Crystal Charlotte Easton is a Metis Artist born and raised in Fort St James BC, in Carrier Territory-Northern BC (Canada) and she is currently living & raising her family (6 children) on a farm on Vancouver Island.
She has the opportunity to attend a month long course in Italy in July at the Vienna Academy of Visionary Art. She is very close to achieving her fundraising goal and has 11 days remaining. Charlotte is offering beautiful gifts in return for every single donation.
I Want. I have not always been really good about expressing what I want. It is also difficult to express what I want when it effects other people and I start to feel like I am asking something of others. I tend to be a bit independent in taking care of myself. For example this weekend I really wanted our house to be less messy (our almost 8 year old twins had things and toys strewn and lying about in multiple ares of the house.) I also wasn’t feeling so inclined to do all the picking up and cleaning myself. It wasn’t so easy for me to mention to my hubby on Saturday night that it would be nice if the house could get straightened up. It is difficult for me to explain to people who seem content in a less than neat house, how residing in chaos can make me physically start to feel all tense. But my speaking up let my hubby know to be on board with kicking things into gear on Sunday and everyone helped out to make the house more organized and clean again. Ahhhh…soo nice. Especially because my energy is seriously lagging. My get up and go went somewhere else and I hadn’t found her once I got home from grocery shopping and put everything away this morning.
This idea of contemplating I Want was in part inspired by a post I saw weeks ago by artist and writer Kelly Rae Roberts. Back on February 5th she shared a very sweet lists of wants in this post.
I made the above with True in mind, (a new little something for his new room in our new house) but I’m inspired to consider my own dreams as of late………
I want to have a picnic or two. And read a book in the green summer grass.
I want to make a memory book, printing off photos regularly and documenting more of our everyday life.
I want to stay authentic in business, making choices that continued to be tuned into my vision, mission, truth.
I want to trust the journey and the abundance that exists at every turn (it’s the small things).
I want to go to NYC and wander the streets with John.
I want to walk around my new hood, make new friends, put up a new little library.
I want to have more dinner parties.
I want to make more collaborative paintings with True.
I want to make more paintings for kids.
I want to gather on the coast with new friends, old friends, and eat candy.
I want to be still.
Take it all in.
Celebrate.
Be grateful.
I kept this particular post open on my iPhone and I visited it now and again. There was such a sweetness and simplicity to her wishes that resonated with me. I have been asking myself, what do I want? Here are some of my thoughts.
I want to feel more relaxed.
I want to play with my children and hang with the family more.
I want to have less commitments.
I want less pressure and fewer deadlines.
I want to spend more time gardening and hanging out in our yards.
I want to cuddle my 17 year old cat Bandito more.
I want to throw the Frisbee for 11 year old Shanti more too.
I want to paint more.
I want to gently ease back into being in love with my book project.
I want to feel excited about the book and fleshing out a colorful vision for it.
I want more creative time.
I want more quality time with friends, not necessarily more quantity.
I want to say Yes to things that make my heart sing.
I want to say No to things that don’t light me up.
I always want to hear great music.
What about you? What do you want? Did anything that Kelly Rae or I shared inspire you or resonate with you?
P.S. May 1st is Mojo Mondays 4th Birthday. Here is a little something to honor this special day.
May 1st is “The Day of Ironic Insight” according to the book The Secret Language of Birthdays by Gary Goldschneider and Joost Elffers. While Mojo Monday is not a person it has had a life of its own for the past 4 years. It was a bit entertaining to read about the predicted attributes of those born on May 1st, for that is the birthday of Mojo Monday back in 2010.
Here are some more of the descriptions listed for those born May 1st:
“[They] have a talent for watching what goes on around them and communicating their ideas on what they see to others. Their capacity to express these observations, which most frequently deal with people, is generally either verbal or written, but rarely both.”
“…they also show an active interest in the events of the world around them. Even the shyest take a stand within the family, business or social group of which they are a member. Those born on this day are not everyone’s cup of tea, nor do they particularly seek to please others. They are, however, respected for their honesty and though outspoken on issues of importance to them are nonetheless venusian in their love of harmony and beauty.”
