June First Quarter Moon

At the First Quarter Moon we are one-quarter of the way through the moon cycle. The moon is waxing - growing in light and energy, creating a time for decisive action. 

I use this June quarter moon's energy to help me find a balance of simplicity and abundance - I am embracing the paradox of the expansive, free, effortless fullness, and rich, complex, and vital plainness that is summer. 

Agenda:
1. Journal queries

2. Read "Repacking Your Bags"

3. Make a full effort plan

4. Write a mission haiku

5. Practice visualization

1. Journal queries:

Today, at the first quarter moon, I prepare to give full effort to my priorities.

What potential challenges and obstacles do I face this week and month (things I don’t enjoy, don’t know how to approach, or feel blocked on)? How can I best meet these challenges?

What do I need in order to find simple abundance? 

 

From my journal: My first challenge this month is to define and concentrate my Earthcare efforts: I have three Earth focused meetings this week (Earthcare Support, Earthkeepers ,and Active Transportation) and I'm vague about what I want to accomplish this summer (but I know it's not to only sit in meetings!)

And I also want to clear out the studio and make room for a change in my art practice. I'm not sure what the change will be, but my studio is currently not inviting me to explore my options. This is a case where less is more - I need more space and less clutter, but I'm having a hard time knowing what to get rid of.

2. Read "Repacking Your Bags":

I'm studying the book "Repacking your Bags; Lighten your Load for the Good Life" by Richard Leider and David Shapiro, third edition. I'm into Chapter 2 : Unpacking Your Bags. "To unpack is to awaken; to see something different; to ask new questions."

The first question is: What am I carrying? 
The second question is: Why am I carrying it? 

"Ultimately, it comes down to a series of trade-off. What are you willing to trade in one area of your life to get what you want in another?" So, this is a process of reviewing everything in my life and considering the compromises I'm making. "...a good deal of what we want to do is simply decide what is worth the trouble. And then, having decided that something is worth it ... bear the burden ... with as much good humor as we can."

For example, one very big Trunk we are carrying is the 25+ hours/week of childcare we are giving to our grandson. It's a big chunk of time, a service of love, that will ease a little when he gets a vaccine and can start daycare a couple days a week; we are overjoyed to be with him, but we are giving up some other things (like teaching other people's kids, keeping our yard and house ship-shape, and other things I haven't thought of) that are totaling worth the trade.

Areas of my life I want to unpack this month:

• My Art Studio and Art Practices
• My Writing Practice
• My Notebooks and Memorabilia
• Camping, Adventure, and Travel Plans

3. Make a full effort plan: 

Full effort requires a spark of energy and determination: You connect to your excitement for life, and sustain it long enough to accomplish your priorities.

When the time comes to act on one of my priorities I hope to be able to focus my full attention on this one undertaking, and lean in to it with excitement and curiosity. I use the notion of "leaning in" as a body-mind-heart training.

I made a full effort plan for clearing my studio (what I'm calling the Heaven on Earth Studio): 

• Set a daily time, early in the day, with an alarm, and stop everything to go to the studio. 
• My image is of an adult area and a kid area, with room to move around, and visual interest but not clutter - I'll keep that image in my head as I work.
• I'm going to tackle the deepest darkest reaches of cubbies and shelves first, pulling everything out and spreading it on the table.
• My mantra is "Keep what brings me joy and pass on the rest".
• Everything I decide to give away will go directly into my bike trailer and then to MECCA art recycling. (I may need to make two or more trips, but that will be fun.)

4: Write a Mission Haiku:

My missions are my various big projects or directions in life. Today I'm going to look at Being an Artist, because I'm really not doing that anymore, and I want to understand why. It's not just time, or feeling uncomfortable in my studio. Something else is going on.

(Really this is more of a crisis of purpose: Being an Artist is the picture I have of myself and the kind of person I want to be, but I'm not making time for that part of me anymore.)

I'll write it as a haiku, because a poem has a unique ability of getting to the core of a Truth, and I'm always surprised by what surfaces. Here's the steps I use:

1. Write a brief, evocative sentence or two describing this top mission in my life, and the significant issues that surround it:

Being an Artist requires motivation and determination. I have to really want to work on a painting or some other project; it has to grab my interest, pull me out to the studio and engage me, and satisfy a deep need in me. But I also want to say something with my art, inspire and share my art with others, including my grandson, so there is an element of love and witness, too. And my self-image is wrapped up in BEING an artist - which means making art regularly give me a feeling of wholeness.

 

2. List the most exciting or pleasing verbs that describe what I want to do with this mission:

Explore, dig deep, inspire, create, play, feel joy, BEING

3. Next, list some core values that go with this mission:

Witness, Purpose, Integrity, Love, Creativity, Celebration and Play

4. Turn these sentences, verbs, and values into a haiku, an unrhymed poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively (or a Cinquain, which is five lines, with 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 syllables), that gets to the core of my mission, and gives me a framework for my actions.

Create

Heaven on Earth

A place to dig deeper,

play, inspire, BE an artist;

Witness.

5. Practice visualization:

I call on the practice of visualization to help bring my goals to fruition. Creative visualization is a technique that uses my imagination to create change. It has three steps:

• First, center and relax each part of my body; count from 10 to 1, then open a connection to Spirit. Feel a soft warmth begin to grow and spread through me, until I am radiating quiet energy.
• Second, create a clear, detailed picture in my mind, as though the objective has been reached. Paint a vivid mental image of exactly how it looks and feels to be in my clean studio, making art, painting with friends, or playing with my grandson - and put as much positive energy into the image as possible. 
• Lastly, affirm that this is what I want with a short positive phrase in the present tense; for example, "My heart shares my art-making with you."

The thought-image is like a signal-flare that guides the physical thing or deed to manifest in my life (or it's just a good way to keep my intentions in my mind). I will carry the vision of the completed goal with me, and focus on it often during the day, in a gentle manner.