Inspired

Opportunities and Discernment

A digitally manipulated photograph of foxgloves in my garden. The dragonfly is a digitally manipulated stock photo.

This is an expansion on my last post...you know...the "never enough time" one!

 

There are often so many options and opportunities presenting themselves to me, that I feel paralyzed and overwhelmed when I think about it. I tend to be easily distracted by the multitude of creative projects that I see and I want to try them all!  Fun?...yes, but it also dilutes my focus. This may not be a problem for some but I end up feeling scattered, unfocused and overwhelmed.  The opportunities are all amazing but restrictions on time require clarity.  Clarity of the heart.

This is where discernment has had to kick in.  The evaluation of what's important to me. The paring down of my "want to do's" to my "must do's"...in the sense of what my heart desires.  I've started making lists, prioritizing, crossing off the not-so-important and taking it from 50+ things to 5 or 10.  

 

Clarity requires priorities...and my priorities right now?  

Health and fitness: The older I get, the more time this seems to take!

Spiritual life and personal growth:  This is a moment-by-moment practice of  self responsibility and awareness of life as a series of personal choices.  (That's the simple version!)

Relationship and family: I have an amazing, husband whose company I thoroughly enjoy so it's no hardship to be with this man!  I'm fortunate to have family living in the same small town that I do and I value my close proximity to them. I also have family living much further away and it's more difficult but still possible, to stay connected) 

Friendships: Friendships will often ebb and flow but those that nourish and enrich are important and I gratefully give my time and energy to nurture these connections.

Creative life:  Focusing now on just one or two projects at a time.  My creative goals (writing, painting, card design and creating a new website) never get any closer to completion when my energy is scattered.  My new found enjoyment of knitting isn't exactly a goal, but more of a zen activity that relaxes me...the relaxation is the goal!

Travel:  At this time in my life, travel is a major focus for me and I'm planning several trips for this fall and winter.

I can't really prioritize this list with a 1, 2, 3 value.  At different times, different things rise to the top for attention but just being conscious of my priorities, observant to opportunities and aware of the choices of my heart, is bringing me more clarity and peace.

 

Sending hugs and blowing kisses to all who stop by!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moon Dreams

Soaring...digital media (she art series)

Did you see the full moon last night?  We ate our dinner beneath the moon and stars while sitting at the ocean's edge and as the poets say, it was like a huge golden medallion shining brightly in the sky.  I've never seen a moon as golden before and I know there's a scientific explanation for it...dust or smoke in the air perhaps?...but I'm content to feel poetic about it's beauty.

iphone cameras are great at what they do, but let me tell you they don't do moon shots well at all!  This piece then, is my offering for the full moon.  I've had a picture of a figure riding on a birds back "flying" through my head for ages now and it needed to take form.

I've also been thinking of how much we limit ourselves and for so many reasons. It's often not even a concious knowing but simply an old habit or belief that's taken root and believed to be truth. Eloheim's class this past week covered this topic with the theme of "lies we tell ourselves".  We were each invited to look at our own "lie" and examine it for what it really is.  Mine came to me quickly as "stay small...it's much safer".

Of course it's always a process...this peeling away of the layers and what may be true in one area of life, isn't true for another. At one time this was a much bigger issue for me than it is now but I suspect for most of us, there's still some truth to it...and if not this "lie", then another.

 

As if to add a check mark to this observation, this came in my mailbox this morning from Patti Digh.  Today's "daily rock" is refine with these words...

 

 

“The process of discovering your fearless self is one of refinement, not adding.”

Steve Maraboli

Leo Tolstoy has said that

“truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.”

A process of refinement.

What non-gold can you wash away today?

(the rock is created by Kim Mailhot, aka The Rock Fairy)

 

If you'd like to sign up for Patti's daily rock of wisdom you can do it here.

It's still very hot here in Barra de Navidad, Mx, but we're keeping our cool by staying out of the mid-day sun (which is quite difficult for us non-early risers!)  I'm redesigning our business website with Wix and loving their plug and play format.  I'm also thinking of redesigning my blog with this site...maybe.

We leave here at the end of the week for the interior of Mexico and cooler temperatures.  The heat and humidity has given us two weeks of enforced rest, which I know we were in need of.

