Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Unexpected Benefit



if you have been around for a while you know that i am a firm believer in practices (things that you do regularly in an intentional manner to enhance your creative and/or spiritual life).  one of the practices i have been engaging in as regularly as possible is art journaling. 



  after a tentative and very skeptical beginning, i find myself loving the pressure-free means to practice new techniques and try out various (mostly found!) art supplies, while at the same time expressing myself and even dealing with some underlying issues.  oh, and besides all of that, it’s just plain FUN!!




but there is another benefit to this practice that took me by surprise.  i’ve never been a good sleeper.  oh, i can fall asleep all right, but staying there is the problem.  so lately, i’ve found that when i’m lying there in that half-awake state, longing to sink deep back into the land of slumber…. that instead of going through the annoying details of the upcoming day, i’m thinking of colors, shapes, textures and doddle patterns.  since that is not exactly a stressful train of thought, the train actually leaves the station and heads back into dreamland.  very cool.  who’d’ve thought???



Monday, November 14, 2011

Chain Reaction

.


here's what i was thinking about yesterday...
 
i would not have met some of these amazing women (or gotten to know the others of them better) if i had not had the retreats….
.





i would not have had the retreats if i had not started a blog….

i would not have started a blog if i had not attended the unearth bepresent retreat in oregon 2 years ago…



i would not have attended the unearth bepresent retreat in oregon if i had not read kelly rae roberts’ blog….

i would not have read kelly rae roberts’ blog if i had not read kelly rae robert’s book….



i would not have read kelly rae robert’s book if amazon had not recommended it to me….

so….. i guess i owe a huge debt of gratitude to amazon.  isn’t life strange??

sure, i might have done some of these things anyway, but likely not in this order or in this way.  i think it’s so fun to trace something back through all of the little channels and see how events have transpired in your life.  it can be very eye-opening to say the least!!

oh, and it’s not over yet.  there are still some things brewing…. i will have to revisit this list in the future and it’s going to get longer!!

Think about it!!!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Silence


 
the breeze
the birds
my breath
these are the things i hear
the breeze stops
the birds stop
i stop my breath….

and
finally

there

it

is………..


silence


"Silence is more musical than any song"  
Christina Rossetti

Don't forget to seek out a moment of pure silence today.
You will be surprised at its power.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Bonus Thrill


not only was i able this past weekend
to experience the thrill
of hosting
but i was the lucky recipient
of a bonus thrill
when the mountains
decided to gift us
with a brief but spectacular
early snowstorm
followed soon after
by the warming rays of the sun.
  happy girl.








(coming back down to earth
and hoping to catch up
with all of you soon!!)