At times, life can feel chaotic. Both within and without and especially in moments on transition, when to-do lists double up and there are never enough hours in the day. When you sense stress in colleagues as they anticipate change. Your nerves are highly sensitive to triggers and the panic demon sits in the very…
Category: Meditation
As an right-brain entrepreneur- I need to a flexible and fluid yet rigid schedule.
I am about to embark on a full-time art career as in-house artist for by post street, illustrator, writer, street artist, and art facilitator for youth/adults. This means moving away from frontline youth coordination to focusing 100% on the art. It is extraordinarily exciting. Art for me is not just about being in the moment…
I choose to remove my own mask in my own time. #authenticity
Don’t you, when strangers and friends come to call, straighten the cushions, kick the books under the bed and put away the letter you were writing? How many of us want any of us to see us as we really are? Isn’t the mirror hostile enough? ― Jeanette Winterson We can receive all the help and…
Responsibility garden… #journalexercise
I am taking charge of my own life. All the seeds have been planted. The shoots are healthy. And growing. It’s time for me to tend my own garden. In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are…
Some self reflection in my #DIY collage project!
Step 1. Get a square IKEA MALMA mirror. Step 2. Print out (actual size) 4 panels of my piece “Mirror.” (Click on the images for full size. Drag onto desktop, fiddle around with it!) Step 3. They are designed to be pieced together (overlapped) and mod-podged on the square IKEA MALMA mirrors. Step 4. Add your own glitter, paint, words,…
Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand. – Yeats
WHERE dips the rocky highland Of Sleuth Wood in the lake, There lies a leafy island Where flapping herons wake The drowsy water rats; There we’ve hid our faery vats, Full of berrys And of reddest stolen cherries. Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, …
Flight journal-stream of consciousness questions in the clouds.
Flight journal-stream of consciousness questions in the clouds. On takeoff, as the earth rushed underneath me and the draw of gravity pulled my attention in my window seat 32F, a question struck me- is it ok to die today? Would I run into Mamma and Pappa’s arms? Would I be at torpet? Would there be…
Journal entry: Changes ahead. Surrending and allowing.
I sense big changes ahead. For many of us. Tomorrow I am sitting down with my daughter and with large boards and pens and laying it all out. Where am I in this moment? I will make a complete list of all debts owing, where my accounts stand today, and three months projections ahead. I…
Mind maps integrate both right-brain and left-brain thinking. And you know me- I LOVE them!
Impromptu session mind-mapping with my dear friends, Evelyn and Reem today. So healing. I just love starting in the centre and working our way out. We don’t necessarily know what we are focusing on, but letting it evolve. Mind maps integrate both right-brain and left-brain thinking by capturing your stream of consciousness in a structured…
The failure dragon may be too tired to sabotage me today…
On the cusp of things moving forward and still facing extreme financial issues but I dare say the fear/anxiety has a different tone. I want to write question mark ‘?’ Different tone? But actually no- different tone. Period. This is the time in our dream quest where we have to: Wait And Allow. You’ll come…
Does context help or hinder your interpretation of art?
Does context change the way your interpret an image? A piece of art? Does knowing whether or not the artist is a man or woman affect the way you read the image? Is it important to know how the artist self-identifies? Does it matter if she was an alcoholic? If he was a bastard? If…
“Leaving behind in autumn’s advent…” My father’s last tax filings.
I filed my father’s taxes and submitted his will. All is done. All is wrapped up regarding both my mother and father’s paperwork. How very strange. There was no probate as my father died with no savings, no life insurance, no assets… but I am left massively rich, with a full heart and peaceful soul. Their…
My parents’ skeletonized forms… #Journal ramblings on the seabus…
March 4, 2013 I cannot help but see my parents’ skeletonized forms. It does not scare me. It fascinates. I am hyperly aware of Dad’s skeletal hands holding a pen. Mom’s sunken crevices in her skull as she applies makeup. It’s not grotesque. There is still the vibrant flesh of life covering, but it…
Life has no opposite. – Eckhart Tolle #journalexercise
Birth <–> LIFE <–> Death What comes to mind? Draw it out in your journal. When you walk through a forest that has not been tamed and interfered with by man, you will see not only abundant life all around you, but you will also encounter fallen trees and decaying trunks, rotting leaves and decomposing…
The farm. Autumn meditation.
