This week’s theme was recovering a sense of possibility. Favorite quote from the sidebar: “You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm. -Collette
There was also something she said – that she sees all the time – is that when people are doing all the footwork to make their artistic dreams come true, they’re shaking the apple tree, so to speak, and then the universe gives them oranges. They’re still catching lucky breaks and having great things happen, just not what they expected.
I kept looking at my vision board this week, thinking, what is the point of this, then? If it’s going to manifest something different than what I put on it? (And also there are a couple things on there, that I don’t even know what they mean, or how they got on there. What’s up with that?) She says our task is just to accept the generosity of the universe, because blocked creatives tend to have difficulty with receiving good stuff. It’s certainly true for me. But still, it’s kind of like one of those weird zen questions that has no answer. I’m just gonna trust that the universe has something wonderful planned and forget about it.
Anyway…morning pages: did them every day. I still don’t like getting up earlier to do them, but I do like that they help me clarify things and set my intention for the day. My job hasn’t changed at all but somehow it’s become a lot easier to get through each workday. Tasks: completed them all and enjoyed them this week. Artist date: I cleaned out my closet of the clothes that don’t make me feel fabulous, and then went shopping for a few new things that do. Also I really needed new pajamas. So I got some, and then I had a pajama day on Sunday. Haven’t done that in a while. It was good. Synchronicities: there were some weird little odd things that happened that I don’t really understand, but it was kind of like they were roadsigns, confirming I’m headed in the right direction. Any other significant issues: yeah I had a lot of stuff come up around love and relationships, which kind of blindsided me because I didn’t think that was part of being a recovering artist, but ok, maybe that’s an orange the universe is offering. And I like oranges. It’s all good.
On to week 6! Which is about money. Oh no. I feel the need to stock up on chocolate.
How about you? Have you ever used some kind of visioning tool to manifest things you wanted in your life? How did that work out?
So these are more photos of Zion National Park from last weekend. It’s a place I love dearly. If I ever move away from Utah it will be the place I most most from here.
We’re five months into 2013 my ‘love‘ year. I wrote about the first lesson that having this as my ‘one word’ for this year has taught me, and I’ve learned some other stuff too. Also it’s been really fun rediscovering what I love….like these photos and the love lists….if you’re like me and you tend toward caretaking others for whatever reason, you probably know what everyone else around you likes & loves, but forget your own tastes. It’s very powerful to rediscover them.
So lesson #2: that old new agey-sounding thing about if you love yourself first, then you’ll attract more love into your life and people will love you too – that shit works. For real! I was always a little skeptical about that even though I tell it to people all the time. I don’t want to get too personal so I’ll keep it short – let’s just say that I had a relative who has sent me preachy letters for years and I ignored them, not wanting to get into a big argument about whose beliefs are better than whose. Last December when I got another letter as well as a box of more appropriate Christmas cards to mail to everyone instead of the ‘happy holidays’ cards I usually send, I knew I had to step up and say something. So I wrote back and finally told her to stop, not out of anger (even though it did piss me off) but out of love and respect for myself, and for her.
I didn’t think I’d hear from her ever again but guess what? Now we’re penpals. She was inspired to look at what she was doing and decided she wanted to do something different, and she responded to my request with love. Now we write to each other about stuff we have in common. Cool!
When you change within yourself and treat yourself with love & respect, the outer circumstances of your life will change too (a lot of the time anyway, if not always). People in your life who are generally loving or who want a good relationship, will respond with love and respect and make adjustments if they need to. People who just want you to be a doormat so they can control & manipulate you, at least in my experience, will initially fight the change in you and try to keep you in doormat mode, but eventually if you’re consistent, they’ll either change too, or they’ll fade out in the background of your life because they’re not getting what they want anymore.
I’m not sure what lesson #3 will be. How about you? What are some things you’ve learned about love?
Barely scraped through week 4! Remember that reading I was going to do on my pajama day last week? Didn’t happen because week 4 includes a Reading Deprivation. No reading! None at all! I didn’t quite succeed but I did read much less and spent much, much less time online. It was kinda nice. I missed my books & magazines a lot and will make some reading time this week, but I didn’t miss the online stuff so much. Well except instagram, which was the hardest online thing for me to stay away from.
I finished my morning pages every day and I finished most of the tasks. It was a busy week and I just ran out of time to complete them all. I had kid’s dance stuff nearly every night. I went to yoga again for my artist’s date and tried a different class this time – chakra yoga. They’ve been working on the heart chakra. I really needed that, and it was one of the synchronicities I experienced this week. I also happened to be at the coffee shop on a small break from work just at the right time to meet a couple of women who run the Sagebrush Fiber Artisans, a local fiber arts group. I can’t go to their weekly stitch & bitch at the coffee shop because it’s during my work hours but I can go to their monthly meetings. I’m excited! They are knitters, crocheters, spinners, etc. It’s gonna be fun.
If you’re working your way through the Artist’s Way or have in the past, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!
