Tag: Letting go

It’s spring time-Use your noggin!

Engaging your brain in new tasks is a key to boosting brain performance, or at least that is what the website of “Brain World Magazine” says. I will summarize the webpage here to get to my point: Most fabulous inventions happened when someone asked themselves- Is it possible and how can I do it? When you ask the hard questions, you expand your brain. This makes sense for it forces you to think and problem solve. As healthy humans, we WANT to discover-to search for new. This process keeps our brains active and functioning. “True creativity comes from an integrated brain that establishes new, robust connections between the parts of your brain dealing with cognition, emotion, vital functions, and crosstalk between the two hemispheres of your brain.”  ( http://brainworldmagazine.com/ask-brain-spring-creativity-within/)  My thoughts today are about creativity.

Think about a snake, a crab, a caterpillar. They all shed one skin and start anew. If we don’t keep trying to rejuvenate ourselves, we too can get stuck in our old skin. It’s SPRING, the season of renew-Go For It! The transformations we create and abide by change with the times and what is going on within ourselves. It is this pursuit of transformations, this metamorphosis, that forms the very base of the process of LETTING GO!  I believe this shedding is the core of what I will call creative imagination. My imagination most often happens when I just “DO”, when I don’t worry too much about what I may be creating.  I might not know “the hard question” and that’s ok. My brain is stretched by the creative process regardless of a conscious question. The process relaxes me and lets the questions flow. Right now I am working on an array of new projects. That alone is maxing out part of my mind. Creativity churns and keeps my imagination going full steam. (Or would it be imagination churns and keeps the creativity going?) It’s hard to dial my brain down and do things like sleep sometimes.  One project is my third children’s book which is indeed about imagination. I am struggling with a cover design. Resisting the usual exploding of things from a cloud, or a head, is difficult. Colors are about the only thing I have come up with. I might resort to the ‘norm.” After all, it is tried and true- but, it doesn’t feel very creative or imaginative.

So far I have a line drawing of a book open and exploding colors.
I like the “look,” but it does it say – “Hey this story is about the main character, our friend Fuddles, who has lost his imagination and then it’s found! Ideas?

Possible book 3 cover
Possible book 3 cover

4 Reasons why Reinventions can be sweeter than Easter Morning-no candy involved!

Times they are a changing…
The weather, the earth, the world….it’s enough to make my head spin!

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin

Read more:  Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-changin’ Lyrics | MetroLyrics (and hear the song)

Dylan famously goes on to write the next verse about writers and critics, followed by politicians, with the last stance about mothers and fathers. So timely!

The times certainly are ‘a-changing’, Bob Dylan is now the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for literature—first time for lyrics, as opposed to a novel. It was said that it is “perhaps the most radical choice in a (Noble Peace Prize) history stretching back to 1901.” (reason #1)

Spring brings Easter, Passover and I am sure there are other holidays of spring renewals that I don’t even know. Spring is busting out with colors- greens, yellows, pinks and red splashes all around! (reason #2) I’ve been thinking a lot about changing, or ‘reinventions’ as I am now trying to call, and view, all the changes. As a child the world is always changing, we are continually learning, and trying all different hats, paths, and ways all the time. That’s a good thing. As an adult constant learning and forward motion is still a good thing. That said-constant change is not easy. However, I hope I never stop learning and exploring. Curiosity didn’t kill the cat. Curiosity does keep the soul, mind, and body alive! (reason #3)

For myself, all these ‘reinventions’ are global as well as very personal. It feels like a spinning top at a dizzying speed. How about you?

…and speaking of changes…
A new kind of Botanical Beauties has come to town! I’m having fun with flowers in new ways (reason #4.) Stay tuned as we see together what and how this develops.

BBB3 is Expanding
There’s a new bird in town! Click on the image to see it larger.

For more about Bob Dylan.

Read more:  Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-changin’ Special Memory By AmandaH | MetroLyrics

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/29/521898666/bob-dylan-agrees-to-accept-his-nobel-prize-during-a-tour-stop-in-stockholm

It’s raining now but that will bring flowers…

…or at least that’s the plan!
Perseverance, change, on the move, and All that Jazz.

