Boot Camp Creativity

I’m in a Resilience Boot Camp this week and today my goal is to define projects and creative practices that aid my resilience, such as mindful doodling & sketching, crochet, playing with clay, photography, and daily "creative rituals" (cooking, rearranging spaces).

I'm reverting to an earlier phase of my life, before painting and art school, when I was internally driven to Make Things, and they were varied and creative. But I'm also a different person now - as Grandma Earth Teacher I am led to make things that are a gift to the Earth in some way, sustainable and with a message. 

Agenda: 

1. Read "The Book of Doing and Being"

2. Projects for the week

3. Daily boot camp resilience list

4. Generosity practice

Sabbath for Resilience Boot Camp

We all have times in our lives when we are stretched by challenging situations, and the hope is that we are strong enough to win through with some amount of grace. This is what all the books, journaling, and habit-building is meant to prepare us for.

Am I prepared? Mostly, but I could always do more. This week at the full moon I discerned a new intention: 

I intend to list clear actionable steps towards paring down, resilience habits, delegation, care-taking, and community-building because the next 2-weeks are our boot camp for the long haul of recovery.

The truth is that I need to control the bits I can control: MY habits, my preparations and negotiations, my integrity and compassion. So, for the next two weeks I'm putting myself through Resilience Boot Camp! And today is Day One.

Agenda:

1. Read "Revolutionary Witchcraft"

2. Start new work-out program

3. Harvesting practice

4. Bee watching

5. Discern actionable steps

New Sleepy Moon

Today is my New Moon retreat day - I'll do less talking, less business, and more personal thought and action. The Chinese call the third new moon the Sleepy Moon, because the drowsiness of spring is in the air. 

On the first three days of this moon, the Chinese in Beijing celebrate the birthday of Hsi Wang Mu with a temple festival. Hsi Wang Mu is the Grandmother Goddess of the Western Heaven, also called the Great Yin. She controls the cosmic forces of time and space, determines life and death, and controls disease and healing. She watches over the tree of the peaches of immortality.

The new moon is the start of the lunar cycle, a time of high energy and clear thinking. Historically, the new moon is when women took time to be alone; it's a time to retreat, set intentions, and initiate something new.

Agenda:

1. Retreat Day

2. Journal queries

5. Pick a theme

4. Review caregiver resilience

5. Set intentions

Happiness and Flow

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Agenda:
1. Read "The Sweet Spot"

2. My exercise plan

3. Studio project

4. Plan for Nature-Culture flow

Self Care Reset

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Agenda:
1. Read "The Sweet Spot"

2. Chair yoga challenge

3. Studio project

Find the Sweet Spot

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Because I'm working on a Slow Passion Project, to involve myself wholeheartedly with my priorities and stretch beyond the way I’ve always done things, I also want to figure out how to find the sweet spot, where I'm engaged and challenged, but not stressed out.

Agenda:
1. Read "The Sweet Spot"
2. Honor my breaks
3. Big outdoor building projects
4. Make a magical smudging bundle

5. Harvest raspberries and mulch

Reset

Monday is my day to reset for the week. I will get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.  

Agenda:
1. Read "5 Resets"
2. Live a Lifetime in a Day plan
3. Care for the kitchen
4. Kid Camp Preparations

Bliss State

This morning I woke up in a state close to bliss: I was alert, eager, looking forward to my day, and already thinking about what I've titled my Flow Project. I thought, "I've got my groove on." 

Then I thought, the word flow might be limiting me, because it's associated with accomplishing tasks. What I'm aiming for is a daily flow, or maybe a bliss-flow state, that I can ride through each day, with equanimity, resilience, and hope.

A search for "Bliss-flow" led me to a book called Bliss Flow: The Ultimate Energy Journal: Unstoppable Success In 90 Days, by Chelle Clarke. "Chelle is a modern day witch, energy and crystal healer and all round spiritual junkie and gets her creative outlet fulfilling her stationery addiction by designing high vibe and super cute notebooks right here on Amazon under her brand, Journal Junkie."

Oops.

Back to my Flow Project: I've made a backwards calendar, with the first steps I need to take for my big Flow Project, and I expect that more will be revealed as I progress. Today's steps are:

Agenda:

1. Define the hope component

2. Creative self-care intention

May Third Quarter Moon

Today is the third Quarter moon. This waning third quarter moon energy is yin - quiet, internal, heart-driven, intentional Being-ness. At this phase we can ease off a bit on actively pursuing goals, slow down, go within, and attend to inner work, renewal, and self-care.

I've made a backwards calendar, with the first steps I'm taking for my big Flow Project, and I expect that more will be revealed as I progress. Today's steps are to:

Agenda Today:

1. 

Read 

"Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance Workbook"

2. Mindful Thinking plan

3.

 Renewal plan

4. Evaluation House

5. Monthly journal brainstorm

Do Less

Monday is my day to center and set myself some simple, synergistic goals, and this week I'm continuing to focus on flow. I've made a backwards calendar, with the first steps I need to take for my big Flow Project, and I expect that more will be revealed as I progress. Today's steps are to:

Agenda:

1. Read "5 Resets"

2. Plan how to Do Less

3. Simplify the bedroom and office

Transformations

I've been thinking and dreaming about where I'm being nudged to transform my world. When I say "transform my world" I am suggesting a shift towards a better life: It could be mostly an inner renovation, or lifestyle alteration; it could be an adjustment in my relationships; it could be a new project or area of growth; or it could be a move into activism or service. 

That's the gift we have - to see what needs to change and do the work to change it. No matter our limitations, we CAN make the world better, one smile, kind word, or conversation at a time.

