Gifts abundant

Here I am standing in front of my work at the reception last Friday. It was a very good birthday. I feel a new journey beginning for me. Though I miss my mom, and grief is there sometimes, I also recognize that a whole new path is opening up ahead for me. I don't know where it will take me exactly but I feel like I have found a whole new freedom and that I must share the gifts.

Speaking of gifts - Look the rainbows came!
I first noticed them on my birthday. We have a water prism. It hangs in a south facing window. When the sun moves low into the southern sky it shines through the water prism and the rainbows dance! We purchased this water prism from a Placitas artist couple last May and I've been waiting through the summer for the fall sun to find it.

More about sharing gifts. I sent Tinker a creative heart seed. I used the opportunity to also send Tinker a daily lump for 2006. I sent her this daily lump. It was inspired by one of her posts from that time period last year.

She wrote a wonderful heart story.... Go read it here.


I'm currently making more creative heart seeds. One may be coming to you soon! My plan is to send them out......okay now I must go get my hands into the clay.....have a great day....... may you find gifts abundant.

this and that

This is my daily lump from yesterday. It's a snail. I've been thinking about making a snail my blog symbol for the fact that I tend to blog slow. I can see it on a button - click on the button and you can read about how I am a slow blogger. How I love to blog but cannot always keep up with the fast pace of the blog world. I may be slow to respond to comments. I won't usually post everyday. New visitors who leave a comment will likely get a slow response not because I'm not enthusiastic but because well.......I blog slow........

It's been a few days and I haven't been able to get this picture posted about crochet. I started a class last Saturday. I was by far the worst crochet student. That's okay. I've never been taught to crochet before, and I've never tried to learn on my own, so I got lost easily. Luckily, my sister will be able to help me and I can practice the chain stitch and the single crochet stitch for two weeks before the next class. It's really a good brain workout. Having to use so much of my non dominant hand is a good thing. I also found some help on the Internet. Isn't that amazing?!
I found more beautiful clouds yesterday. This cloud formation produced a short rain shower. I feel my sacred life when I take the time to look at the clouds.
This post has been a little of this and a little of that. I do love being part of Carla's idea for "my sacred life" I may be a slow blogger and I don't always get as many posts completed and I may not always get around to all the wonderful bloggers out there but just being a part of it makes me appreciate the wonderful magical sacred life I am living. And I will slowly get around at my snail's pace.......

Follow your come alive impulse

I walked my back yard labyrinth this morning. I prayed for guidance. The wonderful shimmer of the Writer's Spa has worn off. I could allow that to get me really depressed as if I've lost something. Or I could be with what is. Yes, the glow isn't as strong and the harsh reality of taxes, to do lists, and making a living are chomping at my heals. Yet, there is a gift here in just slowing down and settling into what is happening in this moment now.
Standing in my labyrinth, I asked for guidance. As I walked back out of the labyrinth I remembered that during the spa my cell phone rang in the middle of the night. It was a wrong number. Upon being startled awake I decided to listen to the radio until my heartbeat came back down to normal. This is what I heard within a sermon about one's purpose and God's plan. The minister or preacher (I don't know who he was) said this "You must do what you know otherwise all that you do not know will paralyze you."


So this morning, I know how to show up at my studio. I know what the next steps are for my current clay mandala. I know how to sit down and make a daily lump (I began those again!). I may not know how I'm going to do a thousand things I feel called to do. I may not know how I'll learn what I need to learn. I cannot worry about those things. Some things one just has to say to them- "I will not be paralyzed by you" and trust that Divine Spirit will show me the way as I am ready to take a risk. Right now, my only job is to show up and follow what makes me come alive. Each day is a new opportunity to be in that present moment. So the glow of the spa has worn off but that is only a problem if I grasp at trying to hold onto it.

Maybe I could take a different approach - maybe I could slip into wonderment - and I wonder what would happen if I follow my next come alive impulse.......I know how to write and and post on my blog...and I know where my studio is.......off I go.....to work......

Making my way....one step at a time.....

I've been meaning to give this link for coping with grief. Just something I found at Good Grief Center.

I am feeling better though. Yesterday while working at my Mom's house we noticed how beautiful the violets are this year. I know it's because they loved the extra moisture we've had this past year.

Today, I am going to yoga class. I've missed a few weeks and this week I am really really ready to go to class. In honor of class I am showing you a daily lump I created last year - almost a year to the date on 4/19/06. It's called Bunny Does Downward Facing Dog.



It was fun to create these photos - it looks like bunny is ready for the cover of some yoga magazine. Have you ever noticed how yoga videos all seem to be filmed out in these exotic nature locales or the ads for yoga invite you with the scenery? Come do yoga in Placitas NM where you'll have the chance to meet other yogic bunnies!

The other thing that happens today is I am going to my art group meeting. We have a show coming up in September. I decided to drop out of the show - but not the group. I can't take the pressure of creating work for this show coming in September. It seems like a long way off but I know that it won't be until September before I can truly devote the time to create a 12 piece body of work. I actually have an idea which I started - but I'm going to wait to finish.

I bring this up because I think I will share this blog with my art group. I actually do not want to create the work for this show in September because I would have to sacrifice time that I spend writing, blogging, and spending with my husband. And there is still the issue of grieving. I need time to grieve - to just have space for that process. Since blogging is the main thing I'm doing these days to express myself - to create - I figure it is time to share it with my art group.

So, this post jumps around a bit but I feel somehow it all fits together. If you stuck with me this far - I thank you for reading. And welcome art group friends too.....

I felt yesterday for the first time since I gave up doing my daily lumps that it might be time to start them again. 15 to 30 minutes a day is time I could re devote to that creative process with clay. Sometimes one only gets to that kind of open possibility by dropping other pressures. Suddenly when I am not feeling pressure to create a "body of work" I find the desire to create a little ole lump. Little by little is my philosophy......