Hodge Podge and Some Good News

It is Saturday and after a windy, but lovely long hike with my sweet old dog Zeus I have decided to give myself a free day, which means I can do anything I want and that would include reading wonderful books called "Ladder of Years" by Anne Tyler and "Still Here" by Ram Dass. I also intend to do a little painting on some porcelain as tomorrow I am actually going to start painting paintings again! But not today, today I play. I have some news, I have been wanting to go home to Oregon and see my mom and my family and the beautiful sea, and my mom has made it possible for me to do so, I am leaving in two weeks. I am so looking forward to it! Also I have not updated my weight loss, life style changes for a while, still making mostly the right choices every day, one meal at a time. My rules I try to stick by are, if it is a whole food (not been messed with) and organic, I can eat it and if it isn't I go for the best choice I can. Once in a while I eat cake just for fun :-). I feel so much better being off sugar, though it is sometimes hard. I also walk or run everyday. I almost have the body I have always dreamed of, not perfect, but lean. Not totally lean yet, but getting close :-). And the best part is I am doing this for only me and how I feel, nobody else. Also thought I might update my Busting Loose progress, still doing the process, still believe in it and know that I will bust loose! I will leave you with a couple quotes that called to me this week: "But screw your courage to the sticking place and it will not fail"-Shakespeare "You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step." Martin Luther King Happy Saturday! XOXO

The Lightness of Being

Lately I have been thinking about becoming lighter. I want to be so light that I float.

I am not talking about weight here, though being lighter in that way would be good :-).

I am talking about being light in my heart, being light in my thinking. I hang on to so much junk, junk that mostly comes from other people and junk that I make up, stories I tell myself that are not true, or even if they are, they are junk and I don't need it. All that stuff weighs me down makes me think that things matter when they really don't. I want to let go and fly. Since I have been doing "the process" (see other posts about this) I have become lighter. My goal is to have no goals :-). Except to lighten up, don't take anything seriously and have more fun. It may seem trivial, being light and having fun, but I think it is a very worthy goal, it makes one more fun to be around, it spreads joy, it heals. I am off to paint and glaze and start my Christmas list. I am off to float and fly. Happy Sunday!!! XOXO

HAPPY CHRISTMAS! XOXO

I am following Renee's example and choosing to be happy, no matter what. I am going through with my dinner plans and actually have invited more friends. Between people and animals my little house is going to be full. I am working tomorrow, but will spend the evening baking. I am wishing each and every one of you, my lovely blog friends a happy and magical Christmas. Love, XOXO

Sunday! Yes!

Finally it is clay day. I thought it might never come after 5 days of working. I am very grateful for the jobs, but I missed my porcelain :-). Don't worry I am not going to do another post about clay. Rather I want to talk about how we so often stand in our own way. I realized that the reason I don't make my living doing art is because I don't fully trust it nor do I perhaps feel deserving. I am working on these issues. I pulled a Zen card the other day that said
"He who stands in his own shadow and wonders why it is dark". Says a lot and I am listening.
Not that I am in the dark, but I do so often stop my own success by the negative thoughts and beliefs I carry around. I have also realized that you have to treat yourself how you want to be treated, so I am giving myself a bit of down time and letting myself just be today. Float about a little and read, watch the birds. But first to the kitchen to play with clay! Tell me dear ones how you are being good to yourselves this weekend. Happy Sunday! XOXO

More on being Positive

The last post opened up such a lovely dialogue I wanted to add a few thoughts I have been having, now these ideas are for those of you that want to be positive, but find it hard, those of you that want to be negative can ignore this post altogether :-). First while I am a positive person, I still get sad, have down days and negative thoughts.
Being positive did not come naturally for me, I had to work at it and have been working on it for 30 years. I make the great effort because being positive makes me happier than being negative which depresses me. For those out there that are depressed because of chemicals in the brain or hormones, I am not talking about that kind of depression which may take drugs to fix. I am referring to being down and out because of the thoughts you are entertaining. I have learned through years of practice that you can control your thoughts. Really you can :-). This does not mean you stuff your feelings. Feel how you feel, be it sad or happy. If you are sad, feel it, but don't stay there. Think happier thoughts. I know it is not always easy, but once you practice this for a while you see how it works and it gets easier. When I am sad it is because I am telling myself a sad story about my life, once I realize what I am doing, I ask myself if I like the story?
No. So I quit telling it and like magic, the sun comes out again. Lots of stuff in life is icky and many things are horrific and unwanted, we are all faced with these things in a lifetime, but most of life is beautiful, wondrous and joyous and I personally choose to focus on those things.
Thank you all for your beautiful, honest comments in the last post. Happy Thursday! XOXO

On my mind...

Tonight I found myself reading other's blogs and avoiding

writing my own. I have many things on my mind, but I am

not sure how to share them with you. I decided like I often

do, to just sit down and start writing. What I most want to

write about is happiness. I know for sure that nothing makes

you happy. No thing, place or person can make you happy.

You have to choose to be happy, and then take that happiness

with you. Some days it is easier than others :-). Remembering

is the hard part for me. Just like living in the moment, I have

to remember to do it, it does not come naturally. Why is that

I wonder? Perhaps it comes more naturally to some and to others

like myself it is sometimes a struggle. I would like to hear what you

think about happiness? Are you happy? Do you think it's a choice?

Have a lovely Monday! Photo taken from my yard last week.

Simple things...

Another stunning photograph by Geraint Smith. This photo is of my favorite tree where we live in New Mexico. It's been a busy day, but I wanted to stop in and say hello and leave you with this lovely thought by Nietzsche: "For happiness, how little suffices for happiness!...the least thing precisely, the gentlest thing, the lightest thing, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a wisk, an eye glance-little maketh up the best happiness, Be still." Happy Monday everyone :-).

Happiness

I have been thinking about happiness the last couple of days.

What is it exactly? I know the joy I feel when something really

great happens, but that feeling never lasts of course. I think real

true happiness, the kind that stays with you is something inside

yourself. You can't "get" it, or find it. I believe the way to that

happiness is through non resistance. By that I mean accepting

your life as it is, no matter what it's perceived flaws. This is not

a new concept nor is it an easy one to live. I do find that when I

let things be as they are without pushing against them my life

is much more happy. If I simply trust that I am always in the

right place at the right time and let go of all my thoughts on how

it is supposed to be, I feel happy. Have you ever noticed that

when you resist something that you label bad, things get worse?

Always worse. If you let go of control and surrender to what is

happening, things quickly make a change for the better.

Try this and see :-). That's it for today, love to all.