Monday Post ~ April 23, 2012
“The richest source of creation is feeling,
followed by a vision of its meaning.”
~Anaïs Nin
This is the moment to deepen, or commit to, your regular creativity practice. Regularity — a daily practice, if at all possible — is key.
So what are your plans for creative practice this week? Given the specifics of your schedule, decide on a realistic intention, goal, or a milestone to reach for — and plan that time in your calendar. An intention as simple as “I will be creative for 10 minutes every day” or “I will gesso three canvases on Wednesday” is what it’s all about.
Share your intentions or goals 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.
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Studio Mothers: Life & Art 
April vacation is over and it’s time to get back to work. I’ve been off balance for about a month, but now I feel ready to return.
This week:
1. return to daily drawing
2. organize studio space
3. write a prospectus for the Summer Drawing show at the library
4. something new for the 5PM writing group (blog post for the art blog perhaps)
Also:
1. Daily yoga
2. back to work on the daily habits like finances and laundry
3. focus on this year’s word/ phrase (focal point): profound self-care
What I’ve let go of (since something had to go):
the idea of creating a 2 hour yoga workshop for a local studio, just for now I have too much on my plate and this will have to wait.
Ahh, the house is so quiet this morning. The benefit of having the kids home last week (besides having the kids home) was that I had to shift my a.m. yoga/running to really early a.m., and I liked that routine. Going to bed earlier allows everything to shift. Figuring out my exercise/sleeping routine may seem to have nothing to do with creative practice, but of course it has everything to do my well-being, which makes space for all the creative possibilities floating around in my mind. It feels really liberating to break free from the negative habits that were not serving me (late nights, chocolate) and embrace new habits that do (yoga, sleep, green smoothies).
Last week:
– Yoga – 3X [2X]
– Run – 3X [2X]
– Get good sleep [YES]
– Plant seedlings in greenhouses [YES]
– Make pajama pants for my mom that are over a year late [AHEM]
– 3 blog posts [2X]
This week:
– Yoga – 3X
– Run – 3X
– Get good sleep
– Plant seedlings in greenhouse
– Start new seeds
– Write gardening manifesto
– Make mom’s pajama pants – Mother’s Day! That’s a motivator!
– 3 blog posts
Vacation week was an interesting collage of sickness and patched-together childcare, but for the most part, it worked. The one day that I completely fell off of my morning centering practice (Thursday) turned out to be an utter disaster internally. Co-inkydink? I think not.
Last week’s creative/well-being intentions:
* Morning centering practice w/journaling [yes]
* Complete installment of nonfiction project for “5PM Friday” accountability group [yes]
* One blog post [yes, but just an edit]
* Yoga/run x3 [yes]
This week’s creative/well-being intentions:
* Morning centering practice w/journaling [daily]
* Complete installment of nonfiction project for “5PM Friday” accountability group [Th/F]
* Prepare for Writers’ Workshop [T/W]
* One blog post [T/W]
* Yoga/walk/run x4 [T/W/ThFri]
* Plant seeds indoors; move garden beds; set up new composter
Here is what I am noticing. I hold myself responsible for way too much. It is 12:15 and this morning I have rescued the basement freezer that got unplugged, while I was also getting one child off to school, making my green smoothie (which is why I went to that freezer in the first place, based on your frozen strawberry idea) ((today is a perfect day to defrost that freezer anyway, right?)) and getting myself off to my workout class. Once home, pulled a bushel of garlic mustard out of the garden, cut a vaseful of daffodils and cherry blossoms, wiped up the kitchen, put in a load of wash, wiped out the freezer, heated up my tea, and a myriad of other small mom moves….to find myself here. Whew.
What I would LoVe to do today is this:
1. Breathe deeply every 30 minutes or so and see if I can slow down.
2. Post my 30×30 poetry challenge poem today on the topic of “High School”.
3. Fix the one thing my web person needs me to do so my site can be operative again.
4. Complete one post.
5. Circle back with a brief email to the women interested in offering guest posts to http://www.outofthemouthsofbabes.org.
6. First, go heat up my tea again and do my daily journal writing which got subsumed by that freezer. I love starting my day over again whenever I need.
This week?
1. Complete my ‘Out of the Mouths of Babes’ event proposal for friend in Wooster, including an invitation to you Miranda, to participate.
2. Prepave at least 2 posts for http://www.laundrylinedivine.com.
3. Set up materials, including glue sticks I buy at Staples today, for my class session with the yearbook project I am working on with my daughter’s class.
4. Do at least 2 more poems.
5. Walk to the lake at least once.
6. Connect one set of dots on Social Buzz Club.
7. Remember that breathing? Do more of that.
8. Put up one guest blog post on the ‘Out’ page.
9. Return to my collage composition for at least one hour.
10. Spend one hour on FeMail- whatever it is- photos on our website or a new blog post…one small thing.
11. Okay, eleven is my favorite number and I just remembered that I have two things due this week…my Chronicle Project and my Sketchbook Project…see? This is how it is for me….I love your scheduled- once a week blog posts…how you keep your calendar…. Here is my purest intention for this week- to love whatever it is I do, to pour myself lots of water, take walks out in the cherry blossomed air and convert this oxygen in to brilliant, succinct and inspired words and art in a timely fashion.
12. I would love to be kinder to myself this week. I set this intention here to do that with grace this week and to report in next week.
Thank you for asking Miranda.
I did well with my intentions last week.
I had a great, really sweet week with my family, saw a few close friends, had a blast and did very little work, but a collage-a-day and a bit of writing. Lots of oxygen. And college tours.
Off to heat up that tea again.
With love, Suzi
It’s funny how often I thought of my posting here last week–it definitely helped make me a little more accountable. And all this talk of green smoothies is making me hungry for breakfast tomorrow! 🙂
Here were last week’s goals:
1) Photograph 2-3 pieces of artwork to upload
2) Play in my art room at least 10 minutes, 5 days this week
3) Exercise min of 5 times (really need this as my mood is not good)
4) Attend a Book Arts Guild group that I’ve been talking about since last spring (and haven’t made yet)
I accomplished the exercise (even tried something new!), made art at least 50 minutes (though I don’t think it was all five days), attended an art group but not the Book Arts Guild (too tired and topic sounded a bit boring this month).
This week I want to:
1) Finish editing another five chapters of my suspense novel, “Epidemic”
2) Write at least one blog post
3) Go to art group again (inspiring!)
4) Try to make at least 10 mins of art 4 days this week
5) Exercise 5 times
I won’t add this as an item but it’s central to everything else: be kinder to myself without being permissive. Anyone else out there a black or white thinker? I need to loosen up and stop being so harsh inside, but not let myself off the hook in regards to things that will propel me toward my dreams and goals.
That’s it for me–hope each of you has an awesome week.
-Joy