Completing a list of Seven Things!!

Today, Jamie asks, "What do you wish to complete"?
All anyone need do in order to know what I wish to complete is to read the past few WishCasting posts (which is easy to do as they seem to be the only ones I am making these days!!).

I swear that Jamie is asking these questions directly to me to urge me on into completing my music cd for children and that of course is my main wish.

However, as most of us do, I also have a list of unfinished projects to complete; scrapbooks, letters to friends, stories and songs that I am writing.

And today I get to combine two posts into one because quite a while back now, the sweet and witty Kavindra was oh so very kind as to point her readers in my direction… and I’ve neglected to provide them with any new content! (Aside from wish casting).

I do move slowly on most fronts… in a thoughtful, purposeful manner… yeah, that’s it!

Anywho, I love lists (pick a post, any post, you’ve likely about a 50% chance of finding a list!!) and so, I present the MeMe which means I will share 7 tidbits about myself:

1. I met my Fishguy when I was all of eighteen years old. It was more or less love at first sight for both of us (well, for him it was more like lust at first sight, he was a 19 year old boy, after all) but we didn’t actually end up really getting together until 10 years later. The rest is history.


2. The fishguy and I created an absolutely darling little elf of a girl who I refer to as SugarPlum (Fishguy calls her Monkereeno). She turned 8 this summer and she is an absolute delight to be around… unless she is grumpy (then Fishguy calls her “Gus” which makes her even more grumpy!)


3. I went bungee jumping once! Was dipped head first into the Ottawa River. My adrenaline was pumping for days afterwards!


4. I sang at an open mic night a few times with a friend of mine. We got together once or twice a week and practiced a few songs with our guitars. The first night was fun, but we weren’t really that good. We practiced more and did it again a month later. At the end of our set I sang a cappella, a song that I wrote. The whole place became so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop while I was singing (it was a noisy pub). I had an adrenaline rush (highly comparable to the bungee jumping high) for days afterwards!


5. I love the smell of the woods. Yep. Pine and cedar, my favourite smells. Better than coffee. And if Fishguy has been out walking in the woods or even chopping wood and then gives me a hug… best aphrodisiac ever!


6. I love hanging clothes out on the line first thing in the morning … gives me a really peaceful, calm, this is where I belong, happy feeling… plus the birds are just about going crazy with song.


7. I finally painted my studio!!! Yes it is done! Well, more or less, there are still a few touches I’d like to add here and there (new lamp shade, new throw pillow cases etc.) And I even printed a digitalized version of my very own painting for one of the walls! It is the pic in this post.
   

Now, the passing along of recognition. As Kavindra has done I will simply guide my readers to seven of the great blogs that I enjoy as often as I can!!

• Moon Mama


• Stay-at-Home-Mayhem


• Power Blog


• BarefootOCMama


• BluJAYstudio


• Creative Lunacy


• Om~Mama~Shanti

Enjoy!!

Adjusting My Focus and 31 Things I Enjoy

In my last post, I talked about the fact that I have no problem with beginning projects…it’s the completion that tends to challenge me.

Part of the reason for this is a lack of focus. I often lack focus because I am interested in so many different creative pursuits and I want to do them all. Right. Now. And so, I have come to recognize that I need to proceed with a bit of caution when my attention is grabbed by every shiny, sparkling, creative opportunity that comes along and say "Whoa! Wait a minute. Is this truly something I can afford to spend my energy on?"

Other wise I get spread too thin and quite frankly, I prefer a more concentrated me. Less water, more juice! Except when it comes to drinking habits, then I’m all for more water, less juice… (See what I mean? My focus, she wanders off….)

Which brings me to my point (you just knew it had to be coming).
The Artist’s Way (TAW)… I had intended to join a group of Bloggers that began to work through TAW a few weeks ago. Go here to read all about it.

I have a great love of Julie Cameron's Artist's Way and have worked through the book before, but have never completed it, (although I did write about it here) which is why I thought that joining this group would be a great activity for me.

As much as I love the idea of doing this, it is one of those items which I just can’t afford to place my focus upon, just now. There simply isn’t room between my yoga and musical practices (which take priority) to follow the daily requirements of morning pages and find the time to do and then blog about the weekly assignments.

All that being said, I am totally cheerleading for those bloggers who are working through TWA . My BB (blogger buddy) Kavindra quite wittily writes about her aversions to TAW here. So creative, talented and funny this lady is, check her out!

Another extremely creative blogger, Serena Lewis has a lovely post and she is managing to follow and do her homework too. In fact, her post inspired me to (although I am not committing to follow along weekly) at least make a list or two. Because, well I just enjoy making lists so darn much.

So, randomly and in no particular order here is my list of 20 things that I enjoy!

