Letter from the Founder

By Amy Bell

The Exciting Pink Season One Finale!

A few years ago I participated in a workshop put on by our very own Samantha Timbers. It was a new program she created called “Cloud Goals”. In the weekly sessions she encouraged the group to think of a goal and then imagine how it would feel to live that goal full on.

The goal I wrote the “feelings” for was something totally different than this magazine, however, what I wrote ended up being the pillars for it.

In this editorial I am going to go over the pillars and explain them a bit more so you will begin to understand the magnitude of my mission. These tenets run deep in my cells and my wish is that we all incorporate them daily.

We are perfectly in tune with our spirits

We are aligned, we are purposeful, we are free. Sometimes it doesn’t always feel like that though. Like right now I am wondering why the hell my Spirit feels it’s necessary for me to have “frozen shoulder” right in the middle of production?

I spoke to my mentor, also a columnist, Moira Bush and she reminded me that

when there is restriction in our arms it points to us “carrying” something heavy around. Like guilt or burdens of life in general. I have been over and over this in my mind and it’s my feeling that this Pink Edition, being about love and money, has me working through some serious shit right now. Which leads to our next tenet.

We are completely connected to our souls

I don’t believe if I was completely connected to my Soul I would have this shoulder issue. I think being connected to Soul is directly connected to the amount of self-love we’re giving ourselves.

For the last three years I have been working my ass off. Long, long hours at the computer, hunched, tensed up and basically an ergonomic nightmare lol! I supposed this in itself wouldn’t be so bad if I was doing yoga or stretching every day, but that wasn’t me. I felt that if I took time away from work, I wasn’t contributing to the finances of the household. In an attempt to be productive and financially stable - I completely neglected my Soul’s desire for love. I forgot to take care of me. Moira also reminded me that our self-love factor is directly related to the balance in our bank accounts... she says... show me someone who doesn’t take care of themselves and for sure their bank accounts will be in trouble. When you’re in love with you, you’re automatically connected to your Soul.

We are of service to humanity

Yes! My goal with this tenet is that no matter what we do, arts, design, photography, chef, or any other career choice for that matter, is that we make this planet a little better than when we got here.

Creating beauty is a huge service to humanity. Creating in general is why we are here. “Whatever Your Mind Can Conceive and Believe, It Can Achieve.” Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich. Everything is created in the mind first and then as a service to humanity, we birth it out in the hopes that it brings joy.

We are fully supported by a kind and gentle universe

This one is especially challenging at the moment. With all the craziness happening around the world it’s difficult to believe that we are fully supported by a kind and gentle universe. BUT WE ARE! As you may or may not have guessed, I am really into numerology and colour. My Soul path number is 34/7 and my day of birth number is 25/7. It doesn’t matter if you know what this means or not, what matters is that my life path is all about TRUST. Trusting friends, colleagues, partners and the universe having my back.

In order to live this life path, my tests show up in the form of betrayal (Of course they do) Can I be “betrayed” by the universe and still have faith that it is kind? Can I be betrayed by those closest to me and have faith that they too are working through their life path? Generally speaking, I do believe the universe has my back and this is why I have this as a pillar to remind me daily.

We are joyous in the creative flow

This is an easy one for me. When I am creating at this computer, when I am literally lost in time and space – life is good. When my clients love what I do for them my heart sings. When I do what I do and people actually like it – how great is that?! I know you know what I’m talking about. I think every creative person I know does their best work when they are in the flow of inspiration.

We are incredibly safe on this planet

Another benefit to studying the psychology of colour and numerology (or any personal development that goes beyond surface conversation) is that I have learned that as a Soul I actually wanted to come to this planet. I believe there are angels up there that are in awe of our courage to leave our weightless, all-knowing spirit selves to be weighted down in these physical bodies. So why would we so willingly do that if this planet wasn’t incredibly safe to come to? Of course there are shitty things that happen but the experience of that is where the nuggets of gold are hidden.

