Originally, I’d intended on posting this around Black Friday/Cyber Monday but I was prevented by forces outside my control. The week of Thanksgiving, Los Angeles was oppressed relentlessly by Santa Ana winds which are always a challenge to my body, but especially so this time.
With my recent sinus surgery (which I still need to tell you about!) I was already at less than my usual lower-than-average health and my sinuses just about lost the will to live once the winds started. This meant almost a week of migraines every day, but even after the worst of it had passed, I was terribly behind on everything I hadn’t been doing while I was laying in the dark with an ice pack on my head. Things fell behind.
This really has no connection to either Black Friday or Cyber Monday now but a large percentage of my sales happen around the holidays, so I hope you’ll indulge this post anyway 🙂
I have a perfect gift idea for anyone in your life (or perhaps you!) who is a bit artsy or introverted or just wants to develop their self-awareness. INTROSPECTIVE: A Photographic Quest is a truly unique experience unlike anything else I’ve found. I created this online workshop after searching for something like it, and not finding anything that resonated with me. In the eight-week course, you will use your camera to explore your inner self, receiving a new assignment each week challenging you to delve into your secrets, fears and joys.
A Student’s Image
No photography experience is needed (although links to more technical information are provided for anyone who wants to learn more about it). This is not a class about photography, it’s about you taking you exploring your inner self, making new discoveries and using art to document what you find. It’s also an extremely therapeutic experience; I based the structure of the class on the healing I found in photography and self portraiture.
A Student’s Image
In a sense, you could say it’s a course about self portraiture since everything you create will be imbued with who you are, but there are no requirements to put yourself within the image, or even have any people in your images. If you find that, say, tea leaves on a saucer express what you’re feeling, that’s just as valid as any other way of expressing yourself!
You will learn about yourself over these eight weeks and make wonderful discoveries. The best, and most long-lasting, of these may just be discovering the profound healing power in art. This is an eight-week adventure full of fun and joy in a safe, love-filled environment. If you want to share your images with the world, you’re more than welcome to, but there’s no requirement to do so. INTROSPECTIVE is about you, through and through.
A Student’s Image
With the new year and its resolutions quickly approaching us, I can’t think of a better gift to start the year off with! Whether you take the class yourself or give it as a gift to someone, I can guarantee that not only will it be completely different than every other gift you or they will receive, but that it will do wonders for the soul of every participant.
To jump-start this for the holiday season, I’ve created a special promotion to receive $25 off INTROSPECTIVE! That’s 30% off! Just enter code INTROXMAS2014 when you check out, whether you’re buying for yourself or someone else 🙂
A Student’s Image
I’d like to point out that INTROSPECTIVE has not been hosted on Udemy for its whole existence; in the beginning, I hosted it on my site. While Udemy shows that very few people have taken the course, the number is actually higher. And somehow some of the reviews have gotten erased as well. Sigh. Luckily, I have another one I can share with you from student Aly, two of whose photos are right above and below!
“I have taken part in Sarah’s Introspective course twice, not because I missed anything the first time, but because her course offers the unique quality of fresh opportunity for introspection and growth, with each round. Much like a “Choose your own Adventure” book (but with far more substance, of course), the beginning, journey and end of the Photographic Quest are what you make it, with Sarah’s guiding topics, suggestions, questions and technical encouragement, to keep the journey on track. Through her course, I created several self portraits which spoke from my heart, of which I am very proud and thankful to have been guided toward. I absolutely recommend Introspective: A Photographic Quest, for anyone interested in exploring themselves through self portraiture. I’ve come from this course with much more confidence in my ability to realize self portraits, from concept to fruition, and of course, a closer understanding of myself, through this Introspective journey.“
A Student’s Image
Thank you, Aly! Her review sums up what I want the class to be for everyone; something you can return to again and again, adjusting it for yourself each time. And you can retake it at any time; the lesson outlines are downloadable, so you can go through the journey as many times as you want for the one price of admission!
A Student’s Image
With all that said, think about INTROSPECTIVE as a gift for yourself or a loved one. It will certainly be a completely unique gift, unlike anything else they might receive! And with the benefit of being able to repeat it at any point, it just keeps giving 🙂 On top of that, use code INTROXMAS2014 when you check out to get an entire 30% off! I hope you’ll take the journey and go on an adventure!
