Creative shifts

Thursday is my day to open the door to creative thinking and doing; I've reverted 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. 

Also, I need to prepare for the next week of Grandma Camps, with themes, projects, and field trips.

And thirdly, I've got lots of projects that help us function better: Fixing broken things and maintaining the house.

Agenda: 

1. Read "Perspective"

2. Creative visualization

3. House projects

4. Camp preparedness

5. Projects for the week

Creative Clarity

I'm on a clarity kick, trying to understand how I want to direct my energy in the next months of my life. My priorities are those activities, good deeds, responsibilities, people, disciplines, and whatever else seems most important and feels most meaningful to me, now.

Thursday is my day to open the door to creative thinking and doing, so today I'll take time to think about my path forward.

Agenda: 

1. Read "The Book of Doing and Being"

2. Creative visioning

3. Projects for the week

4. Functional creativity

Sunday for Getting My Head on Straight

Life is getting complex. I need to slow it down and get some clarity.

 

Agenda today:

1. Read "Revolutionary Witchcraft"

2. Power mapping preparations

3. Awareness practice for the week

4. Creative visualization

End of a Crazy Week

What a week! Spring break is not what it used to be - no break for us. We had the boys for longer days, and one with an ear infection - not fun. Still, we had the kind of conversation and time you can't have on shorter days. Tonight we will have them again for an extended evening, and I want to set us up for success.

Agenda: 

1. Read "The Book of Doing and Being"
2. Creative imagining for Dragonfly Studio
3. Studio brainstorm
4. Projects for the week

5. Writing themes and passion flow plan

Vigor

Vigor and enthusiasm for life are components of effectiveness, happiness, and hope.

Today I set an intention to lean in to life with vigor and enthusiasm by giving attention to self-care and healthy habits, lighting a fire with visualization and curiosity, and taking one step at a time, because lethargy and overwhelm threaten to derail me everyday and if I delay, I’m not acting in the now. 

Agenda:

1. Devotions
2. Beingness 

3. Earth Action

4. Read "Perspective"

5. New narrative for vigor

6. Creative visualization

7. Writing themes and passion flow plan

On Writing

Agenda

1. Read "The Earth Keeper's Handbook"

2. Low status oxymoronic priorities

3. Creative Visualization

4. Proaction and reciprocity plans

Fifth Day of Christmas

This is the fifth day of the twelve-day festal tide - a sacred, festive season. I'm in Sabbath mode, spending these Twelve Days doing as little work as possible, resting, reflecting, and finding peace within.

Today we have our grandsons for half the day, so - an active retreat!

Agenda today:

1. Kwanzaa principles

2

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Light a candle for simplicity

3. Read "SoulSpace"

4. Soyal retreat practices for simplicity

5. Creative visualization

6. Simplicity brainstorm

7. Plan New Year's resolutions

First Sunday of Advent

Today is the first Sunday of Advent!

ad•vent (ad’ vent) n. The coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important.

The advent season is a time of expectant waiting. We look forward with excitement to the celebration of Christmas; we wait for the return of longer days after the solstice; and we anticipate the arrival of grace in our hearts.

Grace is a state of being - at peace, free, filled with love & light.

I'll fill the next weeks with decorating, baking, buying gifts, and singing songs... but enfolding the busyness is the simple, deep peace and love of advent. I wait, anticipate, and learn again that transformation is a slow process.

Agenda today:
1. Advent prayer

2. Grace notes
3. Plan activities to express my unity with nature

4. Creative visualization

5. Advent wreath ceremony

Forgiveness Thoughts

Forgiveness is a tedious topic. I try not to give it too much thought, but it is the topic that is coming up today. I will try to focus on freeing the resentments I cling to, because these are a burden, and I want to return to dignity and a ground of love. "Though the action itself may remain forever unforgivable, the human is always forgivable."

