Every week I share some of the things that have inspired me online recently. Please feel free to add any of the things that have inspired you in the comments!
A really cool interview with journaler Dawn Herring
Mel asks the big questions about creativity and work
Found this online course and thinking about taking it to help me launch my online creative business
Can’t wait until I have some time to explore this amazing art journal class
The pattern of your soul
is a result
of your willingness to surrender,
experiencing possibility.
You yearn
for rest,
like lying down
inside and writing.
Write of your progress.
Found on page 85 of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way.
Today is the 25th day of the 100 Days Project. I’m a quarter of the way through the project, and I want to reflect on how it’s going.
I know I’m probably not supposed to say that, but in the interest of being authentic and vulnerable, I should be honest.
I’m actually really enjoying the challenge of coming up with new topics and things to post. I’m enjoying the daily journaling and creativity, the daily commitment. I’m enjoying getting comments and support from readers and other bloggers – that has been such a huge pleasure.
This is the first time I have blogged this consistently.
But some days I am tired. I work as a teacher which requires a great deal of energy. It is especially difficult at the moment because I have moved to a new school which is further away – so I have to get up extra early if I want to journal before work. That is fine, but then it means that I have little energy in the evenings to blog, or do any other creative work, such as my art journal, or poetry.
Oh, and my best friend and I are planning our own online business, which takes a lot of time and energy too! But it’s the good kind.
So what does this mean for my blogging? Nothing much. I’ve thought about stopping the 100 Days Project but in truth I don’t want to. I enjoy the challenge. I like being committed to something. I like having to share my thoughts and my creative practice regularly. I think if you want to achieve something creative, particularly writing or art, doing it every day is important.
Can I keep going for another 75 days? I don’t see why not. When I read about amazing inspiring people like Lisa Sonora’s 1008 paintings project I am just blown away. It makes me laugh about my 25 days of blogging.
Lisa says throughout the course of the project she dealt with questions such as:
These are things I should explore in my own journal. If I’m feeling like I want to give up, why is that?
Susannah Conway has said that every week she worries she has run out of good blogging material. Anne Lamott says that she often worries she has run out of ideas. So I guess the mild panic I feel each day about what to blog about is only normal.
I like the fact that it keeps me on my toes. The discomfort and challenge of blogging every day is good for me as a writer and artist. It keeps me pushing forward towards a goal, even when it feels a little uncomfortable.
When you’re pushing for something you really want and it doesn’t seem to be happening as quickly as you’d like, it’s easy to lose faith. It’s easy to start doubting yourself and your dreams.
But, you just have to remind yourself to have faith.
When I start to feel doubt creeping in, I write myself little reminders in my journal.
I find writing things like ‘have faith’ and ‘trust the process’ work as great reminders to myself.
If you’re feeling doubtful about your dreams or goals, try writing affirmations to yourself in your journal. It always works to get me back on track.
Today, take some time to look around you. Notice the beauty in the most ordinary things. Sometimes we can get so busy running from one thing to the next, or thinking about what is coming to us in the future, that we forget to notice the beauty around us now.
Some of the beauty I noticed today:
There are many things I hope to achieve in the (near) future, but I also aim to remind myself of the beauty around me in my life right now.
Look for beautiful and ordinary moments in your day. Write your own list in your journal.
These words are thrown around a lot. Especially the word ‘authentic’. It’s become a self-help buzzword, of sorts. What does authenticity really mean? I believe it is closely tied with vulnerability and courage.
Why? Because in order to be truly authentic – that is, to be truly yourself – you need to have the courage to be vulnerable, exposed. Being who you really are in a world that constantly tells you to be someone else requires courage. Especially if who you are is a little different.
The word vulnerability is a little scary, isn’t it? Sounds a bit dangerous, a bit risky. But really, there is a paradoxical truth here.
The more that we can truly own who we are, claim our identity and just be us – the less that others can influence us or hurt us. No one can take away who you really are. And if you know and love your true self, it really doesn’t matter what others think or say about you.
