Right now, at this moment, I am struggling with my creativity. I have a project for myself to complete and I am stuck. Stuck in the muddy waters of distraction with my mind literally blank. I know thinking is usually the death of creativity and feelings are where the creativity really starts. I just can’t get out of my head.
I’m going to guess that it’s happened to you, too. That is, when you’ve tried to solve a problem you’ve immediately gone to your head. Your head can be a lonely place or it could be a complete party telling you, “That will work!” then another voice pops up and says, “No it won’t!” All these conversations just trying to help you along when in fact it just muddy’s the water. Almost like it will swallow you up if you let it. You try to see the bottom of the water you are standing in, and all you feel are the catfish nibbling at your feet. Yikes, that feels weird.
Looking for new ideas while typing this blog, I decided to check out YouTube and I found this video. It brought a smile to my face and is nudging me to feel new ideas. Thanks to you, and thanks to the video, I am confident I will finish my project. Here’s to new ideas!
What out of the box activities or actions do you take to break out of the muddy waters and get new ideas? I’d love to read them.
Out of action comes progress and great leaps of faith.
As I look at a photograph of the village of Sienna, the sun casts shadows on the burnt terracotta colored buildings. I am reminded of the short time my husband Larry and I spent there. I remember the square where the horse races happen every year. I remember the pasta, mushrooms, and Toscana salami from a deli. The mouth-watering flavors, the atmosphere, the awe, and the people watching. I want to go back!
Then a voice of someone telling me….bring that feeling back with you to your everyday life. How can I do that? I wanted to keep that feeling, but I really didn’t know how. Now I get it. Now I live it everyday and I want, I passionately want, more travel. I travel with the eyes of a child. I am curious about most everything. I am fascinated about the wonder of it(life) all. This brings me back to everyday where I look behind the nooks and cranny’s to see if there’s more there.
What brings up your passion? What excites you? What brings out the child like wonder in you?
Come be a passionate traveler with me. Let’s light up your spark so you can share it with the world and see the real you.
I am grateful for my life. It has become full and rich and I certainly want to expand it more. Recently, my friend, Daniel Goldstein and one of his mentors Chuck Roppel of Gratefulness.org, inspired me. Oprah talked much about her grateful journal. It’s my understanding she writes in this journal every night about what she grateful for that particular day. My husband and I now make a practice to say what we are grateful for in each other before falling asleep. Quite frankly a nice practice. The benefits express our love and it gives me a feeling of appreciation, I might forget otherwise.
The practice of gratefulness indeed is worth giving some thought. I have heard the University of California, Berkeley has received a grant to study the effects of gratefulness. That’s how important it is too our psyche. According to Gratefulness.org here are the benefits of gratefulness “The practice of gratefulness moves people in four directions. In our personal lives, it has an inward aspect, restoring courage; and an outward aspect, inspiring generosity. In our social lives, it can be focused one-to-one, reconciling relationships, or it can be focused further afield: as an instrument for healing our Earth through reverence for nature, intergenerational respect, interfaith dialogue, and awareness of opportunities to serve. These four directions add up to a commitment to live in the light of all we’ve been given. That means living fearlessly and therefore non-violently.” Pretty awesome, huh?
I am adding gratefulness (it’s always been there) to my daily life to enrich it and expand it. I’m hoping through this I can also generate others to have more conscious thought about what we appreciate about life instead of what is wrong with this life.
I want am a thriver in the midst of a sea of survivors. How about you?
I remember walking down a hallway after a computer class for work. A co-worker came up to me and thanked me for something I don’t remember what, I barely acknowledged her “Thank you.” What I did was, as always, explain away, my action. After, when I realized what I had done, I felt awful. I dissed her badly. I ignored her “thank you,” and then it started to be all about me. Yikes! I always thought I was good at the pleasantries. Suddenly, my eyes were open like saucers and said “&*(^” in my head,(or maybe even out loud). I am arrogant. This I needed to correct.
Graciously accepting compliments and acknowledging their source was something new for me. When growing up I thought if I accepted a thank you graciously, I was being arrogant. That I didn’t deserve to have that praise. That I was being humble. Now, as an adult, I discovered that accepting a “thank you” graciously, is accepting a compliment and honoring the person who paid the compliment. Then you both become right instead of both becoming wrong. What a revelation! What a relief! What a habit I had to change. Eventually, I learned the habit of accepting compliments and “thank you’s” graciously. I feel better for it. I now feel deserving, and I hope in the process make someone else have a better day by accepting their gift instead of rejecting it.
