Twinkly Lights and Fog

This is all I can show for my Fun-A-Day #8. Over all it was a good day but a long commute which pooped me out. But I saw this beautiful fog over my mom's lake after I dropped her off at home and loved the twinkly lights across the lake. Yes, it's a cell phone picture and a bit blurry but I think it almost looks like a painting that way. Add that to my creative to-do list: paint fog. This is in addition to painting clouds, drawing a mandala, art journaling more, and using more random (or not-so-random) print in my collages. I like keeping a creative to-do list. I keep it on my phone in a note and add to it when I think of another artform I'd like to try. That's the benefit of Fun-A-Day--it brings creativity to the forefront of my mind. Helps awaken the natural born habit within me to express myself creatively.

Do you have a creative to-do list?

Yoga for Fun

So for today, I mustered up my energy after a long drive and went to yoga. And the yoga instructor was luckily gentle with us and even passed out little twinkly lights. I love those! So for my Fun-A-Day today, I went to yoga. The end. :)

Here is a flashback from last January when I incorporated yoga into my Fun-A-Day as well.

Selfie Adventures

A year of adventures wouldn't feel as adventurous without some selfies and self portraits, right? I know it feels a bit narcissistic but I recently read about the power of the selfie and how it brings us greater self-empowerment. So for this sixth day of fun, here is another photo collage but this time of yours truly, la Ecua-Gringa. :)

Let Water Roll Off

Thanks to one of my favorite Facebook posters, Liz Gilbert, I decided on New Year's Day to notice what the first animal I saw was that day and that animal would be my totem animal for the year. Without really knowing what that meant, I saw ducks on my mom's lake that day and thought it was pretty fitting, because ducks let water roll off them, just as I would LOVE to let stress roll right off of me this year. 

And as I began to think about ducks more, I realized I'd been photographing them all last year. I also grew up feeding them by the lake near our house, and I think I remember that my babysitter from when I was little loved ducks too. :) 

I read a little about ducks as totem animals on a site appropriately named spirit-animals.com and I saw words like "grace" and "clear emotions" and "living in the moment" and "emotional strength" and "self expression" and "new opportunities." It sounds like a perfect theme for me! And I'll be reminded of my theme when I see my totem animal throughout the year. 

Sometimes Good Enough is the Best Way

Sometimes "good enough" is all I can do, and it's about time to stop beating myself up about not always having the time/energy/motivation to be original all the time. 

I say this because today is the 4th day of the new year and the 4th Fun-A-Day and I find myself making yet another photo collage of my favorite pictures from 2014, this time of our kitty cats. Being it's Sunday and we're supposed to have more time on the weekend, I guess I hoped I'd be more creative and do something different. 

But you know what? It's okay to do something simple and fun. Things don't always have to be extravagant or complicated to be worth it. And I have to remember that one of the points of Fun-A-Day is to have fun! And I like looking back at the past year's photos and I like photo collages, so this really is a great low-key, uncomplicated fun activity I can do entirely from my phone. 

In the process, I'm also writing more and creating a new blog post everyday, which helps me express my creativity in another way. And feeling creative and connecting with friends are some of the best ways and relatively simple ways to have fun and feel less stress. 

So meet Gus and Roo, our Siamese almost twins. :)

What is a low-key fun activity you enjoy?

Nature Lover

For my third day of fun this year, I've created another photo collage but this time of my favorite nature shots from 2014.

"The earth has music for those who listen."

~George Santayana

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles."

~Anne Frank

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

~Lao Tzu

When You Look Up More Often, You'll See More Beauty

I love clouds and I might love photographing them even more. They bring me peace when I gaze up in the sky and it's so much fun to spot different shapes and animals up there. One of my ideas for reflecting on the past year and ushering in the new was to create some top 10 lists or in today's and yesterday's cases, top 12 lists. So today I looked back at all my cloud pictures and picked my favorites from 2014. And you know what? I used to think it would be rare to see a really cool shape in the sky. Now I know that if you look up more often, you'll see more beauty. One of my favorite take-aways from attending Oprah's big weekend event back in November was when Rob Bell talked about reverence for life. Being in nature and capturing it with my camera (or smart phone) to share with friends and family is so rewarding and breathing in the fresh air while reveling in the sheer beauty of this earth brings me great peace.

