Why This Moment?

I just checked ... it's now 2011 in Rio.  Here in the Sierra foothills we have 5 1/2 hours left of 2010.  What a funny way to think about things.  As if all the minutes of 2010 were painted purple and the first minute of 2011 turned time pink.  There is no real difference between 11:59 pm today and 12:00 am tomorrow but bells will ring, fireworks will rocket, and a glittering ball will mark the moment for millions of people.

Why do we take this drop from the ocean and hold it up as if it were a rock star?  Not one thing is different from one moment to the next and yet instantly a million diets will be launched, exercise gym memberships will spike, and nicotine patches will fly off the shelves.  Slates will be wiped clean, do-overs will multiply like bunnies  and hope will blossom in the universal heart.

Perhaps the question isn't "Why do we celebrate this one moment?" but rather "Why don't we celebrate every moment?"  Why can't we start afresh every moment? Wipe away the dust and grime of the past and open our hearts to hope and joy every single second of every new and glorious day?

Why not indeed!  May every moment of the coming year be filled with joy and a great forgetting of all past hurts and wrongdoings.

Vision Collage - You're Invited!

On the first day of this year, several of us gathered with magazines, glue sticks, journals and an impulse to discover more of ourselves and what the year might hold for us.  It was such a delightful day I decided to make it an annual tradition.  So, tomorrow a new group will meet in a new place and you're invited to join us wherever you are.

Here's what you'll need:
-- a journal or someplace to put your collage (a canvas or board or anything else that you could put somewhere and see it often.  Blank 8 1/2 x 11 paper works fine but you may want something more special.
-- 4-5 image-oriented magazines (home, travel, O, Real Simple, etc.)  Spend some quiet time thumbing through them and pulling out images that strike you.  (Don't worry about whether or not they make sense.  If they capture your attention, they do.) 
-- scissors, glue sticks and any embellishments that look like fun ... yarn, sequins, stamps, etc.
-- most important:  dreams and wishes that you would like to see turn into reality in the coming year.

Once you've got several images that appeal to you, simply start to glue them onto the paper you're using as your base.  You may want to cut or tear the image so that you're only getting the pieces you want.

Here are two short articles about creating a Vision Collage that might give you a little more insight (the first one calls it a Vision Board):

http://christinekane.com/blog/how-to-make-a-vision-board/

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/vision_collage.asp

Wishing you a joyfully fantastic New Year even if you can't be with us.  We'd love to hear about your Vision Collage.




About the Image:  This is the 2-page collage that I did the first day of this year.  It is the inside cover of my journal so that I could see it frequently as I went through the year.

Sketchbook Challenge

I don't do sketchbooks ... they scare me silly.  But I love looking at sketchbooks and wish I could (would) do one.  So when a friend turned me onto the Sketchbook Challenge, my immediate response was "No way."  Then I tiptoed over to the blog post that announced the challenge where Jill Berry was reading my mind when she said:

So you want to start keeping a sketchbook but every time you sit down with a book in front of you and pencil in hand you freeze up and just can’t seem to get started. Wouldn’t it be helpful to be able to get a glimpse inside another artists sketchbook to see how they use theirs? Well you’re in luck because help is on the way!

The sketchbook challenge is a new project launching on 1/1/2011. Follow along with a diverse group of very talented artists working in a variety of styles and mediums as they fill their sketchbooks based on a monthly theme.

So, what have we got to lose?  We don't have to share the pages that look like kindergarten homework.  I'm going to do it and invite you to join me.

About the Image:  This is a page from Jill Berry's blog.  My sketchbook will not look like this ... nor will I build a special box from scratch to hold my sketchbook pages.  Just so you know.

The Gift without Price

“Let us forgive each other - only then will we live in peace.”
-- Leo Tolstoy

"Without forgiveness there is no future."
-- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

In this season of bright bows and colorful packages, it is easy to forget the gift without price.  Forgiveness is the gift that costs us nothing other than letting go of our angers and hurts.  This year I was gifted with forgiveness of my darkest moment.  It was an unexpected and magnificent gift that washed away years of guilt and self-condemnation.  It set me free of the past.

The extreme generosity of this gift lifted my heart and made me want to be equally generous with forgiving all my real and perceived wrongs and injuries.  However, even with the example and leadership of Jesus, whose birthday much of the world celebrates tomorrow, forgiveness is not easy.  I find myself in one particular instance holding onto the past, turning our dark history around and around as if looking at and polishing each facet of a valuable gemstone.  Why is it so important to continue to feel wronged?  Why am I reveling so in my own "rightness?"