“When you lean into your desires, you liberate your power – and your joy.” Danielle LaPorte
I have been contemplating the question “What makes me happy?” for a few weeks now. I have a Mojo Monday writing partner though her articles only appear on the Cosmic Cowgirl member sites, where my Mojo Monday musings also get posted. Trish O’Malley has been brilliantly covering the topic of happiness for a couple of weeks now. What I shared after her last post was the following:
“I read the intro to Danielle LaPorte’s book called The Desire Map on Amazon for the first time a week or so ago. It really stuck with me when she shares how she and her former husband were making lists about things they wanted in their lives. And how it was a great aha moment when they suddenly realized that it wasn’t so much the things, but the feelings they were hoping to attain. She shared how that shifted their list.”
Danielle then goes onto list the words that flowed forth and the ensuing conversation:
Freedom!
Abundance.
Sexy.
Earth. Nature. Eco-love.
Connected.
Creative.
Temple.
True love.
The posts on happiness by Trish and checking out the contents of the book The Desire Map was timely for me. My home life is good. My hubby and I are in a really good place with one another. My twin daughters are almost eight years old and are such a total joy. They are fun and blossoming in so many ways. I love coming home to them and spending time together as a family.
Where I am struggling is in my professional life. At the end of March my 10 year anniversary with the agency I work for will come to pass. 10 years. It kind of blows my mind that I have been doing this job for 10 years. I still hold such deep gratitude for all I have learned and how my life has been enriched doing work that makes a positive difference in the world. My peers for the most part are all social workers who have masters degrees or who have gone onto get licensed. It has been a beautiful fit for me because I do have the soul and spirit of a social worker. Recently when I took one of those Facebook quizzes about which career would be best for me the answer was Humanitarian, and it listed social worker for a career. (You can find the quiz here if you would like to take it too.)
While I may have the soul of a social worker I don’t have a social worker degree, though I wish I would have been better informed about my options in college. Instead I have a degree in History, another in French, along with a minor in English and certificates in editing and publishing. My creativity, organizational strengths and technology skills have served me well in administrative and office manager jobs in printing, education and then social services.
For a number of months I truly have been making myself miserable and sad with my own thoughts about success/lack of success and so on. I have had this storyline stuck in a loop-feed in my head about my being 44 years old and only making “X” amount of money. This partly surprises me because I have never been about the money. However, I know that tied up in this is feeling like I have hit the ceiling in my current position. Not to mention that I have also been in limbo for many months in regards to where a writing project might be leading. Waiting, when it could likely end with rejection, has been stressful. (Note to self ~ I really need to work on more letting go and anxiety/stress-relieving techniques. Perhaps re-read my own post about anxiety that can be found here.)
In exploring the topic of what do I want, I am now asking the more important questions regarding what makes me happy and what do I want to feel. I have been setting my sights on getting clearer on what makes me sad/angry/frustrated/stressed, and then even more importantly what makes me feel happy and inspired. I think starting there will be a key ingredient to choosing and creating more happiness. I believe those answers can help me make some decisions about the future of my writing and art, my creative dreams/goals and my professional aspirations.
How do you want to feel in your life?
What makes you happy?
What makes you feel inspired?
Does writing a list and getting clear
on those answers shift things for you?
Want to do some explorations of the soul? Consider joining a course with Jenafer Owen that begins March 3rd called A Very Daring Tail.
Early 20th-century New Year’s resolution postcards
A new year can feel like it offers up fresh starts, new beginnings, and opportunities to do things differently. I found myself wondering how long the tradition of proclaiming resolutions has been around. I did a little reading and found that Wikipedia had some interesting notes about the topic. “A New Year’s resolution is a secular tradition, most common in the Western Hemisphere but also found in the Eastern Hemisphere, in which a person makes a promise to do an act of self-improvement or something slightly nice, such as opening doors for people beginning from New Year’s Day.”
