Posts from the ‘Personal’ Category

2014 Word of the Year: Trust

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” ~Zora Neale Hurston

Many people write new year resolutions.  I still write down some attainable goals for the year, but I have found it more helpful to have a word, an intention, to focus on throughout the year.

This year, I recently contemplated that my word for 2014 would be open.  However, after reflection and giving more thought, I have decided that trust is my one little word for 2014.   In some ways I have excellent trust — in divine timing; in the laws of the universe; in spiritual practice; and in following my bliss – but when it comes to trusting others and myself on a much more practical level, I can struggle.  So, I am going to keep trust as my word and see how it manifests this year.  I am also going to trust the process, part of the biscuit’s space manifesto.

Last year I selected the word create, which served me well in taking more risks in my photography; sharing my photography; and also beginning a long-term photography project, which, at times, feels like a daunting undertaking.   However, I keep plugging along because I believe the work is important.  Thankfully, Doug is really supportive.  I am dedicating this work to our beloved Biscuit, the inspiration for this work.  I plan to complete this work in 2015; however, there are a lot of moving parts to this project and I am thankful for the support of the organizations that I am working with on this project.

2013 was a year of immense change for us in many ways.  We still miss our beloved Biscuit, and we will always miss him.  Biscuit was a gift and he came into our lives at the right time.  We know that he is with us in spirit and we see him daily as his images adorn our home.  We also know that Biscuit brought our beautiful Victory into our lives, whom we love very much.  Doug says that “Victory makes beauty effortless.”  Victory is also a blessing and we have fun with her and she is now my muse.  We look forward to all of our adventures together!

We also sold a house, built a house, and moved two times in a span of nine months.  We are now pretty settled into our home.  We still have a little more decorating that we want to complete, but we have made good progress so far!  I feel ready to close the chapter on 2013 and welcome 2014 into our lives!

Are you considering selecting a word for yourself (or letting one find you)?  There is no right or wrong.  The main thing to remember is that this is your word.

And what do you do with this one little word?  You live with it.  You invite it into your life.  You let it speak to you.  You might even follow where it leads.  There are so many possibilities.

The Art of Living

Today I wanted to share a post written by Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.net entitled, My Pursuit of the Art of Living.  This is one of my favorite blog posts that I read this past year and it resonates with me on so many levels.  I too believe that life itself is an art form.

MY PURSUIT OF THE ART OF LIVING

For many years I simply lived, and got by.

But in the last few years, after learning a bit about habits and mindfulness and simplicity and love, I have changed my approach to living.

Now I see living as an art form, to be studied and played with and practiced and mastered.  Of course, few ever master the art of living, and I don’t know if I ever will.  Probably not.

But I can pursue this art.  I can appreciate it when others do it well.  I can learn about it, through experiments and observation and introspection.

My pursuit of the art of living is only just beginning, but I thought I’d share a bit about this pursuit with you, my good friends.

BEGINNING THE PURSUIT

The journey begins with a single step, a wise man said, and for me that first step is simple:

Admit I don’t know.

Learning begins by emptying your cup, so that you can fill it with what you find. Emptying your cup means getting rid of pre-set opinions.

I don’t know what the art of living is, but I am curious.

And so the path is one of open hands, of curiosity and finding out.

And it’s one of bare feet, of being open and naked, willing to be exposed to life and chaos.

It’s about clear seeing, mindfulness turned to seeing reality as it is, without trying to make things rosy or conform to the story you tell yourself.

Clear seeing, naked, open hands, curious without knowing. That’s the path that I’ve found, so far.

THE ART EMERGES

With clear seeing, I start to see why I (and others) suffer, why we stress and get mad at each other and want more and more.

And now I can start to apply the art of living to my days.

Here’s what I practice with, imperfectly:

• Compassion.  Instead of being angry or frustrated, I find the pain in others, and open my heart to them.  This includes compassion for myself.
• Gratitude.  Life is filled with wonder, and the people around me as well.  I try to open myself to that wonder, and be grateful it’s there, instead of complaining.
• Joyfear.  Joy is an awesome thing to have, but joyfear is present in the powerful moments in life where joy and fear mix, where we’re taking chances and doing something outside of our comfort zone that both excites us and makes us face the possibility of failure.  I now embrace these moments rather than avoiding them.
• Not avoiding discomfort or uncertainty.  When we avoid discomfort, we are limited by our comfort zone, and new learning and new ventures become impossible.  When we avoid uncertainty, we only stick to what we know.  But we can purposely become good at discomfort and uncertainty, by practicing in small bite-sized chunks, over and over.
• Staying with the moment, even when it’s hard.  This is the hardest of all.  “Living in the moment” sounds wonderful, but actually staying with the present moment isn’t ever easy.  Try it: with your eyes open, sit still and stay with the sights and sounds around you for one minute, without your mind wandering away from them.  If you don’t notice your mind wandering, either you’re an experienced mindfulness practitioner, or you didn’t notice when your mind wandered.
• Relationships are everything.  Getting what we want, having things our way, having control, being right … these things matter nothing compared to relationships.  Imagine being in your death bed at the age of 80 … will your sense of being right and in control comfort you when you have no good relationships, no one who has loved you?  Put relationships first.
• Not holding on to expectations & judgments. Expectations and judgments prevent me from enjoying what I have, from enjoying the simple presence of someone else in my life.  I practice with noticing these expectations and judgments, and practice with holding them loosely, letting them go.
• Letting go.  This is the art of living in two words: letting go. It’s letting go of judgments, expectations, wanting to be right, wanting to control, fear of discomfort, fear of uncertainty, fear of failure, fear of boredom, comparing myself to others, wanting distraction, being irritated, complaining.  It’s noticing when I’m holding these, and letting go.  Loosening my heart’s grip on any of these, and letting go.  And then letting go again.  And again.