1. Snuggling with my Fishguy
2. Cuddling with my Sugar Plum little girl (who just turned 8 years old)
3. Eating fresh ripe peaches yummy!
4. Singing
5. Playing my guitar
6. Getting together with loved ones around a campfire to sing and play guitars
7. Swimming in da River
8. Being naked… outdoors
9. When I am struck with the inspiration to write a new song
10. Dancing around the house
11. Going dancing at a night club with some girlfriends
12. Painting with watercolours
13. Having hot and steamy sex (I never see this on anyone’s list. Is it TMI?)
14. Facilitating yoga classes
15. Puttering around the house in the evening while listening to music and having a glass of red, just rearranging and organizing shelves or books or countertops etc. just to make things pretty and homey, without any urgency or schedule restricting me
16. Going out for sushi
17. Getting together with old friends I haven’t seen in ages and staying up way too late talking
18. Being at the river
19. Stroking a cat on my lap
20. Reading with my girl
21. Blogging!
    
    Okay, so that’s 21, but I could not very well leave out blogging, on my blog! I just wrote this list and out of curiosity, I decided to dig out my notes from about 18 months ago and compare the two. So, here is my old list.

• 1. Sleeping in, a day in bed
• 2. Singing
• 3. Songwriting
• 4. Going out for dinner
• 5. Going out for sushi
• 6. Getting together with friends
• 7. Swimming
• 8. Dancing
• 9. Going to see a live band
• 10. Playing guitar
• 11. Painting
• 12. Working with clay
• 13. Drumming
• 14. Cooking
• 15. Scrapbooking
• 16. Yoga
• 17. Browsing bookstores and libraries
• 18. Browsing downtowns
• 19. Making love
• 20. Writing stories

I found ten common things on the two lists, so I think it's pretty obvious what I enjoy the most!! What things do you enjoy doing?

Summer's Here And the Time is Right...

~for 100 days of Guitar playing (minimum 30 minutes) every day!

~singing every day too... goes without saying

~swimming in the River as much as Possible! (2-3 days/week)

~berry picking!

~attending (rather than facilitating) a yoga class

~weekly trips to the Riverview Park and Zoo

~camping

~daily yoga (today is day 75!!)

~dancing in the street (I'll find any opportunity I can!!)

Happy Summer to All!!!!

Picture this Part Two

I’ve been slowly working on integrating Sugar Plums picture books into my themed collection. This is mainly due to the fact that she no longer reads them and they are taking up valuable space on her ever growing, overcrowded bookshelf.

Something that we are sorely lacking in this household, is enough bookshelf space!
My dear brother, carpenter that he is, long ago promised to build me a custom-made-to-fit-a-corner bookshelf for the guest room. Alas, this shelf has yet to materialize (much like that old adage about the shoemakers children having no shoes, I suppose).

I think that today, I am about to add “make my own damned bookshelf” to my 43 Things list. I don’t have my list posted on that site yet, as I am still working on it. Soon I will post it here. It is a really cool concept for a list lover like me, to have a life list of a manageable 43 Things I’d like to accomplish.

But I digress, I am really here today to post another list;

Top 13 Picture Books from Sugar Plums collection.
And in no particular order here it is:

Why is an Orange Called an Orange?
Cobi Ladner, Lisa Smith

Coyote Sings to the Moon
Thomas King, Johnny Wales

Stranger in the Woods
Carl R Sams II, Jean Stoick

Dawn Watch
Jean E. Pendziwol, Nicolas Debon

Look at Me
Robert Munsch, Michael Martchenko

The Paper Bag Princess
Robert Munsch, Michael Martchenko

Deep Down in the Woods at Sleepy Time
Carole Lexa Schaefer, Vanessa Cabban

The Runaway Bunny
Margaret Wise Brown

Alligator Pie
Dennis Lee

The Going to Bed Book
Sandra Boynton

Put me in the Zoo
Robert Lopshire

Hand, Hand, Finger, Thumb
Dr. Seuss

The Cat in the Hat
Dr. Seuss

Good books. All of them.
If anyone else has a list of favourite books (for children or otherwise), please share!!

8 Soulful songs

In visiting Ty-Anna over at Let’s See if This Works the other day, I found she was writing about one of my favourite topics as she was prompted to do by Magpie Girl. Magpie Girl asks:

So, what *8 Songs connect you to the Divine? Songs that aren’t classically “religious” or “church music” but create a harmonic bridge to all things holy. Songs that soothe the soul. Songs that encourage and shore you up. Songs that connect you to something bigger and beyond, or more deeply and truly to the here/now. What songs are just Good Medicine? Do tell…and if you have time link us to online versions and youtube videos, just for fun.