So on this second day of the new year and second day of the Fun-A-Day challenge, I created a collage of my top 12 clouds.

An opening, a feather, a streak, a blanket, a heart, a raccoon extending his paw, angel wings, Dumbo, a crane, a cross, an eye, and waves.

You may not see each of those shapes or animals, but isn't it fun to take another look at the sky we see everyday and imagine?

What do you see?

Fun Everyday

My life was truly shaped in such a positive way as I began last year with daily creativity projects through the Fun-A-Day challenge. So as the year came to a close, I knew I needed this challenge again to have a little (or a lot of) fun everyday. And starting the new year in this way is the best medicine! Creativity mixed with friends is also the best medicine for whatever ails you, especially in the winter months.

As I've been brainstorming ideas for themes and cool projects to do this month for my 2nd Fun-A-Day challenge, I noticed that I'm putting some pressure on myself to do something really original and unique. But then I remember that I set out to go easy on myself and show myself lots of love and compassion this year. I don't need to do something elaborate and detailed for it to be fun. And I have to remember that I'm doing this for ME. It's great if, in sharing what I do for fun this month, others feel inspired or happy when they see what I create, but the true benefit of daily creativity is the process of creating and the flow one feels when they're letting all their creativity hang out. 

So no matter what theme I might choose for the day or week or month, for my Fun-A-Day 2015, I'm going to blog about what I create. Everyday. And one of my intentions and possible themes is opening my heart through art--song, dance, words, photography, collage, painting.

For today, I wanted to create a top 12 sunset photos from 2014 collage. I feel great comfort and satisfaction in photographing nature's beauty and sharing my reverence for our amazing planet. 

This quote from Henri Matisse sums up why putting our creative projects out there in a public arena like the internet is an incredible practice in vulnerability: 

"Creativity takes courage." 

May we all have the courage to let our creative juices flow in this new and shiny year. And may we share what we create with our loved ones and make new friends in the process. :) 

Happy creating!

A Year of Daily Practices

With only three full days left in the year, I feel compelled to look back at 2014 and find the gems and lessons in the changes and challenges life brought me this year. It is easy sometimes to just assume that the whole year was rough with what happened to my dear mom in August, but when I take time to reflect and live in gratitude, I see each month and what I learned and how I grew and I see how much progress my mom has made in her healing only 4 and a half months since her cerebral hemorrhage. And I know how incredibly lucky she is to be alive and how extremely fortunate I am to have my wonderful mom here in my life.

When major events happen, it's sometimes easy to forget about all the prior good fortunes and all the blessings within the major event. Through reviewing my daily practice posts from each month this year on this blog, I am reminded of my 12 focuses this year which each helped me create positive habits everyday in unique ways and helped me grow into who I am today.

After what I've been through this year, I probably would be in a very different place emotionally had I not practiced positive habits almost everyday this year. And I fell into the business of daily practices almost by accident. I had the intention to meditate every morning which I did and I had already created a vision board in the previous year, but late last year I was invited by a friend to participate in a Fun-A-Day challenge by doing something creative every day in January, and this began my daily posts on my blog. And when January ended, I felt so great from focusing on creativity every day of the month that I decided to continue a daily post and practice in February. As each month came to a close this year, I enjoyed brainstorming different topics of self-development that I'd been meaning to learn more about and focus on. 

In all, even when I wasn't able to post every day, I learned that as part of the practice of self-love and compassion, I could go back and post for the days I missed without feeling like I'd failed or like I should give up for not following the "rules" correctly. After all, it was my uniquely created daily (or almost daily) practice and I wasn't doing it for anyone else but myself. I could make up my own rules and show myself the utmost kindness and respect for taking on this kind of challenge to improve my wellness.

