Flow

After a whole lot of deliberation, my word for 2011 is FLOW. In 2010, I had a whole lot of speed bumps. And despite the speed bumps, I showed my photography at 3 local venues, entered several photography contests, developed an online Artist Empowerment Class and taught it twice. I also began on a path that was shown to me throughout this year.

There will be a lot of changes coming soon. One being switching this blog over to wordpress. I will make sure there are plenty of ways for you to find me though, and I do hope you'll stick with me through it!

What is your word for 2011? What changes do you have planned?

My New Intention

I have been doing a lot of soul searching over the past few weeks. Honestly, a lot of it is due to my Artist Empowerment Class. The connections made are so amazing. The atmosphere is contagious, the growth is too. And it hit me today. I have not been living an authentic life.

I thought that when this new life started in March, and I moved out of the home that I lived with my husband in, that it would be authentic. However, I'm still working at the same job, still associated with the same type of people.

My residence changed. It is now time for some other areas of my life to change.

Much of me is resistant. I have a healthy relationship with the "Yeah, but..."

I have a feeling that I will be fighting with myself for the weeks to come... hopefully with some amazing results. I will keep you posted as much as I can.

Some will have to remain private for a time. Other parts of it will be easy and amazing to share.

Thank you for joining me in this struggle.

One Leg of my Journey

I have decided to try blogging in the evenings again. A close out of the day. And today was quite refreshing, I must tell you. Things weren't as busy at work, I didn't feel so frazzled. I got off work on time. I had time when I got home to get some chores done and I had the energy to do them. It was quite amazing.

Tomorrow morning (today, as you'll be reading this), I have a roast in the crock pot and it will be ready by the time I get off work. After eating, I will begin prep for the next day's dinner.

I also need to fit some time in for writing this week, my class chat is Thursday, and I have journals to make. Life isn't likely to slow down any time soon. I think the answer is for me to make small changes until I find what's right for me.

I know this journey is not done. I absolutely will find a way to fit all that I need into my life. In the process, I believe I'll be discarding some things that I don't.

What journey are you on?

Changes

I posted yesterday about my desire to make changes in my life. Many of these changes are quite personal and it scares me to share them. But I will, in time, I am sure.

Yesterday, I was a bit more active. Tried to remain more calm and collected at work. And I ate healthier. I didn't do all the things I had hoped to work towards my goals. But it was my first day.

I need to prioritize things in my life. I need to show up at the page. I may even need to make friends with my camera again.

Truthfully, I'm not absolutely sure what changes I need to make. Or maybe what I don't know is how exactly to get from point a to poing b. I am trying, however, to state my intentions with each step forward.

Ahhhhhhh....

I will post pictures of my new home soon. I spent yesterday evening hanging art on the walls. The most astounding thing to me is now, home doesn't include anger, mind games, power plays. Home is peaceful. Home is fun. Home is somewhere that I really want to be.

I am still in the process of simplifying. We are about 75% unpacked, and if I find that we don't have a home for something, then it's going to Goodwill. I have one box so far, but there will be more. I do not want clutter in my home. I want clean, simple.

So far, the cat's behaving so she can stay :-). I have missed blogging, and missed my morning routine, but even that will become custom tailored to the new life. I may switch to blogging very late in the evening. Who knows. What I do know is that I will continue to blog. Blogging, to me, is a must.

Next week we will have our first dinner party. And we're getting our couch. Life is good, and everything falls into place. Ahhhhmazing.

A time for Personal Change

There are many circumstances in my life right now that are way out of my control. And finally, I (being the consummate stubborn one) realized that there are changes that I can make to make this time easier. I had fallen out of my meditation routine. Self-care was decreasing. Feelings of anger, hostility, and anxiety were increasing.

This morning, I did a stretching routine. Then I meditated. It felt good being on my meditation cushion. My job is hit and miss for down time, I will try to get some time to just breathe during the day, but regardless of that, morning meditation soothes my soul.

