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Saturday, October 5, 2013
Inspiration: A Dead Tree
Inspiration :
A DEAD TREE
I took a walk today. I was looking for some small stones for a project....I had already found two of the three I needed when I happened upon a dead tree, gray branches beside it on a heap. My first thought was "maybe that tree should be removed and the spot cleared." But the more I looked, the more I realized there was more to the story! I will now try to show you a picture of the dead tree from a distance:
The more I looked at the tree (which I had thought was useless now that it was gone), the closer I got to the tree, I could see it in a different way.
Growing beside and all around the dead branches was another tree--a species I had not noticed before, all entwined in the dead tree,
all GREEN, fresh, clinging to the dead tree as if for support in its quest for life! I will try to show you a close up picture:
Suddenly it seemed this dead tree full of life is a metaphor for life! For a long time I have meant to start a scrapbook that features my grandparents, parents and myself. But then, I thought, who would care to read it..
explore it
laugh..or cry?
Would it just be tossed aside after I am gone, appear in some antique shop someday?
The dead tree inspired me to think of the possibility that a grandchild or great grandchild might fall heir to the scrapbook one day and
actually
cling to its branches
looking for strength,
hope,
roots...
Maybe someday I can be there for that person in a very important way, even as the dead tree was there for the new tree which is trying to survive!
Apparently, the tree has a duty..even after death...to stand tall and hold up the young! I came across a great quote today, by coincidence (if there is such a thing):
" Your proper concern is alone the action of duty, not the fruits of the action. Cast then away all desire and fear for the fruits, and perform your duty."~ The Bhagavad Gita
Once again I will vow to start that scrapbook!
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
New Encouragement Card~ Card #2
While I still have a few of card #1 left to leave in public places (See previous post), I have created a new ACEO sized card. The original was created with a real feather...You will see how the card finally appeared. It is 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" and was inspired by a movie I saw recently. It is a short quote, but one which could stick in one's mind for a long, long time.
Again, each one is put into a clear cello sleeve of the same size. I will leave them in public places to be discovered. It is my hope that people will pass them on so others can discover them.
 |
| Card # 2 On the back of the card it tell people to enjoy it, then pass it on. It directs them to this blog if they want to make comment... It is my hope that the little cards help a little in someone's daily struggle. |
Monday, March 18, 2013
Words We Don't Often Hear
"You are beautiful!" These are just some of the words we do not often hear. We may never have heard them, even if childhood when it was likely the most true...
I decided to start a bit of a campaign to encourage people with words. I created a card about the size of an ACEO (Art Cards Editions and Originals are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"). I cannot draw but a sketched a little onto the card and added text. I put each of 5 of the same ones in a little cello sleeve of the same size and plan to leave them in public places where people will find them. I hope they encourage people. On the back it says for them to pass it on and if they want to comment they can comment on this blog. I will try to upload a pic of the first one in the series "You Are Beautiful!"
Thanks for looking! I hope to create more in the "You Are.." series and report back on how it goes. Feel free to comment or to make your own little encouragement cards to leave in public places...
I decided to start a bit of a campaign to encourage people with words. I created a card about the size of an ACEO (Art Cards Editions and Originals are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"). I cannot draw but a sketched a little onto the card and added text. I put each of 5 of the same ones in a little cello sleeve of the same size and plan to leave them in public places where people will find them. I hope they encourage people. On the back it says for them to pass it on and if they want to comment they can comment on this blog. I will try to upload a pic of the first one in the series "You Are Beautiful!"
Friday, February 17, 2012
I Follow My Heart...
I read a quote somewhere....but I don't know who the author is. It said: " I follow my heart, literally. My heart gives me directions via morse code hidden in its beats, and I follow them."
This accurately describes what I have done. Followed it wherever it led, whether it lead to a dead end or to the stars! Followed it through obstacles, walked on hot coals for it, cried for it. But wherever it led me I learned things - things that helped me move to a brighter path.
The heart - the battery that keeps us up and doing. We must care for it... so we live another day.
This accurately describes what I have done. Followed it wherever it led, whether it lead to a dead end or to the stars! Followed it through obstacles, walked on hot coals for it, cried for it. But wherever it led me I learned things - things that helped me move to a brighter path.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
New Card Inspired by Occupy Wall Street..Protesting in Proxy
The card was inspired by the Occupy movement, but has a bit of "cattitude"..What if you wanted to go to the protest but wanted to go anonymously? Other than wear a Guy Fauks mask, what would you do? You would send someone in your place--if you could rouse him from his nap...
Thus, a favorite cat is wearing the mask and thinking about going to the protest...but you realize cats can think...and think..and think...fall asleep and think again. At any rate, it is in the works! The cat saw "V is for Vendetta" and is really getting into wearing the mask around the house...
