cc2011:10 Making Space

i now have a blue room :)

yep - a small little room in the corner of the house just for me and my creative ways . . . so excited.  it has been many, many years in the making ~ literally.  such a little squirrel i am . . . gathering & storing for fest and survival.

i shook my head the other day listening to one of my professors.  how profound.  he said in his day he would go snow skiing quite a bit & often times the buddies he would ski with would complain when their equipment broke.  yes ~ and . . . then he said, "what's the alternative"

uh-oh, was he talking to me & my craft hording ways . . . if the shoe fits ~ wear it, or at least slip it on to determine whether or not to purchase . . .

how i love this quote:

Do I bite into something, chew it up thoroughly, spit out what I don't like, and assimilate what I find nourishing and healthy, or do I "swallow hole" what others have told me ~ whether i like it or not? - courtesy of Instinctive Health Parenting 4U's Blog

so... i think to myself ~ in a million years as i shake my head does the professor have a clue i am thinking of how i tip'toe around my paper, stickers, and stamps.  i think sometimes i have picked things up because i truly fell in love with the design or an idea.  the moment the sticker is out of the bag and onto the paper the sternness of reality sets in.  no more dreams for that piece of paper ~ destiny has spoke.

the alternative . . . is replacing pressure with pleasure.  the pleasure of creating from what is before me - focusing in fact, on what it is that i have rather what i am missing. 

i think i discovered in this last week something about myself.  i buy books because i love them - yes, but because i feel insufficient without them.  i am a knowledge collector ~ i have difficulty claiming my own thoughts, i'd rather rest in others.  perhaps my feelings are still too tender and when people disagree with a technique i place the disagreement on someone else's shoulder.

i don't know.  i think i want to make a little here and now space for myself.  i want to claim what i am feeling ~ thinking ~ now.  so when i'm in my blue room . . . i act on inspiration and not fret over the many, many ways the project could go differently.

i barely made it through the first few blogs of this year because i couldn't manage to feel good about what it was - that this blog was about ~ thank you Birdie . . . this blog is about me - ever changing, growing me.  what would be the alternative.  that i remain the same?  no thank you.

so feel free to make space for your current self . . .

speak freely and open-heartedly ~ experience all that this day and every day after is meant to provide.

♥

CCARE: Stanford's Compassion Project

Wednesday Wow!

It couldn't be better said!!

i decided at the end of January ~ that March would be a month I would send out Marketing Packs ~ in fact.. if it makes sense ~ i actually created this post back when & scheduled it for today :)

i know, all the planning & preparation..

i thought it would be neat to widen out the community .. i would love for you to Pass this Project along ~

it is exciting!! the way Compassion is being studied.. i pulled this video for YouTube and saw the date was in '08!!  did a quick search & the project is still going strong ~ so guess what :)  small little blog project ~ stepping over fear ~ is traveling!! 

i can't say this enough ~ i had no idea Compassion was really this big!!

cc2011:9 Who Knew

hard to believe Monday is again here.  I thought when i first began writing on this little blog that Monday's would not be enough ~ but then ~ in the middle of the semester it is most certainly . . . enough.

if there was an audio to my blog you would hear me humming ~ doing a review of the week, wondering o' wondering what will i write.

what was my struggle this week - i am still riding off the new knowledge that my daughter and i are two different colors/types ~ and really, i have been laughing a lot more and just taking a few more breaths in the middle of things not going according to [my] plan.  small steps ~ intentional and plenty. . .

so i decided on my theoretical orientation, hope this wasn't a subject i covered two Monday's ago ~ but mainly this orientation idea is my main filter right now.  the motivation behind picking an orientation is developing a framework, foundation from which to ground oneself in therapy.  meaning, when i hear what i hear, i will know how to place it in the big picture.

i have settled on Gestalt ~

ever heard the statement: we are more than the sum of our parts.  i likely have said this countless times, who knew how closely my natural inclination matches up with this theory.  when meeting someone new to counseling/therapy there is always a moment of intense anticipation and anxiety.  partly the reason we don't want to go is because being known, or at least the process of being known is so involved.

i am a firm believer we don't have to seek out our past, because our past comes seeking for us (smile).  if we broke ourselves down in a million pieces we could compare and contrast our parts, but really it wouldn't tell us much about the total picture.  in fact - i saw this puzzle box at the store the other day - and depending on how you arrange the different color pieces you can make several very distinct pictures.  it reminded me of us ~ that we can come from different and similar places, but what is truely relevant is our awareness of today.

who am i today & what parts of myself do i need to know better ~ in order to feel better.

it puts a smile on my face ~ the opportunity of meeting all the selves who will pass through my therapy doors ~ who knew something as sweet would be my life's work.

have a wonderful week!!