How 'Return to Your Heart' Came to Be

Juilee Ryan

6 days ago

3 min read

Return to Your Heart is an opportunity to step away from the noise of everyday life, listen within, and reconnect with the creative wisdom of your heart. — ***Return to Your Heart*** is an opportunity to step away from the noise of everyday life, listen within, and reconnect with the creative wisdom of your heart.

For most of my life, I have been very good at listening to my head.

Make the to-do list. Go to work. Take care of others first. Keep chasing the imaginary carrot.

But over the past several years, I’ve become increasingly aware of the wisdom of the heart.

In 2018, I started taking oil painting classes that taught me how to see the world with a new perspective. It was so exciting!

I heard the little voice that didn’t want to adhere to a prescribed plan for happiness or a logical explanation for life. I wanted to make friends again with my long-lost Right Brain creative self. Like Sandra Dee, I wondered, “There has to be something more than what they see.”

That was when my Divine Light painting was born—an attempt to literally “branch out” and connect with my spiritual self. I wanted to paint a tree goddess but believed I lacked the skills to bring her to life.

Or so I thought.

A few years later, I made the momentous decision to retire early from teaching. For perhaps the first time in my life, I gave my heart the reins—even though I had no idea exactly where it was taking me. It required more courage than I realized I possessed at the time.

That decision coincided with an invitation to an art course called Paint From Your Soul where I could build a pathway to my heart through art and at the same time, launch a business.

Commander Left Brain, however, had a few opinions. 😂

“The LOGICAL thing to do is to apply your teaching skills to art.”

And, “When you paint, have a plan and make it look like real life—just like you were taught in oil painting class.”

But a beautiful manifestation from Paint From Your Soul was a small cohort of class members who created a support group that would meet every Monday for the past two years. We have expanded beyond how to build an art business and discovered the power of women in community with a vision to share their gifts with the world.

I began noticing what happened when I stopped approaching a blank canvas with an idea of what I was supposed to create and instead allowed myself to become quiet, listen and respond to whatever wanted to emerge.

Sometimes I knew exactly what I was painting.

Sometimes I had absolutely no idea. 😂

But the process became less about creating something “good” and more about discovering something about myself.

And eventually I began wondering:

What might happen if we gave ourselves more than an afternoon to explore that?

That question became Return to Your Heart.

I began imagining what it might feel like to create a space where women could return week after week—not to learn how to paint the “right” way, but to become curious about what their own hearts might be communicating.

A place for meditation, reflection, painting, conversation and community.

A place where no one needs to know what the finished painting is supposed to look like before she begins.

How 'Return to Your Heart' Came to Be

For most of my life, I have been very good at listening to my head.

Make the to-do list. Go to work. Take care of others first. Keep chasing the imaginary carrot.

But over the past several years, I’ve become increasingly aware of the wisdom of the heart.

In 2018, I started taking oil painting classes that taught me how to see the world with a new perspective. It was so exciting!

I heard the little voice that didn’t want to adhere to a prescribed plan for happiness or a logical explanation for life. I wanted to make friends again with my long-lost Right Brain creative self. Like Sandra Dee, I wondered, “There has to be something more than what they see.”

That was when my Divine Light painting was born—an attempt to literally “branch out” and connect with my spiritual self. I wanted to paint a tree goddess but believed I lacked the skills to bring her to life.

Or so I thought.

A few years later, I made the momentous decision to retire early from teaching. For perhaps the first time in my life, I gave my heart the reins—even though I had no idea exactly where it was taking me. It required more courage than I realized I possessed at the time.

That decision coincided with an invitation to an art course called Paint From Your Soul where I could build a pathway to my heart through art and at the same time, launch a business.

Commander Left Brain, however, had a few opinions. 😂

“The LOGICAL thing to do is to apply your teaching skills to art.”

And, “When you paint, have a plan and make it look like real life—just like you were taught in oil painting class.”

I began noticing what happened when I stopped approaching a blank canvas with an idea of what I was supposed to create and instead allowed myself to become quiet, listen and respond to whatever wanted to emerge.

Sometimes I knew exactly what I was painting.

Sometimes I had absolutely no idea. 😂

But the process became less about creating something “good” and more about discovering something about myself.

And eventually I began wondering:

What might happen if we gave ourselves more than an afternoon to explore that?

That question became Return to Your Heart.

I began imagining what it might feel like to create a space where women could return week after week—not to learn how to paint the “right” way, but to become curious about what their own hearts might be communicating.

A place for meditation, reflection, painting, conversation and community.

A place where no one needs to know what the finished painting is supposed to look like before she begins.

Because Return to Your Heart isn't really about becoming a better artist.

It's about becoming a better listener—to yourself.

-Juilee

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