Relax, it’s Monday!

Normally we rev up for the work week ahead.  But today I think we should take different view.  Let’s relax into the week.  Attend to our obligations.  But also attend to our well-being, our souls and spirits.  Make a significant focus on improving your health ~ be kind and be loving to yourself this week more than usual.  Take a few extra minutes to relax, allow your brain to wander, look up at the sky and look around at the glorious gifts of nature which surround you daily.

Why wait until the weekend to relax?

You have today, now.  Enjoy it.

Love yourself.  Put your arms around yourself and hug away!  You are loved.  You are love.

Happy week ahead!

Shine On!

xo

Lift Your Spirits

 If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.

–Booker T. Washington

My heartfelt gratitude to all of you who lift my spirits up every day.  May you always remember how special you are, how much your visits here are appreciated and how delighted I am to communicate with you through our blogs and comments.

Shine On!

xo

Throw Your Fears to the Fire!

Meet Heather Von St. James

founder of Lung Leavin’ Day 2014

Click here to read her inspiring story!

Thanks to Mimi over at Waiting for the Karma Truck and LouAnn at On the Homefront And Beyond for reblogging ~ now it’s my turn!  Please feel free to share!

Shine On!

xo

Style A Tapestry Journal for 2014

Thanks KAngel for my special, heartfelt gift!

This morning, a dear friend KAngel, brought the above journal adorned with a red ribbon.  She made it for me and I am so truly touched.  I am blessed to have such a friend.  I have often thought of making a journal that was special for myself, but I am not very crafty.  I think about doing fun things with glue guns, but it never materializes.  In fact, I’ve found lovely blogs which take ordinary objects and fashion them into the extraordinary check out Kathy’s Art and click here for Laurie’s Between the Weeds  which inspire me and will be great fun for you as well!

Today, it’s as if the Universe/God/Infinite Spirit/Source was listening for Louise gave me the answer to my question of how to expand my post today!  So without further adieu, please read below!  Thanks Louise for being so awesome!

Shine On!

xo

Do what makes your heart happy…

January 8, 2014 by Louise Gallagher

Working in the studio teaches me something every day. Life does that too but the lessons from the studio are often more luminous in their quality to inform and awaken and inspire me to colour outside the lines.

I have started to create an art journal. An art journal is a tapestry of life’s happenings told through visual prompts in a journal style book. Instead of writing out what’s going on, the story is created using mixed media pages of words and drawings and collage. Art journals can be store bought books you cover and craft to your own specifications, or you can create from the ground up.

I decided to create from the ground up. Using an empty cardboard cereal box, I’ve spent the last couple of days creating my cover.

And here’s what I’ve learned.

1. Be persistent. There’s no better place to start than where you’re at. There’s no better way to begin than where you find yourself in the process — and every step is the beginning right now of what can be. Don’t quit. Keep moving with it until your heart says, I am happy.
2. Think outside the box.  Yup, ’cause in this case there really is a box to work with and unless I see it as more than just a cereal box, it won’t find the possibility of transformation.
3. Allow. — There is no right or wrong in artful creation. It is meant to feed your soul, not someone else’s. Allow what is asking to appear to appear. Allow magic. Allow possibility. Allow light to enter through every crack.
4. Be fearless. — Who said you can’t put purple feathers there? You’ve never used a glue gun before? Now’s a great time to start.
5. Explore. — See the possibility in everything. For hoarders this is a great one! Because seriously… there’s possibility in everything! That’s not an old Christmas card. That’s not a useless piece of ribbon to discard… What if and I wonder if… are two great questions to ask when creating a journal. I wonder if… this will stick to that?… What if… I cut out that butterfly from the box my new mascara came in and paste it here?
6. Stay unattached. — Just as there is no right or wrong way, judging yourself, your work, your creation is self-defeating. And anyway, there is no end point until you say so. If you don’t like where it’s at, keep going. If you don’t like that there, move it, paint over it, cover it up.
7. Breathe.  No matter what, keep breathing. Deeply.  Continuously. Stay conscious of your breath. Remind yourself to relax. Your shoulders. Pelvis. Stomach muscles. Neck. Face. Smile even! This is fun. Allow your inner child to come out and play and create and explore and enjoy!
8. Dare Boldly. Unhook your self-critic. Unleash your inner muse. Leap and don’t go looking for a net, let your wings unfurl.

