About

Sandy Breckenridge

If I could define my life’s passion in a single sentence, I would have to say that it is to humbly uplift my environment and those in it through inspiration, beauty, and creativity.

I continue to find that no matter what comes my way, there’s always a creative solution just waiting to be acknowledged and acted upon. Sometimes it only takes a simple shift of perception, like viewing the challenge or situation from a different angle.

Naysayers will declare when things go askew we don’t get second chances. That we should roll over when the going gets tough and move on rather than rebound a try again. That type of thinking creates unwise limitations. I’m not into limiting possibility or creating beliefs and rules that are not useful. I feel there is always a choice or a window of opportunity that can improve less than desired conditions. Sometimes its so simple it can be hard to notice. But opportunity and choice are waiting for us to show up and act as we learn to widen our field of perception.

Yes, You Can

Seattle's Burnley School of Commercial Art

My background could read like a “jack of all trades.” I have developed skills in many areas and it’s not because I consciously knew the direction each would take me. It seems my body guides me when things feel “right.” I really don’t like being told, “No, you can’t do that,” which has spurred me on to figure out how to work with many different mediums.

After graduating from Burnley Commercial Art School in Seattle, Washington in the mid 80′s, I soon realized I wasn’t all that excited to find a job working in the advertising art field in the corporate world. Instead, I choose to channel my artistic enthusiasm into the world of color. I designed a line of hand painted silk scarves and other accessories that my representative distributed to small boutiques throughout the Pacific NW. I also added a line of recycled clothing by making tired garments beautiful again. These items were successfully sold through small consignment shops.

During this same time I had a private practice as a creativity and intuition coach. I found intuitively helping others connect with their authentic purpose and life passion was very fulfilling. I taught “developing your intuition” and “freeing your creative spirit” classes on an ongoing basis. One course I taught many times was “The Artist’s Way,” created by Julia Cameron, and found the process very instrumental in transforming my student’s lives. In my spare time I enjoyed working on art projects using whatever medium was available, including pastels, water colors, acrylics, and fused glass.

Never a Boring Moment

Since I love to learn and grow, I was ready for another creative adventure in the beginning of the 90s. I bought an old 1904 farm house that had been turned into a duplex (actually, a questionable triplex). Cosmetically the home looked quite tired. I couldn’t help but imagine the many ways I could improve its charm, giving it more beauty and life. I turned this old home into a legal triplex and even added a three-story deck. Yes, I had help, but by working alongside my contractors I learned something about most facets of remodeling and construction. I later bought another older house that also had character and fixed it up, too.

Kirk VandenBerghe

During this same time I continued to work as an intuitive coach and one day in 1992 I was introduced to Kirk VandenBerghe through a mutual client. In the 90′s Kirk had a thriving private counseling practice and we found our combined skills quite complementary. Kirk and I spent much time together exploring the subconscious mind and accessing higher states of consciousness through hypnosis and trance channeling. You can find much of the work we did together during that time on askAlana.com.

A Tropical Home

One day in mid 1995 a light bulb went on for both of us and we realized we were soulmates. It didn’t take us long to decide to move to a warmer climate. A year later I decided to sell my properties and we created a second home in Kauai, Hawaii. A couple years after the move I made a bad investment, lost my savings, and our lives suddenly became very creative. I soon discovered all things do happen for a reason even when that reason is hard to understand. This hardship soon ignited my creativity.

With my construction background, I decided to figure out how to buy a piece of property with little money down and build a house. It wasn’t easy and often looked impossible, but I knew I could find a way and with much creative thinking and Kirk’s encouragement and support I did.

Music and Art Cottage

I built my first house after making it through several hurdles, sold it, and then built another. I found I love building projects. I have learned how to work with wood, stone, cement, tile, and glass. My last small building project was a little 8 x 12 cottage that a local contractor and I finished in 2011. It’s perfect for playing music, working on art projects, or whatever! I have to confess that after building the structure I found out it needed to be jacked up two feet off the ground and placed on a pier foundation. That lead to a few sleepless nights trying to figure out how, but I did raise it two feet off the ground and a few feet from its original location with the muscles and some help of another contractor.

Creative Mediums You Can’t See or Touch

I am an entrepreneur at heart and appreciate alternative views on life. I love to use my imagination to seek win-win outcomes that are often “out of the box.” Resourceful states of consciousness are accessible for most anyone to help us at any given time. There’s so much creativity all around us! Yet we can’t necessarily touch and feel it physically.

When we enter into a resourceful state, our intuition heightens and we become like a child whose eyes are seeing everything for the very first time. Our senses become heightened and we can move into the quantum soup of vast potential and possibility. This is where we can pick up creative tools and use them to shape our world through our consciousness. I believe that the universe is learning, and as part of that universe, so are we.

The Key That Opens the Door

Age is an interesting concept. In dog years I am really very, very old, (or should be dead by now) even though I don’t feel it! Just as an old dog can learn new tricks, so can we. A dog doesn’t fixate on how old he or she is or whether its too late in life to learn something new. They’re always eager to discover what’s next, to connect, play, give and be loved. Children are much the same. That is, until they reach the age when their environment’s conditioning begins effecting their perceptions of reality.

The world can appear so fixed that its often hard to grasp how our reality is very fluid and there is nothing that is really solid. As we age, most of us lose touch with the connecting quantum thread we all share. This leads many of us to feel cut off from our inner inspiration. We begin to feel or think we are separate and alone.

Opening the Door to Creative Possibility

It’s vital to remember our interconnectedness. When even one of us holds knowledge, the quantum thread that entangles and connects us makes that field of information available to everyone. We just need to realize we can open the door to access this information by learning how to flow.

I have found the best way to loosen the lens through which we experience reality and step into a place of awe and wonder is to connect with nature and our playful spirits. Beauty is all around us and it wants to wake us up. Instead of living a limiting and fixed dream, we can awaken to the dream we want to live!

It has always been my desire to walk alongside those who wish to ignite their creative spirit. It is my hope that the inspirational images and topics shared on this blog may be a nurturing resource to support you in opening your heart and soul to new creative solutions and possibilities.