While resolutions may appear to be a secular concept Wikipedia also offered some of the religious origins of this practice. “The ancient Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts. The Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named. In the Medieval era, the knights took the “peacock vow” at the end of the Christmas season each year to re-affirm their commitment to chivalry. At watchnight services, many Christians prepare for the year ahead by praying and making these resolutions. There are other religious parallels to this tradition. During Judaism’s New Year, Rosh Hashanah, through the High Holidays and culminating in Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), one is to reflect upon one’s wrongdoings over the year and both seek and offer forgiveness. People may act similarly during the Catholic fasting period of Lent, though the motive behind this holiday is more of sacrifice than of responsibility, in fact the practice of New Year’s resolutions partially came from the Lenten sacrifices. The concept, regardless of creed, is to reflect upon self-improvement annually.”
This year I have noted many people, in lieu of sharing resolutions focused on improving oneself, (ie one of the common ones involves joining a gym, working out 7 days a week and losing weight) are instead choosing resolutions regarding doing things that makes one happier. Part of this shift is a movement away from the guilt that accompanies not following through on resolutions and they might be onto something. According to a “2007 study by Richard Wiseman from the University of Bristol involving 3,000 people showed that 88% of those who set New Year resolutions fail, despite the fact that 52% of the study’s participants were confident of success at the beginning. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting (a system where small measurable goals are being set; such as, a pound a week, instead of saying ‘lose weight’), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.”
I have also noted a lot more people sharing how they have chosen a word for the year. Artist Kelly Rae Roberts has shared that her word for 2014 is trust. She shared this on Facebook: “My word for 2014 is trust. I’m gonna practice trusting my little heart out. Trust in others. Trust in new beginnings. Trust my voice. Trust the leaps, the falls, and the timing of it all. I can tell that 2014 is gonna be epic.”
Artist Pixie Campbell also wrote about selecting a word for each year on her blog. Her word this year is Mother and I encourage you to go visit her site and read more about this choice.
What is your word for this year? (I’ll share mine later.)
A great post to read about finding closure for 2013 as you embark upon 2014 is also by Kelly Rae Roberts. Pop on over to this blog post of hers and enjoy her always insightful musings. Here are the key questions she addresses to close out her year:
1. What do you want to acknowledge yourself for in regard to 2013? (What did you create? What challenges did you face with courage and strength? What promises did you keep to yourself? What brave choices did you make? What are you proud of?)
2. What is there to grieve about 2013? (What was disappointing? What was scary? What was hard? What can you forgive yourself for?)
3. What else do you need to say about the year to declare it complete? The next step is to say out loud, “I declare 2013 complete!” How do you feel? If you don’t feel quite right, there might be one more thing to say…
My hubby and I have a tradition for New Years Eve that involves us reading a letter we wrote for one another the year before. We also do two inspirational card readings. The first is with the Lakota Sweat Lodge cards that my husband has owned for many years. We then select from one of my decks of cards and do a second reading. This year we used a new deck called The Enchanted Map. We record our readings in the same journal each year that is reserved for this annual ritual. Here some photos showing two of the readings.
Lakota Sweat Lodge CardsEnchanted Map Cards
I haven’t really ever selected a word as part of my new year ceremony. This year however after reading the first posting by Rob Brezsny my word came to me. The recommendation for me was as follows: “Deep bronzes and smoky cinnamons and dark chocolates will be your lucky colors in 2014. Mellow mahoganies and resonant russets will work well for you, too. They will all be part of life’s conspiracy to get you to slow down, deepen your perspective, and slip into the sweetest groove ever. In this spirit, I urge you to nestle and cuddle and caress more than usual in the coming months. If you aren’t totally clear on where home is, either in the external world or inside your heart, devote yourself to finding it. Hone your emotional intelligence. Explore your roots. On a regular basis, remember your reasons for loving life. Stay in close touch with the sources that feed your wild soul.” (If you want to read yours click here.)
My word, as it came to me in that forecast, is Groove. The meaning for me has to do with release, flow, easing into, relaxing, movement, sensuality, letting go and breathing. Here is my creative expression with my word so that I can hang it up as a reminder through the year.
Groove by Michelle Fairchild
How does your word translate into art?
Could you dance it, sing it, write poetry about it, paint it, sculpt it, photograph it or plant it?
We Are All Meant to Shine! 