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Proves you never know...
The card I mentioned yesterday was purchased yesterday by the person who gave it a heart. She also thanked me and said the card inspired her!
"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." --Marcel Proust
"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." --Marcel Proust
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
New Card for Any 12 Step Program...or Just to Say Sorry...
Saturday, September 10, 2011
A quote by Anne Morrow Lindbergh..
"It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded."
We need to re-think the meaning of success as well. Basically, to be a success as a human being is to have lived your best possible life, meaning being the best possible human being you can be, given all of your gifts and unique challenges..
Too often we define success only in the marketplace...forgetting that "at the end of the day" what will count is our effect on other people and our relationships with them.
Effort put into love is never wasted, and successes are not always immediately visible. Patience...patience..
We need to re-think the meaning of success as well. Basically, to be a success as a human being is to have lived your best possible life, meaning being the best possible human being you can be, given all of your gifts and unique challenges..
Too often we define success only in the marketplace...forgetting that "at the end of the day" what will count is our effect on other people and our relationships with them.
Effort put into love is never wasted, and successes are not always immediately visible. Patience...patience..
Time To Revisit Gift From the Sea by A.M. Lindbergh
Taking out an older book to read it again was a good idea this time! The book, "Gift From the Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh just seemed to jump off the shelf at me the other afternoon. It was too hot to sit outside to read so I just sat on my office chair with a cold drink and read it once again...
The author, who published the book in 1955, stresses how important it is for a woman to have time alone to find her center. She, like women today, found that women "spill themselves away", giving all they have to give to family, friends and community. So she decided to spend a couple of solitary weeks on an island, SIMPLIFY, and get to the center of who she was at that time.
As I read it, I felt I was there, on the island, connecting with the author's very soul. She says, " I believe that true identity is found in creative activity springing from within.It is found, paradoxically, when one loses oneself. One must lose one's life to find it. Woman can best befriend herself by losing herself in some kind of creative activity of her own. Here she will be able to refind her strength.."
She reminds us that we need to be alone, and quiet, to get to the core of who we are. We need to turn off all media, all distractions, and just "be" and "listen"...We need to "cut out distractions"...She says " One learns first of all in beach living the art of shedding; how little one can get along with, not how much..one needs less in the sun. But one needs less anyway, one finds suddenly.."
Please, dear reader, pick up this book and spend an afternoon digesting it. Eventhough it was written years ago, it is valid to tears for us today--now more than then, because of the overwhelming distractions of modern times! Read for yourself! If you don't buy a new book, get an older copy from a used book store.
The author, who published the book in 1955, stresses how important it is for a woman to have time alone to find her center. She, like women today, found that women "spill themselves away", giving all they have to give to family, friends and community. So she decided to spend a couple of solitary weeks on an island, SIMPLIFY, and get to the center of who she was at that time.
As I read it, I felt I was there, on the island, connecting with the author's very soul. She says, " I believe that true identity is found in creative activity springing from within.It is found, paradoxically, when one loses oneself. One must lose one's life to find it. Woman can best befriend herself by losing herself in some kind of creative activity of her own. Here she will be able to refind her strength.."
She reminds us that we need to be alone, and quiet, to get to the core of who we are. We need to turn off all media, all distractions, and just "be" and "listen"...We need to "cut out distractions"...She says " One learns first of all in beach living the art of shedding; how little one can get along with, not how much..one needs less in the sun. But one needs less anyway, one finds suddenly.."
Please, dear reader, pick up this book and spend an afternoon digesting it. Eventhough it was written years ago, it is valid to tears for us today--now more than then, because of the overwhelming distractions of modern times! Read for yourself! If you don't buy a new book, get an older copy from a used book store.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Approval and Acceptance...
"Do not look for approval
except
for the consciousness of doing your best."
_Bernard Baruch
Most of us look for acceptance and approval more than we look to the place where it should reside--within ourselves. Why is the other guy's opinion more valid than our own?
I watched the first couple of episodes about Fergie's struggle with herself and the acceptance and approval theme kept coming up. It was something most of us could relate to...royalty or not.
Others will not know we are insecure unless we tell them or show them. They are more worried about how we perceive them than about how they are perceiving us.
So...be as calm as possible. Speak your own truth from your core values and don't compromise who you are. And that is what people will feel and see...
except
for the consciousness of doing your best."
_Bernard Baruch
Most of us look for acceptance and approval more than we look to the place where it should reside--within ourselves. Why is the other guy's opinion more valid than our own?
I watched the first couple of episodes about Fergie's struggle with herself and the acceptance and approval theme kept coming up. It was something most of us could relate to...royalty or not.
Others will not know we are insecure unless we tell them or show them. They are more worried about how we perceive them than about how they are perceiving us.