And so the art of living is a practice, one that doesn’t end, that doesn’t have a mastery level.  It’s a constant letting go, a constant picking up again, and then letting go again.  And falling, and getting up without beating myself up.

The art of living is the art of getting back up.

Merry Christmas!

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” ~Charles Dickens

Merry Christmas!  We are out-of-town visiting family over the Holidays!  We hope that you are having a wonderful Christmas!  Little Victory is doing well and she is enjoying her Christmas travels seeing new places and meeting new people!

Below is the front of our Holiday card along with our matching envelopes using custom stamps and stickers of our beautiful little Victory!  I design our Holiday cards and packaging, and Doug helps me write (and proofreads) our message shown on the back of our Pawliday card!  This is my way of sharing our Pawliday card with all of our blog friends!  Thank you for your support all year round!

2014 Word of the Year

I have been thinking a lot about what my word for 2014 will be.  It is difficult to believe that 2014 is just a mere eleven days away.  This year’s word has been create.  It has been a great word for me this year.  I have been creating new work and taking more risks with my work.  I have undertaken a long-term photography project, which I hope to share more about next year.  However, it does not mean that fear has not been present while creating.  I think that most people encounter this when they are creating meaningful work.  Creativity and vulnerability go hand in hand.  I recently read a great quote by author, Elizabeth Gilbert, that sums up this sentiment very well — “I live a creative life, and you can’t be creative without being vulnerable.  I believe that Creativity and Fear are basically conjoined twins; they share all the same major organs, and cannot be separated, one from the other, without killing them both.  And you don’t want to murder Creativity just to destroy Fear!  Creativity cannot walk even one step forward except by marching side-by-side with its attached sibling of Fear.”   I believe that this sentiment is so true.

As 2014 approaches, I have been thinking about the word that I will choose to guide me through the next year.  Over the past several days, I have considered having open be my word.  I believe that we all have ‘blind spots’ — there is so much to learn and many things that we are unable to  see.  However, I think that if you have the intention to be open, you will therefore be more able to see the things that appear at the right moment, right when you need them most.  I believe this is how the Universe works.  It delivers to us right on time — although, sometimes, in unexpected ways!

Happy Friday!

Brain Test

Recently, my Mom sent me this link to determine if I am left-brained or right-brained.  Well, I took the test, and I am neither — I use both the right and left sides of my brain equally!

Check out the test and see what side of your brain is more dominate!

Happy Wednesday!

All We Have Is Now

We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living.  “We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on.  But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

I often get caught up in the idea of tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year.  While it is comforting to make plans for the future and it is always important to dream, I never want to lose sight of the fact that all we are guaranteed is right now and, most importantly, not to miss the right now.   Our little Biscuit taught us about living in the present moment.

“When you fully embrace the gift that this moment has to offer, there is no more waiting, even if you envision in your mind has yet to manifest in physical form.” ~Unknown

In the spirit of the Holiday season, Biscuit is shown on the left and Victory is shown on the right, both wearing tartan antlers!

Victory’s First Thanksgiving!

I hope that you had a nice Thanksgiving!  Victory had a great Thanksgiving — her first Thanksgiving!  She really loved cuddling with everyone.  She seems to love being loved!  She is gaining more confidence each day!  She is beginning to come into her own!  Victory also loved her chicken that Doug made especially for her!  We learned that she likes cooked carrots as well!  Little Nick , my parents’ furry family member, came for a visit and he loved having turkey and chicken as well!  Nick situated himself around everyone in the hopes of getting as much human food as possible!

We think that Victory was more interested in Nick than Nick was into Victory!  Nick only truly loves one person — his Daddy!  Pictured below are Victory and Nick sporting their matching Christmas collars!  Nick, of course, was keeping an eye on his Daddy!  In honor of Victory, we put out some Christmas lights over the weekend — they look quite nice!

In the Holiday spirit, not all dogs are fortunate enough to have furever homes.  Please keep all dogs in your prayers especially as the weather gets colder.  A special dog prayer is shown below, which a friend recently shared with me.