Sending much love, huge hugs and blowing kisses to all who stop by during your busy days.

 

Hello New Year!

 

She Was An Angel..."She Art" Series

digital media with pen/ink/acrylic drawing

 

For awhile I wondered if I'd bother choosing a word for this year but it seems that a word took charge and chose me!  My ambivalence about this may have have simply come from being so tired that I was honestly questioning everything...including blogging.  To continue with it, or not.

Last year's word...embrace...was brilliantly suited to the year I had and I often used it throughout the year to help me stay focused.  Embrace, to me, means letting go of resistance, of allowing and working with "what is".

 

 
 Oh Joy - Photograph/digital montage

 

This year the word that keeps whispering to me is Mastery.  I know, it may sound like an odd choice...mastery of what or who?   The mastery that's speaking to me is self-mastery.

Many of you know that I've spent the last several years on a personal journey to understand and work with core emotions as well as releasing any and all blocks to living a peaceful life.  I want to refine what I've learned and self-mastery is the closest term I can think of, that describes this.

Life is about thoughts, feelings and emotions and they're wonderful...until they're not...but we don't have to be at their mercy. Self mastery is knowing how to come back into the balance of the heart quickly and easily and doing this until it's second nature.  Learning to be in a space of love in each moment, each "now"...that's self mastery and this is my focus for 2013...and likely for the rest of my life!

 

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.

Leonardo de Vinci

 

 

The top image was inspired by another of Patti Digh's quotes on Project 137...which finished on the last day of 2012.  My wish for all of you on the eve of 2013 is for a beautiful new year of sweet love, deep inner peace and the very best of health.

 Sending hugs and blowing kisses dear friends!

Winter Solstice and The Shift

She Embraced Life 

Digital Mediea with ink drawing (stars and moon)

My thoughts on the day:

It's December 21, 2012...the winter solstice and the end of the Mayan long point calender.  And no, I don't believe the world is ending today...but it may be the beginning of the end of the world as we've known it!

I'm all about the energy.  We are energy and everything is made of energy.  This date has been super-hyped for years in both positive and negative ways.  It's neither instant nirvana nor the end of the world...it's a gateway opening.

My intuition/inner knowing is telling me this; the end of 2012 is a very energetically potent time.  We won't truly understand just how potent until we see from a new perspective what has expanded out from it.

I believe we're perched at the unfolding of a new understanding of who we are and what we're capable of as human beings.  

I also believe that what has looked like the "falling apart" of our society for the past 15 years or so, has actually been the "dismantling" or shifting of an old system that isn't working for the positive growth of humanity.

 

Our purpose here is to add light to the world through our emanations of love, compassion, joy and peace and anything that blocks us from doing this needs to be cleared. As the ancient Hopi prophesy says "we are the ones we have been waiting for".

I'm fairly sensitive to energy, as are many of you and I've personally noticed a marked intensity in the energy over the past couple of weeks.  For me, the intensity hasn't been negative...physically, there's a lot of pressure and tingling on the top of my head (crown chakra) and some dizziness. Emotionally, I've been experiencing feelings of deep peace, bliss, excitement and anticipation. 

I've also been thinking a lot about change...what I want it to look like and how I might direct it. Not huge change but subtle changes both within and without, that can affect a trajectory signifigantly over time.  I've also been thinking about words...as in "my word for the year".  How did this years word work out and do I really want to do this again?  More on this to come.

Sending hugs and blowing kisses to each and every one of you. Have a lovely weekend dear friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life's Storms

Life's Storms - mixedl media: digital collage with hand drawn ink raindrops

...end of year...dark december...sideways rain...black clouds...

...(glimpse of) sunshine...monster puddles...hot mocha's...

...torrential downpour...christmas carols...

...wool scarves...coffee/bailey's...

...full moon...sweet hugs....

...peeking sunbeams...

...more rain...wild wind...

...big umbrellas...

...warm fires...

pots of tea...

 

...repeated daily...

 

...sitting quietly...walking briskly...breathing deeply...

...sleeping lightly :(...smiling widely...:)

...singing softly...

...creating happily...

...hugging tightly...

 

...repeated daily.

