By Barbara Burke
In July of 1998 my mother gave birth to me again. She had gifted me with the Hoffman Process and, from that week on, my new life began.
Opening to My Creativity
I received so many gifts from that week, amongst which was getting in touch with my own unique self and, most importantly, opening up myself to my creativity.
After the Process, I had begun reading Conversations with God, by Neale Donald Walsh. I thought, if he could talk with Spirit then why not me? I began dialoging with “god” each day in my journal.
Building Connections
One of the most important parts of the Process was discovering that I had a Spiritual Self who was so wise, creative, and intuitive. I continued to build that connection through my daily spiritual practice. Post-Process, I believe that is what allowed Spirit to move through me, through my art and words.
Around that time, I met a woman who asked me to illustrate affirmation cards for her clients using “I am Divine” statements. She said, “You are all about words and art.” I was not a formally trained artist but thought, “Why not?”
Intuitively Choosing Colors
Each morning at breakfast I would reach for an index card and write one of the affirmations with my calligraphy pen. Then intuitively I would choose the colors from my set of Prisma color pencils that I thought went with the words. I let the colored pencil draw the image. I never knew ahead of time what the end result would be. Eventually I had created 52 cards.
Many months afterward I had dinner with a friend who asked to see the cards. She blessed them and asked if I had ever thought about writing a meditation for each card. I looked at her and said, “Me, a writer??” I said I would think about it.
Feeling Gratitude
One sunny day soon after, I was sitting in a café near the art gallery and pulled out my journal and thought, “Why don’t I write about gratitude?” (I was feeling so much that day.) The words just flowed. I then started to write each morning at breakfast.
Then I would simply draw a card and write what I knew about that affirmation. I kept it in my journal, never truly believing that anyone other than myself would ever read it.
Finding Healing
Months later I decided to read what I wrote and actually was intrigued with the wisdom within. I decided to show my writing to a friend of mine who I knew would tell me the truth. While she read some of my work, I waited patiently. As it turned out, she loved it and told me my work needed to get out into the world.
I approached a couple of publishers who were intrigued but didn’t publish cards. One of them, Connie Kellough at Namaste Publishing (who was working with Eckhart Tolle at the time), encouraged me to find a way to get them published. She said the work was too important.
Knowing That I Am Divine
I was introduced to woman soon after who helped me self-publish. My first set was published in 2000. Since then, I have had three reprints. In the years that followed, I published a journal, A Year of Living Your Divinity, and a children’s edition of “I Am Devine.” You can see my work at www.iamdivine.com.
My mother’s incredible gift of the Process brought me to the healing I needed. It helped me create space for me to truly live my life’s purpose without carrying the emotional baggage from my past. I am reminded of this precious gift each and every day.
Barbara Burke is a writer, multi-media artist, and educator. She is the author and illustrator of “I Am Divine,” a boxed set of 52 affirmation cards with an accompanying book of meditations that was first published in 2001. She published an accompanying journal, A Year of Living Your Divinity, in 2012. In 2017 she created a set of children’s cards called “I Am Divine.” She is a teacher and coach with the Hoffman Institute Foundation, and currently lives in Toronto.