I’ve seen posts from several people I follow online introducing themselves with interesting snippets of their lives. I have so enjoyed reading fascinating things about them and getting to know the person behind the ‘brand’. There are quite a few new people here, so I thought I’d introduce and share some things about myself that I wouldn’t usually publicly share. I think they help to create a bigger, more authentic and holistic picture of who we are (more so than what we often present on social media). The things I share here are tiny stories that came to mind as I was collating this list. 20 Things About Me was inspired by this newsletter from a fellow writer, which I loved.
Without further ado, and in no particular order, here are 20 Things About Me that you may or may not know:
I lived in Berlin, Germany for just under two years where I taught Feminine Embodiment classes in my apartment in Mitte. The bunker in which Hitler is said to have died was underneath the carpark of my building. I like to think that the groups of women who gathered for my classes to connect with their feminine power, beamed their collective light into the place.
I’m a green tea snob. If I go to a cafe, I always ask what brand of tea they have because if it’s a ‘certain’ kind, I won’t get any. My current favourite tea is Pukka’s Matcha Green Tea. I have one or two cups a day, except during moontime. But I always begin the day with a cup of hot water with lemon and fresh ginger root.
I once worked on the set of a commercial for Swiss Milk which was shot in a place called Paradise in New Zealand, where I lived at the time (I worked in the art departments of film and TV for a year). The commercial involved Tarzan, wearing a loin cloth, swinging onto the set from a vine, grabbing a pail to milk a cow, and then guzzling the milk. You can watch it here (it will make you smile). Do you see those horns on the cow? I glued them on! (no cows were hurt in the process). And that fence - I helped to build it! Do you see the wheel of the trailer? I wiped cow shit off of it! And those cows in the distant field in the background; they had to be herded into the shot but kept wandering off. And Manu, the actor who played Tarzan, was hobbling due to hurting himself after swinging onto the set with a milking stool attached to his butt, jamming into his back. The things that go on behind the scenes.
Tarzan played by Manu Bennett, about to swing onto set in Paradise Valley, NZ. I wrote my first short story collection when I was seven. There were four stories. Three were about different worlds made from sweets, fruit and ice cream. The fourth was a thriller set by a mysterious loch in the mist.
I studied at a college for spiritual and psychic development in England when I was 21 and spent seven years (from 18-25yrs) sitting in twice-weekly spiritual development circles at my local spiritual centre learning about subtle energy, among many other things.
I’ve kept a dream diary for around 28 years. I have vivid dreams which I write down and from my dreams, I receive deep insights into people, life situations and myself…I’ve also had many prophetic dreams.
I was a jewellery and accessory designer and maker for many years and had my work featured in a L’Oreal calendar campaign in Australia. If you’re curious, you can watch this collated video of some of the thousands of designs I created over the years.
I’ve lived in quite a few different places with a lot of travelling in between: I spent two years in Australia, two years in New Zealand, almost two years in Berlin, Germany, a year in London, a year and a half in Edinburgh, four years in Forres/Findhorn, with three-month stints in the Netherlands, Texas and Hawaii, USA and many years on and off in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where I’m originally from. I like experiencing myself in new places which brings out different aspects of me that I find support whatever I’m doing at the time.
I’ve been dancing 5Rhythms for seventeen years - it’s a dynamic movement practice that still lights me up and is one of the ways I truly feel myself.
I once wrote off a work car. I lived in New Zealand in a pink house atop a very, very steep hill overlooking Lake Wakatipu. I worked for the local newspaper there and often used the work car for getting to interviews, or to the office in winter. One snowy winter, I got up early to get to work. The world was white with snow. And the roads, rather icy. It was nerve-wracking getting down my driveway onto the road. When I did reach the very steep road, the car got faster and faster. The only way to stop myself from crashing straight into the forest at the bottom of the hill was to curve to the right into a street whereby, I ran headlong into a cement mixer in front of a group of builders working on a house. Lucky escape for me. Not so much for the work vehicle.
View from the top + my steep driveway in Queenstown, NZ. I made hand-crafted poetry books which I sold at the art gallery I worked in, after I graduated from Art School. They were embossed with pressed rose petals and tied with red ribbon and contained a small collection of early poetry.
I have a selection of journals and notebooks for different things. I’ve tried keeping my writing in one or two but it just doesn’t work for me. I need to know where to look for things so I have: a dream journal, a journal journal, a creative writing and poetry journal, a journal (or several) for each fiction project I work on, a notebook for courses I take, a business notebook for all things biz, a ‘to-do list’ notebook and my daily diary. All of which makes for very heavy bags when going to work from cafes or when I go on trips (yes, I need them all).
A plethora of luminous Post-it notes on which I write thoughts, ideas and things to remember are on my desk and stuck on various places where I know I’ll see them. Periodically, I’ll gather them all together and go through them, sorting them into themed piles. I’ve been using them for years and it works.
I’ve had a scar on my forehead since I was three, due to running headlong into a wardrobe whilst yelling “chaaaarrrge!!”.
I’m highly perceptive and intuitive. I often sense what other people feel and can read people very well because I feel an imprint of their ‘energy signature’ - I don’t even need to have met them in person.
I love colour, design, beauty, style and luxury as these elements of life fill my senses and nourish my soul. Equally, I have an eagle eye for a bargain and have a somewhat ambivalent attitude to material things.
I’m deeply attuned to my cyclical rhythms and have tracked my menstrual cycle for over ten years. I intimately know the changing moods, energy levels and mental capacity I will likely have on specific days of each week. I’ve been openly writing and talking about menstrual cycle awareness for many years as a means of guiding people to the treasure of knowledge that exists within their unique bodies. I even made a mini-course on how to track your cycle and discover the magic in it and have written multiple articles on the topic.
I’m Auntie Jane to two beautiful nieces ♥
I’m a animal lover and if I wasn’t so nomadic, I would have dog companions (one day). When I’m out and about, I love watching babies, little children and animals interact with the world, but it’s the dogs who captivate my attention. I’m into inter-species learning. I believe that everything is interconnected and that we can and do learn so much from the other species we live alongside. I wrote an essay on this topic called Learning from Horses and Nature which documents my time at an Equine Facilitated Learning Centre on the Isle of Lewis.
My favourite place to be is outdoors in nature. I spend (and could spend) hours, days and weeks walking, exploring and noticing tiny details. Different nature environments like sea, forest or mountainscapes, call out diverse aspects of me which I then often weave into what I create. Nature feels most like home.
Have some of my tiny stories surprised you? Or can you relate and recognise yourself in any them? I’ve love to know in the comments!
Join us for our final HYDRATE online creative writing workshop of this season on Tuesday, April 15th, 7-8.30pm. We’ll be playing with Nature as Home as our theme to spark the inner flames of our creativity. It’s a warm, welcoming space to connect with yourself through your words and with other creatives within Scotland and around the world.
Sunday warmth,
Jane x
photo credits: myself.
I love the idea of a dream journal being kept over so many years, so beautiful! And I was pretty worried for you in that work car. So many lovely details here, thanks for sharing.