So...be as calm as possible. Speak your own truth from your core values and don't compromise who you are. And that is what people will feel and see...
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Tracks and those who follow your tracks...
"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."~Native American proverb
Walking along the dirt road I see the tracks of other walkers. I notice the tracks of dogs beside a few.. Some tracks are large, others petite...All are walking for a reason: To exercise something--sometimes the brain, the body, the dog, the heart, and even the soul. Even tears have tracks--the ones they leave on the face and in the heart.
I wonder who left the tracks on the road and wonder about their owners. I wonder if they wonder about my own tracks...
There is one figure who follows me and who leaves no tracks. I will post a picture. She changes with the seasons. Sometimes she looks sporty, and sometimes she looks ominous. Sometimes she seems to be a muse for me, sometimes she chastises me. I hope she is not the grim reaper.....because I cannot stop for that!
Walking the road is giving me a perspective that is different than I had before. I believe it is making me more sensitive to nature, birds and animals, and to myself...
Walking along the dirt road I see the tracks of other walkers. I notice the tracks of dogs beside a few.. Some tracks are large, others petite...All are walking for a reason: To exercise something--sometimes the brain, the body, the dog, the heart, and even the soul. Even tears have tracks--the ones they leave on the face and in the heart.
I wonder who left the tracks on the road and wonder about their owners. I wonder if they wonder about my own tracks...
Walking the road is giving me a perspective that is different than I had before. I believe it is making me more sensitive to nature, birds and animals, and to myself...
Saturday, July 9, 2011
The Blessing of Giving More Than Expected...
Sometimes I am asked why I am doing what I am doing - and especially since it has not been a money maker....
There is a part of my soul that yearns for expression and sharing. I created 6 milagro bracelets for a bride recently and went to very much extra work creating special cards for their presentation. I will share with you what she wrote to me:
" The items I received were so far beyond what I expected...I ordered the milagros for my bridesmaids and not only were they even more perfect in person, she made me beautiful cards to give my girls and even included a bracelet for me as a gift for my wedding. I was literally brought to tears when I opened my package."
For me this was well worth it on so many levels! No, I don't know this lady and likely never will. But to make someone happy like that and know that she connected with what I am trying to do gives me something money can't!
There is a quote I want to share:
"We are all God's instruments who do our little bit and pass by. I believe that the way in which an act of kindness is done is as important as the action itself." ~ Mother Teresa
I am no Mother Teresa by any stretch, but I have known, really known, the joy of giving more than expected. Sometimes it can seem thankless, but in that case it gives one a chance to remember why you are doing a thing - not for reward, but for the intrinsic blessing of it.
There is a part of my soul that yearns for expression and sharing. I created 6 milagro bracelets for a bride recently and went to very much extra work creating special cards for their presentation. I will share with you what she wrote to me:
" The items I received were so far beyond what I expected...I ordered the milagros for my bridesmaids and not only were they even more perfect in person, she made me beautiful cards to give my girls and even included a bracelet for me as a gift for my wedding. I was literally brought to tears when I opened my package."
For me this was well worth it on so many levels! No, I don't know this lady and likely never will. But to make someone happy like that and know that she connected with what I am trying to do gives me something money can't!
There is a quote I want to share:
"We are all God's instruments who do our little bit and pass by. I believe that the way in which an act of kindness is done is as important as the action itself." ~ Mother Teresa
I am no Mother Teresa by any stretch, but I have known, really known, the joy of giving more than expected. Sometimes it can seem thankless, but in that case it gives one a chance to remember why you are doing a thing - not for reward, but for the intrinsic blessing of it.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Some Words of Wisdom
"The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it." ~ William James
I have been thinking about this. My grandparents left behind stories and legends. My grandmother carefully documented my grandfather's stories and respectfully saved them over the years. He was not only a sculptor, he was actively involved with the community he lived in and with the Native Americans in his state. Both of my grandparents left a mark on me, eventhough my grandfather died when I was 6 months old. I have always felt like I knew him! He passed on to me his love of nature, he passed on his handmade swing (it is out of the family, but exists on the porch of the house he built so long ago)...I sat on that swing as a child and looked out into the yard and onto a large man-sized rock which was covered in roses and under which lay his ashes...On the cliffs visible from the house were sculptures of wild animals, and I would look at those as I fell asleep in summers on the screened-in porch.(After catching fireflies, of course!) He even had a bear as a pet--a bear named Cinnamon who stood taller than he. But that is a story for another day. My grandfather believed in being honest and had true character, a trait dominant in much of the family he left behind.
He was not wealthy, but at one point had quite a bit of land. He and my grandmother gave the land away long before the last survivor died. They just were not that interested in monetary gain. Somehow they got through their lives anyway! No 401K for them. Just the lillies of the field!