“I hear that Father Dip
Is gonna blow the blues
And all that Jazz
Hold on, hun
We’re gonna bunny hug
I bought some aspirin
Down at United Drug
In case you shake apart
And want a brand new start
To do that-
Jazz”

 

All sorts of interesting stuff in those words.

“Gonna blow the blues.” Clearly they are referring to the music, but it is significant here as well about some sadness. Packing up a whole house tends to have a bit of that effect on me. Hence, some aspirin… but here’s the cool part to hang on to-“a brand-new start.” … And then, there’s that very catchy rhythm and beat to the song! Never underestimate the power of the rhythm and beat to your day, week, year and more!

“Don’t worry Roxy-it’s all taken care of” – I’m counting on it! Here’s to chin up, change, new beginnings, hope, some faith in “the universe,” family, and friends. Lets paint the town and have a new start. Want to join? …Want to paint the (your) town?

…and All that Jazz. Do it my way, your way, or maybe we can collaborate. Whatever, for me, it’s time for a shakedown and some high volume rhythm! How about you?

Putting on a new hat and starting again.
Putting on a new hat and starting again.

 

Does clutter become The Fabric of My Life?

Clutter, “Stuff”-The fabric of my life? I hope NOT!  I refuse to believe that my stuff makes up WHO I am. It is true that, partly, it makes up what my home looks like, how crowded my mind, and possibly my life, may be at any given moment. All this “stuff” didn’t just appear one day in my house, my mind, or my life, it’s an insidious, slow moving, existential like growth. Maybe it is like fabric? I suppose it did start as a small swatch and has evolved into yards and yards over the years. If I continue with this analogy… fabrics can get messy and be washed, they can get cut up and reused or re-purposed, they can be loved as well as tossed out or given away. Sometimes they fade, and sometimes we have to give them up for they are no longer possible in the space. My “fabric” (like yours probably) has pretty much been through most/all of those scenarios.

This topic has come up for I am reorganizing my office/studio. It is the result of winter damage, which meant a wall and ceiling needed to be repaired, which meant EVERYTHING had to come out of a VERY crowded, over stuffed, “creative chaos” room. Not a bad thing in the long run, however in the short run it has been exhausting. Taxing my left side brain into hyper organization and lots of practice in the art of “letting go”-into the recycle, trash, or donate pile. This brings up another favorite topic, the one of Intention. I am practicing that skill as well. I read an article that stated- “Most traditional approaches do not consider the energetic impact of clearing, no matter how miniscule the task or effort. The fact is, clearing anything consciously and gently … creates an energetic opening—a spaciousness—that works on us slowly and surely to soften our grip of attachments.” (article)  I have been very intently/consciously clearing things out for approximately three years now. It started with the closets full of clothes, and slowly I have been working on the “stuff.”  The office/studio has accelerated the cause along. In theory (and mind) I don’t want the all this stuff, I want my space (in all ways) to be clearer. Much easily said than done for me. However, it is better than before and I am slowly learning the process and power of Intention in so many aspects of life. Intention of letting go. Intention of holding on when appropriate. Intention of a never ending process of moving on to whatever is next with an open mind and heart. Intention of clearing (in mind as well as physical space.)  An intention of realizing it is not about throwing away something but is often about letting go of a far bigger commodity than the goods in my hand. I am far from done. I will probably always be working on this “intention and clearing process.” It will probably never be easy, or fun. I do know it does feel good to let some of these things go. There is some truth to the saying of- Clear the clutter, Clear the mind. 

For all those that are spring cleaning, or life clearing- May the journey be partly to embrace the change, and enjoy the clean air in that new cleared space. (At least, that’s what I am trying to do.)

It always comes back to KINDNESS. This time it’s kindness to yourself, give yourself a break, a pat on the back, and awareness that the journey is what often matters and that simple is often an easier way to go. As Robert Browning so famously said, and the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe beautifully adapted-Less is More.

Birdelini takes on the motto of Less is More in her Simple Spring Hat 2015 collection.
Birdelini takes on the motto of Less is More in her Simple Spring Hat 2015 collection.