Give Me Your Worries: A Message from Gullfoss

The Question That Opened Everything

What did I miss yesterday?

That was the question our spiritual trip leader asked during a sacred site visit to Iceland in 2024.

What followed was an answer I didn’t expect—one that would become the inspiration for my painting, Give Me Your Worries.

A Day Among Iceland’s Waterfalls

One day, we visited several breathtaking waterfalls: Gullfoss, Seljalandsfoss, and Skógafoss.

The word “foss” means waterfall in Icelandic, and these three are located relatively close together in the southwest region of the island.

Each one was immense, powerful and awe-inspiring in its own way.

Seljalandsfoss offered the rare experience of walking behind the falls—an unforgettable and exhilarating perspective.

At Skógafoss you could climb up a set of stairs with over 500 steps, rewarding with sweeping views from above.

But the one that had the message for me… was Gullfoss.

Gullfoss: The Waterfall That Stayed With Me

Gullfoss is a two-tiered waterfall that plunges dramatically into a deep, narrow ravine.

Today it is protected as a nature preserve. But in the early 20th century, it was nearly turned into a hydroelectric project.

An Icelandic woman, Sigríður, walked barefoot—again and again—over 70 miles to Reykjavík to protest its destruction.

Because of her, Gullfoss still flows freely today for all to enjoy.

Here is a memorial to her - she is positioned looking straight at Gullfoss.

The Black Sand Beach Journey

The following morning, we gathered on the black sand beach in Vík.

As I stood on the black sand beach, it reminded me so much of Hawaii—both places shaped by volcanoes in such a similar and dramatic way.  Both places also felt connected.

For our journey, we all stood in a circle and were guided into a meditative practice.  The entire practice lasted about 25 minutes or so.

I hold a belief that everything carries consciousness—land, water, stone, weather. And when we slow our minds into a more receptive state—what’s often called an alpha state—we can begin to hear what these elements might be communicating.

For the meditative journey, we were invited to return, in our minds, to one of the waterfalls from the previous day and ask:

“What did I miss yesterday?”

The Message from the Waterfall

During the meditation, Gullfoss came forward to me, and then I heard:

“I am here to clear individuals of all not-helpful thought forms.”

Seeing the Transformation

Then in my mind’s eye, I saw something remarkable - 

Thoughts — heavy, dark, unhelpful thoughts — being placed into the lower falls.

Then strands of indigo, green, and gold began wrapping around these unhelpful thoughts - and these colored strands actually softened and transformed them.

These transformed thoughts were then carried down into the canyon below—taken by the rushing water-and given to the earth with a blessing of release.

Not discarded… but transformed.

Then, emphatically and clearly I heard:

“I do this with love, love, love.”

So that was the main message!

Gullfoss is willing to take our unhelpful thought forms, transform them to a more positive way and send them to the earth.  The negativity is transformed, and we no longer have to carry them in our minds.  And it does this with a tremendous amount of love.

The entire experience was very clear.  When we all returned to the bus, I wrote down what I saw and heard in a journal I had with me on the trip.

Expanding What I Felt the Prior Day...

What struck me afterward was this:

The day before, I had been inexplicably drawn to the deepest, very forceful part of the waterfall—the place at the end where everything seemed to drop away and flow into the canyon.

I stood there for a long time and took a number of photos and videos during my time at that lower falls area.  I was mesmerized.

I had a strong feeling that things could be given to the waterfall and sent along down into the earth, but I certainly did not see any colors or hear anything.  It was just more of a feeling.  And it was pouring rain...so I stayed as long as I could but was also pretty aware that we were all standing in sheets of water coming down upon us.  

The Call to Paint

A few months after that experience, and after taking a class on peace practices and transforming collective thought—I felt a strong, persistent pull:

This scene needs to become a painting.

The idea that transforming thought—individually and collectively—could shift outcomes, even on a global level, felt deeply important.

And the waterfall kept returning to me as a way to show us how it can be done.

Guidance Along the Way

So I really mulled over in my mind doing such a painting for quite some time.  Painting the waterfall and really trying to "get it right" felt intimidating.  So I kept putting it off a bit even though I knew it was a painting I needed to do soon.

And then...some fun guidance kept showing up to help me along.

First a waterfall painting tutorial showed up in an email.

Then a book recommendation (for a totally different topic) led me to an artist who I then saw on his website did some amazing waterfalls - Mitch Albala  

And that was it!  After receiving "all this help", I felt like I can really do this.  So thank you again universe.

Music and Runes

While working on the painting, meaningful moments continued to unfold.

As usual, I love to have Pandora playing in the background when I paint.

Right as I finished the underpainting for the piece, a song from The Mission by Ennio Morricone played and the listing had an image of a waterfall.  (I always take screen shots when such thing happen.)  Seeing this actually did give me tears because I was so grateful for the confirmation of working on the waterfall and listening to one of my all time favorite pieces of music.

And then I swear the next song titled Touched played —which totally made me laugh, because I truly was touched - and it had the image of a waterfall too!

During my time of working on the painting, I also pulled 2 Runes.

I pulled the first Rune soon after starting the painting and got the Rune – Ehwaz which denotes Movement.  

How appropriate for Gullfoss's message about transforming and moving unhelpful thoughts into a better direction.

Many days later, after I had mostly completed the painting, I felt compelled to pick another Rune and got the one for "Gift".  

I do hope this painting will be a helpful gift for people.

Both Movement & Gift felt deeply aligned with the energy of this painting.

One More Favor

After initially finishing a painting, I like to have it “hang around a bit” so that I can see it in different light, etc. and catch whatever changes feel right. 

The next morning, I was really psyched to work again on it again because there were a few tweaks I wanted to make but then got a little bummed because the light in my art area was VERY bright and would not be very helpful for working on the painting at that moment.  Typically, that bright light is in the room for a couple of hours so it felt like I wasn’t sure how the day was going to work out.  So, I fiddled around with some other things in my office there – when all of a sudden, I noticed that the lighting significantly changed in my space…

The sky had clouded over! 

I was SO GRATEFUL for that meant I could more easily work on the painting with diffused lighting in the space.   I truly did feel in my heart that the lighting change was a gift and/or favor from the universe to support my finishing the piece.  And with that gratitude I made the changes that felt right to do.

Water as a Spiritual Teacher

In the following weeks after finishing the painting, I began noticing similar themes of how Water has long been seen as something that carries, clears, and transforms.

I heard the song "Where I Go" by Natalie Merchant.  The lyrics talk about how she goes to a river to clear and soothe her mind when things get crazy.

Soon after, I read about a Chinook blessing that calls upon the waters of the river to "teach us, and show us the way."

and I know there are countless other examples...

We just have to ask and listen.

Give Me Your Worries: What It Means

This painting carries a simple but powerful offering:

Give me your worries.

Let them be taken.

Let them be transformed.

Let them return to the earth—no longer something you have to carry.

Because energy is never wasted.

It can always be transformed.

And, just like the waterfall, there is always something in this world—something loving—that is always willing to help us do exactly that.