Simplicity in a bouquet

 

My neighbor brought me a freshly picked, right out of her garden, thank you bouquet of daisies.  When I was little, daisies were my favorite flower- so simple, fresh, happy.  Apparently, they still do.  In this journey of 1000 days, I have taken a few detours along the way but being true to my authentic spirit- keeps bringing back to my practice.  

    And practicing is really what I'm doing on this journey.  Someday's my practice is spectacular- other days it is humbling.  But everyday it is part of my life.

    My creativity got a shot in the arm when I went back home to Colorado a month ago.  I traveled back home to family and for helping my mom host her Holyoke book club.  She was born in Holyoke.  Much of our family lived there and I was a frequent visitor growing up.  For book club we read American the Beautiful by Ben Carson.  This was not a book I would normally read but since there would be a discussion at the end- I read it cover to cover.  Along the way, something interesting happened.  I got out of a rut.  

    The definition of insanity, or so I've heard, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  Reading the same type of books over and over again and hoping to find a major shift or understanding is unlikely.  But expanding and something new freshens your brain, your spirit and your mind.  

    When I read book club book, traveled to a new/old town and shifted my daily activities my desire to nurture and nourish my own creativity got awakened.

    Sometimes when you or I want to find something new we must go back to simplicity.  This is where we have room to breathe and create.  What do you truly love?  What makes you happy?  

    I'm discovering on this 1000 journey that if I become a public writer or stay writing in blog and journals doesn't matter as much as honoring the fact that I am a writer.  When I think of myself as a writer, I feel more creative. I like how my brain functions as a writer.  I start to look at life a bit differently.  Finding inspiration for my creativity is essential.  As is creating a space and environment in which to flourish.

   For me enjoying a canning jar full of daisies lifts my spirits.  Taking a picture of my bouquet of daisy's and then writing about it is priceless.

   Wishing you all lifted spirits and creative 

          Denise

Pausing to be

Day 599
   Tomorrow will be the first day of June.  It will also be my 600 day.  I love a good coincidence.  But today is still day 599.  Staying where you are is indeed a practice.  I have a tendency to look toward tomorrow.  Today I need to accomplish x,y and z. This week I need to go here, there and over yonder.
This month my Master task list is long and tedious..  And so it goes.  I'm not present.  I'm contemplating and fretting about the future.  What do I miss as I'm lost in tomorrow?

Why is day 600 more interesting than today day 599?  It isn't.

  The clock on my I-pad reads: 8:47 pm.  It's Sunday night.  I'm writing to you and to myself.  I sit at the kitchen table.  My husband is working on his art and playing music in the pool room.  Q-tip our black and white kitty sits by the back slider and watches.  The oven vent still runs over the kitchen stove.  Our pantry door is open and the light is on.  It isn't quite dark outside but the living room is getting there.

How much of each day do I miss by putting myself into the future?  A future that may or may not ever happen.  Right now, at this very moment, day 599 it is real.  This is all that matters.  Being here and awake is the gift.

     Wishing you this moment,
           Denise

37 items in your closet

Day 586 and counting.....

    If you want to live with passion- be passionate.  Of course, why didn't I think of that.  For a week my girlfriend and I are doing a little experiment.  The next 7 days we are accepting our intuition as nothing less than brilliant.  

    How many clothes do you have in your closet?  How many do you wear each week?  How many of the clothes you own never get worn in a season or year?  Why do we keep what we don't like?  

     Today I was in a doctor's waiting room, waiting for a friend.  As I sat I watched families coming and going.  What we wear and how we carry ourselves does in fact impact our days.  I'm not a great shopper.  When I shop it is more like an item on my to-do list than an enjoyable outitting.  I only shop when I need something and by the time I think I need something my wardrobe in desperate need of attention.  But still I'm sure I have more than 37 items in my wardwarb.  

    My co-intuitive experimenting friend sent me a blog site she found this afternoon:  http:dallas.citymomsblog.com  the blog was wardrobe capsule.  This mom shed her excess clothes and shoes down to only 37 items for each season.  Simplying all the way to perfection.  Instead of having too many clothes in your closet, you engage your creative spirit - mixing and matching 37 hand selected fully loved items.  37 greats is better than 150 so-sos.

    I like it!  In clutter clearing letting go of what you don't love and getting rid of the stuff that delutes your life is a cornerstone principle.  So why not take a 37 clothes item challenge and take your overstuffed, outdated, medocore pile of clothes and shoes and turn it into a place of beauty and joy? 

    First things first,  before buying anything we have to clean out completely!  Empty out our closets and sort item by item until we are only left with what we truly love and wear.  From here we can build a 37 item capsule of our creative - authentic- sassy style!

  Be passionate -  be creative have nothing in your life that isn't brilliant!

    Cleaning out your closet to only the essentials is a perfect exercise in listening to our inutition.  As I contimplate this idea, I'm still sitting on my couch but I have a very good feeling about this move.  Intuitively it feels just right- it is brilliant!

      Happy travels to you on this Monday,

             Denise

         

    

And life ....

What day is this?  The calendar reads April 24, 2015.  But what day is this on my 1000 day journey?  I haven't the foggiest idea.  My last post was in August 2014 that was 8 months ago.  Roughly today would be around day 582.  My thousand days is not yet complete.  And so I rejoin the ever moving days and jump back in.

   Part of me says you failed.  Another part wants to forget my 1000 day journey.  But in reality no matter what I do the 1000 days will continue one day at a time.  And so I jump back in on day 582.  

   What have I been doing for the past 340 days?  It seems life was busier that it had ever been.  Business, family, cooking, cleaning, working, watching TV, traveling.....I don't really know!!!

   Does busy mean giving up a journey?  This morning I went for a walk.  The morning is filled with new beginnings, spring flowers, lilacs to smell, un-planted bulbs growing under trees with unknown flowers shooting up, sweet smells fill the air, new cedar chips, the smell of lawns being mowed.

When I last wrote about this journey it was in August. Since then we have lost all our leaves, days got short and dark, then they started getting longer and lighter.  Life continues, my journey continues as long as I breathe.

   Writing makes my brain look at life differently.  I have a natural and wonderful feeling of curiosity and wonder.  My creativity comes alive.  Yes my days are busy but does it mean giving up this?  Oh I hope not and so today I write again, I figure out what day I'm on and after my beautiful spring walk I coming back inside and I let let my spirit go for a much needed walk of words and wonder.

   For those of you who have joined me, thank you.  And if you were disappointed in my absence I understand, I was too.

   Happy spring and day 582 to you.

        Denise