Monday Post ~ September 5, 2011
“Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request, and everything your heart truly desires must come to you.”
~Shakti Gawain
What are your plans for creative practice this week? Given the specifics of your schedule, decide on a realistic goal or a milestone to reach for. A goal as simple as “I will be creative for 10 minutes every day” or “I will gesso three canvases” is what it’s all about. Share your goal(s) as a comment to this post, and let us know how things went with your creative plans for last week, if you posted to last week’s Monday Post.
Suggestion: When you’re deciding on your creative intentions, it’s a good idea to think about WHEN you’re going to write those 2,000 words or paint that canvas. Try to schedule the time slots in your calendar (if you keep one), understanding that flexibility may be required. If things don’t happen when you wanted them to, that’s OK. Give yourself a gentle push with one hand, but pat yourself kindly on the shoulder with the other if you don’t reach your goal for a given week. Sometimes it’s easier, sometimes it’s harder. Ride whatever you’ve got.
It’s also useful to have a sense of your minimum requirements (come hell or high water I’m going to write 100 words) while keeping a lookout for sudden opportunities to do more. You know, the day that the baby takes a monster nap or your partner takes the kids out to run errands and you find yourself with an unexpected “extra” half hour. Grab that time for yourself. You can catch up on the dishes and the laundry later. If you keep something creative in the back of your mind for those sudden opportunities, you’ll be more likely to use them to your advantage — rather than squandering your precious bonus moments on Facebook or vacuuming out the sofa cushions.
Studio Mothers: Life & Art 
LAST WEEK, I wrote: Well, right now we haven’t had power since 2:30pm Saturday, so I am at the end of my rope with three kids and 85 degree weather.This week, I am making no plans. I am in survival mode and although I realize things could be MUCH worse, I am done with camping unintentionally in my own home. Cross your fingers for me that electricity returns to my area soon.
THIS WEEK:
Electricity finally returned to our house late Thursday night (Hot showers! Cooking on the stove!). Aside from creative living (How to take a cold shower without freezing to death/ Cooking everything on the grill, etc), I did do some playing around with polymer clay. So there was that. 🙂
Two-thirds of the kids start school this week, and I have some plans…
Blog post for Studio Mothers
Blog post for A Hot Piece of Glass
Blog post for Medieval Glassworker
Make two necklaces and four pairs of earrings
Enamel an assortment of discs (a dozen or so) for other projects.
How is the return to some kind of normalcy, Christine?? I bet you’re having an awesome week!!
I am so happy to have my power back, I can’t begin to tell you. The week’s been going well, 2/3 of my kids started school, so it’s been crazy, but we’re starting to settle into our routine! 🙂
I was delighted (and relieved) to find that the return to a 5:30 am wake-up call wasn’t as rough as I’d anticipated. In fact, it really wasn’t hard at all. (I suspect that my raw food kick and superfood supplements are at least partialy responsible.)
I had one day last week (Thursday) when EVERYONE was back at school and I had the house to myself for six hours. HOLY CRAP. This week, I get to have that experience on three days, which is our new normal schedule. It really is amazing how much more productive and focused I can be when left to my own devices. (I should say that this efficiency only happens with careful advance planning. If I didn’t block out all of my tasks ahead of time, I’d fritter it all away reading blogs and browsing etsy. Not that those aren’t worthwhile pursuits, of course, but you know how it is….)
This week I start another class for my certification, which means I’ll have two classes concurrently until late October. I’m also finalizing the details of a new online course and a new onsite workshop series that you’ll be hearing about very soon. Woohoo!
Last week’s goals:
* CCA homework [yes]
* Complete & publish newsletter [yes]
* Journaling [yes]
* Project Life update [no]
* Make something! [more new raw food recipes, but nothing on the art front]
This week’s goals
* CCA homework for two classes [TBD]
* Workshop development [T/W/Th]
* Journaling [daily target]
* Project Life update [Sat/Sun]
* Make something!
A little late here, so here goes.
I will get better about my Monday posts, starting this Monday!
For this week:
1. Finish this #$%%%@ essay. Now. Right now. It’s torture but I’m nearly there.
2. Write another blog post- I just posted one today. All yoga so far, but I have plans to incorporate art and life too, but I’m not sure if that should be a separate blog
3. Drawing- drawing! Draw some yoga poses.
Last week-
1. I more or less launched the renewed blog.
2. Journalled a bit, but no drawing. Took some cool pictures of mushrooms and ferns.
3. Became completely stressed and anxious over the start of school, the paperwork, the appointments, and all the things that I am soooo behind on. I haven’t even gotten all their school supplies yet. And mostly about the unfinished essay that should have been done last week!
4. Still reading Twyla Tharp’s book and Talent is Overrated.