It was a sign of the times being taught that explaining away a compliment or thank you was a humble gesture. What about you? Do you habitually refuse a thank you or compliment? Would you if you realized you were rejecting the other person? That you were refusing a gift unintentionally?
Thank you a million times over for reading my blogs. Please pass it on (my thank you, that is….and if you choose, my blog)
I am very grateful to “Influenceversuscontrol,” for the nomination for the “Sunshine Award”. I love how this award was presented to me. Thank you for the fun and the appreciation.
The Rules: *made to be broken*
Include the award Logo(s) in a post or in your blog.
Answer 10 question about your self.
Nominate 10 to 12 other fabulous bloggers.
Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blog, letting them know about the award.
Share the love and link the person who nominated you.
. What is your Favorite color? Deep Red
. What is your favorite animal? Cat
. What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink? Water
. Do you prefer Facebook or Twitter? Facebook, if I absolutely had to choose.
. What’s your passion? Travel
. What’s your Favourite pattern? Toile
. Do you prefer giving or getting presents? Giving
. What’s your favourite number? Seven
. Favourite day of the week? Saturday
. Favorite flower? So many…..Cala Lily
Now it is time to give “props” to some awesome bloggers. And the nominations for the “Sunshine Blogger Award” are:
I hope that you all enjoy the fun and appreciation of the sunshine award! You have all brought me more sunlight (she said going for the most obvious of cliche’s).
Chugga, chugga, chugga; WooHoo, woohoo! The steam dinosaur pulls out of the train station. I see steam come out the smoke stack. With the sounds, smell, and sight I see the smile broadly expand on my husband’s face. He’s happy in this environment of gritty, steamy machines. A relationship with his uncle when he was 5 years old is what started this hobby, sometimes obsessive, entertainment. Although I am only peripherally interested in trains, I love seeing my husband happy. Having him happy filters to me.
Now I wonder if I enjoy my own hobbies and adventures how much will filter to him. Ultimately, how much developed hobbies and activities will fill my soul? I know instinctively, that my self-care (with what I need) will breed openness, change perspective,and increase my creativity. I have recently concluded I need to redefine self-indulgence and self-care. They are truthfully not the same. I had previously defined some items from care in the self-indulgence definition. There lies my wish for re-definement. I want to nurture my self-care to appreciate myself and others more and exclude self-indulgence (the hedonistic side). It is about finding me with what I need and possibly want as well as opening new opportunities. New opportunities to create an environment that I love…..serendipity. The little and big surprises.
Where are you in your self-care discovery? Are you open to new discoveries? Are you open to new adventures big or small?
My cat Sesame, a snowshoe Siamese cat, is not happy about the recent weather here in Northern California. Even though he has a cat door with freedom to go in and out (Thank god!), he is feeling trapped and shows us with all the attention he needs. It appears he also thinks we have the power to change the weather from rainy to clear and from cold to temperate (he wants a 10-20 degree range of comfort). He has cabin fever. Feeling trapped he begs for attention, runs around the house, and chatters at birds through our picture window. He was so desperate yesterday, he tried to get a bird through the window (and no he is not dumb).
This is how we can feel at times. Trapped. Stuck to the nth power and beyond our control. We may feel that there is no choice we can make except one, and we don’t like that choice either. This is a view of life through a scarcity lens. It sucks us down to a level of no hope, no choice, and we’re never going to get out of our situation. I understand that place, because, I too have felt that constriction, that hopelessness. Neither one of us has to stay in that trapped space. Number one it certainly places us in a place of negativity, emptiness, and dissatisfaction. Number two, there is a way out. Yes, really. There is a different lens to get us out of this hopeless space, this feeling of being trapped. It’s called the land of plenty, enough, and abundance. For me, this brings a sense of hope, choice (on so many levels), and perspective. In this place even “no” is a choice and one that is about integrity and balance. What a sense of freedom I feel when I am in this space. These days I feel it more and more because that trapped space really holds no value for me.
What about you? Do you have cabin fever like my cat Sesame? Do you feel trapped and feel you have no choice, no hope and never going to get out of that space? Is this where you want to stay? There certainly is a different place that calls you, where the sun shines, the birds chirp, and the flowers are beautiful and fill the space with a wonderful scent.
Come with me to that place and we’ll play in the sun together.