A Student’s Image
I’d love to hear your thoughts about it, both as you’re on your quest and after. And if you upload your images to the Flickr group for INTROSPECTIVE, they just might get featured here!
Be bold! Go on a quest and return a deeper person 🙂
Mythic Pictures 
SARAH!!!!
I’ve been meaning to write, but by the time I do all the things I really HAVE to do, I rarely have any mental energy left over for writing. You know how it is.
So this is just a quickie to say that I hope you are feeling better. I read a while back that you had some complications with your sinus surgery and lost a bucket or so of blood and I was very worried and also feeling bad that I didn’t talk to you about it sooner. How are you doing?
It’s so funny that you just sent out this INTROSPECTIVE email. About maybe two days ago I was thinking about Introspective and wondering what happened to that project. I thought maybe it had fallen by the wayside, which made me a bit sad. So I’m glad to hear that you’re offering it again!
My health has been getting worse. I’ve been getting a three-session diagnostic assessment from a psychiatrist. I knew going in what would happen. He immediately dismissed all notions of CFS and is hell-bent on diagnosing me with depression. I mentioned CFS a bunch of times and have been very clear that I have been experiencing post-exertional malaise, that I’m not particularly unhappy, etc. When I bring these things up, he sort of raises his eyebrow and then keeps asking me depression-related questions. I get the impression that he doesn’t know or care what CFS is, and that he finds it annoying that I think I know more about my body and mind than he does.
I was disheartened by that, but I expected it, and truthfully, there is no real treatment for CFS anyway. A diagnosis is only useful if there is a cure. I’ve been longing for some external validation, for some expert to tell me what’s wrong, but I know what I’m experiencing, I know I meet criteria for CFS, and I know that there’s nothing the medical community can do for it. So I don’t NEED a diagnosis anymore. Besides, I actually do have some dysthymia / depression, so I might as well at least try to get that treated. I also have a concurrent anxiety disorder and complex PTSD, though the psychiatrist doesn’t seem much interested in those either.
Rachel is home. I wasn’t expecting her to be back in Hamilton so soon. I wasn’t ready for it. And the shitty thing is that I heard about it from someone else first, who had been invited to a party to celebrate her return. A party I hadn’t heard about. Rachel did eventually invite me to it, a few days before it happened. Things are shitty and weird between us. I have 80% decided that I don’t want to be snuggly / sexy with her anymore. But I’m having trouble committing to that idea, since I enjoy being affectionate with her so much.
I had committed to keeping my distance at the party. She was also pretty distant. I’m not sure if she was reacting to signals from me, or if she’s just decided that it’s over between us. We didn’t really get a chance to talk. I wasn’t interested in creating that space, and I don’t think she was either. I just didn’t and don’t have the energy. We hugged for a long time at meeting and departing, but didn’t touch or really talk much other than that. I was in a weird fog for most of the party and was really only maybe 45% conscious. I almost didn’t go. I probably should have stayed home.
I felt miserable and in fact borderline suicidal when I left the party, but I think that was mostly because I was so tired and really should have been in bed. But also I kept thinking about how much I wanted Rachel to want me and how much it hurt that she didn’t and how empty my life is right now. I sleep alone almost every night. (Well, I usually sleep with Ziggy, but I think she mostly resents my presence in what she probably considers to be her bed.)
Seeing her name in my inbox brings me pain. Any reference to Jewish or Irish people upsets me right now too (she’s half-Jewish and half-Irish). I see her everywhere I go. I don’t know why I’m so heart-broken over her. I think it might be because she reminds me a lot of my first lover. But also, we just fit together so well. There’s a real chemistry between us, that I haven’t felt with anyone in a very long time. It’s hard to walk away from that.
Anyway, my head is aching and I’m getting tunnel vision. Time for sleeping.
Oh, I heard that California is having the worst drought it’s had in 1200 years. Do you have enough water?
❤ A
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 19:37:16 +0000 To: killtommy@hotmail.com
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