 

My life in a nutshell these days. 

 

Sending huge hugs and blowing kisses to all of you across this big wide world of ours

and thank you for taking the time to stop by.

New Eyes

Seeing With New Eyes

Mixed Media: Digital collage with hand drawn ink feathers

  No matter the deviations, all things come full circle.  You begin and end your journey in the same place, but with a different set of eyes.

Jennifer DeLucy

It's been almost two weeks since I last posted...I've been away again.  Dad's home is fully cleared out now and thankfully that job is finished!  We had hoped to get to the interior of the province and back before the winter weather arrived with it's trecherous road conditions, but snow descended on the mountains the day we drove over them to come home.  The drive was slow but happily uneventful.

 

 

 

I'm still focusing my creativity on the digital "She" art series.  With this one I wanted to convey how important it is for me to be open to seeing things in different ways.  It's about adjusting our perspective to see the magic in the ordinary and knowing that the glass is constantly full of new potential, rather than just empty of what we've always known and been comfortable with. 

It feel's good to be back into the world of digital again and it's worked well for me while I've been away from home so much since August.  I'm waiting for my "shedio" to be finished before I do any more painting...my little creative corner in the den suddenly felt very confining and was spilling paints, paper and canvas all over the place.  Right now the shedio looks like this...

 

...but I see so much "potential" here for many happy hours lost in paint and canvas. The ceiling slopes from 8'(at the back) to 9' at the front and there are will be 3 windows and a glass door for lots of light. Mr I hopes plans to have it to "lock up" by the time we leave for sunnier climes and then finished in the spring.  Progress has been stalled for the past several months but considering what's been going on, plus all the rain we've had, it's not too surprising.

We're a little less than a month from the winter solstice now and with it, the return of the sun...an important date for a light seeker like me!  

I hope this finds you all basking in your own beautiful light dear friends, where ever you are...

Sending hugs and blowing kisses...xox...

 

 

 

Head First Into the World

She Dove Head First Into the World

 

Do you ever feel like you’re tiptoeing around something that you’d really love to do?  Is your heart calling out to jump in…feel the fear and do it anyway?  Or maybe the timing hasn’t been right and still doesn’t feel quite right. And how does one tell the difference between fear and knowing the timing isn’t right?

For me the answer comes when I’m in tune with my heart.  I now know the difference between the two but for years, I hadn't a clue.  I do know that even if we can’t eat the whole enchilada, we can take one bite and then another and another.  Rather than feel overwhelmed and unable to act, take it step by step…dive head first into each small step. 

Life is mostly a series of small steps and then when looking backwards, we can see how each step...put together...made up a leap.

 

 

On a totally unrelated topic, I’ve really missed doing my Friday weekly summaries…there’s something quite satisfying about looking at the week and saying “yes…this was a moment worth thinking about, reflecting on and even recording”.  I’m going to try and be more regular with this for my own sake (regular" being a term I use very loosely) and hopefully you won’t get heart palpitations reading about my highly intense and extremely exciting life! (ha!)

So even though it’s not Friday, I’m doing a version of Friday Fav’s (on Sunday):

 

My Favorite’s:

Book: I’ve just finished reading “The Beekeepers Apprentice” and enjoyed it. a lot. It’s the story of a young 15 year old girl who meets the retired Sherlock Holmes on the Sussex Downs and he takes her on as his apprentice.

 

Music:  I’m a “cool/smooth jazz” kind of gal and I’ve begun listening to “Live 365” online (free) which has many genre’s to choose from.  My current fav is Forever Cool.

 

Quote of the week

 

Image of the Week

 

…I love this…everything about it…and wish I knew who to credit it to. I’ve looked everywhere but it came from Tumbler which seems to be prone to “losing” art work credit’s in it's tangled web of re-blogging.

 

Big moment this week:

It’s been an odd week.  I’ve been incredibly tired and busy making arrangements for my father's celebration of life gathering next Saturday…making cards and doing the really hard stuff like writing his obituary for the paper. An emotionally draining week.  I’ve had a meltdown or five but there have been peaceful moments and laughter as well; walks between rain showers, lingering over coffee, soaking in the colour and talent of an art exhibition, meeting friends for dinner and others for brunch, touring a neighbouring island with more friends on a gorgeous sunny Sunday and putting heads together with Mr. I to plan our winter sunshine escape.  There was no “one-big-moment” but lots of little moments that felt very satisfying and a few that were less so...more like I'm-going-to-pull-the-covers-over-my-head-and-go-back-to-sleep-for-a-week.

