The Dreams Gifted To You

Believe in your dreams.  They were given to you for a reason.

~Katrina Mayer

I have been on a personal journey of soaking up as much new ideas as possible in the last few years.  It is invigorating and overwhelming!  Each book, article, blog post, course, video has helped me refine what I am beginning to understand is my dream, my next step and my why (and that I and the world deserves this).  And each new learning moment also leads to another and intertwines and circles back to previous concepts.  It is so stimulating!

I love the idea that your dreams are given to you.  I feel that since some say that your dreams come from your subconscious and are what you are trying to work out while asleep, then we can read this quote to mean that you gave yourself your dreams for a reason.  So then does this come back to the idea of believing in yourself?

No matter where they came from, I feel like remembering that our dreams, both those we have while sleeping, and our life dreams, are a gift.  If these are gifts, then we need to care for them, feed and water them and use them as carefully as we would something special a loved one shared with us, or an ability that has been handed down in your family line from generation to generation...  

Even if you are still trying to figure out what your dreams mean for you, 

I hope you can enjoy and appreciate the journey!  

The Silence Of Love

In the silence of love you will find the spark of life.

~Rumi

I found this quote a couple of years ago and it really resonated with me, although I still feel like I don't totally understand all of it's layers...  I love the idea of being so totally absorbed in loving (life, the present moment, yourself, your significant other, your family, your pet...) that the silence allows you to feel the spark of life.

This weekend I had a day to myself and the silence was full of creativity as well as  the appreciation of sitting in and listening to the sounds of nature.  I don't know if we can fully appreciate all of this if we don't first have a deep love for ourselves.  And it helps so much to know that you are loved by others, so that when we are sitting in our own silence, that love is the beautiful aura surrounding your day.

Wishing you love this week.

The ordinary can be full of opportunity...

 Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. 

 ~Orison Swett Marden

Today I am feeling a bit under the weather, so this is actually perfect.  In between sleeping I have been reading or watching inspirational art technique videos or trying to eat.  I am practicing the art of making this little sick day great!

All joking aside, this quote goes with many of the same theme that I have read lately.  Sometimes we want everything to be amazing and we are so busy looking for that, seeking it or "working on" it, that we can let ordinary great moments pass us by without much notice.  

One of my favourite song lines is from John Lennon,

 "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans."

John included this in a song for his young son, Sean, along with other simple life reminders.  It is a reminder that life keeps going, regardless of how we choose to use our time up with...  And so noticing the little things can be important if we don't want to miss life!

Life, and all of it's types of moments,  can be pretty amazing, even in bed, with a funny tummy.

Enjoy your week!

Let magic find you

Ultimately, magic finds you if you let it.

~Tony Wheeler

This one is so whimsical!  I had fun painting it.  It began as a crazy ink background on aquaboard with lots of bright colours.  I toned it down with a deep frame, only to realize it then looked like a crazy Easter egg...  not my goal!  Then I had this idea of doing silhouettes (and I love elephants) so it finally emerged.  So the whole process was a bit magical itself...

This quote reminds me to notice the magical things in each day.  Finding a simple but lovely feather dropped by a bird, having a plant bloom for the first time and the scent of my favourite perfume as I get dressed.  An artistically done latte, being able to touch my toes effortlessly (after a lot of hard work to get there) and the fact that after almost ten years, my husband still makes me laugh all the time.  This is the magic that finds you, if you let it.

I will continue to let it!

Believe in Tomorrow

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

~Audrey Hepburn

I have been thinking a lot about optimism and hope lately.  It is interesting for people to say they are not optimistic- we automatically think they must be a pessimist.  But really, you can be an observer of life, a realist, and or someone who doesn't want to spend too much of their lives mooning over the future, wanting to remain in the present moment.  I still have a lot to reflect on this topic, since it is all still a bit muddy to me, but it is very intriguing...

I like this quote because it is full of hope, while also full of taking action right now.  Your now is to plant or tend a garden and the hope is the fact that you want to do this, even though so much could go wrong, or could not work out.  In this case, here is our new raspberry vine, one which has been a long time coming, since my husband loves berries, and I grew up eating them off the vine in my grandmother's yard, and my Mum's.  Will our tiny balcony garden foster such an ambitious hope?  Who knows.  Previously, I often suggested we didn't get this plant since it might not work in a pot and we are usually gone during the summer when it's most likely the berries will be ripe... But, my husband's hope and willingness to risk was contagious and I can't wait to see how it turns out!

This piece:  Photo taken on the very tiny balcony garden on a moody day.  That is apropos, maybe, since even though the day is grey, the future is bright and shiny like a plump raspberry.  I am practicing various forms of hand lettering and here is another simple and fun example.  This week is spring break so I will be gardening, doing yoga and practicing various art forms all week- can't wait!

Wish you a beautiful week, even if it is grey and all the hope is in your heart, rather than blazing across the sky.

Relaxing Into An Eternal Spring

Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant clothes.

~Carl Friedrich Gauss

 I was inspired by the Vernal Equinox and had so much fun looking up quotes that referenced spring. I love how spring can remind us of new beginnings and starting afresh in our own lives.

  Nature can be a great reminder for so many things, eh?

I hope to look to each day, each moment, really, with this attitude:  We have an eternal spring ahead of us, full of possibility and beauty, if we want to see it.  Maybe the hard part is keeping this outlook when life brings on winter.

Here are a few bonus quotes today, since I had a tough time deciding this week...

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.

~Henri Matisse

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant. 

~Anne Bradstreet

This week's creative image- I had so much fun staging this and our balcony table was the perfect armature for hanging the flowers through so that I could still put them in a vase after.  Now our apartment is full of spring, since I spread the blossoms around our home.  The stones are just a small amount of the growing collection that I have created.  They are just so fun to make.  If you want to see more of my stones, go to the tab at the top, and click to see a history of stones past and present!  Or go to my Etsy shop (link at the top right) if you want one delivered to your home!  :)

Happy Spring!

Keep Watering The Seeds

If you want happiness to bloom within you, simply water the seeds.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Today's quote has come from many places- the concept of what belongs in my daily practice has been something I have been seeking and refining for myself.  And what does not belong.  I continue to take more creative moments, while working full time.  This means catching myself when I am dawdling on the computer.  Is what I am reading, looking at, clicking to next really fostering the life I seek?  Or is my time getting sucked away and I will be sad to have to go to bed, realizing at the end of the day that I wasted my time on things that are not truly part of my goal lifestyle... Tricky!

I love the wording for this quote- simply!  Many of us would scoff at  that "simply"- is it really that easy just to choose to foster happiness?  It seems not , but I also appreciate that it can be.  It can be that simple- just choose to fan the flames of what you most love, what makes you sing, what gets you moving.  And let the rest politely out the door.

Here's another of his quotes that I felt went hand in hand with this one:

"The seeds that are watered frequently are the seeds that will grow strong."

This painting-  I have been so enamored with the idea of layered textures and subtle patterns that catch your eye in a background.  This week it took some happy accidents of too much paint to realize that there are many ways to get around to an end result.  This is from a series I am working on right now.  I love this colour scheme and really got into the subtle blossom/leaf-type hearts.  That may not be the last of those shapes.  They may be popping up in other paintings, since they take me back years when I used the brush's shape placed on the paper, lifted and then left to dry to create dot art.  Life is full of spirals of things, ideas, inspirations that leave for a bit and return to us.