Recalling my favorite farm on the Sunshine Coast. —
#Firstandforever: Dr. Martens
— — See also: If the kids are united San Francisco
Facing the wall of fear… #journal exercise. #arttherapy
Waking up with the cannonball weight of anxiety and fear in your chest? Racing thoughts about all the usual? Worried that you won’t be able to deliver all you have promised? That you don’t have enough resources? Financially, physically, spiritually? Forgetting to live in the moment and over-thinking the future? Scattered and feeling disorganized? You…
Anxiety from anticipating/processing loss requires pulling out the tool kit. #journaling
I’m working on a book with Dad and it’s a beautiful process. It’s about maintaining connections through art and with art. But as Dad goes through his past, and I take dictation and notes… … I am filled with nostalgia for a life passed, I am filled with the heaviness of missing my mom. I…
ANTICIPATION. #Journaling exercise PART 4: draw out the poetry. #arttherapy
I’m developing a journal exercise around anticipation. Recall in Part 1, I encouraged you to write about the words: ANTICIPATION, PROCESS and AFTERMATH. In part 2, we wrote freely, deconstructed and wove the words together. In part 3 we drew out the fear. Today, let’s write about what we leave behind after anticipation and process. Then draw…
ANTICIPATION. #Journaling exercise PART 3: draw out the fear. #arttherapy
I’m developing a journal exercise around anticipation. Recall in Part 1, I encouraged you to write about the words: ANTICIPATION, PROCESS and AFTERMATH. In part 2, we wrote freely, deconstructed and wove the words together: Today write about how anticipation can cause fear. Is it self-sabotage or is it part of the process? Draw how it feels….
ANTICIPATION. #Journaling exercise PART 2 woven collage. #arttherapy
I’m developing a journal exercise around anticipation. Recall in Part 1, I encouraged you to write about the words: ANTICIPATION, PROCESS and AFTERMATH. In this entry write freely about ANTICIPATION: Using dry pastel- color each line. Rub it down. Spray it with hairspray. Now cut strips. Weave them together. We anticipate events. As we process them,…
Moments… that’s all we really have. Here are some that caught my attention this weekend.
You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. – Henry David Thoreau one pierced moment whiter than the rest…
Journaling at WOW- the Women of Worth Conference
It was a pleasure connecting with Christine Awram, founder of Women of Worth, and listening to Yvonne Evans last night at The Granville Island Hotel. Theme: An Empowered CEO on A New Business Culture & Currency I look forward to processing the lessons that I chicken-scratched in my journal and building on the concepts I…
Anxiety journaling tool. #heart #lettinggo #outflow #arttherapy
Focus on 3-4 things that are blocking you, that hinder you, frustrate you, nag at you, keep you from living your life peacefully. E.g. I picked Anxiety, Fear, Money, Low Self-esteem Write for 10 minutes in your journal about these blocks. On a drawing/photocopy of an anatomical heart, write your main words repeatedly throughout the…
Part 35 of 35 daily journal workshop. SELF. #arttherapy
DAILY JOURNAL WORKSHOP SERIES: Part 1 JUST WRITE Part 2 DRAW OUT THE WORDS Part 3 HEART Part 4 SPILL OUT COLLAGE Part 5 NAKED SCREAM Part 6 INVITE ALTER STRETCH EXTEND Part 7 ARISE AROSE IN 3′S Part 8 SELF-PORTRAIT. HUMAN Part 9 WORD CRAZY QUILT Part 10 VINTAGE WORKOUT Part 11 GESTURE DRAWING…
Part 34 of 35 daily journal workshop. GOAL. #arttherapy
A goal or objective is a desired result an animal or a system envisions, plans and commits to achieve—a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. It is roughly similar to purpose or aim, the anticipated result which guides reaction, or an end, which is an object, either a physical…
Part 33 of 35 daily journal workshop. @SusanAkaSARK’s MICROMOVEMENTS. #arttherapy
Time to take a breather and simplify by using SARK‘s inspiring micromovements! Try some micromovements of your own. Use your journal as your oasis. SARK: SARK is a best-selling author and artist, with sixteen titles in print and well over two million books sold, including the national bestsellers Succulent Wild Woman, Bodacious Book of Succulence,…
Part 32 of 35 daily journal workshop. GRIEF. #arttherapy
LOSS. What does that mean to you? Are you scared of it? Is the fear of losing someone or something preventing you from living now? Have you experienced such profound loss that grief overwhelms you, and indeed, now shapes you? Write it out. Or draw it out. There are no easy answers. There is just…
Part 31 of 35 daily journal workshop. NEWBORN. BRAINSTORM. #arttherapy
Today you are a newborn and you are starting fresh! Draw a baby. Draw brainstorm bubbles above “your “head. Write about what it may be like to start fresh. Releasing anxiety and hesitancy. Brainstorm central themes in your life. Just let it happen. Be willing to be a beginner every single morning. Tomorrow: GRIEF Daily…
Part 30 daily journal workshop. REVIEW. RESOLVE. #arttherapy
REVIEW 1a : a formal military inspection b : a military ceremony honoring a person or an event 2: revision 1a 3: a general survey (as of the events of a period) 4: an act or the process of reviewing 5: judicial reexamination (as of the proceedings of a lower tribunal by a higher) 6a : a critical evaluation (as of a book or play) b : a magazine devoted chiefly…