 

Great source of laughs this week:

 

I kept coming back to this picture and laughing all over again…there’s just something about this that cracks me up. (I think it reminds me of my kids when they were young ;)

I hope this leaves you with a smile to head into your week.  Sending hugs and blowing kisses dear friends...

Write What You Want To Write

 

…not what you think others want to read.

  

She Wrote

Mixed Media:  Digital collage with pen/ink drawn pencil

The inspiration for this work came from a quote that I read here.  At a recent book signing, Molly Ringwald, actor and now author of When It Happens To You, gave aspiring authors this advice… “write what you want to write, not what you think others want to read” .

It stuck with me.  And it’s not true just with writing but with speaking our truth as well.  How often have each of us “adjusted” what comes out of our mouths to please those around us. Thankfully, as I get older, the need to please has mostly disapeared.

Food for thought, no?

(The girl in this photograph caught my eye.  Although the quality of the picture wasn't great, I loved her clear and steady gaze which seems to exude confidence at such a very young age. My current obsession work with "she art" all start with vintage images that are either in the public domain or purchased stock photo's and then I go to work, adding, deleting, layering, adjusting, drawing etc.)

Thanks to all who stop by and btw...I'm amazed when I look at my stats just where everyone comes from...at a 100 plus "hits" a day...from all over the world!  So glad you stopped by!

Mind - Heart Territory

 

Mind - Heart Map

 

Another digital creation inspired by Day 40’s prompt of Patti Digh’s Project 137

 

Draw a map of your head and your heart today. In whatever form you'd like.

What's in there?

Who's in there?

 

 

I’ve spent years learning to “master” my mind but it’s only been in the past two that I’ve felt I’ve begun to understand why it always seemed to master me and how to turn that around.  Worry, anxiety, obsessive thinking…things we all do to some extent, can begin to take over and run the show when we hit a bump in the road of life. 

The survival instinct’s job is to keep us alive.  Most of us no longer have to worry about the sabre tooth tiger devouring us but we still need to be aware if we’re stepping into the path of an oncoming bus.  It has a job to do but when it begins to take over and convince us we need to control every aspect of our life and environment, it's to our advantage to learn how to calm it down.

Accessing that calm center allows my heart to speak to me in ways that I can “hear”…with Insight, inspiration, joy, and love.

At the moment, my father is in the final stage of his physical life and although there have been moments of deep grief and physical weariness, I’m realizing that for the most part, my heart is finally running the show. That’s not to say that I’m never tempted to travel the freeway of anxiety or obsessive thinking but hallelujah!…I now quickly recognize when I’m on that road and can reroute myself back to my centered space, lickety split. 

What a relief it is to be able to navigate the map to new territory!

 

Many blessings to everyone and thank you for visiting.  It's lovely to know that so many of us will be looking up into the sky tonight and marveling at the same beautiful, full harvest moon.  It's one amazing thing that we all share together.

 

 

For Good Measure

For Good Measure

Mixed Media: Digital collage with hand drawn (pen/ink) tape measure

I created this image after reading the exercise for Day 26 of Patti Digh’s Project 137.  The quote that was given to us was…

“I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles.”

Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls

which was followed by this question…

How are you beginning to measure yourself?

...which then prompted the art work.  I’ve been enjoying working on some digital artwork over the past several weeks…something I haven’t done in months, maybe even a year.  I went through a dry, barren patch for awhile, but as summer draws to a close I'm feeling the creative juices begin to flow again.

Digital media seems to be working well for me right now with all the traveling I’ve been doing. I’m currently in the Okanagan Valley of BC visiting with my father and the weather is fantabulously glorious...yup, that good!  Last weekend my son and DIL were here with us so we took advantage of the sunshine, the vineyards and the soul and beauty of the place to relax and enjoy life with them.

How are you measuring yourself?