I’ve been finding that the more I come to accept and embrace – even celebrate – the quirks that make up who I am, the more I am forced to be vulnerable. I have to share myself, my true self, with others. It’s very difficult to tell ourselves that we are good enough while actively hiding parts of ourselves from others.
Brene Brown likens courage to swimming – you get good at swimming by practicing swimming. Similarly, you get good at courage by practicing courage. This makes sense.
So often we don’t share our true selves (our feelings, opinions, dreams, hopes, disappointments, fears) with others, because we don’t feel brave enough. We hide who we are; we are afraid to be vulnerable. We lack courage. It is only through the practice of being vulnerable that we can develop courage.
This can all seem a bit abstract. Let me put it in concrete terms. For me, vulnerability and courage look a bit like this:
But I’ve come to realise that in order for me to be authentic – to feel like I am accepting and loving who I am and just ‘being myself’ – I need to be willing to be vulnerable. I must have the courage to share who I am with others, regardless of what they will think of me.
Journaling has helped me immensely with learning to love myself and developing courage. The more often I engage in a journaling dialogue with myself, with my dreams and desires, my fears and opinions, the more I come to accept and even celebrate who I am.
Some questions to ponder in your journal:
Lots of inspirational findings online this week! It was hard to narrow it down to just a few…
If you have anything that’s inspired you this week, please share it in the comments below.
I’ve started reading The Creative Entrepreneur by Lisa Sonora Beam, and I love it. I’m a very visual person and the thought of planning a business the ‘normal’ way bores me to tears. But this book is something else!
Anyway, I got this awesome idea from it: the ‘stop doing’ list.
We are so busy running around, dashing from one thing to the next, and running a mental checklist of all the things we have to do. I feel like I have a never-ending to-do list, and just when I think I’ve checked off something I find another five things to add to it.
As a highly sensitive person, it doesn’t take much for me to feel overwhelmed. On my busiest days, I sometimes find the simplest things to be too much.
While I find writing a to-do list to be helpful as it allows me to organise my thoughts, I really like the idea of a stop doing list. Rather than writing another list of things I have to do, things I’m cramming into an already full schedule, why not look for the things I can stop doing, the things that don’t really add any value to my life?
>>> Prompt:
Take a fresh page in your journal. You can complete this prompt in whatever way feels best for you: a list, a mindmap, visually, or just free writing whatever comes to mind. If you like to use a filofax or a planner, it might be nice to take one of your to-do pages and change the heading to ‘stop doing’!
Now, consider all the things that you do on a regular basis that don’t contribute anything to your life, or contribute very little. What can you take away so that you can allow more space for the good things to grow?
Here are a few of the things from my stop doing list – things that don’t add any value to my life:
Take one thing from your list and make a real effort to remove it from your life for the next week. See if it makes a difference! For the next seven days I really want to work on complaining about feeling tired – I really want to spend less of my energy thinking about that, and more energy focused on the good feelings.
I think it is essential that we take a good look at our lives from time to time to see what’s working and what’s not. It’s easy to fall into bad habits without realising.
Having more time and energy free to dream, journal, be creative, be positive and just move at a slower pace will contribute to a greater quality of life than keeping up with the Kardashians or catching up with friends you don’t really love to be with.
It’s your life and your time, so you get to choose how you spend it. I know we all have obligations (work, kids, partners, looking after family members, etc) but often we are spending our free time in ways that don’t actually add value to our lives. You have control over how you spend this time!
The first stars
sang,
calling forth
everything I had been craving.
I was sure
the soul would forgive.
I waited.
*
Found on page 195 of Eat Pray Love.
Have a fantastic weekend!
I think I will make Thursdays my regular day for sharing links and things that have inspired me during the week. That way if you need something to kill time at work as you watch the clock on Friday, there will be a few things here to distract you.
Otherwise, if you’re someone who actually works hard (good on you!) then you will have something to enjoy over the weekend.
Enjoy!
If you’ve read anything recently that inspires you, please share it in the comments below!
I’ll be back tomorrow with another journaling prompt.
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