gentle movement (5)

"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery that you miss by going too fast-you also miss the sense of where you are going and why."

~Eddie Cantor

*This photo was taken by Tomasen at Gay Head Beach on Martha's Vineyard. The perfect

example of "balance".

Ongoing reading and meandering thoughts....

I have been thinking about the similar reading some of us are doing and thought that it might be nice to share our thoughts, ideas or anything that we find interesting about the books, or articles we are reading. It will be a place that we can come back and add to in much the same way I hope the "balance" post will be. Feel free to discuss books, ask questions, or leave suggestions. I believe that we are a wealth of knowledge and can learn, grow and open our minds to new things by sharing with each other. Never underestimate how important you are. You don't have to write a big annotation or anything, just be yourself and share whatever you find interesting.

quote

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and then go do it. Because what the world needs are people who come ALIVE."
~Howard Thurman

What makes you come alive?

Balance

This group helps me to feel balanced. Each one of you has your own unique ability to motivate and inspire. Listening to all of you gives me new ideas, things to ponder as well as reminding me that there are areas in my life that I may need to balance. I had forgotten how much I used to hike, mountain bike and read for pleasure until I hear you talk about it. Each week I am rejuvinated by all the different ways that you balance and enrich your lives, however big or small. I realized that I often let one area of my life consume me (lately this is school) while I am neglectful of others. I wondered if anyone else felt the same. Maybe you could share some ways that you prioritize and balance things within their lives. Maybe there are areas that you realize you would like to work on and want to talk about. I believe that as we share our thoughts, ideas and struggles we will get to know each other better and can be supportive of each others needs.

*I would like to use this post as a place that we can come back to and add to as we gain insight and move through our lives.

gentle movement (4)

This is another beautiful photo of Liz's. I was thinking that each week we could post something that you might want to share. It could be anything, a photograph, a poem, story, a picture of your studio, etc...anything that you feel like sharing. You can either upload it yourself or email it to me and I will post it. It has been so wonderful staying in touch with all of you and seeing how we all are so supportive of each other. Thanks for sharing!

Marvelous Martha

I am from the colors of the earth
Where the soft brown garden earth brings forth a rainbow of colors
The shades of green that sway on the tops of tall trees
The rays of golden yellow that bounce off the trees making paths to follow on the forest floor.
The brown and black feathers that dress the wild turkeys
The delicate white spots that hide the baby fawns in the spring of the year.

I am from the colors of nature
The brilliant green and red on the body of a tiny hummingbird
The striking black and white of a woodpecker tapping his beak against a tree
The magnificent red that catches your eyes as a male cardinal flies to the top of the old apple tree
The dark brown velvet that covers the new antlers as a male deer grows up.

I am from the colors of families
The soft pink of babies toes
The blue of blue jeans as my children grew up
The color of team uniforms as the seasons change
The color of prom gowns and tuxes
The pastel colors of weddings
I am from the favorite colors of grandchildren

I am from the colors of emotions
Love, happiness, sadness, peace, desire, fear,
anger, triumph and hope.

~Martha Smith

"perfectionism" a dirty little word...

I have been thinking a lot about "perfectionism" and what that means. Because you are all such good writers I think that I have been overthinking and censoring my entries. Believe it or not, I have a whole bunch of them that I haven't posted because of this thing called "perfectionism". I wonder if I will be interesting enough or if anyone will care what I have to say. Should I share my work? What will people think of these ideas? Am I asking too many questions? (ha!) etc... etc... the list goes on. I wondered if anyone else felt the same way or found themselves to be perfectionists in other aspects of their lives?

more from Maya...

"Don't make money your goal, You can only become truly accomplished doing something you love. Pursue things you love doing and do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you."
~Maya Angelou

What would pursue if you never had to worry about money?

gentle movement (3)

In an effort to be more organized and mindful of everyone's time I am going to use "the gentle movement" post as a place for a quick "check in". This could be to post your goals for the week, ask for help with an idea, let others know what forward movements you have made (people really are inspired by you!), offer inspiration, ask for help or give feedback if people have asked for it (it might be good to ask for what kind of feedback you are needing).

This is a place to celebrate each other and appreciate where we are in our lives. Maybe some weeks, you are so busy you just want to drop in and say "hello, I'm still alive but I am too busy this week to do anything," or that "I am in a total rut and can't get out of my own way." Often we are too hard on ourselves and nobody should feel bad if they have weeks or times when they feel like they can't "move". This is when we need each other the most and can support each other with kindness, empathy, non-judgement and love. I know how difficult it can be to put yourself "out there" and want you to know that you will always have someone "nurturing and watering your garden" when you need it.

Fleeting Moments...

These pictures are examples of serindipitous moments from Danielle (top, AZ), Liz (mid. CA) and Tomasen (bottom, NH). When was the last time you saw a rainbow? Nature's creativity...

Cloud Watching

"To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me."- Isaac Newton

Spider Princess

If I was a spider princess, she said, I would spin webs the color of sky & catch drops of sunlight to give to children who watch too much TV & then everyone would remember to come outside to play. If I was a spider princess, she said, things would be different.

~Brian Andreas

gentle movement(2)

Hello groovy, moovy creative "beans"~
I have been thinking about goals. Sometimes we have too many and we don't know where to start. I have been feeling this way lately. There are things that I have to do for school and things that I want to do with my art for myself, without having to "contextualize" (a hot ticket Goddard word) it. It has also been hard to let work flow out when I know that I am going to have to articulate it into a paper for school, even though this deep reflection brings me more clarity. It is HARD! Today I decided to work on what I wanted to, without expectations for myself. Just for fun, just to play. This is when I am most free and most comfortable. Maybe one of my goals needs to be to play more. Play is one of the themes in Tina's work and we have been talking about it. Here is a link that she sent me that I think you might find interesting. It talks about play from a scientific point of view. http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/play/index.shtml If you should listen to it I would be curious to know what you think. Do any of you have ways in which you "play" as an adult?

