who we are. What do we really want to create? What brings us joy? What is our purpose? Everybody's looking for their purpose, and it seems to elude them. But it's simple when you really bring it to the beans and potatoes or whatever. It's what brings you joy.

Sheila Franzen

And Sometimes we don't know. That's the power of, I love this concept, and I know you have many different ways that you do art therapy, but it's really having fun with art, right? And being willing to intentionally go, I'm going to learn a new way. I'm going to learn a new way to heal. I'm going to learn a new way. You touched on this aspect of divine and guidance. I was really pondering that because I interact and am connected to a lot of people around wanting to get information from their... We want more information from our own... Too much energy, talking too fast, Sheila. We want more information from our own intuition, or we want to receive information from our Guardian angel, or a message from the angels, or a message from... I want to hear something. I want to see something. I want to know something. We want to somehow connect into our gifts, our clair gifts, our clair cognizance, our clair sentience, our clair audience. I'm like, I'm missing them. And there's many ways people I will guide people to do that, of journal, or I sit and I meditate and I think, Oh, I should just hear something, or I should just know something.

Sheila Franzen

Or people complain, I'm not getting any messages from anywhere. I don't have that connection. And in reality, we all have the connection, but it's exploring, and we're all getting messages. But if we're not exploring and discovering the ways that work the best- It's about being present. Right. Well, and the ways that work for us. For me, I finally surrender to the way that I get the most information or I am able to most channel the Ascended Masters, or my higher self is through writing. I have to sit and ask questions and then allow the response to come. Then I have to leave it and I go back to it and I'm like, Oh, wow, where'd that come from? I don't even remember writing it. But it's like that was actually a channeling or a message. I'm thinking about art as that tool. You talked about it being an aspect of a spiritual connection. Because then we come back to our mind and our intention being the paint brush. If we sit down to do art and we are playing with the idea of, let's just allow art to be some message, right? Of I want a message or I ask a question, however I want to receive guidance, and then allow that to come through in our art and be able to...

Sheila Franzen

I think we've probably all had so many... The other thing that popped up somewhere in here was we all have so many past lives. If anybody's listening to this podcast about a spiritual geek, some part of you understands reincarnation and past lives because we keep talking about it, and there's some part of you that knows that to be true within yourself. We've past lives as artists, right? I mean, all of us have. There's no way we haven't. Whether we're an artist or we were an artist, and we were probably ridiculed for our art or judged for our art, or maybe we were really successful with our art, and we're afraid we'll never be as successful again. Whatever it is, it's almost this aspect of realizing that, just like in everything else in life, that when we are stuck or afraid to do something, right? Afraid to do art, afraid to swim, afraid of spiders, Our fears are often our past lives. And so intertwined in this for me was a concept of healing past lives. If you are so avoiding of art, you want nothing to do with it, maybe start with a past life healing with somebody to deal with your fear of art.

Sheila Franzen

But then just this fun of being open to learning how art and working with somebody like yourself who's an art healer, right? You're a healer, and the energy of the arts, of having it be a tool that you can then, whether it's used for healing or whether it's used for divine guidance, divine inspiration. I don't always think, I've not, honestly, thought of art as being another tool that I could play with. Well, that's not true. That's silly, Sheila. There was actually a service that I did a couple of years ago with a group of people, and I would draw an image that was a light language that was an aspect of art, providing guidance and energy for someone else. It's funny how we block out these things that we think we're not capable of. I lost my train of thought there thinking about that, but it's about learning a new tool. I think that the biggest thing for me is, and maybe that's it, there's so much judgment around art and being an artist. It's about being a public speaker. You want to take the next thing people are afraid of, it's probably sharing their art or singing and sharing their voice.

Sheila Franzen

And so recognizing that and going, how can I clear that so that then I get to play with this beautiful tool of art? Whether it's pottery or painting or stick figures or woodworking or whatever it is, it can be an incredible tool of art.

