Wednesday, February 26, 2014

I haven't forgotten you

Found Object Necklaces I've made: if you want their Backstory- the Fun Descriptions- or to purchase- go to: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BeginBeingStudio
















Thursday, February 13, 2014

CHristine Kane is so awesome

If you don't know about Christine Kane- now is as good a time as any to investigate this wonderful woman. She has SO MANY Words of Wisdom. Really.

Here's one of her articles:

How to Discover Your Purpose


Written by Christine Kane

Confession: I never discovered my purpose. Change the perspective you've always had about how to find your purpose, and get to the heart of what it really means to find your calling in your business, and where you should start looking first.
Confession:  I never discovered my purpose.
I never did a workshop to find my purpose. I never read a book about my purpose. I didn’t even know I had a purpose.
I discovered my purpose by entering my purpose. And I had no idea at the time.
It happened one morning when I was crammed in a car of the Metro Orange Line on my way to my cubicle job.  As I clutched the bar above my head and bumped into the tired people wobbling around me, I silently uttered a prayer. It went like this:
“You have GOT to be kidding me if you think I’m gonna do this for the rest of my life.”
If you haven’t found your purpose, it may be hiding out in an unlikely place. This article will change the ideas you’ve had all along about finding your calling and life’s work, and this illuminating change in perspective is what can get that pesky purpose to come out of hiding.
Yeah. I know. Not much of a prayer.  But if God was hanging out in that subway car, he seemed to understand me just fine.
Does that mean I woke up the next morning to UPS delivering me a box containing my shiny new purpose, complete with treasure map, golden key and parchment scroll of commandments?
Um, no.
It went more like this…
The next week, I wandered into a small bookstore where I found and bought an unlikely book that became kind of a catalyst for me through the coming years.
When I got promoted at my cubicle job the next month, I found the strength to quit.
Months after that, I moved away from the expensive city to a small town where the rent was crazy cheap.
Unlikely mentors found me, offered me help, and pointed me in the right (and yes, sometimes wrong) direction.
You get the idea.
My prayer was answered by an on-going series of nudges, rejections, half-open doors, and ideas. Plus, an odd mix of experts and gurus.  My job was to simply begin listening and taking courageous steps that sometimes seemed foolish.  (And sometimes were.)
So, these days, when someone asks me the age-old question “How do I discover my purpose?” I start by giving them my top three arguments against DISCOVERING your purpose:
1 – Discovering is a “big deal.”
Big deals don’t require any action on your part. That’s because when something’s a big deal, you’ll never have the right tools and you’ll never be ready.  This is exactly why your ego loves big deals.  It’s a convenient way to keep you from taking even the first imperfect action step. (Your ego hates imperfection.)
2 – Discovering your purpose implies that your purpose is outside of you.
It’s not.  Your purpose is here now. It’s already within you.
3 – Discovering is an event.
The idea of “discovering” your purpose makes it a one-time “TA-DAH!” kind of thing. Fully equipped with all the perfect mystical special effects and lighting.
Your purpose is NOT an event.  Your purpose is an unfolding.  As you continue to move forward, your purpose becomes bigger and more impactful.  (Besides, when you start out, you’re probably not ready to know the full extent of your purpose. It would only send you back to bed. WAY too much information.)
How to Discover your Purpose by Entering Your Purpose
Once I have convinced people to stop trying to discover their purpose, I give them the steps for entering their purpose.  They often glaze over because these steps are way too simple. I tell them to do them anyway.
1 – Settle for nothing.
Wanna hit the purpose fast-track?
The first place to start is to notice where you settle for stuff in your life.
Why?
Because purpose doesn’t “settle.”  Purpose isn’t about “Oh well, I guess I’ll just get this crappy job because hey, it’s a bad economy.”  Purpose is the opposite of settling.  Each time I probe a little deeper in conversations with people who tell me they can’t find their purpose, I often discover that they have spent so many years “settling” that they’ve lost touch with even their smallest desires.
If this sounds like you, then begin by moving anything unlike purpose out of the way.
It’s almost impossible to recognize your own purpose when the bulk of your life is about settling for things.
2 – Notice what lights you up.
While you are cleaning up your world-view and no longer settling for stuff, begin noticing:
“What do I kinda like to do?”
Don’t start with discovering your purpose.  Start instead with language that feels more playful.
What makes me happy? What delights me?
Why start with these kinds of questions?  Because discovering your purpose is too high pressure.
If you haven’t been clear or if you’ve settled for many things in your life for many years – and suddenly you start demanding that you DISCOVER YOUR PURPOSE, you will want to hide in a dark corner.  It’s too much pressure.
Start with delight.  Begin with fun. Or “what makes me smile?”  Give yourself that treat.  And give yourself permission for the answer to be anything.
3 – Fire your ego.
What comes after you begin noticing what you love?
The ego, of course!
Nothing kills purpose faster than the statement “Yeah, but you’ll never be able to make money at it.”  (The ego likes to bring up money first!)
My theory is that many people can’t ‘discover their purpose’ because no sooner have they discovered something they love than the ego speaks up.   This voice works 24/7 – and its job is to have a job. It will work hard to convince you that you have no purpose. It’s much safer that way.
Face it.  For every idea that “can’t make money,” there’s someone out there who proved that it can.
4 – Take the very next step.
The opposite of a “big deal” is a simple action step.   Simple action steps create discoveries and big deals when you add them up.  But for now, all you need to do is this:
Start each day by asking yourself, “What is the very next step I will take today?”
And then take it.  This is the ultimate path to entering your purpose.
Let me be clear.  Living with purpose IS a big deal. It’s a high-power choice to make and phenomenal path to follow.  And you are meant to follow this path now.  Allowing yourself to begin is the most important piece.  The rest will unfold.  Your job is to enter.
 want more:  http://christinekane.com/
 