Agenda:

1. Love Meditation
2. Read First Things First
3. Transform my world intentions

Flow

I've decided to take time each Monday this month to center and set myself some simple, synergistic  goals, and this week I'm focusing on flow. Flow is the natural, effortless unfolding of my life in a way that moves me toward wholeness and harmony. Flow is always here, around me and in me, whether or not I am in it. Sometimes it runs underground like a river, and I stay aloof. But when I step into the power of flow, I am connected in an intuitive sense to patterns and meaning, and to a dynamic force beyond myself.

Agenda:
1. Read "5 Resets"
2. Mediteranean Diet

3. Synergy and Flow plan

4. Simplify the living room

Centering

I've decided to take time each Monday this month to center and set myself some simple, synergistic  goals.

My themes in May are Synergy and Simplicity. Writing of simplicity, Thomas Kelly reminds us, "Life is meant to be lived from a Center, a divine Center - a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time." 

My feelings about synergy are very similar - the power of the group comes from the Center. 

Agenda:
1. Read "5 Resets"
2. Mediterranean diet

3. Synergy plan

4. Simplify the kitchen

Earth Week Monday

This week is Earth Week, and I plan to post an agenda of activities for each day, including some reading and education, contemplation, earth care actions, and artwork, to ground me in unity with the Earth. 

Today I just want to sit with the notion that I am of the earth, and settle into a contemplation of how I want to BE.

Maya Angelou said, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” This is the kind of flexible optimism I aim for - not naivety, but realistic and adjustable. 

I am aware that the planet is suffering, that birds and insects are dying, that we will face riots and wars because of our actions. But I need to have hope that things can change, and I need to do what I can to make change. And then I need to cultivate an attitude of joy because of all the beauty we still have.

Agenda:

1. Read "5 Resets" 

2. Fossil free transitions

3. Be at peace in Nature

Easter Week

This whole week is called Easter week or Holy Week, and I enjoy celebrating it with my family. My grandsons are too young to understand the story of death and rebirth, and so we focus on the spring theme of new life. 

Agenda:

1. Love meditation
2. Read "The 5 Resets"
3. Pocket calendar plan

House of Belief

In April I work towards a "house of belief", a concept that comes from one of my favorite books, by Kelee Katillac. She writes about "rituals of belief", by which she means the process of creating things that are a visual reminder of your values and what you aspire to.

A house of belief reflects the family that lives in it. I'm working towards clean rooms (clean floors, windows, dust-free surfaces); a comfortable amount of clutter (and a place to put each useful thing away); spaces that welcome and embrace all the ages of people who live or visit here; and visual interest - things to look at that spark the imagination, and communicate our love of nature.

Kelee Katillac says: "It is important to keep in mind that a ritual of belief is a belief plus physical action. A ritual of belief always ends in a positive physical form. Form is an object or expression that can be seen or touched. ... Form takes creative ideas and makes them visible." 

The premise of her book is that when we create representations of our beliefs and dreams with art and crafts, or seek out and surround ourselves with meaningful objects, our beliefs become concrete - no longer abstract - and we can more easily accept them as truth.

Agenda:

1. Read "The 5 Resets"
2. Living room joy

3. Practice visualization

Eid al-Fitr

My finished mehndi design.

Tonight is the Islamic Festival of the Breaking of the Fast, which ends Ramadan. In Arabic, eid means festivity and fitr means to break a fast.

Muslims celebrate for three days; they decorate their homes with lights, dress in their finest clothes, and visit with friends and family. It’s a day of peace, unity, and forgiveness. A common greeting is “Eid Mubarak” (Blessed Eid).

Agenda this week:
1. Prayers

2. Zakaat zl-fitr (Charity of fast breaking)

3. Read "The 5 Resets"

4. Mehndi Designs

5. Make Ma'amoul (Stuffed Date Cookies)

A Little Spring Break Retreat

Spring break is here and we have a couple of days off from grandchildcare, as the family is going camping. Today I will revel in a spring day to putter around the house with nothing scheduled (while I also miss the kids!)

Today I am finding ways to celebrate spring - making art, spending time in the garden, buying new (for me) spring clothes and walking shoes, experimenting with homemade yogurt, and making an upgraded sand pit for the kids.  

Agenda:

1. Read "The 5 Resets"
2. Action plan

Third Sunday of Lent

At Lent I allow myself to be slow, simple, and thoughtful. I spend time each day in focused study and prayer, and then take action to bring my vision to fruition.

My theme this year for Lent is Active Hope and Resilience: 

Active Hope requires that I maintain a clear view of reality; identify what I hope for - the direction I’d like things to move in and the values I'd like to express; and take steps to move in that direction.

Resilience is a set of practical skills that allow me to be strong, flexible, creative, hopeful, and positive, and to successfully adapt to stressors, and bounce back from difficult experiences.

Agenda:

1. Read Everyday Simplicity
2. Simple food plan

3. Make cheese spread
4. Spring cleaning

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday that falls on March 17 each year. In Ireland it's celebrated with parades, community feasts, singing, dancing, and church services, all in honor of St. Patrick, an English man who lived in about 400 A.D. 

Pat’s whole name was Magnus Sucatus Patricus. When he was 16, Irish raiders carried him off from England to Ireland to work as a slave. He escaped six years later, traveled and studied for many years, and became a Christian missionary. He returned to Ireland, and grew famous for all the miracles he performed and for converting many Irish people to Christianity.

Agenda Today:

1. Read "Reset"

2. Resilience skill

3. Prayer of St. Patrick

4. Plant peas and my straw doll

5. Enjoy hot Irish coffee