Drinking it in

It is nature that I learn the most from. Life can throw lots of stuff at us and we can easily get caught up in it. It has been a bit of a whirlwind and now the dust has settled and I took some time for myself today. There was nothing pressing that I HAD to do, so I gave myself the gift of time... took my camera and went for a walk.
I took in the beauty that surrounded me. We seem to be about a month ahead on the blossoming of things. Usually, the lilacs come out for mother's day, but not this year... it's all out.
I leisurely took my time, photographing what caught my eye until I got to my destination.. mom's house. She has a lilac bush out front, so we sat on the porch and chatted.
Just as we were about to go in, we had a visit.
Mom pointed out the butterfly and I snapped away... thank you butterfly for your message.
Drink in the nectar of life. Drink it in now. Don't wait.
Drink it in deeply.
thank you.

Which direction..

I titled this "looking for direction". It is my "process" of moving.. where to move to.

Direction plays a large part. Which window faces east.. north..

Yesterday, this is one of the things I paid attention to as I took a look at an apartment.

Where will the studio be... will the sun shine on me in the a.m.

I have lived in one place for 33 years!

We have a lot of stuff.. some will come with us and a lot of it will not. Much of it will have to be disassembled.

I built our bed.. high off the ground like a loft bed. I made one for Jake too, which became my art table when he moved out.... with shelves built up to the ceiling. Storage under the bed-turned-table.

Jake built me another table with shelves above it for my paints. I built more shelves against another wall.. as I did in the living room. One wall of shelving for our books. Even in the kitchen I built shelves and cabinets. Everything made to fit!

If I took apart these pieces, I would have a LOT of wood and not much in the way of furniture.

There is something to say about starting from scratch. A certain excitment of starting over, doing things differently... having more experience of what works and what doesn't.

And yet, there is also that sentimental side... missing already the work I have done... painted ceilings and walls.. painted how I chose. Not a white wall in sight.

I am a bit concerned about moving somewhere else and having restrictions on this... I need to express myself in my surrounding.. I need a creative environment. I need to paint walls!

Every place I have lived.. ok, not a lot in that department.. but the places I did live in were covered with my art.

It's one of those things where I can be very rooted -as in staying in a place for a length of time... but please give me the wings I need to fly around and be creative... keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

Go There

I have missed blogging. My computer had a virus and I brought it in to the most wonderful computer guys to fix it and now I have my blogs back.

It gave me time to do other things though. I did more journaling and cleaning up.

I discover things when I clean. I focused on my meditation space which I allowed to get cluttered.

When I clean the clutter, dust off the books and objects, I feel as though I am clearing my own energy, my spirit surfacing through the debris... I open up the path to spirit - to my inner sanctuary - removing obstacles, illusions that made me take a detour.

I wandered off in another direction and got a bit lost.

Maybe that is what we need now and then... a detour.

Detours that take you down new roads show us our habits.. some not so good. We need to change the view so we don't become stagnant.

Sometimes it shows us what we have and how good it really is... "Stop comparing and being judgemental."

Those detours can show us we need to travel more lightly, to unload that which we don't really need but carry out of habit or conformity.. someone else's junk.

Maybe the detours are there for a rest... like a vacation. "Stop pushing so hard and let events unfold in their own time."

We take notice more on a detour. We no longer drive down a road we've driven down ten thousand times and no longer see what is around us.

We notice trees, new homes, a rabbit or hawk... our senses perk up. We take that back with us, hold on to it a bit longer.. fresh eyes.

Now we notice something new on the original path.

Now we feel much lighter.

Now the path is clearer and we can move freer, lighter, more observant.

Now I can take the high road.

Permission to Play

May we all be as the little child coming out to play.

Coming out of our composed, adult, responsible self for a bit of wild mad playtime!

I wish you less stress and more joy.

Pure spontaneous joy!

Give yourself some permission to play this holiday season.

Give this gift to yourself.

More blessings

I am grateful for the library because that is where I am now.. no computer for now and that may be a blessing in disguise. I found a "computer guy" in town.. he came this morning to pick up the computer and get rid of a virus and clean her up...
A big change in attitude today even with a packed laundromat.
It was an opportunity to be pleasant amongst the chaos.
Picked up a new color for the bedroom too.
A good day

Open Arms

I find it amazing how some days one wakes and just feels great and other times.. not so much.
I feel good today, and I am sure it is because I am aware of life's blessings. This is where my focus is.. the good stuff, all those wonderful things that are going right in my life.
The students I work with, watching them produce some amazing, creative work - a big blessing. I love it when I am giving a student the opportunity to express themselves in some way and it "clicks".
I am feeling good that I was able to help someone special financially and in return it came back to me four-fold!
Today is a day I want to open my arms and take it all in. I want to embrace each moment and because this is what I WANT and focusing on that, that is what the Universe provides more of.
Placing your focus on the good stuff and more good stuff is what appears.
Namaste'

Today I appreciate assistance

Gratitude Exercise here

Today a very nice man helped my mom with the wheelchair, went to the car with us to help some more and brought the chair back to the office... So many very kind people :-)
Thank you to all of you out there that hold doors open, are patient with others that are disabled, and do it all with a big smile.