fairies 1&2 maybe more on the way

Purple and Red Fairy represented here today.
I know I want to do a Blue Fairy and maybe a Pink one?








Wednesday, February 5, 2014

42 wonderful ways to make your life simple

I've been working these last several days. Not a lot of time for the Creativity Posts.
But I did find this while on a break at work. And wanted to share it with people:
written by Henrik Edberg:

.“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
Confucius
“The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
I love simplifying my life.
It makes me more effective and life less stressful. It makes me calmer, more energetic and happier.
So today I’d like to share 42 ways to make your life simpler. I hope you’ll find something inspiring and helpful among these tips.
1. Mix things up. Try the opposite. Have the vegetarian dish if you always go for the meat. Walk away from a stupid conflict instead of making it worse. Let one thing go if you often cling to things. Make a habit of mixing things up to grow your life in small or bigger ways. And to make it easier and simpler to step out of your comfort zone in general when you really need to.
2. Get up 20 minutes earlier. This will help you to reduce stress in the morning and during the rest of the day.
3. Be 10 minutes early for meetings and appointments. This will help you to make your time of travel a time of rest and relaxation instead of stressful. And you will not be late.
4. Single-task. You be more focused, less stressed and get to done more quickly. So do one thing at a time and do it with your full attention.
5. Ask yourself: am I keeping things extremely simple? If not, figure out how you can do that in the situation you are in.
6. Ask yourself: will this matter 5 years from now? Or even 5 weeks from now? Do this to avoid making mountains out of molehills.
7. Buy things with the money you have earned and saved. Avoid getting into debt.
8. Learn a few recipes and cook. You’ll save money and probably eat healthier.
9. When you cook, cook more than you’ll eat. This will help you to spend less time on cooking and washing dishes. And you’ll have an extra dinner or two to just reheat when you don’t have time or energy to cook.
10. Write things down. Pretty much everyone’s memory is leaky. So help yourself. Write down what you need to do or shop for today. Write down what your top 4 priorities in life are and post that note where you can see it every day.
11. Remember that life is larger than you may think it is. You do not know everything and you are not always right. Remembering this makes it easier for me to learn things, to accept other viewpoints, to create changes and to stay more open.
12. Risk making mistakes. Learn from them. Then do again with that helpful new experience and knowledge in mind.
13. Do what YOU really, really, really want to do. Do not get stuck in trying to live someone else’s dream.
14. Go grocery shopping once a week. You’ll save money and time if you make the effort to plan for a week and to shop for it all at once.
15. Go grocery shopping when you not hungry. You’ll buy more healthy food instead of impulse buying yourself through the store.
16. Enjoy the simple pleasures. An apple, the latest episode of your favorite show, fresh and clean bed sheets, a hug and kiss, holding hands, the sun and blossoming nature after a long and cold winter.
17. Have a glass of water. Instead of eating when you are bored or when are having a craving have 1-2 glasses of water. This will help you to keep to those cravings away until the next meal and to maintain your health and weight.
18. Eat slower. Make your lunch time a time of relaxation rather than a time to just add to the stress of your morning. Try putting down the fork between bites to slow down the eating.
19. Be kind. Be kind to other people and especially to yourself.
20. Write shorter emails. 1-5 sentences is often enough.
21. Write emails only once a day. Batch and process them all at once all the way to an empty inbox.
22. Learn about ways to keep stress down and try them out. Examples would be mindfulness, setting human standards for yourself and saying no. A few such habits can help you to drastically cut down on the stress in your life.
23. Give everything its home. Then you know where to put the item when you have used it. You’ll know where to find it when you need it again. And you’ll reduce the clutter in your home or work space.
24. Slow down and enjoy and pay attention what is actually happening today. Instead of just rushing through the day and always on to the next thing.
25. Spend more time with people who make life simpler. And less time with people who make life unnecessarily complicated.
26. Exercise every week. This will reduce stress, up your energy levels and in my experience reduces negative thoughts.
27. Declutter. Declutter your life of the things that aren’t really that useful or meaningful for you anymore. Give that stuff away to someone who needs it. Or throw it out. A question that can help you to know if it is time to declutter something out of your life is: have I used this item in the last year?