Well, I could pick 8 songs from my Joni Mitchell Collection alone (another list for another day!) but since this list is specifically about songs that connect us to the divine, I COULD choose Shadows and Light. This song makes reference to our society’s preoccupation with judging things as good or bad, wrong or right (a common Joni theme). Or I could choose Joni’s popular environmental anthem Big Yellow Taxi(you know, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot) But, instead I choose Woodstock in which she writes …”We are stardust. We are golden. And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden”. I love this song. Incidentally, Joni didn’t even get to play at Woodstock. It was a vicariously written song.

Okay, here are a few more significant songs with soulful impact for me.

Don’t Give Up, Peter Gabriel with Kate Bush. The So cassette lived in my car for years and this song was blasted loudly through my many stages of life, love, loss and it always pulled me through. In Your Eyes is another great song which also impacts me spiritually.

One Love, Bob Marley. The Man was a Living Legend, need I say more.

Closer to Fine, Indigo Girls. Another song that I played over and over again in fact the whole album was quite inspirational… and oh so very fun to sing along to!

Across the Universe, The Beatles. This song got me through the death of a very close relative and friend who left us far too young. And it is a wonderful anthem for Simply Being. Other uplifting Beatles songs include Let It Be, Here Comes the Sun, Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds….. just to name a few.

Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Hard to pick just one food-for-soul song from this cd. To Zion is very touching and funky (Carlos Santana on rocking guitar!!) In the title track however, Miss Hill states “every time I try to be what some one else thought of me, so caught up I was unable to achieve. But deep in my heart, I knew the answer it was in me. And I made up my mind to define my own destiny!” Woot woot, what a wild woman!

I have to say the same thing about 3years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the life of… Arrested Development. It is one of my all time best “put-it-on-and-get-things-done-because-it-makes-me-feel-so-good” cds. Children Play with Earth (play in the fields, climb a tree, eat of the earth, grow an apple tree, eat rhubarb, eat fruit from the vine, children, it is the earth’s time!) Other great tracks include Mama’s Always on Stage and Mr. Wendle (Mr. Wendle is homeless..he gives me some knowledge, I buy him some shoes, he has a freedom that you and I think is dumb,… I just saw him eat off the food we waste).

Wassabi Collective is an awesome Indie band out of Nelson B.C whose lyrics and energy spread a message of peace and positivity. The song Simplicity off their Cato recording is a soulfully inspiring tune with the opening lyrics “Yeah express what ya got to give and affect the life you live by thinking positive, bliss out now”. Another song, Flowers (“every single day I ask the Goddess how to get along, she say, feel with your heart not your mind your wings are spread you’re doing fine”) is filled with totally funky rhythms and drums. Their second Album Stories Not Forgotten, is also amazing.


I really must list another Joni song though. My list of inspirational music just wouldn’t be complete without the uplifting Chelsea Morning. I wrote a post about it here.

Oops, is that 9?

Bookshelf Sharing

Okay, I am all about lists, and you know that taking a peek at a person’s bookshelf can tell you a lot about that person, their interests and preferences etc.

Therefore, in the interest of sharing a bit about myself, I am posting a list of the books as they appear on a small shelf in one of my favourite sitting spots in our home.

I will post a corresponding pic soon…when I figure out how exactly to do that!! (We live in a rural area, where highspeed has not yet graced it’s shining light…it’s like living in the dark ages sometimes I tells ya!)

In order of appearance from left to the wall:

• Oxford English Minidctionary (I believe this is my daughters… a stocking stuffer perhaps?)
• The Complete Book of Greek Cooking (I’ve been hankering to try a phyllo chicken recipe and some spanakopeta!)
• 1001 Little Well Being Miracles Simple Secrets for Staying Happy and Relaxed ($4 Chapters find)
• The Bhagavad Gita (required yoga training text)
• The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (!!!)
• Collier’s Junior Classics, ABC Go! (my favourite book when I was a child)
• The Spirit of Yoga by Kathy Philips (second hand book store find)
• Dec. 2005 Yoga Journal Magazine
• Beth Shaw’s Yoga Fit
• Babar’s Yoga For Elephants
• The Runaway Bunny (in need of repair)
• The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
• Organize Yourself by Ronni Eisenberg with Kate Kelly
• Stones by Timothy Findley (a novel I have yet to read )
• Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There: a mindfulness retreat with Sylvia Boorstein
• Mother Nature’s Miracle Medicines (an herbal glossary booklet)
• A Writer’s Book of Days by Judy Reeves
• Kaplan Anatomy Colouring Book
• Reading Magic by Mem Fox
• Read to Me: Raising Kids Who Love to Read by Bernice Cullinan
• Swimming with Ghandi and Einstien by William Colwell
• Letter’s to a Young Artist by Julia Cameron
• The Wheel of time by Carlos Castaneda
• Krishnamurti’s Journal
• Awakening the Spine by Vanda Scarvelli
• Yoga Teacher Training Binder Notes

Stuffed in between the books are various papers and envelopes.

