Intuitive Painting with Linnea: Online Sessions in 2027

Register by clicking the graphic above!

I am delighted to be offering online sessions tapping into four feminine archetypes through discussion and art in January, February, and March. This is an opportunity for you to open yourself to your inner wisdom in a novel manner. The process is intentionally extended to allow for deep insights to form and for time to process with the group. 

Your materials should be gathered (or purchased) and available before the first session and will cost $25-100 depending on whether you already have acrylic paints and brushes, and the level of basic to professional supplies you choose. If you are local, I will provide your canvas, just ask! Supplies to procure before the program include:

To purchase or gather before the first session:

• One 16 x 20 inch canvas, ($15-20)
• Acrylic paints: I’m listing specific colors if you are purchasing, but you can use similar colors if you already have them: primary/cadmium red, primary/cadmium yellow, primary/cobalt blue, black, titanium white, raw sienna, burnt sienna, raw umber – optional green, Phtalo blue) ($20-50)
• Gloss gel or matte medium ($10)
• 1 Medium sized angle brush, 1 small square brush, 1 small round brush, (optional larger brush or other shapes/sizes you like) ($15)
• Gold or silver paint marker ($5)
• Piece of chalk to draw on canvas with

Gather from around your home, or procure:

• 1 or more old broken brushes (check junk drawers, tool boxes etc for options) for vigorous dry brushing and texture
• Small cloth, like a wash cloth, that you don’t care remains paint stained.
• Plastic fork (not a metal one)
• Sponge or paper towels
• Sketch paper and pencil
• Drop cloth to protect your floor from paint (unless you don’t need it)

Significantly discounted early bird rates will be offered up to 45 days before each session and the fee below does not include your materials. Consider using professional development funds, if you have them, as this is a program of spiritual direction. 

If you are currently working with me in spiritual direction, you are welcome to continue your individual sessions and we can further explore your experience in painting intuitively if desired. You may also suspend your monthly sessions to immerse yourself in Paint From Your Soul with Linnea. 

If you would like to set up a spiritual direction session, now or during the program, here is the link and its also in every email I send: https://scheduler.zoom.us/linnea-nelson/spiritualdirection.

• Early Bird (up to 45 days before the start of the program): $299 
• Regular (up to 7 days before the start of the program): $399
• Last Minute (from 1-6 days before the start of the program): $499

Tentative dates for this online program, guided with spiritually deepening questions are:

• Friday/Saturday Retreat–Plan for 5 hours each day with additional painting time on your own if desired. We will have painting time during the online portion which will also hold breaks and mealtimes.
  Noon to 6 pm ET
  11am to 5 pm CT
  10 am to 4 pm MT
  9 am to 3 pm PT
  January 8-9, 2027
  
• Thursdays in February and March from 10-12 am ET
  Start times 7am PT, 8 am MT, 9 am CT
  February 4, 11, 18, 25; March 4, 11, 18 and April 1, 2027
  
• Mondays in March, 4 hour sessions from 12-4 pm ET
  Start times 9am PT, 10am MT, 11am CT
  March 1, 8, 15 and 29, 2027

Although:

• This is not a “paint and sip” class, we will find fun and joy in the process!
• This is not a comprehensive “how-to paint class,” you will learn how to use acrylic paints in many ways.
• This is not therapy or art therapy, but you will delve deeply into your inner wisdom.
• This is not individual spiritual direction, but it may feel like group spiritual direction (or you can make appointments with me anytime during the program to delve more deeply.)

Taking on Art

Over the years I’ve had more than one concussion. Two years ago, a concussion led to headaches. I had heard that art can be calming so I took up art, trying out a different art media every few months. Whatever the media, it released my headaches and became a spiritual practice with the intention of healing. I am still a beginner, but I wanted to share my art starts. Currently I’m auditing a drawing class at our local commuity college.

First, you’ll notice I’m mostly learning on flowers!

The first photo is a pencil drawing, then watercolor, oil and in the second row, watercolor, watercolor and acrylic. I highly encourage anyone who thinks they have no artistic abilities to give it a try. It is very relaxing and I am learning more and more that there is research behind teh creation of art. And the ones below were from a retreat on Circles, Spirals and Labyrinths. The first one below is neurographic art, designed especially to be calming art and the other is part of a series of circles I painted.

