Are you true to yourself?

'Truth has to be discovered now, from moment to moment.
It is always fresh, always new, always there for the still,
innocent mind that has experienced life without needing to
hold on to what has gone' (Barry Long (1983) Knowing Yourself)


No task attached to this one, my friends, except this:

Know your truth,

find it afresh everyday

- and -

above all,

live it!

TASK: WRITE A POSITIVE PRAYER

Using you own words, write a prayer that states firmly and powerfully that you are a fully endowed creative being whose possibilities for growth and accomplishment are unlimited.

The Vein of Gold (page 238) includes an example of a prayer and more background.

This task comes in three parts. DO NOT POST YOUR PRAYER YET. Next week we will hold an art session and illuminate/illustrate the work (gold pens, calligraphy, staining with tea...) and then post the gilted results.

In the mean time creative souls:

Invent your world. Surround yourself with people, colour, sounds and work that nourish you. (Sark)

A Task! Will you join me?

Here's a simple task - it's something that I've been intending to do for a while. And that is to write my morning pages. For a few days at least.

It's that time of year when most of us feel weighed down by winter. And although the brighter weather we've experienced recently helps, I still feel the need to vent onto those familiar pages once again. Just allowing myself to express freely and shed the burdens imposed by darker days will work wonders, I know. So will you join me, and venture out of your hibernation by emerging onto our original 'Artist's Way' path?

Unless of course, you have been virtuously keeping your morning pages all this time!!! Unlike me :))

Hands....

Ok, I cheated. This isn't a picture of my hand so much as one of my bears, Gabriel. But that's the point really.... my hands are always there, in the background, being a prop to the rest of my life. I'm communicating with you right now by using my hands (obviously!), but I'd never have thought about it if it weren't for this task.

My poor hands have needles stuck in them on frequent occasions. They are exposed to the worst of the wintry weather, since I often forget my gloves. Nails break from pulling staples out and paper cuts are endured at work (ouch!). When I'm nervous I bite the skin around my nails. And they are in and out of water all day long, starting with a morning wash, to the washing up, to giving Katie a bath.... no wonder they are in need of TLC!

So now I'm feeling guilty. My poor hands. Taken for granted and deserving of much more respect.

I'm off to rub some cream into them and paint my nails red.... :))

100 Things I Love....

In no particular order :)

Sunshine, rain, rainbows, friends, family, good food, chocolate, wine, the internet, reading, creating, Star Trek, fur, crystals, quietness, tarot, graveyards, talking to strangers, mysteries, my own space, stars, clouds, feeling happy, making others happy, Honda Civics, the Lake District, holidays, Saturday mornings, pay day, green tea, red bush with vanilla, dreams, snow, our fish, collectors fairs & car boot sales, watching Katie grow, security, adventure, impulsiveness, down-to-earth people, black, red, putting the world to rights, the ocean..... and many more!

100 Things I Love...

The smell of nutmeg and cinnamon, cardamom pods.
I love the laughter of children and sweet baby bods.
Chocolate and wine and soft candlelight
The crisp smell of ironing, a full moon at night.
Pink! I love pink! Anything pink,
from clothes, shoes or gemstones, to bubbles to drink.
I love Tarot and angels, crystals and spells.
The meaningless jokes my youngest one tells.

The first morning brew, the end of the day
I love sunshine and gardens and let’s-pretend-play.
I love Wales and Sweden, the sound of wind blow
Hot chocolate and firesides and metres of snow.
Writing and reading, I love cinnamon cake
Ikea and painting, I love to create.
Singing and dancing, the smell of the dawn
All the hundreds of pictures my children have drawn.

Lime marmalade, daisies and trips to the sea
Aberystwyth harbour and pancakes for tea.
My husband’s warm neck where I bury my nose.
Meeting on Thursdays for coffee at Jo’s.
PG Woodhouse and skating
I love to stand on my head.
Degas’s dancers and lie-ins in bed -
with hot buttered toast and tea that is hotter
But above all of this I love Harry Potter!

TASK: 100 Things You Love

List 100 things you love...

...in no particular order, but be specific, be free, be honest and be your beautiful selves.

I love clouds that look like things, small moments of magic lost in everyday, Amelie, sitting with friends and talking until 4am, bubbles in the bath, bubbles in the air, smooth stones, amethyst crystals caressed smooth, my babies, my mum, touching fingertips, sun dried tomatoes, melting milk chocolate, Greek Islands, warm summer breezes, mountain air, the sea, the poems of ee cummins (who'd have guessed?), skipping, my toes curling into softest sand, the secret spot in the field at Hordern Farm, the first fall of snow, the cell in the Savage tower, Freddie's brilliant brain, Eva's latest flower canvas, Sara B's fish in all mediums, dancing and dancing and dancing some more, writing, crisp new sheets on the bed, plain white paper, Pilot v5 pens, the smell of coffee, the memory of fairies at the bottom of Nanny Jackson's garden...

...and although I said 100 that's probably enough on the blog. I'll confine the rest to page, just for the fun of it and to give me a certain lift.