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. Ongo journal

2. Read "The Sweet Spot"
3. Fall Cleaning and Home projects

4. Leaf School plans

5. Creative visualization

Home again

Home again, thank the universe! I will spend today recovering from the trip, catching up with writing and home tasks, and reconnecting to normalcy.

Agenda Today:

1. Read "The Creativity Book"
2. Write a letter about What I Want and What I Will Do to Get it
3. Creative visualization

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1. Read "the Creativity Book":  

A few years ago I started but didn't finish this book by Eric Maisel (one of my favorite writers). The subtitle is "A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance." Who doesn't want that?
I'm on part 8, Be Ambitious, and last week I read Week 29: Want Everything. He talks about the "desire to make our mark, to do great work, and to create like a god..." and asks that my focus this month be to dream big, let my ambitions out of the bag, and to want it even in the face of long odds. He says it's in our nature to want what we want: to use our brains, discover new things, live authentically, and create something.

He challenges me to be precise - to want everything true, beautiful, and good. And then plan how to get it. He suggests that I write a letter to myself.

2. Write a letter about What I Want and What I Will Do to Get it:

Dear self, Fall is a great time to reevaluate my creative goals. I want three basic things this fall:

I want to make things with my hands to give away - useful things, things that inspire and teach, gifts and craftivism.This will be my late week focus, Thursday and Friday, and I will plan and prepare on Thursday morning. 

 

I want to make artworks with a message - things that explore and support my Nature-Culture writing. This will be my weekend focus, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, with at least two hours in the studio, and I'll envision, explore, write, and set out supplies on Saturday morning.

 

And I want to make things with my grandsons - fun things, exploring basic skills, seasonal materials, and folk crafts. This will be my mid-week focus, Tuesday and Wednesday, and I will do all the prep on Monday, gathering all the supplies and making samples.

 

3. Creative Visualization:\

Every month, at the waxing gibbous moon (my last push for action), I call on the practice of visualization to help me to see the next steps towards bringing my goals to fruition.

Today I shine a light on all my art projects, and picture what it will look like and feel like when they are finished.

Creative visualization is a technique that uses my imagination to create change. (Because of my visual and auditory sensitivity, this is the best process for knowing what I'm feeling.) It has these steps:

• First, set an intention: Say, "Today I call on the Spirit of Love to bring me clarity and open my eyes to a vision of my art projects finished and delivered." 

• Center and relax each part of my body: With each breath, allow my awareness to deepen and become softer. No stress. No rush. I walk or float in an imaginary void. Open a connection to Spirit. Feel a soft warmth begin to grow and spread through me, until I am radiating quiet energy.

• Create a clear, detailed picture in my mind, as though the objective has been reached. Paint a vivid mental image of a straw doll or my alter and one in each of my grandsons hands; a butterfly tag kit, with Friends making and taking; a clean water collage / painting with my thoughts and fortunes attached; and put as much positive energy into the images as possible. 

• Lastly, affirm that this is what I want with a short positive phrase in the present tense: "Today I will take the next steps towards manifesting the the art I want to make"

• Give thanks and return: Saying thanks out loud is how I acknowledge the reality of the gift of my vision.

The thought-image is like a signal-flare that guides the physical thing or deed to manifest in my life (and it's 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.

Doing Without Trying

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. Home projects

3. Plan for Nature-Culture flow

4. Creative visualization

At the Ocean

It's true that nature can heal us. Walking on the beach is my medicine, which gives me the strength for reciprocity.

Agenda: 

1. Read "Present Moment Awareness"

2. Ponder about my breathing

3. Beach-combing

4. Visualization

July Day for Commitment

The month of July is a golden time of passion and activity. Nature celebrates the peak of its power, the sun reaches her highest point, and I do the same; every day I get to share my light with the world. I put my best and brightest energy into my projects, my garden, and my art. I seek out chances to be courageous, and extend myself beyond what’s comfortable.

The question for July is How do I shine through the clouds?