• I will post my microMOVEments for the week in the comments section, as well as let you know what I have done in the form of "moving" forward with them. I would encourage anyone who would like to post a goal and a small, gentle movement for the week here. If you need a refresher on what this is refer to last monday's post "gentle movement". Even just setting a goal, or making the smallest movement can make you feel good and be inspiring to someone else. So many people underestimate what they say and or what they do. Others may need to hear what you are thinking about. I am sending you a week of excessive "play"! Rock on groovy "beans"....

An Artful Walk

Lori had mentioned making time to go out an walk or ride her bike and not making time for creativity in her life. Often times simple things like walking can be creative in themselves. When I first started walking at Bluff Point I was going for exercise. I was on a mission to get my heart rate up and get moving. With my headphones on pumping me up, off I would go. After awhile I wondered what it would be like to take my headphones off when I walked. With this small shift a whole new world open up for me. I noticed things that I hadn't before. Birds were having lively conversations around me, an osprey was gliding over my head, I noticed pathways in the woods that I hadn't seen before, stone walls, textures and fiddle heads unfurling. I began walking with "intention", curious and open to everything around me. These walks have become part of my daily practice and necessary for me to think and wonder. I note subtle changes and take a daily photo to document my day. If I have more time I bring my backpack, with a sketchbook, pencils and my paints, sometimes writing, sometimes sketching. Even 5 or 10 minutes reflecting in some way informs my thinking back in my studio. I wanted to share this with you to illustrate how even our daily activites can become creative. One small shift, like taking my headphones off made me more present to my surroundings. I am able to get exercise and incorporate creativity at the same time~who knew?

The Getty

This is a photograph from Liz of the Getty Center. I have only been there once and it made quite an impression on me. Here are her thoughts on it...

The Getty... I would describe it as an oasis in LA. In a city full of people rushing too and from "important" meetings in a concrete jungle, it is the only place one can go to reconnect with nature and beauty. I actually don't even get a chance to look at a lot of the artwork when I am there. Instead, I spend most of my time walking in the garden, enjoying the fresh air and admiring the AMAZING architecture - all artwork in their own right. For me it is definitely the #1 "must see" in LA! -Liz

Maybe you have a place that inspires you that you want to share?

Jimmy Buffett

I was inspired to post this Jimmy Buffett quote after responding to Lori's questions. I just went to see him last week for the 15th(?!?!) year in a row and at every concert he talks about how this is "the best summet job he has ever had". (For those of you who don't know I am a HUGE "Parrothead".) He has also said that "I have never, ever won an award for any albums that I have done, but I don't care when I have "parrotheads" like you." I think he is such an inspiration because he played his songs even when he wasn't being "heard" and has lived his life in a way that most of us only dream of, which is why people go back year after year to see him. If you have never been, you should "experience it"!

"Some people love to lead, and some refuse to dance. Some play it safely, others take a chance. Still it's all a mystery this place we call the world, most are fine as oysters, while some become pearls".

~Jimmy Buffett, Oysters and Pearls

change

"BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD"
~Muhamad Ghandi

This is a picture that Liz gave me to share and I want to encourage sharing our work (in any form). This is a photograph of her daughter, Isabella and I thought it was so perfect with the quote she posted the other day.

gentle movement

As one way to support ourselves to live more creatively, it might be a good time to think about a goal for ourselves. It can be a large or small goal but sometimes writing it down gives it more merit and power. As many of you know I am a big fan of the author, SARK's microMOVEments. They are a small movement towards a larger goal. She says that "it's 5 seconds to 5 minute in length, you write it down, along with a gentle date and time for completion." It is a gentle movement because you can change it as many times as you need to. Her belief is that we can do anything for 5 seconds to 5 minutes.

I am suggesting that we try this out for the next few weeks to see how it feels. (If it is not your thing don't feel obligated.) How would it work for people if we posted one goal that we have and one micromovement for that goal at the beginning of the week and then check in at the end of the week to see how we did? One small movement can be powerful. It might also help us to think about what is stopping us from moving forward in some small way.

"Much of what stops us is the ordinary." SARK

Here is one example of how micromovements have helped me: I had been talking about wanting to go to graduate school for many years and never made any movement towards getting there. It was too overwhelming. Some of the things that stopped me from moving forward were that I believed that I could never take the time off from teaching, I would have large school loans, I would never get accepted, I didn't have a portfolio, etc...the list went on. When I decided that this was something that I really wanted to do and set a goal for myself I started with these micromovements:

1. looking up schools online.

2.making a list schools

3. calling the schools for information

4. reading the information

5. setting up appointments to visit the schools

6. applying to the schools, etc...There were endless micromovements that eventually got me into a graduate program that has transformed my life.

What is one goal that you want to work towards? Do you need help breaking it down into tiny pieces? My goal for our group is to support and nurture each other and create forward movements within our lives. We can all help each other if we know what to support in each other. Any feedback that you can give me in regards to this would be appreciated.

Rothko

I was sitting at Bluff Point the other day painting, thinking and writing. For some reason the Mark Rothko paintings that I saw at the Tate Modern popped into my head. Later that day I was reading Natalie Goldberg's, Living Color and she was talking about his work. As if that were not strange enough, I was led to an artist’s webblog who referred to the PBS series talking about Rothko and the paintings at the Tate! I was very moved by these paintings and sat in that room for a long time soaking them up. I remember taking notes about the color and trying to decide which one I liked the best and why that was. I was so small in comparison to the paintings and wondered what it would be like to paint on that big a scale. I think that I would find it intimidating, although these paintings seemed so intimate to me when I was there.