I’ve never made an art journal from a cereal box before and at first, my mind was stuck in ‘doing it right’. I wanted in fact to quite many times. Right from the beginning. I’d decided to put three words on the cover as prompts for me to remember to always DARE. INSPIRE. CREATE. I messed up. I wanted them to be raised and the paint was too runny and dripped. Ugly, my critics mind howled. I thought about ditching the whole thing but decided  to keep going. I didn’t want to scrape them off — I’d let them dry too long and scraping off would rip the paper I’d used to cover the cereal box.

My daughter Alexis taught me a great lesson in painting many years ago — if you don’t like it, paint over it, she told me one day as I wailed about an unsatisfactory result. That definitely worked here. I decided to cover up the words with the photo from a Christmas card I love. Hmmm… the words made the collage bumpy. Not nice. Want to quit. I kept going. Pasted on some butterflies. Used some sheer fabric, metallic spray paint and a stencil. Border tape. More painting over. Stencil some hearts with shimmer dust. A cutout flower. Couple more. Hmmm…. not so bad. Keep working it.

Okay. We’re happy now. It’s not a masterpiece but for a first crack, it makes my heart happy.

And that’s what it’s all about. To stretch my heart muscles and stir up my creative juices to get me to that point of feeling proud, satisfied, happy, content, mystified by the process and in awe of the magic of creation.

Which is why I then collaged in the word AWE.

Because as I cleaned up my brushes and put away my supplies, I felt awe descend. I’d started with barely an idea of what I was creating, and in the process was reminded once again that it’s not the destination that matters, it’s not the end product that makes a difference. It’s the process.

Which brings me to Lesson 9 –

9. Trust in the process.  Trust in the process, allow magic and Have Fun! Do what makes your heart happy!

I did and I’m grateful!

http://dareboldly.com/2014/01/08/do-what-makes-your-heart-happy/

I think this could also go with the Daily Prompt today!

Daily Prompt: Style Icon

Describe your personal style, however you’d like to interpret that — your clothing style, your communication style, your hair style, your eating style, anything.

Photographers, artists, poets: show us STYLE.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/daily-prompt-style-2/

Happy, Happy, Light, Joy!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”  ~ Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love:  Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”

Fear encompasses us when we allow the darkness to permeate our inner light.  So often it occurs when we feel a setback to our New Year’s Resolutions or when we feel we are floundering in the sea of uncertainty.  We wonder why we are writing our blogs, what could people find that we have to offer.  We feel unworthy to write, to speak, to persevere.  But that is just the fear talking.  My fears are mighty, I admit.  But my light, when I combine with others, is strong, solid and all-encompassing when I allow it to radiate like the sun.

So I am asking for you to bond with me this year.  To add your flame to our fire of light and to SOAR with me among the skies.  Drop fear from your vocabulary.  Give it not one ounce of thought as we go forward in 2014.  We can hold hands, band together like souls who soar.  Our momentum grows as do our numbers.

Do you feel it?  Can you picture all of our lights together, growing bolder as the days go by, hear our singing of happy freedom as we pursue what formerly held us back and rise like the angels taught us?  Can you picture it?  I can.  There’s a soft spot in my heart which holds the light of joy inside of me.  It’s small, but steady.  The light shines though the darkness I have known and yet still, she happily shines.

I am a small flame of hope, of health, of love.  I dare not ever put her out and allow the darkness to encompass me.  So I stand peacefully, allowing her to gain strength and to encourage others to do the same.  Will you join me in 2014?  Will you allow your flickering light to join mine to happily light the way?  We will fear not – for the light is within us and we are able to pursue whatever our hearts desire for it is there for us all.  Do you see it?  Can you feel it?  Happy, Happy, Light, Joy!

Trust me.  A tapestry for each of us is woven bit by bit as you desire to create it ~ full of rich colors, experiences and textures ~ all joyfully shining through the darkness and lighting up the night.

Take my hand and let’s…

Shine On!

xo

Daily Prompt: Happy Happy Joy Joy

What does “happiness” look like to you?

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/05/daily-prompt-happy/