Blogger Interview # 38: Laura Hegfield

1.     Can you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?

      

I'm a wife and mother living in Southern NH, USA, but I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pa. I started out as a singer/songwriter in college then switched majors because I didn’t have the confidence to sing publicly; instead, I earned a degree in textile design. I met my husband, of 23 years in music school (we were so young I was only 18 when we first met); he is a gifted pianist and my very best friend. I worked in NY for a brief time as a textile designer commuting from our home three hours away in Pennsylvania. When I became pregnant with our first child my husband and I decided that it made more sense to be a fulltime stay at home Mom until daughters (we have two) were school aged and I could work part time outside the home, but I continued making art, primarily collage because it was something I could do at our kitchen table.

Over the years I became increasingly interested in yoga, meditation and Jewish spirituality and studied all of these and still do primarily through the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. I was raised in a traditional Jewish family. I taught art, yoga and meditation to Jewish teens in the Greater Boston area when we moved up to New England, and to adults as well for seven years. I have also facilitated girls empowerment groups and have lead Healing Services in our synagogue along side my rabbi. I also became certified as a Yoga and Jewish Spirituality Teacher a SoulCollage® Facilitator and am a certified Kaizen-Muse® Creativity Coach. Most recently I was blessed by four of my mentors to be a guide for others as an Interfaith Spiritual Director. I still do much of this work via a conference call service and through email contact. I'm planning to start a weekly meditation circle called the “Healing Womb” later this summer. It will be a conference call meditation gathering for women living with chronic illness, easily accessible from home because many of us would benefit from the energy and friendship of a meditation circle, but cannot get out to classes because of our disabilities. You see this is dear to my heart, because about 11 years ago, when my daughters were still little, I started to have some chronic medical issues and was diagnosed with a variety of possible illnesses. I was able to continue working outside the home until three years ago. It was finally discovered through an emergency room visit that I have Multiple Sclerosis. It is likely that many of the other symptoms I experienced over the years were related to this, but sometimes it takes a while for a complicated illness like MS to be diagnosed. I no longer drive a car and have tremendous fatigue amongst other symptoms that make working outside the home impossible for me now. So I have found ways to contribute to the world through technology.

My blog, Shine the Divine Creativity IS a Spiritual Practice focuses on gratitude, healing and connection to the Divine through observations of both the beauty and suffering in life here on earth. It is a cyber journal in which I share my personal healing journey and occasionally interview individuals who inspire me.

I choose to embrace joy and gratitude, for both can be found each and every moment as we engage in life with lovingkindness and compassion. The tag line for my website Shine the Divine is: Reveal Your Sacred Spark & Realize Your Creative Dreams...breath by breath...moment by moment...step by step. This I believe is a healthy way to live, no matter what physical body we are born into. I accept that I am ensouled in a body that is physically challenged. So on the one hand I am broken, and yet I also consider myself to be completely whole. In my experience, healing does not always involve a "cure". It happens daily to people with horrendous illnesses. Healing for me is a balanced state of mental, spiritual and emotional well being that allows for comfort in an uncomfortable body and mind. If we can learn to be with this moment, what ever “this” moment looks like, then the fears that are tangled up with pain, the anxieties that tend to tip us off center, gently reach equilibrium again, at least temporarily.

Then for a breath

...maybe ten breaths,

we can experience relief and peace

...and begin again.

      

2.     Are you a full time blogger? How did you get into blogging and why?

      

I had to stop working outside of the home in 2009 and though I started blogging 2008, my focus on blogging as my main artistic medium really came to life in 2009. So yes I would say I am pretty much a full time blogger because I am mostly home bound. So this is a wonderful way for me to feel a part of the world and contribute through my writing and photography. Collage, which I loved for many years is now difficult for me due to issues with my left eye from MS, but integrating photography and writing fills my creative soul with delight, and is a way to integrate my thoughts images and feelings electronically. Not so different from collage really!

      

3.     If someone was interested in blogging, what would be a few things you would suggest?

      

Be authentic, be kind, write and share from your heart. Don't be afraid to share your vulnerabilities, this allows people to connect with you on a deeper level, because they recognize their own flaws and gifts in your honesty.

      

4.     How do you build a community around a blog and social media?

      

I find that joining memes is a great way to build community. I most often participate in Skywatch Friday, Guest Heart Thursday, Imperfect Prose, One Shot Wednesday, Today's Flowers, Weekend Reflections, The Weekend in Black and White, Macro Monday and a few others. Also following blogs that really speak to your heart and commenting regularly. I have friends from all around the world now who are very dear to me. I do participate in several social media groups besides blogging, such as Dharma Sister's Circle the brainchild of my dear friend Janice Lynne Lundy, for which I have the honor of developing healing invitations, podcasts and moderating “Khanti: A Healing Circle for women living with chronic illness”. I also am a member of She Writes, A River of Stones, NetworkedBlogs and Facebook for connecting with friends, colleagues and family.

      

5.     What are your three favorite blogs to read? What makes those blogs special?

      

Wow, this is a really tough question, I have many favorites. I hate to just select three. Hmmm. Well, one of the first bloggers to ever follow me is my friend Deb in California, at Four Angels Mamma. She is a kind-hearted mother of four mostly grown, beautiful daughters. She has a poetic and artistic way of expressing her life's story and her photos are lovely. Emily, at Imperfect Prose is a gifted writer. She too is a mamma and a woman who writes from a deeply spiritual perspective. She is a devout Christian and a survivor of anorexia and writes about her faith and healing. She is a loving human being who cares deeply about the world and making a difference. Cathy at Healing Through Multiple Sclerosis is another blogger I adore. Cathy writes from her heart. She, like me is a textile artist living with multiple sclerosis. She has a no holds barred way of expressing herself and I always appreciate her honesty, her sense of humor, and her deep spiritual connection that has expanded through the physical limitations of her disease. I relate to her experience well. She gives me courage. Gosh there are so many more bloggers I'd love to highlight...to see a list of a few more of my favorites click here. 

      

6.     Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have? 

      

Well, another difficult question for me. I love having Google Friend Connect, because I can easily drop by and meet new people this way who follow my blog. But like my dear friend Grace Olsson mentioned in a recent interview with you it is also important to have an archive and links to popular posts so new readers can get a sense of who you are as a human being.