• An envelope of info from the Writers Union of Canada/ Canadian Children’s Book Centre including “writing and illustrating children’s books: a guide to getting published, as well as a list of Canadian Publishers accepting unsolicited manuscripts (this is from 2005)
• An article printed out from Canadian Family Physician website: Attention Deficit Disorder in Adults
• Natural Choices Guide to Swiss Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
• Natural Choices Guide to Swiss Herbal supplements

This small collection of books is intended to be the "Yoga Centre" portion of my library, but it has a tendency to pick up strays overtime. And the majority of my Yoga books are not on the shelf because I bring them with me to my yoga classes. I will have to make a more comprehensive list of ALL my yoga books another time.

Anyone interested in sharing a bookshelf with me?

Protecting My Bliss

Here is the latest enCouraging Bliss Challenge from BlissChick. Christine asks:

Looking back over your week (or month!), when and how did you find yourself not respecting your boundaries, not living from your integrity, not following your bliss?Do you notice any patterns? For example, do you tend to get too involved, like me, with other people's problems in lieu of working on your own?Do you find yourself "pushing through" some giant list of "shoulds" rather than doing what your heart is aching for you to do? What is your excuse?How, then, can you eliminate these things, people, events, that are eating away at instead of feeding your bliss?

Okay, this week I had a meltdown.
I planned too many things for myself.
I placed too many expectation on myself.
I began to feel overwhelmed.
I listened to those divas in my head telling me unkind things about myself.
I didn’t create time to listen to or play music.
I felt angry and resentful.
And above all, I held it all in until I was ready to explode.
And then, I did.
I erupted like a volcano upon my long suffering partner.

Long suffering, because, this is a pattern of mine and he has put up with it for many years now. I’m very fortunate, he’s loving and understanding of my “meltdowns”. But I went too far this time. I placed blame on him and our relationship as being “part of the problem”. I said mean and hurtful things. I used terms like “you never…” and “you always…” in my argument. These terms are never a good idea to use with someone you love while having a discussion about your relationship. I KNOW THIS! I just …couldn’t … stop … myself…… That’s the kind of state I was in, out of control.

He’s very rational and logical and calm. I’m very emotional, fanciful and flighty.
He helps to keep me grounded. Sometimes, his logic and rationality can drive me crazy, but in the long run he usually makes me feel better when I meltdown by being ever so rational, logical and calm.

Now, to take a look at ways of eliminating the events of this week which lead up to my meltdown and being hurtful to the one I love……

Respect my boundaries (stop taking on extra hours at work….just say no; there was a reason that I swapped my full-time position for a part-time one last Sept.)

Be more reasonable in my expectations of just how much I can accomplish in one week. I find this one really difficult. It is as though, (as has been pointed out to me by Fishguy) I set myself up for disappointment and failure.

Make friends with some people that I can talk to about things that are going on with me instead of letting things build up to the point of eruption. I do not have very many close friends. I have a few close friends, who live far away and I don’t see them often and I am really terrible about keeping in touch. We have lived in this community for almost three years and I while I have many acquaintances, I still don’t have any close friends. I don’t get close to people easily. I feel socially awkward. Some people who know me, might find this hard to believe, but it's true. I have difficulty with eye contact and knowing whether or not I’ve come across as aloof and distant or if I’ve shared too much information. I’m working on this and now have small circle of people who I could potentially open up with.

Seek some professional help to aid in coping with what often feels like my inability to cope. I keep saying that I’m going to do this, then I have a meltdown and then I feel fine for a while. I do not want to take a pill to make me better, (while I recognize that this is a viable option for some people and mental health issues) but there are some therapies that I have considered. I’ve been to a counselor/therapist a few times in the past and that has always been helpful. Lately, I’ve been feeling like I might like to try some Reiki or other type of energy healing.

Listen to music or pick up my guitar or just sing my heart out. This can always make me feel better (duh, it IS my Bliss!), but somehow, when I’m on the path to boil and then meltdown, I tend to “forget” this and stop doing it.

Stop listening to those divas. You know the ones I mean, the nagging soundtrack that says things like… “you’re not good enough, you’re not talented, you don’t measure up, and hey, you must be crazy!” So, when they start ranting, I will just shut them up with some feel good music.

Make a Bliss List, of things that make me happy and when I feel the meltdown simmering, read my list and pick something from it to do as preventative medicine.


Make a Done List. I am a chronic list maker. This is part of my bliss. I enjoy making lists, they help me. Sometimes the giant list of Things To Do can get overwhelming though. So, I’ve decided to make a Done List instead, by this I mean a list of accomplishments and things that I have done that I feel good and proud about. Then I can read it when those divas start their berating.

Well, that was a therapeutic. Now on to those Lists!!