Dec 31, 2012
ferns, ancient and everlasting
The last Monday of 2012, here we are. I’m feeling okay about moving on from 2012. This was a challenging year. Not the most challenging, but pretty darn challenging. It’s certainly the year I most often pictured myself as the silhouette dropping through the sky in the opening sequence to Mad Men.
I got to see, hear, smell, taste, touch some really awesome things. I got to go to from Shanghai to Mexico in a day’s time and feel the amazing contrast between city and seaside. I’ve seen the dots on the map of a city slowly start to come together in my mind. I’ve had to challenge myself in one billion ways. I lost the to-do lists and responsibilities of the last many years and walked into an open field of unknowns. I left a lot of people many, many miles away and introduced myself to new people again and again and again. I’ve thought and written a lot (a lot) about what my hopes are for this phase of my life, and continue to explore these thoughts and these chances to take as I welcome 2013.
Just a few short links this week, that might help you welcome this new year meaningfully. I really encourage you to listen to the first one, a discussion with researcher Brene Brown. Here are some outtakes:
“Wholehearted living does not rely on: perfectionism, judgement, exhaustion as status symbol, productivity as self worth, cool, what do people think, performing, proving, a quest for certainty”
“Creativity is not correlated with perfectionism or productivity”
“Does this mean that our capacity for wholeheartedness can never be greater than our willingness to be broken hearted? Is that’s what I’m seeing (in my research), because i hate that. . . “
“Vulnerability is the core, the heart, the center of meaningful human experience.”
“Vulnerability is uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure”
I thank you for reading and sharing this time with me. I send you lots and lots of love. Happy New Year!
monday links:
> krista tippet (of the Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media Show on being)’s unedited conversation with Brené Brown on vulnerability. if you have friends who like TED talks, you’ve probably at least seen Brené. i found this flowing conversation was heartening, inspiring and opening. please give yourself the gift of listening to it!
> krista tells brené about this great (and so-true-it’s-sad) headline from the onion
> my (free) project download from last week: how to bottle happiness in 2013 (make yours today or tomorrow!)
> i’ve been finding great challenges, questions, awareness and inspiration in danielle laporte’s book the fire starter sessions (a lot of the exercises are free on her website). i totally resisted her because of a fear of self-help-vibey-ness, but there is some really good stuff going on there, and i am now a bit of a “believer” ;-)
According to participant Jessica’s record, as of Saturday we were 37 days into this challenge (It was her birthday, too–Happy Birthday Jessica!) According to instagram, we’d created 152 photographs while cruising around. That’s pretty great. I’ve made it out almost every day–the couple of days I missed I did double the next day to even the score. I am not a person of routine, exactly, so this is an accomplishment. (Elise, who inspired this challenge, morphed her challenge into running a total number of miles in the following year–that could be a good way to do it, too.) We have just a handful of days left. I’m impressed many of us made it this far with consistency–and also a little taken by surprise that the new year will be here so soon.
One of the things I’ve enjoyed about this project is that on days when I was concerned about fitting my walk or run in, I’d find routes for doing errands or transporting myself somewhere. This has helped me put some neighborhoods together in my head, and also to find some useful places that are within a mile of my house. I love commuting on foot. Thank you #1mile1photo challenge!
And thanks to everyone who’s joined in! I’ve enjoyed being your virtual buddy. Any of you planning to continue this habit?
Enjoy the latest pics below.
Here’s a re-cap of the challenge (it’s fun!):
1. Start–Thanksgiving Day in the US–Nov.22, 2012 (or anytime now)
2. Move yourself around your fair city for a distance of 1 mile (1.6km)
3. While you are out there–snap a pic
4. Once home, drink some water and upload your photo on instagram, with the hashtag #1mile1photo Maybe mention your city or state so we can picture you there. (If you don’t have a smartphone, feel free to post the photo on my facebook page if you still want to join in, and I can add it to instagram so you are in the “collection”)
5. Repeat once a day ’til is 2013.
Dec 28, 2012
Lots of love to you–just a few days left to enjoy 2012 and fill up your gumball machine.
Dec 27, 2012
This is the 3rd installment of ten in ten.
Ten days goes by fast! One of the images below may have inadvertently been me capturing that feeling. It sounds so innocent, ten in ten, but it’s a little ambitious. Starting ten things in ten days is one thing, but finishing them is another. (Did I say that last time, too?) But that’s why this exercise is so good. I’m curious as to whether my subject matter will become (remain?) consistent, how it will evolve. I’m going with what comes to me, in part because the exercise requires me to just keep moving with it, without procrastinating or taking too much time to intellectualize.
It’s been interesting to do this in combination with #1mile1photo–mainly because they are similarly time-and-number based. I haven’t made myself do 1 painting per day, so that’s a little different than the walking/running, but I think what I see on my routes is definitely showing up. On the other hand, I think all the bright tangled plant life is also a rebellion against this massive city. Maybe.
This week I continued on the 6×6 inch canvases, but threw in some watercolor paper, rice paper, and even some stitching.
We’ll see what’s next! Click a thumbnail below to open the larger images in a slide show.
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a lot of these involve me carrying images of plants at the park around in my head
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this plant is beaming something
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not a plant, i guess. map?
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sun or fried egg? hard to say.
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philodendron gone wild
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this scrap of rice paper was near me so i decided to mix it up
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scrawled her down recently and decided to fill her in
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trying out some new watercolor paper
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a non-paint painting, still using strokes + pattern
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this is “awkward snapshot under tree, in front of gold skye” and/or is also what i may have looked like while saying “it’s day ten already?!”
I found a quiet place in the neighborhood where, if you turn your head just right, you see no buildings.
Dec 26, 2012
This is an easy project you should work on sometime between now and January 1st.
The idea has popped up in my facebook feed a few times, and it’s too simple and good to not share!
MATERIALS:
* a glass jar rescued from your recycling bin
* print-out of labels
* markers, pens, crayons for decorating the labels
* glue, tape, or perhaps decorative washi tape if you have it
STEPS:
1. Find the jar. You could also use a box or other storage container, but the jar is sort of nice in that you can see your pile of blessings grow throughout the year.
2. Print the labels. Choose your favorite one that will fit the jar. (Or of course you can make your own!)
3. Decorate the label in whatever way you like. (Glitter glue? Sequins?)
4. Attach label to the jar with glue or tape. As long as your jar is clean, it should be easy to attach to glass with even a basic glue stick.
Your jar is ready to go! Find a good spot for it where you’ll remember it as the year goes forward.
NOW WHAT?
Now your job is to notice lovely things that happen to you in 2013. When it happens, write a note about it on a little slip of paper. Put it in the jar. You could pre-prepare the little slips of paper, but in my opinion that creates a storage issue for the next 12 months. . .
THEN WHAT?
Then at the end of 2013, perhaps on New Year’s Eve, you empty the jar and read the contents and think back to all of your blessings. Neat, huh?
ALTERNATIVES:
* You could do this as a gift for a friend, and write down fun/interesting/kind things they do throughout the year.
* You could make one for your kids and keep track of moments with them you want to remember, new things they’ve learned, etc.
* You could choose to read the scraps of happiness at the change of each season, instead of waiting all year.
Good luck with this project. Let me know how it goes!
I look forward to a new year filled with blessing to share with you.
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find some jars!
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print the labels and decorate (sadly i have no glitter glue)
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you don’t really want to choose that teeny tiny one, do you?
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ta-da!
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you could paint the lids, too, or glue on something nice