I am also planning to go out more often with my camera. Probably less online time in the evenings. Hopefully more time creating, organizing, cleaning. Less time dwelling on the negative, and more time harvesting the positive.

How about you?

Keep on swimming, swimming, swimming...

Often lately, I remind myself of Dory in Finding Nemo... telling myself to keep on swimming, swimming, swimming...

I've always struggled with patience. And it seems lately that patience is the only survival tool I have. I'm getting quite a lesson! Know what? I'm thankful. Yep, thankful for the struggle. Thankful for having to work VERY hard to meet goals. I'm thankful because it will make the end result all the sweeter!

I wrote a while back about how it's going to be a year of change. Major changes. I will now project that the bulk of those changes won't be complete until about March. And, though the wait is totally against my grain, it's ok. There are many many things I can do in the meantime to work towards them.

It's odd... I know that all the things I do will not speed things up. And that's alright too. I'm just going to keep on swimming, swimming, swimming. So many character changing life lessons... so many opportunities for growth. In this time of adversity, I am thankful. But it's not all adversity, some of it is just life-enriching wonderfulness. Ah, isn't life such an amazing swirl of possibility?

Just remember to keep on swimming!

On a quest

As many of my regular readers know, I've been on a quest lately. I have been searching for my authentic self, and I know that when I fully realize that, I have all the tools to be happy in every area. However. When you do such a search, things are thrown in your face like big stop signs, showing you all the areas that are wrong.

Yesterday, such a stop sign was thrown up. And I realize that not ONLY do I need to work on all the areas that I've already been working on... but I seriously need to fix this one or nothing else will work.

More soul-searching. And it's something that I've known in the back of my mind for a very long time. Yes, something that I've tried to forge onward as is and ignore all the negativity brought into my life by it. But after yesterday, I don't think that's going to be possible.

So. Even more big changes in my life. And it's scary! I am one to dig my heels in to change. I make lists, I write schedules, and I don't readily take to deviations from that plan. So, schedule this change in, the little voice in my head just said. *sigh*

The biggest question... do I dare to make such a life-altering, financial survival type of plan in this economy? I have to think. And I have to meditate. And I need to write all my thoughts and see myself through this.

Coming Soon

I've been moving in some new directions, I've mentioned that several times. So what does that mean? Well here's some things to look out for:

I'm moving in a new direction with my photography. I'll still take some photos of flowers and such, but I will also be adding new subject matter soon.

I'll be posting artisan interviews on my blog. One per week, but I'm thinking of doing several the first week to kick start it.

Giveaways. Yep, I will be hosting giveaways. Both for my products, and for others.

Challenges, and tutorials. We all want to be the best, and do our best... let's support one another to get there! If you'd like to be featured in an interview, a giveaway, a challenge, or a tutorial, please contact me!

By the way, the photo I featured today is one I listed last night that sold quickly. Any of the photos in my shop can be made black and white (as I did with this one), so if you have a request, please let me know.

Life is good

I took this photo in Newport on Sunday... oh how I love daisies. I love them in every shape, size and color. But truthfully, Shasta Daisies are my favorite.

I came home from work early yesterday. I was very pleasantly surprised that even though I hadn't left a chore list my boys had emptied the dishwasher, reloaded it, started it, and wiped down all the countertops in the kitchen. Niiiice! I took my youngest to the pool. I sat there, watching him. And I sat there melting. It was at least 100 degrees! It's supposed to be even hotter today and tomorrow. The not so great part about that is that our work air conditioner will not keep up! When I left yesterday it was already 80 degrees inside the building and it wasn't done! So I will be doing a lot of sweating.

I listed 2 new photos yesterday. And 2 new journals. Hopefully more will come today. I feel really good about most areas of my life lately. Those areas that I don't feel good about, well, baby steps, but steps forward nonetheless. Making the changes that make sense for me.

I hope we all have the wisdom to make those changes in our lives. To make life exactly what we NEED it to be!