all i did was listen

I am loving this blog.


I am so full of love and beauty and inspiration I just can't do anything today. There are lots of things I need to get done but I just want to hold this amazing feeling inside, honour and nurture it. That seems more important than assignments.

I want to cry
I want to lie out in the sun
I want to run
I want to read
I want to draw
I want to write
I want to make a dreamcatcher
I want to sing
I want to do everything and nothing
I want to burst open

My heart wants to burst open

There is more
there is more

The Artist's Creed

Michael, by Susan Seddon Boulet

I believe I am worth the time it takes to create
whatever I feel called to create.

I believe that my work is worthy of its own space,
which is worthy of the name Sacred.

I believe that, when I enter this space, I have the right
to work in silence, uninterrupted, for as long as I choose.

I believe that the moment I open myself to the gifts of the Muse,
I open myself to the Source of All Creation
and become One with the Mother of Life Itself.

I believe that my work is joyful, useful, and constantly changing,
flowing through me like a river with no beginning and no end.

I believe that what it is I am called to do
will make itself known when I have made myself ready.

I believe that the time I spend creating my art
is as precious as the time I spend giving to others.

I believe that what truly matters in the making of art is
not what the final piece looks like or sounds like,
not what it is worth or not worth, but what newness gets added
to the universe in the process of the piece itself becoming.

I believe that I am not alone in my attempts to create,
and that once I begin the work, settle into the strangeness,
the words will take shape, the form find life, and the spirit take flight.

I believe that as the Muse gives to me,
so does she deserve from me:
faith, mindfulness, and enduring commitment.

Jan Phillips
Marry Your Muse

Silent solitude

"In silent solitude
I float out
flowing
in slowest
motion
serene daughter
of my
deepest self"

From the book The Creative Journal by Lucia Capacchione

Things that have meant something to me today

~Even though things feel meaningless right now, there's a part of me that knows it's only temporary, and part of a bigger picture.

~Cancelling the session with my client today so I can have time and space to look after myself,

~THEN, receiving a caring email from her with a quote that is so spot on.

~Visiting a college friend at work just to let her know where I'm at, and having her treat me to a dandelion tea and hot chocolate.

~Instead of wallowing with junk food, I came home and made myself a salad wrap and chai.

~Thinking of the pretty white feather I found the other day.

~Receiving a little message from an old work friend, just to say hi and check that I'm doing ok.

"Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let yourself take you where you long to be... Close your eyes, let your spirit soar and you will live as you've never lived before."

This is a scary place to be. I don't know how to do things a new way. But I know I don't want to do it the old way anymore. Hence the emptiness.

Sweet Darkness

When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.

there you can be sure
you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your womb
tonight.

The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.

You must learn one thing.
The world was meant to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

-David Whyte

The Four Agreements

The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz

"To be Toltec is a way of life. A Toltec becomes wise, becomes wild, and becomes free again."

Be impeccable with your word.
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Don't take anything personally.
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

Don't make assumptions.
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama.

Always do your best.
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgement, self-abuse, and regret.

Best Things Today

- The smell of rain out my car window driving home from the Blue Mountains

- This photo of a friend:

CAUTION! Breakdancers.

Do what makes you come alive

“Don’t ask what the world needs.
Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

-Howard Thurman

Something big is coming

Pambula Beach

Love and light

Hmm... photo makes it look much messier than it actually is. And it didn't pick up the colour properly. I will work on capturing it more accurately next time... practice practice

Drawing of the day

Indulgent Day Off

I don't quite remember where I found this image, probably on Etsy.

I'm just feeling really nice today... my 1 day off this week and I'm making sure it's really chilled and relaxed =)
I had a slow morning curled up in bed with my coffee and doing some necessary organisey things online. I'm really excited to start being creative again... I want to draw a bit. I want to paint a bit. I just want to play, to try everything.

This is a watercolour on canvas I did for a friend a little while ago... I'm super proud of it and really happy with how it turned out. Better than I ever could have planned =)


There are so many things I'm excited about... now I just have to get off my laptop and get out in the world and do them!

meeeeeep

Soft Eyes

'Kuan Yin' by Toni Carmine Salerno

Right now I am feeling full of light and love and softness. I have been spending more time meditating and connecting with earth energy and spirit energy and I'm really feeling a difference. It is such a nice place to be coming from... and I just feel my interactions with people are so much softer and more genuine. Everything slows down a bit and it's really quite pleasant.

When I feel like this, I feel like I look softly at the world, like my eyes are soft with love.

I bought this Kuan Yin print last year from the Mind Body Spirit festival, and I've realised that it's exactly how I feel when I'm full of love and light and softness. It's so beautiful to have this perfect reminder on my wall, and it makes it so much easier to connect in with this love and softness... yum.

My Abundant Life

Just a quick post while I'm really excited and inspired -

I've realised that I'm living more and more of the life I want to be living! A while ago I started a list (a long list) of things I want for my future, including who I am as a person, what I'm doing, where I'm living, how I'm living. I've kept adding to this as I think of things that are important to me.
I checked back with this list recently and realised that so many of these are in my life already! Things like:

~Buy as little processed food as possible
~Prepare and make as much food from scratch as possible
~Bake for friends
~Have time for quiet 'me' time
~Be surrounded by people who are joyful, abundant and loving
~Live with joy and love
~Appreciate the little things
~Be surrounded by beauty and little things that make me happy
~Live with integrity and authenticity
~Have a grassy garden in the sun
~Have abundance in all areas of my life

My life is amazing.