Tamara Liz

Yes. I loved everything that you reflected on. Definitely, it's all about that joy of creation. Whatever tool we pick, it can just be a fun process. I know many artists will feel like it's a job, too. So they feel like this is not as joyful. I'm very stressed about getting this eye perfectly here. So even for artists using this tool, it's not necessarily something they know how to do. Just because people are artists or know how to do the thing, they don't know how to use it with the divine or as a tool for expansion of your healing. But you brought, again, for me, the fun of it. This idea for me, it brought... It's years and years that I used this was my tool to connect to the divine, to feel like, to taste that juice of divine, please give me this energy. That was the tool. Yes, there are many ways that the divine is always communicating with us. You would see, for me, it was a lot of animal totems. The totem, because I would Google animal totem to know what it was saying to me. But it was just seeing maybe this bird or seeing this whatever animal will come up.

Tamara Liz

Then I would Google the symbolism of it, and it would unpack a whole bunch of things that I was going through. So yeah, the divine is always communicating with us is whether or not we're paying attention to see it in the little details, to see what they're trying to say. We're always supportive, though, always. But that was the fun part for me, because art was the way, it is the way that I communicate and that I can feel and tap into the divine, just like writing is for you, which is another creative expression. That's an artistry. So For me, painting was always the way that symbols would come out, and then I could be like, Oh, so yes, and this layer. Then I would find letters. Then I started googling cuneiform letters and the root meanings and all of these things. That was my juice to keep connected to the divine when I didn't have the tools to connect to my higher self. You know what I mean? That was the only way that I knew how to tap into the divine before I could really, really tap. Almost not like we tap at will, but basically, yes, we do every now that When we want to connect with our higher self, we have a process, we know what to do, and we go through that, and we feel supported and guided.

Tamara Liz

Well, art was that space for me that I knew that I could go and sit with it, and I would get information just to sustain me, you know what I mean? Just to get through whatever it is. For me in this lifetime, I really do want to tap into the divine. Divine is all there is. Now that we are, I know that people may not know a lot of the ascension journey and what that entails. But really, let's just put it as a way to commune with what is divine. And period. That is what I want in life, that there is no other focus. There is no other thing. Yes, we have to continue living life. We are in this story. We need to do the cooking, we need to do the laundry, we need to do all the things. We need to comply with the structures that are in place. We cannot just escape and run to the mountain, right? I didn't think it was just like, Yeah, so we have to be in this space. But truly, there's nothing more beautiful than finding ways to connect with the divine through ourselves, not through outside sources, through ourselves.

Tamara Liz

I find that just amazing. I wanted to touch on another thing that you mentioned before when you were talking about how you were connecting to your books. I don't read my books from start to finish either. What I do, I use it as bibliomancy. And that was a tool that also helped me a lot when I wanted to figure out what things meant. Because it wasn't sometimes until I shared the art that somebody would bring out something that I couldn't see because I was invested in the art. I didn't see all the things. People would say, Oh, this looks like this, and then it on tap, like a whole new layer of meaning for me. But when I didn't share it and I was just working with it myself, I had to rely on bibliomancy to give me the information that I needed. What did it mean? What am I working through? What are these feelings? What is this? What is that? Bibliancy was the key. So I get another tool. And you see, there's so many different areas that we can touch and we can explore. But that's the thing, like you mentioned before, exploring, having fun with it, just getting out of the routine that we create and just explore in different areas.

Tamara Liz

Because there's so much that we can explore, period. So much that we can learn, so much that we can discover, not only on the outside, but within ourselves through these tools. I love it.

Sheila Franzen

Yeah. Well, and I think even the routines of life, I'm just reminded of where we started, which is, are you willing to be the artist of your life? Are you willing to paint a routine and allow it to be a piece of art? This is the part when you talk about You mentioned the Buddhist of being present in every moment and finding joy in cleaning the floor. I remember as a kid, I mowed yards. I think starting at age 10 or 11, my brother and I were mowing yards in the neighborhood to make money. For me, mowing a yard was a piece of art because I wanted the lines to be perfect. So it was nothing more satisfying for me than the routine of mowing a yard because I would do it different every time. It would be diagonals, or it would be in the circles, or it would be in lines. So that energy of just being willing to play with whatever's in front of you, to be the artist of life. I'm going on a vacation this summer, traveling the world, and No matter what the routines are of thinking of not just being the monotony of...