“Hold the sadness and pain of samsara in your heart and at the same time the power and vision of the Great Eastern Sun. Then the warrior can make a proper cup of tea.”

~ Chogyam Trungpa

Agenda:

1. Read "The Serviceberry"

2. Vow practice

3. Visualization

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

St. Dorothy's Day

St. Dorothy lived in Caesarea in central Turkey, around the year 313 AD. She was tried for refusing to worship idols, and a mocking lawyer asked her to send him fruit from the garden of Paradise. In response to her prayer, an angel appeared and presented three roses and three apples.

"And then said the holy virgin with a glad semblant: Do to me what torment thou wilt, for I am all ready to suffer it for the love of my spouse Jesu Christ, in whose garden full of delices I have gathered roses, spices, and apples."

Because of this, she is the patron of gardeners. Also of brides, and brewers.

Agenda Today:

1. Read "The Serviceberry"

2. Garden visualization

3. February tasks

4. Prepare to plant

5. Make potting soil

6. Make Persian Spiced Apples

Creativity in the New Year

Creativity is one of my leadings: I’m always hungry to get to work on a project. I feel restless, anxious, and eager to make something- a painting, or embroidery, or anything- just to have busy hands and feel productive and creative. 

And I want to express myself, though that which I want to express is often a mystery- it’s the shadowy and bright life inside me; it’s the big truths and the fleeting feelings of the moment.

I want to be more attentive and intentional about my art-making process and my product; more devoted, thoughtful, open, real, original, and honest. And so I hush and wait for ideas. I hold my heart like an empty bowl, waiting for it to be filled. I let the need to create grow and become an obsession, let myself be anxious, and feel happy for this ravenous feeling! As Eric Maisel says, "Both creating and not creating make me anxious, and I choose the anxiety of creating." I choose to have the anxiety of wanting so badly to make art that I must do it every day.

Agenda Today:
1. Review the Divine Laws
2. Prayer candle ceremony
3. Read "The Creativity Book"
4. Brainstorm and simple project list

6. Practice visualization
7. Kitchen blessing

Simple Holiday Season

The holiday season is already upon us. I'm making plans for Thanksgiving, preparing for advent, and starting some gift-making.

My top three tips for keeping these next months special are:

• Keep the main thing the main thing: Be clear on my holiday intentions and set priorities each week.
• Focus on savoring experiences like good meals, nature walks, and decorating together.
• Communicate early with everyone involved to confirm  schedules and priorities. 
• Don’t overspend on gifts; instead, make as many as possible and buy used books and toys.

Agenda:

1. Read "The Power of Less"

2. Simple holiday decluttering

3. Simple projects list

4. Practice visualization

Retreat for Beingness

I'm in great need of a retreat - a quiet day alone to think, write, read, and work in the garden and the house. It's been a stressful week, with robbery, and lots of emotions and fights. I'm going to take this day one step at a time, and pause often to remember to just BE.

1. Read "The Power of Less"

2. Creative Visualization

3. Simplifying my shelves

4. Home sensations

Transformative Habits

I've been reviewing some of the transformative habits I've developed over the years. Last week I wrote about the journal-brainstorm process, and a vision walk, which are steps in discernment. Today I'll write a bit more about discernment, and some of the steps after discernment.

Agenda:

I. Read PowerHunch

2. Visualization

3. Review intentions

4. Morning ritual

Good Fortune for Nature

Fierce Chickadees

I'm working on a series called "Good Fortune for Nature", that visually articulates my deep yearnings for the earth, and for all of us.  

Wendell Berry said, "There is in fact no distinction between the fate of the land and the fate of the people. When one is abused the other suffers." 

My wishes for good fortune focus first on the smallest butterfly and bee, but spread to include us all: I hope that my grandsons will see butterflies in their gardens throughout their lives, and that bees will survive to pollinate their food.

Agenda:

1. Daily moment for Earth Unity

2. Read Nature's Best Hope

3. Set parameters

4. Write good fortunes

5. Creative visualization