"Something that will outlast it"..Stories, legends, character, memories of a grandmother, widowed at 55, who spent time with grandchildren....She loved to play scrabble, checkers, crosswords. She loved to make chokecherry jam, cookies and cakes. She loved to take walks with me and we had hiking sticks. She loved lilacs. I loved her laugh. I loved the way she could comfort me just by being there and really hearing me...At her funeral my mother said, "She will be a hard act to follow." And indeed, she is a hard act to follow. I think of her almost daily and see myself becoming her in some good ways. I may never be as good a grandmother as she was, but I have my memories!
Henry James was right....and they left something that would outlast them!
I have been thinking about this. My grandparents left behind stories and legends. My grandmother carefully documented my grandfather's stories and respectfully saved them over the years. He was not only a sculptor, he was actively involved with the community he lived in and with the Native Americans in his state. Both of my grandparents left a mark on me, eventhough my grandfather died when I was 6 months old. I have always felt like I knew him! He passed on to me his love of nature, he passed on his handmade swing (it is out of the family, but exists on the porch of the house he built so long ago)...I sat on that swing as a child and looked out into the yard and onto a large man-sized rock which was covered in roses and under which lay his ashes...On the cliffs visible from the house were sculptures of wild animals, and I would look at those as I fell asleep in summers on the screened-in porch.(After catching fireflies, of course!) He even had a bear as a pet--a bear named Cinnamon who stood taller than he. But that is a story for another day. My grandfather believed in being honest and had true character, a trait dominant in much of the family he left behind.
He was not wealthy, but at one point had quite a bit of land. He and my grandmother gave the land away long before the last survivor died. They just were not that interested in monetary gain. Somehow they got through their lives anyway! No 401K for them. Just the lillies of the field!
"Something that will outlast it"..Stories, legends, character, memories of a grandmother, widowed at 55, who spent time with grandchildren....She loved to play scrabble, checkers, crosswords. She loved to make chokecherry jam, cookies and cakes. She loved to take walks with me and we had hiking sticks. She loved lilacs. I loved her laugh. I loved the way she could comfort me just by being there and really hearing me...At her funeral my mother said, "She will be a hard act to follow." And indeed, she is a hard act to follow. I think of her almost daily and see myself becoming her in some good ways. I may never be as good a grandmother as she was, but I have my memories!
Henry James was right....and they left something that would outlast them!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Quote...What Prayer Is by Gandhi
"Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul..." Mahatma Gandhi
Something to think about as I wear my milagro bracelet today.
The miracle I receive may not come when I ask for it but when I truly am ready or need it...
It may come in another form...It may come when I least expect it...or by another name...
Life is a beautiful mystery that unfolds one minute, then one day at a time...
Remember, God's time is the right time...
Something to think about as I wear my milagro bracelet today.
The miracle I receive may not come when I ask for it but when I truly am ready or need it...
It may come in another form...It may come when I least expect it...or by another name...
Life is a beautiful mystery that unfolds one minute, then one day at a time...
Remember, God's time is the right time...
Saturday, June 11, 2011
A miracle for Connecting Borders and a Milagro Bracelet hard at work!
Yesterday ticket sales were not what they should have been for the High Maintenance Bitch fashion show in Seattle, proceeds going to Connecting Borders (non-profit) benefitting an orphanage in Peru.
I decided to wear my new Milagro bracelet in the hopes that they would sell enough tickets so there wouldn't be a loss. I said prayers, rubbed the little milagro and waited. No phone call about anything....
This morning I got a wonderful phone call from my daughter saying they SOLD OUT of tickets and that everyone had a wonderful time!!
I listed one of the bracelets on Etsy yesterday, too, before I knew.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/75742454/vintage-milagro-leather-bracelet-wire
I am including an Amazon link to the book where I got the idea...
I decided to wear my new Milagro bracelet in the hopes that they would sell enough tickets so there wouldn't be a loss. I said prayers, rubbed the little milagro and waited. No phone call about anything....
This morning I got a wonderful phone call from my daughter saying they SOLD OUT of tickets and that everyone had a wonderful time!!
I listed one of the bracelets on Etsy yesterday, too, before I knew.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/75742454/vintage-milagro-leather-bracelet-wire
I am including an Amazon link to the book where I got the idea...
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Read about the wonderful fashion show in Seattle for Connecting Borders!
Connecting Borders is a non-profit humanitarian group that is diligently helping orphans in Peru. The group is putting on a fashion show in SEATTLE, WA. friday, June 10, 2011. The models will each be "wearing" a real dog! If you live in the Seattle area, please plan to attend. Or if you can donate cool items for inclusion in bags for the VIPs (such as media) please donate...
http://www.connectingborders.org/
http://www.connectingborders.org/
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