It’s the last day of my 31 day inspiration project. I have been sitting quietly at my desk, catching up on emails, paperwork and  phone calls- everything that piled up over the past two days that I was off sick (it piles up so quickly believe me), and in foothills of the mountain that I am sitting in front of, I can’t help but be thankful that every day this month I was able to find something to inspire me. Even in the most difficult and darkest times in my life, I have been able to do this. In fact, this is why I wrote this:

We must find the beauty in the darkest of days,
find laughter in the deep silence of the soul
to truly understand the great gift that this life
brings to us each and every ordinary day.

I wrote it to remind myself that every day, it is possible. It is possible to imagine, to create and to become. Those words together, imagine.create.become , I have adopted as a kind of mantra. I adopted them years ago in fact after receiving gift of a silver bracelet with those words stamped on the band. It is possible each day to tune in and be inspired. It is possible to find something that moves you, evokes some emotional response (from happy to furious), that makes you comfortable or very uncomfortable. The what isn’t good or bad – what is important is that it pushes you out of your seat, pokes at your brain, makes you think, makes you start to see the world from a different angle, triggers a spark in you that allows you to be creative and express something.

Someone once said to me a long while ago: “I am not creative – I can’t paint or draw or write or dance or play an instrument or sing.” I will say now what I said then (and have said many times to different people since). Being creative, being inspired, does not have to result in picking up a paint brush or a guitar or a pen. I know some amazing people who are artists with a blow torch, a wrench, a computer keyboard and so many other traditionally “unartistic” things. What does it really mean to be inspired? Does it have to be only about art? Why limit yourself? Why limit your thinking?

When I am allowing myself to become inspired by something – it isn’t necessarily to do anything traditionally ‘artistic’. Instead, for me, it is allowing myself to become more open to something new, even just for a few moments, in such a way that I may just have the opportunity to experience the world in a new way. That direct experience, and its expression through my own eyes, fingers, voice… that’s what makes inspiration have meaning for me.It is also what pushes me to share it.

Now that the month is over, I have thirty-one little pebbles jingling around in my pockets to remind me as I walk on.

~

Been out with the flu the past couple of days but am on the mend now I think… I didn’t want to miss posting the inspiration from the time I’ve spent resting and essentially doing nothing (which is very hard for me to do) I did read a bit in between sleeping and came across this passage by Deng Ming Dao about views:

Red sea through pine lattice.
Islands kneel like vassals before headlands.
Rain clouds snag on coastal ridges.
Yarrow stands spectral in the lighthouse beam.
~

“our view of any one subject if it is large, is never whole but is a composite image in our minds…”

I would also say that this is true of small and medium sized ‘things’ too… Everything depends on the view to be ‘known’ and even then what do you really know?

bad wolf.

Lately, my daughters have become flashed with Dr. Who. I will admit, I am thrilled. You see, I grew up with the Doctor (original Doctor with the beautiful long scarf that I so wanted to have as my own) but for whatever reason – never made the time to watch the new series, at least not often. It wasn’t until I went to see an old friend at the beginning of this year – he and I watched a lot of season five almost that week… and well obviously I was hooked again. I have been talking with my girls since about watching the series… but it is impossible to rent the dvd’s. We tried to no avail.. instead we had to resort to buy them… but just before we did – Space started show them from the beginning of season 1 – which is how my daughters became hooked. Whooo. Tonight we watched the season finale of season 1… the Daleks vs. the Doctor. My youngest declared that the Daleks are a bunch of grade 8 girls (it’s ok – she’s in gr. 8 and knows what she’s talking about)… Rose and the Doctor… the bad wolf. The inspiration today is a speech that Rose gives when the Doctor sends her home and she is sitting in the diner with her mum and Mickey. The Doctor taught her how to live each day – not to sit and do nothing, let life happen – instead he showed her a different way – to do something, fight for what you believe in, stand up and be heard. It’s like a bloody kick to the chest but it’s true. There are moments when you just have to stand up and be heard.

There’s that – and also a quote of Deng Ming Dao that is sticking in my head. He wrote once about how vomiting is an action of the human body that allows you to be completely present, in the moment. When you throw up, you can’t be anywhere else.

Today – both of these concepts inspire me…. thought quite honestly I could do without the vomiting.

I loathe the expression “What makes him tick.” It is the American mind, looking for simple and singular solution, that uses the foolish expression. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm.
~ James Thurber

Today my inspiration comes from being complicated. 🙂

It’s very simple. These two are my biggest inspiration in my life. They are my reason for being.

Today my inspiration comes from reading… to be more specific from reading my friend Stephen Hopson’s new book “Obstacle Illusions”.  I started reading last night, and then finished reading the entire book this afternoon. The last chapter of the book made me tear up. There were other stories that made seeing the words on the page a challenge because of the tears. I don’t want to give any of it away – I encourage you to buy his book and read the stories for yourself.

What I can tell you is – Stephen relates interesting, inspiring and moving stories about his life in each chapter, demonstrating how he has overcome obstacles in his personal life. I found the stories engaging, and I liked the way he spoke about the people in his life who helped to shape the person he is today. It is hard not to be inspired by someone who refuses to be limited by anyone or anything, regardless of the situation at hand. He reminded me, as I was reading, that anything is possible and trusting your instinct is paramount.
There is much more that I could say right now, talk about what has sparked in me after reading his book, but instead, I am just going sit here smiling and let things percolate. I can “see” something that his words have inspired for me. When it’s ready I will share. Thank you Stephen for the gift of your words and for sharing about your life.

🙂

…. pay it forward

I took an unscheduled break over the past three days to work on the Pay It Forward project that I started in January. I am almost completely finished the 11 gifts that I made for people who ‘signed up’ for it. The inspiration for these past three days has been solidly sitting with the concept of doing something kind for someone else, without a thought of getting anything in return, and with each of these 11 people themselves as I created something special for each individual.

It has been a lot of fun to sit with each person and pairing them with a piece of artwork, knitting, jewelry, photography or poetry that might be something that they like. Oh, and by sit, I mean, I sit and meditate/ contemplate what it is they might like, based on what I know of them. I have enjoyed the entire process. Each person has inspired me. That’s my gift to myself.

I can’t help but think now to how something seemingly innocuous as a status someone posted on Facebook (and it’s also happened to me on Twitter as well, or other places – brief sparks) can inspire something much bigger in a person. Creating something by hand for someone else, whatever that might be – can not only make that person’s day brighter, but your own as well. I haven’t even given the gifts yet and I am feeling happier having completed them. It’s simple. Kindness doesn’t have to be complicated.

This is just a glimpse of some of the gifts… a tease really. The project really was so much fun, I might consider doing it again sometime in the future. Once everyone has received their gift, I will post proper photos of each one just for fun.

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that is all.