July Activities

I use extra time in July and December to learn, organize and deepen my spiritual direction skills. A recent worship service I conducted at the First Unitarian Church of Orlando, where I am a member, focused on” “Questions of Purpose” with a children’s book by Amanda Gorman (Somewhere, Sometime) and a Youube TedTalk Video by Adam Leipzig supporting the ideas. I painted the cover picture shown above in oil of a sunflower my son, Joel, photographed in Georgia.

Here are some of the ideas I included:

David Brooks, an author and writer for decades, has said that he revisits his own life purpose every five years. Think about that. Five years ago we were in the middle of a pandemic. Five years before that, Ted and I were still living in Northern Virginia and had no idea we would be moving to Orlando and we didn’t know what a blessing you and 1U would be to us. 

Not all five year increments will have such significant changes to life circumstances, but there are changes, sometimes primarily within ourselves, sometimes determined by world, community or family events. 

Today I am inviting us to take a deep dive into our own purpose in life and to contemplate how our 1U community supports our endeavors. 

Recently, my spiritual director asked me a question that broke my heart open: 

“What is the spiritual significance of your birth?”

I had no answer. It was a very big question, even for a spiritual direction session. But it did prompt me to take “the spiritual significance of my birth” into my heart and spend some time wondering how the activities, jobs, relationships and way of being in the world have supported or detracted from my spiritual purpose in life. 

As I contemplated this big question, I began to substitute my “spiritual significance” with my “life purpose,” which seemed a little bit easier to get my head and my heart around. 

When we are lucky, or perhaps intentional, our life purpose can be carried out in our jobs as well as our roles in our families and communities. Yet, our jobs change, our families grow, and our communities face new challenges. 

Sometimes these challenges can seem to knock us away from our soul’s purpose, yes, another substitute set of words for life purpose.  Or, perhaps time and circumstances have changed slightly and we feel the need to revisit our spiritual paths and life journey. 

I try to find my authentic self through the words I can use to  live out my  “spiritual significance”, because, quite frankly, like the author David Brooks tells us in a reel somewhere out there, I revisit my life purpose every few years, to see if my words and actions are being authentic to my life purpose and to see if new skills or interests might add to it. 

Just checking, has anyone’s life not changed at all in the last five years?

We can benefit from a bit of focus on who we are and how we are living our lives in a way that is true to our authentic selves. I’d like to invite you into this process. Our service is titled “Questions of Purpose” so I will pose questions to you…but we won’t start with the big “What is the spiritual purpose of your birth.” We’ll work up to that. 

I’d like to take you on a journey to explore some possible answers to “purpose questions.”

One of the ways I revisit my purpose is by regularly reviewing the TedTalk by Adam Leipzig. I’ve found his process instrumental in helping me revisit and shape my own spiritual path. Leipzig shares five questions he says were inspired by his 25th college reunion of Yale graduates. At his reunion, he recognized that everyone in this group had privilege and education. He also realized they all had big hopes and dreams as undergraduates. As he surveyed these grads, he found out that 80% of them were unsatisfied with how they were living their lives…too busy, too career oriented, and in today’s world, the survey might have added, they were too social media focused or too isolated. In college these Yale graduates had been inspired to live their best lives and change the world. 

So Leipzig studied the 20% or so that were satisfied and he found that by asking just a few questions, the happiest people had found deep purpose in their lives. He asked them: 

• Who they were
• What they did
• Who they did it for
• What they wanted or needed
• What changed as a result. 

Their answers inspired him to formalize his questions, which are the ones I revisit every few years to help me live into my soul’s purpose, or life purpose, or maybe even the spiritual significance of my birth (that one still seems too big for me to answer). 

I want to share Adam’s questions with you, since they have been so helpful to me. I hope you will play along by shouting out the very first answer that comes to mind when I ask his questions. As we did in the worship service, I hope you will speak aloud the first ideas that come to you for each of these questions:

Who are you?

Next I’m going to ask you: What do you love to do? Sing, write, teach, crunch numbers, work for justice… in fact, think of something you are such an expert in that you would share it with someone else with joy. Might be teaching about it but it could be showing someone or inviting someone to do the thing with you.

What do you love to do?

It gets easier, think about “Who do you do it for?”

Our next question needs a little more time: “What do they want or need?” Again, shout it out after the countdown: 

“What do they want or need?”

How do they change or transform as a result of what you share with them? 

By the way, this process is almost exactly as Adam Leipzig does it on his TedTalk video.

Think about your answers and string them together into a thought. 

