Fallen Tree: How stories save me

When we are little, we love listening to stories, especially before bedtime. They are loving and comforting, so why not have bedtime stories now, even though we're grown up? That's why 2 weeks ago I started sharing the stories from my new book Soul Seeds: Planting Heartfelt Stories on Facebook Live. 

I am delighted to have had so many people join me. It's really helping me to feel connected, even though I can't go out like I used to. How wonderful to have a platform from which to share my work, literally, from my bedroom and to help folk feel relaxed and calm before bedtime.

I absolutely LOVE writing stories, especially when they have an inspirational message within them. Most of my stories are based on my own healing journey. I write them to lift my spirit, to help me face my day, which can be a challenge with constant tinnitus.

Like last night, I laid awake for hours again because my tinnitus was literally as loud as 2 conflicting ambulance sirens, reverberating around my head, so eventually, I got up and started making little story pockets to cheer myself up. The tactile nature of the felt and the concentration needed, takes my mind away from the tinnitus. I enjoy making them so much, that having the ambulances in my head, doesn't seem quite so bad. So, although writing stories and publishing books is my career, hand-making books and story pockets is my therapy, it saves me.

The 4 Fallen Tree Story Pockets from today are now finished and ready to go to new homes. They are just £5 each to cover my material costs (plus p&p) so that my creative therapy is self funded. Each pocket includes the story printed on recycled paper, a mini talking stick made from the very bones of Fallen Tree (as stated in the story) with a little acorn or pine cone charm and then on the outside, there is a tree of life charm.

My story pockets really would make beautifully quirky Christmas gifts (Yes, I know it's early, sorry).

If you would like to buy them, please drop me a line on facebook. I'd love to hear from you and it really will give me so much joy to wrap them up and post them to you. Thanks for your  loving support.

Shopping for Haiku

Yesterday, I took

Haiku to the shops in town
Lots of people came

What a fab idea
Shopping Centre Managers
Erect Gazebo

Now to find artists
Ask a local charity
Arts Care Gofal Celf

They telephone me
'Can you do Origami
And Haiku Workshop?'

'Yes, I'd love to. Where?'
'Down in the Shoppping Centre'
'The Shopping Centre?'

'Yes, is that OK?'
'Off course, I'd love to, thank you.
How many people?'

'Not sure, say 50'
'Oh, Righty ho, busy then.
Best get more paper'




Haiku day arrives
Extra paper just incase
You never can tell

One hundred people!!!
Queuing to take part in my
Japanese haven





Who would have thought it
Children desperate to write
A haiku poem

Even though it is
The school summer holidays
'Look at my poem'




And this genius
Idea is from Merlin's walk?
A Shopping Centre?

How good to know that
Even the private sector
See value in Art

Inspirational
Ways of attracting footfall
Pretty impressive

www.merlinswalk.com

I was so utterly taken aback by the response to my Drop in, particularly the children's enthusiasm for Haiku and how the parents took to helping them, that I am now writing a little e-book to help parents who would like to write this traditional form of Japanese poetry with their children at home. To find out more, click the links below.

It would be so lovely if you decided to LIKE my Cheryl Beer Writer page on facebook. That's where I share daily insights & exciting previews of my work as a writer. Here's a link ...

My first time: FB LIVE

Tonight, was my first ever FACEBOOK LIVE. It's part of my new plan to build a platform from which to share my work as a poet, writer and songstress. Having hyperacusis means that performance is pretty much out of the question, at least for now, until I can devise new ways of making it so. 

To be honest, if I look back over the last year, who would have thought that I could have come this far in terms of carving a whole new life around my hearing needs, so ...  'Never say never' (as my Nan would say)

Here's the first facebook live, this one was on my new SOUL INK writer's page and to be honest, not many people jumped in ... 

Feeling more confident with the technology (in that I actually worked out how to turn it on!) I then I went over to my main facebook page and did a second LIVE SOUL INK recording. 

Here it is (below) ... as you can see, many more people responded because my main page comes up in their feed, whereas my new Writer's Page is a Business Page, so it doesn't seem to. It's all a learning process ... which is fabulous.

I got quite emotional at times because friends that I have not seen for ages, were responding live, and in real time, it felt very magical indeed. Like a proper connection.

So, despite feeling sick with nerves before doing it, I am so pleased to have begun this facebook LIVE journey. That I can speak to you from the bed where I wrote my book 'SOUL INK for the Morning' and do readings personally for you, in a real time response, is beyond words really, it's an emotion I haven't felt for a very long time, if ever.

And when something feels this right, well, you just have to keep going with it.

                                     

SOUL INK READINGS AT MY FACEBOOK LIVE: The quest for creative, disability friendly platforms

The quest for disability friendly platforms continues and I am finding it quite exciting. My hyperacusis means that being in large crowded theatres and venues has become untenable, mostly because theatres sadly do not have the equipment I need to able to access performance. So, unperturbed, I am currently exploring ways that I can work from the quiet of home and yet still creatively connect with people who might be interested in my work.

As I wrote in an earlier blog, I have spent some time re-vamping my youtube and now today, I am going to try and get to grips with FACEBOOK LIVE!! I am a tad nervous but in a good way.

The first thing I have done is opened a Cheryl Beer SOUL INK page dedicated just to my writing. This is an enormous step for me. Deep down, I have this feeling that my little humble offerings are not really going to be of any worth, so I tend to push them to one side and make myself too busy, by helping everyone else. But then this week, I went for an Angel Card Reading with the lovely Mandy Hawkins and what came up was that I need to 'turn up the volume and allow myself to shine'. Well, I started crying when she said it. The very thought of focusing on my own work quite frankly, makes me almost giddy. But, I'm not one to argue with angels and whether you believe in angel card readings or not, Mandy's loving encouragement and ability to switch on my sparkle, was really beautiful.