Sheila Franzen

Even travel could be tough sometimes, right? But it's like, What art am I going to create? I also, I think I will intentionally do some own past life clearing around having been an artist and be open to playing more with art as a tool for healing, right? What are learning some techniques around what are questions you can actually ask and how do you actually do you do that? And what does that process look like? So thank you. It's fun. I really enjoy the concept of thinking about being the artist of my life, not just the creator of my life. I I don't know. There's a fun to that that is a very... Because I've been in the energy. I live in the energy. We all live in the energy of creation, but I love the energy of creation. But it's a lot more There's something to be said about, what is that art that I'm creating for my life? I don't know. It brings a different depth to it that is really beautiful. So, yeah, thank you for this conversation. And how would you like to share with people that if they wanted to work with you, that's a great way that they could get connected, get started in working with you?

Tamara Liz

Well, right now, I have the Facebook group. I just started a month ago working the kinks out of it. I'm not sure how it will look like. I'm trying to figure it out, right? But what I'm planning with is to build a resource of these tools and learning about these tools. Then from there, because there will be free resources there. Once you navigate some of that, then You can say, Oh, well, yes, this is cool. I want to learn more. I want to go into it. Then people can decide to work with me because we really have to get to know each other. I like working with people that I know and trust. We all do, really. But I don't enjoy taking a leap of like, Let's see if this works. I'll get another thing. You know what I mean? We tried so many things. We tried so many things. Most of them, they're a let down. You invest in all of these things, and it's not what you thought you would get. I like to be in integrity and not only that, but offer I know I love it. But will you? Will you love it?

Tamara Liz

You don't know because you haven't tried it. It's like this free space is to give a taste of what it is, and then you decide to whether or not to work with me. Another layer of the Facebook group is named Art That Transform You, by the way, just in case you want to go into it. But once you try that, then you can decide to work with me. Then there's many different services. Now I discovered that I'm doing house cleanings, and at the end, it's a recommendation of art that you can take into different spaces for different purposes. So that's something new that I'm creating because we're co-creating with the divine. There's new different ideas that we receive, like a muse, like this divine inspiration, right? But the fun thing is that we can do sessions to inspire and seek the wisdom within. That's one of the sessions that I offer. And we could go through whatever you have created and work and look at the symbols and just navigate whatever is going on in your life. I think the best way is to start within the free book, I mean, free book, the free Facebook group.

Tamara Liz

And then, sorry, because my phone was sounding and I'm like, check in my mind. Facebook group is just to get insights as to whether or not this is something that you will enjoy. Then I have a series of different services from creating paintings, bespoke paintings for people to synthesize their energy or creating art that connects to a special portal or something that is meaningful to people. Then they really want to work with that energy. I can create a portal with that energy energy. Or what else? Of my sessions, the wisdom within, stuff like that. I mean, there's so many things, but they're all working with the same beautiful energy of creation and just the wisdom that we have within. So fun stuff, right? Yeah.

Sheila Franzen

Thank you. I mean, that's great. So I love where people have a community that they can join, right? Creating connection and community. So that's perfect with your Facebook group. And we'll list your website of how people can get started with that. So you have art that you share with the world, and then you also are teaching people about doing their own art. And that is absolutely, absolutely perfect. So thank you, Tama for being here. It's been a super fun conversation. I love this aspect, as I said, of being the artist of our own lives and finding more tools that allow us to be artists of our own lives. So, yeah, it's awesome.

Tamara Liz

Yes. Fun and self-discovery. Beautiful stuff. Yes. We are all just such amazing people. We're all beautiful. And thank you, Sheila, for this opportunity. I enjoyed the conversation, too. It's beautiful.

Sheila Franzen

You're very welcome. You've just listened to the Spiritual Geek podcast. Thank you for joining us. If you've enjoyed the episode, be sure to share a comment and rating on your favorite podcast platform. It helps the podcast be more visible so that more people are inspired and get to enjoy the beautiful conversations that we're having. Consider sharing with friends and family. Love and light to each of you. May your day be filled with artistry as you consciously create your life.