28. Look for advice from people who have been where you are. Learn from people who have been in the situation you are in and had the challenge you are having.
29. Stop trying to please everyone. There will always be people who you don’t get along with or that do not like you for some reason.
30. Break a task down into smaller and actionable pieces. Single-task that first piece until it is done. Then do the same with the next piece. And so on.
31. Stop trying to do things perfectly. Go for good enough instead and when you are there you are done. Get things all the way to done this way and then move on to the next thing.
32. Take a minute and just breathe a couple of times a day. This will help you to reduce the stress and overwhelm of your day. It will help you to reconnect with the present moment, to create a habit of living more mindfully and to focus all your attention on what is happening right now.
33. Spend just 20% of your time on dwelling on a problem and 80% of your time focusing on a solution. Instead of the other way around.
34. Focus on a few priorities in your life. Keep things simple to be able to put enough effort, attention and energy into those most important things. Rather than becoming spread too thin, rarely finishing things and being distracted by all those many other things you want to do or that feel you need to do too.
35. Keep a journal. By writing the facts and your thoughts and feelings down in a journal it becomes easier to work through a challenge and to find a good solution. You can also use a journal to track your actual results instead of guesstimating how your life is going. And to better remember all the things that you did well or that went well if you worry often or have quite a bit of negative thoughts.
36. Stop doing what you don’t like doing anymore. Life changes and so do you. If you you don’t like doing something anymore then perhaps it is time to stop doing that (even if it may take some time before you can do so by for example switching jobs).
37. Use a very simple workspace. My work space is just a laptop on a small black desk made out of wood. I use a comfy chair and there is room for my glass of water beside the computer. That’s it. There are no distractions here. Just me, the computer and the water.
38. Spend 15 minutes each Sunday to plan the next week. Write down your plans for the week, organize your prioritized to-do list and get ready for the week before you are in the middle of it all. This will help you to find more clarity, get more of the most important things done next week and minimize stress.
39. Cancel subscriptions for TV-channels, newsletters and magazines you rarely get around to watching or reading anyway.
40. Ask instead of guessing. Reading minds is hard. So, instead ask questions and communicate. This will help you to minimize unnecessary conflicts, misunderstandings, negativity and waste or time and energy.
41. Make one change at a time and start small. Focus on one habit or area at a time. If you want to start running or decluttering, start with doing just a few minutes of that activity a day or week. Then gradually increase the amount of time you spend on that activity to make it easier to adopt the new habit.
42. Be lazy. By using the tips in this article you’ll be able to get things done more quickly and in a simpler way. This will give more time in a regular week to simply be lazy. To just take it easy alone or with family or a friend, to not do much at all. I highly recommend spending time with being lazy every week to relax, to mindfully enjoy the small pleasures of life and to recharge yourself so that you can be effective and focused again later on.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

a colorful scarf

so I made this scarf...
I used to hate yellow, now I see it as a sunny fun color.
I've always loved red and turquoise. separately or together.
















































and.... because of my illness and getting out of whack and out of sync...
I have decided that trying to get so much done in a day, especially work days- is asking too much of me at my age with my energy level. and since I was the one who was doing the asking- I can "un-ask".

so I'm tweaking the timeline on this.
still gonna blog about my creations- just gonna do it less often.

a cop out? maybe.
realistic? perhaps.

but I just don't have the where-with-all, the support or the time/energy factor.

It Is What It Is.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

finally finally finally back to the DAYS...


I am finally feeling better. Energy Back. Focus Back.

I had Walking Pneumonia and it , quite simply, wiped me out.

so the last few days I've been working on necklaces to , hopefully, sell.
and a custom piece.

so the custom piece first and then the rest...

all of them together