Standing in My Strength

Wow! It's sometimes hard to believe this month is already coming to a close. I feel like it's sped by without a lot of time for reflection. But luckily that's where you come in. This blog has been such a wonderful source for reflecting and sharing this past year and a half. It helps keep me focused and also allows me space to stretch and explore and discover and grow.

Lately I have felt tested to stand up for what I believe is right and stay true to my heart. With this comes a reminder of my inner strengths and a look back at my journey to discovering, recognizing, and most importantly owning my most dependable strengths...my spiritual gifts. 

A quote from my favorite author, Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, aka. SARK inspired me to see my strengths flowing as in a stream with me standing in the center. 

As SARK said, "I am practicing owning my strength, and standing in the center of it."

This is comforting when I'm feeling challenged to stand up for myself or when I feel uncertain or ungrounded. I can find strength in my center and I can feel centered when focused on my strengths. 

This is truly a gift.

What's Your Passion Project?

Today I had a wonderful conversation over lunch with my dear friend, Susan, and among many inspiring topics, we talked about the term, "passion project" that I've heard several times recently. I think I first read this term in Oprah's magazine, which I collected several months worth for my recent collage sessions. There was an article about Drew Barrymore and how her passion project was finding hearts in nature and photographing them. She then made them into a book. And just yesterday, Facebook advertised a new animated film coming out based on the very famous book, The Prophet. When I read about it further, I discovered that this movie was the passion project of Salma Hayek. 

I feel really inspired by this new term and also inspired that famous people, like Drew and Salma are giving back through their inspiring art and passion. 

Susan and I thought it would be neat to ask people we first meet, instead of the common "what do you do?" question, what their passion project is. I'm curious what we'd find out. I mean, I just heard this term but I've been intrigued by it and have started to think about how I'd answer that question too.

I think ever since my participation in the Fun-A-Day project in January, or since I began to write weekly blogs last August, I have been developing my passion project. And learning to own my gift or dependable strength of creativity through my Dependable Strengths training in October acted like a propeller for me! I think there is a creative or reflective process, at least for me, of naming my project, and now that I look back, I can see how it's grown and gotten more defined through my experiences.

Really, when I look back, I began this journey way back. Recently I was looking back on the time when I had a volunteer internship in Quito, Ecuador and I worked with young children who were working to help support their families. I remember teaching workshops to help boost their self-esteem, and I still have a picture of the posters the children made on "Que significa la felicidad?" or "What does happiness mean?" This work was very meaningful for me, and still is. After offering a collage workshop nearly two weeks ago and an introduction to Dependable Strengths workshop last week, I have heard very inspiring feedback, which leads me to believe that this work is also helping lift individuals' self-esteem, and that fills me with happiness.

That means I'm meeting my number 1 goal of helping lift people up and helping them feel better, even if just for a little bit. A little bit here, a little bit there starts to add up. That is how I started really studying stress management and wellness. And at a certain point, I decided to fully dive into this work and learn all I can. Now I'm beginning to see the budding fruits of my labor--or studies, and my creative energy bursts are growing in frequency. 

I can't wait to see what comes next!

So you're probably asking: what exactly is my passion project then? All this talk and I haven't named it quite yet. And I'm learning, through the power of daily affirmations, that naming what you want in life is key. 

So here goes--back in February I think, I was brainstorming creative ideas with my bestie, Andrea while at the Korean women's spa--a great place for inspiration! And the idea of offering a series of creative stress management techniques emerged. 

I love being creative and I also find it extremely helpful in managing daily stresses, and I enjoy researching wellness and stress management topics, so this felt right to me. 

My first official workshop in early May at Edmonds Community College was entitled "Creative Stress Management Through Collage Art." I decided to name it with my passion project idea in mind, and it became much more than a passing collage session I offered on a professional development day at work. It became the first part of my Creative Stress Management workshop series. :)

So my suggestion to anyone thinking about their passion project: get started! Do one small--or big--thing towards your dream. Don't wait for the perfect time or place. Just begin. If anything, you'll learn a lot from trying something out. And you may get further inspiration for the next step.

My next step? I would like to invite interested friends over soon--set a date, Marita--within the next month to share stories through the beginning part of the Dependable Strengths process and then collage about our strengths. I'm still working on the title, but it could be something like "Creative Stress Management Through Storytelling." Plus collage. But for my friends, I'll probably call it a "Strengths Collage gathering" or something like that. :)

What's your passion project?

*Photograph taken in Lake Forest Park on beautiful Lake Washington near where I blogged today from my iPhone. 

Fear is Inner Awareness Bubbling To the Surface

More and more I’m feeling a great pull towards helping others feel their creativity alive inside them, as I have felt in myself, because I think that is one of the keys to feeling better about life in general, no matter what’s happening around you. 

Cultivating resilience is also something I feel I want to explore more, not sure if I am expert on it, although others say I’m resilient and it’s even listed as one of my most dependable strengths, but I think the key to really unlocking it within is to really believe that I am resilient, truly own this strength of mine and learn to recognize its presence in many different aspects of my life. 

This leads me to one of the most important things I’ve discovered on this journey of self-awareness and that is self-love. How utterly essential loving yourself is, no matter what, unconditionally, all the time, in every aspect, mood, body part of yourself. Because without that love, without the awareness of all it can do for each of us, I feel lost and overwhelmed with fear. 

I have been struggling with fear a lot in the past few days. I think it’s actually inner awareness that is bubbling to the surface and on the verge of creating more positive change in my life, but it can feel quite uncomfortable and unsettling. It’s a feeling that causes even more worry in my mind sometimes, like: What’s wrong with me? Why am I feeling this way again? Why aren’t all my daily practices helping? Oh, but then my "inner wise self," as SARK describes her, chimes in and reminds me that my daily efforts ARE creating positive change within me and that even though I feel fearful sometimes, that doesn’t change my essence, my true spirit, my God-given talents and strengths. 

The fear doesn’t diminish the love that’s within me. It only clouds my view of it from time to time, and in order to thrive and flourish, I must accept these feelings and embrace “those scared parts inside of myself” (quoted from the incredibly amazing SARK again). Loving oneself truly and unconditionally involves so many wonderful things—

prioritizing self-care, resting, having fun, getting enough sleep, eating healthy food, exercising, drinking water, prioritizing creative expression, making time with supportive friends, laughing, forgiving, praying/affirming/meditating, reflecting, goal setting, dreaming

—whatever works best for you, and I truly believe showing ourselves love is the key to lowering stress levels, accepting what comes to us, and growing into our true potential.

All the happiness exercises and books in the world won’t amount to much long-standing positive change if we don’t first incorporate into our lives and really truly believe in our own worth and allow ourselves to feel that deep love within us in order to stand up for ourselves, make healthy choices for ourselves, and show ourselves love. Only then will we be able to truly feel happiness. This is what I have come to believe.