We have extreme gratitude for our gifts

Sometimes I forget that other people can’t do what I do. In the past that “forgetting” led me to under-charge for my services. It lead me to second guess myself. It lead me to feel unworthy of compliments. When someone would say how much they loved my work, I would blow it off with a comment like “It was nothing.” I am really aware of letting others know how special their gifts are but at one point, I forgot how special my gifts are. Being in gratitude for what I can do, not only speaks to self-love, but also the money part. Once I wrote this down and really lived it, my bank account started to show it’s gratitude to me!

We have deep love for everyone our hearts and this magazine touches

Kristina Leis interviewed one of our Design Mentors, Luma Qusus Awad this month. Luma has a huge heart and deep love for humanity. Currently she is Zooming a workshop to women in Yemen. She is showing them how to make jewelry, a skill that will empower them to earn an income for themselves. This is a story that means something to me. This is the arts community reaching past their front doors and really supporting their fellow humans. (Story on page 144). Much love to you Luma!

I also have a deep love for a reader and contributor to the featured artist gallery, Nadine Mackie. By participating in this magazine she was inspired to collect all of her photos and poems into a book. A real book that is now in my hands and available on Amazon! Congratulations, and thank you Nadine! Nadine is not the only person who has written me that this magazine has inspired them. I had no idea when I started this journey that it would touch so many lives, for that, I am deeply grateful.

We are honoured that people seek our guidance

Having said above that I had forgotten that people can’t do what I can do, leads me to this tenet. I am truly and deeply honoured to be a part of a new entrepreneurs branding efforts. I am honoured to use my gifts and talents to guide them on the daunting marketing journey. There are thousands of designers out there, so when a person signs on with me, I remember this fact. I remember that they could have gone anywhere else but they chose me and that is something to be honoured in of itself.

We are authentically aligned with our purpose

Last year I was having an existential crisis about what the hell my purpose was. You think by 53 I’d have that down… but no. How do I incorporate all my loves into something that also ticks off all of these pillars? If you’ve seen me in an interview you may have heard this, but long story short… I was feeling a little old, a little used and a little out dated last year. The search for a job will do that to a girl. In retrospect I am happy that other people reminded me (via rejection) that taking the position would put me out of authentic alignment with my purpose. My purpose is to take all this juicy experience I have, combine it with the juicy experience of all these contributors and support the arts community from this platform. Here I am not old, I am a mentor. Here I am not over qualified, I am a business owner. Here I am not at the end of my career, I am just getting started!

This Pink Edition has to be my favourite so far. It was a bitch to get out but I am so pleased with how every columnist and mentor took to the theme and really dug into the psychology of this colour. Unconditional self-love and how it relates to wealth is brilliantly connected in Whitney’s article. Working with the shadows that come with this light and airy colour are covered in detail in Moira’s column. Want to learn the benefits of nurturing your inner child? Check out what Elvira has to say.

There’s so many great topics covered in this issue, Revenge Travel (Janice Cardinale), the power of pink in Feng Shui (Sherry Brouzes), a crazy pink disturbance in the art community (Sonal Raje), the beauty of loving yourself (Anastasia Kravtsova), how to make 1 pink dress turn into 4 different outfits (Antonina Koval), words of wisdom to his younger self (Ari Weinberg), pinking up your makeup application (Annika Rayman), the different pink stones used to create wearable art (Luma Qusus Awad), when I client says “I love it” but has a ton of changes (Chris Sorichetti), FOR REAL if you’re a new entrepreneur you have to read the steps to starting a business (Monica Beffa), OHHHHHH, creating a killer portfolio (Marion Sadavoy), an interview with a self made woman (Dwayne Richards), stop being afraid of the “S” word! (Tish Times), seeing the world through the eyes of a child brings new joy (Ayse Hogan).

Woohoo! Can’t forget the quarterly astro predictions (Ann McVeigh), healing stones and how to choose the right one for you (Kathryn Dzsudzsak), is love all you need when raising respectful children? (Heather Bain), a free self-love hypnosis session (Samantha Timbers), 2 connection exercises to increase intimacy (Jennifer Love), John Lennon is ruled by Venus? (Hayden Crawford) happy baby and butterfly – yoga poses for self-love.

Thank you for an amazing Season 1, contact me if you would like to become a contributor in Season 2!