I love really getting clear on how I want my future to be. Really feeling into it, seeing it, knowing what it looks and feels like. Creating something like a list or vision board can be so helpful in making it clearer, something you can revisit or add to. And then - what is stopping you from living that life NOW? Why wait for the future? Some changes will take time, for whatever reason, but why not start making that future a reality now? Really you'll never get to the future because you are only ever in the now. So live the life you want to live, NOW.

Can't sleep

'Sleep' by Lindy Longhurst

It is late but I can't sleep. I'm too excited! It's fun to be so excited about things again, my head racing with ideas of things I want to do RIGHT NOW! Being sensible and trying to sleep didn't work so now I'm just going to run with it.

Firstly - excited about the delicious breakfast I have planned for tomorrow morning before work, I can't wait to get out of bed and eat already!

Excited about taking banana bread to work and sharing it with Nicky.

Excited about eating some juicy juicy pineapple I cut up yesterday!

Excited about coming home and crocheting a few granny squares that will go towards my warm winter blanket.

Excited about clearing out my room, simplifying my life and throwing out a lot of stuff I really don't need.

Happy to have found these beautiful artworks on Lindy's blog:

'A New Beginning'
(originally titled 'The Journey that Gives Life'... which seems appropriate as I'm reading a book on the cycle of the Hero's Journey)

'Spirit Stone'
(this one makes me feel so grounded.)

'Travel Together'
(How beautiful that he carries their home on his back! Like a snail!)

Deeply contented that I am maintaining my bubble of self care, looking forward to working deeper and deeper within myself, and having more quiet time. I'm really enjoying this solitude I am creating.

Reading 'Soulcraft' by Bill Plotkin and really enjoying it. I don't really want to try to explain it... but lately I've felt strongly drawn to shamanic practices, energy healing, and body wisdom, and I feel like this book is a step in the right direction for me. I can't see where this pull will take me but I'll just be moving forward one step at a time and see what unfolds.

ALSO! I'm excited about creating and living my life the way I WANT TO, with no limitations or shoulds, living an ABUNDANT life exactly the way I want, that fills me with love and joy and a sense of fulfilment and rightness!
I'm already starting this by saying NO to a lot of 'shoulds', like NO to full time work at the moment because self care is more important right now. And saying YES to the Universe, trusting that I will be provided for if I follow what is right for me.
Already I am living an abundant life! =)

xo

Friday Night Baking

I have been super inspired by my friends Christie and Yas lately and really excited to take more time preparing and cooking good food! I've known for a while that taking care of myself has to be top priority, going right back to the basics of better eating and getting more sleep.

So on Friday night, I had the house to myself and got stuck into the kitchen!


Banana bread, the recipe for which I've already posted here, but I mixed chia seeds through this one and sprinkled cinnammon on top! Yum.


Delicious Spinach and Fetta muffins, shown to me by my friend Sofiyah, but I added shredded zucchini as well to make up the spinach amount (her idea also). I'm going to freeze most of them so I have snacks for later!


And my favourite - chocolate and raspberry cupcakes! I just took a really basic chocolate cake recipe and mixed frozen raspberries through it, then iced them with chocolate icing and added another raspberry! They really do taste as good as they look =)

Ooh also today Sofiyah lent me her food processer so I'm really looking forward to trying some blendy new things very soon!

The Complete Healer

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
Find Page 123.
Skip the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.

"Love and hate, joy and sadness, generosity and greed are polarity energies that reside within all of us. Wholeness means that we have to accept both sides as being part of us. If we reject one or other aspect, then imbalance occurs and illness or disharmony must result."
-The Complete Healer, David Furlong

(I haven't read this book yet.)

Uncanny because this is exactly what I've been talking to a few people about lately. Perfect because I've developed an interest in the connection between body and mind and have a strong belief in the wisdom of the body, and that it knows what we need for us to heal ourselves.
At college recently we looked at Yin and Yang and finding the balance within to ignite the spark, to then connect it with our dreams and live powerfully with heart.

Such exciting stuff! I love what I'm doing.

Little piece of light

6 x 6cm

College tomorrow!

'We save the world by being alive ourselves.'
Joseph Campbell

I'm feeling great. Back to college tomorrow so that will be nourishing to be in that place and around those wonderful people again.
I'm feeling really good about the amazing, magical people in my life at the moment... I'm really excited about bringing some of them together this year and building powerful connections.

xo

Be the best you

"When you pay attention to the way you feel and you practice the self-empowering thoughts that align with who-you-really-are, you will offer an example of thriving that will be of tremendous value to those who have the benefit of observing you."

I found my magical self again

And she cries when she remembers how beautiful the world is.

More me-time

Inspired by a blog post by coach Jen Lee on Practicing Grounded Growth, I'd like to spend a bit of time thinking about what is good for me and what I need.

I want to take more quiet time for me. Things have been hectic so far this year and I've only just recently given myself a few quiet nights in with no pressure to be doing anything else. I'm slowly getting in touch with that calm, wise part of myself again and I remember how important that is, and I want to cultivate it.

More quiet time, more journalling, more creating, more blogging... a few things that will help, I think.

Mum's Banana Bread

6 tablespoons butter
small cup sugar
1 egg
3 bananas, mashed
1.5 cups self raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
2 tablespoons milk

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mashed bananas. Add other ingredients.
Bake at 180 degrees celcius for approx 40/45 mins.

I baked mine in a loaf pan but mum also makes muffins with the mix too. Yum!