It's been a great way to practice being imperfect and vulnerable and own my goodness just as I am, because I learned and affirmed that I'm enough and my rules and unique ways of doing things are just fine. And I'm okay with just fine. I'll take fine over perfect any day if it means I'm healthier, calmer, less stressed, more peaceful, having more fun, and overall happier.

I plan to create a collage or piece of art or photography for each monthly focus from this year and share it here on my blog, both as a sort of virtual keepsake visual of what I learned this year and to share with you and maybe even inspire others to commit to one thing everyday for a whole week/month/year--you make the rules so it has to work for you. (Isn't that liberating?)

For now, I'm going to review each month with a quick phrase or sentence about the area I focused my independent studies on.

2014: My Year of Daily Practices

January - It all began with a commitment and intention to be more creative and do something creative to share with others everyday!

February -Then came a more inside job of studying abundance and learning that abundance comes from within, from our viewpoints, from our beliefs.

March - Focusing on loving myself and showing myself compassion set the tone for the rest of the year and freed me from the chains of perfectionism.

April - I focused on really figuring out what grace means to me and how to live a grace-filled life.

May - Without even knowing it, I set out to let go and release this month and by the end of the month, I was moving onto a new job after almost 7 years at my last job. (Excellent serendipitous preparation!)

June - I decided to really explore my goodness so I could recognize it and own it more freely and feel better about myself and more confident.

July - I explored having more fun by adding more zest and zeal in my life, which had been one of my intentions for the year and something I was struggling with still.

August - Again without knowing what would happen midway through the month, I focused on forging faith and boy did I need all the faith I could get this month. (One of the hardest months of my life.)

September - Once the scariest part was past me with my mom's emergency brain surgery came the beginning of the recovery--for both my mom and for me, so I chose to focus on soulful soothing which I was craving to my core.

October - As the weather got colder and the days began to shorten, I focused on adding more coziness to my days in a creative way.

November - In theme with Thanksgiving and with all that was happening in my life, I decided to write about gifts of gratitude this month.

December - And finally, last but not least, I've been focusing this month on being more deliberate in my dreaming, more specific and more honest and delighting in the process.

What a year! A year filled with challenging times but also with so much inner strength and wisdom gained--creativity, abundance, self-love, grace, surrender, goodness, zeal, faith, soothing the soul, coziness, gratefulness, and dreaming--oh my!

Making Art From the Bits and Pieces

I feel like expressing myself through art. Creating a collage seems to exude a certain quality of ease and grace that I don't know if I can recreate in words. I'm thinking of the many life lessons from this past year, although my collages tend to have a life of their own, as I let the words and images I find lead me to creating a unique piece. Let's see what happens.

That felt good. I realized in looking at my collage book today that I hadn't created a collage in it since October. No wonder I've been out of sorts. Never mind stress and some chaos in my life. No matter what, I need to create! It's where my inspiration for new ideas ignites. It's where I find relaxation. It's where I feel most comfortable. It's where I feel I'm in the flow of life.

Is there something you've been neglecting that you love to do? Is there any way you can do that thing for just a few minutes today? Trust me, it'll be worth it.

Here are some of my other collages on health, wellness, and creativity from this past year of making art from the bits and pieces.

Looking back at the pictures I've taken from this year, it reminds me of how I started my collaging craze. Ironically I had already been collecting pieces of paper with words and images that I liked to add to a collage someday when I started collaging, and I created a vision board a year and a half ago which is a similar style to my collages. But I think it started first, after participating in the Fun-A-Day challenge in January where I created something everyday, but also after going to the Edmonds Art Walk and discovering that collage art is a recognized art form even in galleries, called mixed media art. I have been a fan of Kelly Rae Roberts' mixed media art for some time now. But I guess I never really thought I could create art in that same realm. It has been so rewarding to not only create a book of different collages that I've added to throughout the year but also inspire others to start their own collaging craze. One good friend started collaging her closet door! I have absolutely loved sharing space and time with friends and colleagues to create art together. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to lead collage sessions at two different colleges on professional development days also.  

This year has definitely been one of creating and sharing! I wonder what 2015 will hold for us. :)