Please take a few calming breaths together before my last question. 

• Breathe in to allow the spirit of life to fill you, and breathe out to let go of the things you worry will never be fixed.
• Breathe in to open your heart, Breathe out to let go of disappointments. 
• Breathe in to feel purpose and breathe out to feel the pulse of this community. 

And now, my final question: How does being in your Unitarian Universalist (or other) community support your purpose?” 

No need to shout this out, just hold it in your heart.

I find that each time I return to my soul’s purpose, I get closer to answering that  big question of what is the spiritual significance of my birth. And I know I can’t live into my life’s purpose–my soul’s purpose– without the support of you, of 1U, supporting me as I seek to live an authentic life. 

Together we can encourage each other to listen for our own and our collective life purpose, the spiritual significance of being born. Let’s inspire each other to travel together on this spiritual journey as we all strive to live into our collective purpose of bringing more love into the world. 

Now go out and live your life’s purpose!

Planning on Writing a Spiritual Memoir?: Resources

I’ve been writing with a group of three spiritual memoirists for the past two years. We are all part of my first spiritual director’s writing group: Elizabeth Jarrett Andrews Eye of the Heart Center online writing community. We call ourselves the “Deep Divers” and it has been a joy to write twice a month with these two wonderful writers. After two years, I realized I had written about 200 pages and I decided I need to start the editing process. Two books that have inspired me to tackle this project are poet Maggie Smith’s Dear Writer and the amazing Anne Lamott and her husband Neal Allen. If you are writing, spiritual or otherwise, you may find these books hugely helpful. You may also find support in joining the Eye of the Heart Center.

Writing your spiritual journey can bring deep peace and understanding to your life. To add a psychological bent through Internal Family Systems, I was a reader for my friend Elizabeth Venart, who wrote an engaging book that I believe would allow the kind of understanding needed to write a spiritual memoir. Her book is called, Trusting Your Highly Sensitive Self. Elizabeth’s writing will engage you whether you consider yourself a highly sensitive person, or you know someone who is.

Resisting Hate

New Church Year

A new church year brings many joys along with many challenges and opportunities. If you are a religious professional, a congregational member or a seeker, you may find that September is a time to renew your commitment to your own spiritual life. You may be seeking to center or ground yourself to be able to fulfill your calling in life. You may be yearning to find your spiritual center or create sacred space in your life. You may want support in starting or deepening a spiritual practice. Spiritual companionship may be a way to find yourself and connect with the mystery. I have openings starting in September for all seekers, with the first session always free.

I do see two people each year free of charge (rather than offering a sliding fee). They are seminarians or religious professionals who have no professional development funds. You can join my wait list for free services if you fall into those categories. I will have openings in January 2026 for two new pro bono seekers.

Jung Platform for Online Learning

As a spiritual director, I am committed to continuing my professional and spiritual education so that I can better serve you. As I explore my own spiritual life, and uncover stumbling blocks, I use classes, writing and spiritual practices, time with my own spiritual director and with my spiritual director supervisor to explore them. This allows me to be a clearer vessel to hold your sacred stories with an open heart, no judgment and love.

Currently, I am taking a yearlong class with the Jung Platform. I have taken several classes with them over the years, including one on shadow work and one on dreams and wonder. I highly recommend them and I have established a formal connection as an ambassador with them to highlight their courses. Take a moment to look around at single-session, multi-session and yearlong programs they offer.

Writing our Spiritual Memoirs

I’ve been in a writing group for over a year now. We are a group of three, all members of Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew’s writing platform: Eye of the Heart Center. She was my first spiritual director, and she is now focused on her writing and teaching writing. She has several books published by Skinner House Books, including her most recent, The Release, which I have yet to read, but have been benefiting from her wisdom through her classes and wisdom shared on her app.

Chautauqua 2025

I’ll be teaching a class again at Chautauqua Institution this summer on Spiritual Practices. I have taught this class there before and it was such a lovely time with some interesting people. If you happen to be visiting Chautauqua for Week 1, I’m teaching 3-4:30, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, June 24-26, 2025. Join us!

Conversation Between Spiritual Directors

Rev. Sara Lewis and I discuss spiritual direction in this video: “Spiritual Direction for Religious Educators: A Well-Kept Secret.” This video was made for the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA) but the message is for all seekers. We try to share the breadth and depth of spiritual direction. I hope you feel more comfortable seeking spiritual direction with our observations.