Anyway, I digress, so, I opened the writers page and over 200 people joined within 24 hours ... which was just MIND BLOWING and gave me affirmation that I am walking the right pathway.

So, tonight at 6.30pm I am going to see if I can get facebook live to work. I have no idea what I'm doing but I am guessing we can all learn together.

The idea is that I will be able to give interactive readings from my new SOUL INK book, sharing with folks that leave messages in my feed whilst filming. What a lovely way to connect with folk.

If you'd like SOUL INK reading, just pop on over and LIKE MY PAGE.

If you're intrigued and would like to find out more about me, why not click the link and pop to my website ... 

                                                                     

Published by Parlour Press

Planting Heartfelt Stories at Skanda Vale Hospice

I had such a beautiful afternoon telling stories to those who are at the end of their life and have come for peaceful and loving nurture from the wonderful team of staff and volunteers at Skanda Vale Hospice. It was such a joy to share the healing tales from my new book, Soul Seeds: Planting Heartfelt Stories. 

We visualised bunches of wild flowers with essential oils, felt the tactile nature of tree rings, drifted to sea and imagined conversations with our cousins, the trees, finishing our stories with hand printing and connecting with the tree that speaks most to our soul.

 'I've told more stories than you have.' One woman said from her bed. I smiled a smile right from my core, for this is the heart of my work. To empower others through life story.

'Your stories are about trees but you know, really they are about life. That's exactly how I feel.' My job here is done.

I know many of you have said kind things about my work with people who are at the end of their life, but truly, we are all either living or dying from the moment we arrive.It is wonderful to bring joy to the living & quietly celebrate life.

I hope each day brings you moments of immense joy & that you are able to weave these silken threads into a cloak that keeps your heart smiling.

Cheryl Beer

Inspirational Writer

If you would like to volunteer at Skanda Vale or find out more about their wonderful work, follow THIS LINK.

If you would like me to tell stories at your bedsides, then feel free to get in touch. 

Reaching Out for Creative Empaths

It's funny, you know, there have been some beautiful gifts that have come into my life since becoming deaf and living with tinnitus and hyperacusis. It can be hard to see them sometimes with this constant noise in my head and the distortion issues but this last few months, I have felt strong enough to start reaching out to the Universe in a meaningful and considered way, opening my heart and inviting her to bring the right people into my life. Creative people who are kind, understanding and caring and who might want to collaborate artistically to make beautiful things happen. I want to say creative people who are empaths but the definition of empath is a person with a paranormal ability to sense the emotions of others, so maybe I mean empathic, though to be honest, I think we all have the ability to be an empath if we learn to listen.

And that's the really funny thing, I can't hear what's in front of me, even with my hearing aids, face to face with someone, I miss certain words. The sound of rivers distorts in my head and either I can not hear the birds or there is one that kindly sings at the top of her voice into my tinnitus range and blows the speakers of my ears, triggering hyperacusis and yet, I can listen to my intuition more deeply than I ever have in my entire life.

This is manifesting in some very beautiful ways that I will discuss later as they are the premise of my new Creative & Mindful Business Venture that launches this Summer, so I don't want to ruin the surprise but today, a very interesting thing dawned on me.

I have written to a few people. People that, whilst I was in the depths of despair, I had much joy connecting with, via facebook. I have watched their creative journey and can see that perhaps, we would work well together, guessing from the type of work they do, that they would be understanding about my need for them to come to me, rather than me go to them. 

I would never have done this before. I would have just booked to go and see them. Everyday I was out and about travelling 3 or 4 hours a day, meeting everyone's needs, but now, my hearing in the car is blasted by a tone in my engine that we can't get rid of, even with sound proofing, so I try to base myself mostly at home or close by unless it is an engagement that I just can not afford to miss. Besides, the internet means I can be working at home and all over the world at the same time.

Now then, the response to these calls, has been very interesting and informed my gut instinct much about the person. For instance, some have said yes, they would like to meet up but they are very busy, so could I travel to them. This tells me a lot about how they would expect a future collaborative partnership to be structured. 

What I am open to is creative empaths who think ...WOW, that would exciting to go and visit Cheryl to talk creative possibilities. What a lovely invite, yes, thanks, I'd love to come' and not ... 'Er well, I'll try to squeeze you in if you compromise your hearing health and drive to me.'

I would never have even considered this before. I would have just arranged to visit them. Before my hearing disabilities came along, I did not for one minute think about my own needs and bent over backwards driving all over the country to accommodate but you can only bend over backwards for so long before you break ... I simply have no choice other than to invite the world to me and trust the right people will come.

What an incredible learning that is. It's almost a gift that has been handed to me ... it is absolutely fine for someone to be too busy to accommodate my hearing needs and it is absolutely fine for me to focus on welcoming those who do have the time.

So, if you are a Creative Empath and would like to arrange to pop by to chat possibilities over a cuppa, feel free to drop me a line on facebook ... 

All love to you. dear ones.

New Film Collaboration

I am always excited about my work but tomorrow I will be especially excited because Film Maker Bill Taylor-Beales is coming over to see me so that we can have a chat about collaborating in making some videos for my new Creative & Mindful Business Venture. I have been working tirelessly on the project for over a year, devising an inspirational online resource to help others and am so close to being ready to open the doors.

Bill & I have already made one very exciting piece for my website, held under wraps until the launch later this year. We have been working remotely by telephone and email which has motivated us to meet up tomorrow and talk possibilities.

Meanwhile ... why not pop over to my Bandcamp and check out my back catalogue Celebrating 40 years as a songwriter.