In this instance, forgiveness has not been requested so I know that, if I can make the choice to forgive, the primary gift will be to myself.  In searching the Internet for ideas on forgiveness, I found the following from Larry James

Forgiveness is a gift you give to yourself. It is not something you do FOR someone else. It is not complicated. It is simple. Simply identify the situation to be forgiven and ask yourself: "Am I willing to waste my energy further on this matter?" If the answer is "No," then that's it! All is forgiven.

Forgiveness is an act of the imagination. It dares you to imagine a better future, one that is based on the blessed possibility that your hurt will not be the final word on the matter. It challenges you to give up your destructive thoughts about the situation and to believe in the possibility of a better future. It builds confidence that you can survive the pain and grow from it. 

I can do this.  I will let go of this hurt.  I will forgive.

I invite you to join me in finding one wrong to forgive in this season of love and forgiveness.

May all your holidays be joyful and safe.

2010: the year that ...

It's a time of the year when we make lists of everything and I thought it would be interesting to complete the subject sentence with five answers that capture the essence of the year for me personally.  So, here goes ...

2010:  the year that I ...

- returned to California and knew it was home.
- traded half a house for a 10 pound dog and got the better part of the deal.
- settled for my 3rd choice house only to find out that it was the perfect choice.
- gained a best-friend house-mate and discovered that solitude and companionship can co-exist.
- joined a mosaic group and found a new passion

I would love to see your list.




About the image: "Amarantine Garden #3"

What Seeds We Sow

Maureen at Writing Without Paper found this wonderful little animation by Joaquin Baldwin and it is definitely worth sharing.  Enjoy.


The Windmill Farmer from Joaquin Baldwin on Vimeo.

Word for the Year

For the past ten years, I have chosen a word for the year although sometimes it chose me.  My first word of the year was found on a beaten up old RV... across the back was splashed the word:  JUBILATION.  The very sound of the word lifted my spirit and I knew I wanted to spend time with it.  It began a tradition that has become very important to me.  Some of the words in past years were familiar and some were completely new to me.  Annual words include  "chrysalis," "querencia" (a quiet place of safety where we gather our power for the coming challenge), "abbondonza" (an Italian word that made me think of dancing with abundance), and "autopoiesis" (life continually re-creating itself and its parts while organizing itself in relationship to its surroundings).

Each year about this time, I open myself up to the words that have come my way during the year ... kept  on the last page of my annual journal so I can find them easily ... and pick the one that calls to me.  This word goes on the cover of the journal in gaudy and colorful glitter glue with the word and the year on the spine for quick reference once they're shelved.   I start a new journal every year even if the previous year's journal wasn't filled.  It's a metaphorical new start.

During this end of the year time, I also reflect on this year's word and review the year's journey.  My journals are not diaries ... there's very little "what's going on and what I'm thinking and feeling" type of stuff but rather lots of mindmaps, lists, ideas, images, quotes and anything else that captures my attention.  Flipping through them is a little like time travel on fast forward.

This past year had two words ... "beauty" and "equanimity" (mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, esp. in a difficult situation) and both were perfect talismen for a chaotic year.  For the first time, the cover of my journal was actually a mindmap.  Since I knew it was going to be a transition year, I mapped the qualities that I thought would help me maintain equanimity:  gratitude, solitude, joyful play, kensho (seeing one's true self/nature.  Seeing the non duality of subject and object); co-creation, praxis (spiritual practice), creative expression, naikan (gratitude reflection practice) and maitre (Sanscrit for loving kindness toward self).

While I wouldn't say this past year reflected perfect equanimity, I think the focus on maintaining calmness helped me deal with the changes of the year.

This year there are again two words calling me:  "hallelujah" which seems to be a call to a constant state of gratitude ("nothing on my tongue but hallelujah") and "temenos" (the circle in which magic of the soul can happen).  I may choose them both.

Other words collected this year include:

"delicious futures" - Dan Gilbert
Cantillation - each person's special gift or talent that gives one a sense of joy but also union with the Absolute ... Dr. John Diamond
Mosaic ... a wonderful metaphor for piecing together a life into a beautiful work of art
Amarantine - everlasting.  Imaginary flower that never fades.  Amaranth -- shade of deep purple - red.

 Abbey of the Arts also has a richly poetic post on the process of choosing a word for the year.  If you want to join this tradition, I highly recommend this post.