For this week, I picked pause because the first step to being patient is being able to slow down and take things one step at a time. If I don’t pause, and I just jump into action, I can’t do that. Patience is slowing down. Patience is completely stopping where needed. I like the idea of pause because it’s not stop. It implies that there will be a resume coming soon. It implies intentional slowing down.
The lettering I used here comes from this pin.
The image here is supposed to be the pause sign from a VCR or DVD player, music, etc.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
A new month is a new theme. Since I have yet another long trip this month, I decided Patiently would be a good goal for this month. I could certainly use more patience. And it’s one of the core requirements of listening, if you ask me. So my intent this month is to slow down. To really be patient and slow and calm. This is not typical for me and it will not be easy but I hope to stick with it.
The lettering I used here comes from this pin.
The image here is supposed to be an hourglass.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
For this week, I picked ask. Part of being creative is asking more, asking differently, asking others for their perspective. Asking (instead of telling) opens up my world, allows it to have other possibilities. It also prolongs the listening. If I am asking, I am not talking, I am listening to the reply. I am asking more, deeper, differently. I like all these options. I like the idea of choosing to ask and not tell. That’s my plan this week. Ask differently. Ask more. Ask.
The lettering I used here comes from this pin.
The image here is supposed to be a man holding up a question mark.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
For this week, I picked opposite. Sometimes, when thinking about a situation or when faced with something I’ve dealt with many times before, what helps is thinking in a completely opposite way to what my instincts or my past behavior might suggest. I like the idea of doing something completely different and seeing what happens. That’s my intent this week.
The lettering I used here comes from this pin.
The image here is supposed to be two arrows pointing opposite ways.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
For this week, I picked what else. As in what else is there here? What else could I be listening for? What else could they be saying? What else am i missing? What else am i assuming? What else could this person be trying to communicate? What else could be going on? What else, what more, what different is here? The goal this week is to go deeper. Look for more, different, look beyond.
The lettering I used here comes from this pin.
The image here is supposed to be mountains to imply looking beyond something. Looking for other things on the horizon.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
So the first part of being creative is changing my perspective. Listening from a completely different perspective. Slowing down and seeing other possibilities. Stopping my default reaction to things. Really taking the time to look at things multiple ways. Each time an opportunity to listen arrives, I will be asking, what would other perspectives look like here? What’s his/her perspective? What’s mine? Is there another?
The fun lettering I used here comes from this pin.
The image here is from this awesome pin.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
A new month and a new intention. This month, I wanted to do something fun so I decided to pick Listen Creatively. How can I change things up? How can I look at the same thing differently? Can I get creative with my listening? What would that look like? What would that sound like? I am not sure what to expect from this month, but I am open to being creative with it.
The creative lettering I used here comes from this pin.
The image here is supposed to be watercolors.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
For this week, I picked walk. Park of listening actively is changing my location and not sitting and listening while I am on the computer, etc. When I take a walk with either of my sons, I listen so much better. I am present, I am paying attention only to them and I listen. So my intent this week is to take more walks. To engage with my family as I walk.
The lettering I used here comes from this pin.
The image is from this pin by the awesome Inslee.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
For this week, I picked reach out. Park of being active, for me, is learning to reach out to others and creating my own social activities. Reaching out to friends, acquaintances, potential friends, or even colleagues. It’s easier and sometimes more enjoyable for me to sit at home, alone or with my small family. So being active is about making the effort to reach out and not waiting for others to.
The lettering I used here comes from this pin.
The image here is a hand reaching. Alas, hands are hard to draw!
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
Today’s quote is actually the ending of a longer quote:
Allow beauty to shatter you regularly. The loveliest people are the ones who have been burnt and broken and torn at the seams, yet still send their open hearts into the world to mend with love again, and again, and again.
You must allow yourself to feel your life while you’re in it. – Victoria Erickson
That last part of the quote really spoke to me.
I always get annoyed when people tell me I feel too much. Too strongly.
I believe that if we don’t let things get to us and we don’t let ourselves experience the feelings we’re having, we’re not really doing them justice. They won’t disappear just because we’re not expressing them (worse, they sit dormant and explode at the most inopportune times). And Brené Brown has said many times that if we numb the bad, we also numb the good. So, yet, another reason to let ourselves feel it all.
I look at my kids and they experience life with so much more acuteness than I do. When something bad happens, it’s a huge disaster. Big tears. Super sadness. It’s like the world is over. This person is no longer my friend. On and on. But then when the good stuff happens it’s just as strong. I LOVE this. It’s the best EVER. I am so HAPPY. And on and on.
But you know the best part?
Because they let themselves experience it fully, step into it and own it, it doesn’t drag on. They feel it and then they move on to the next moment. And it’s over. The expressed whatever it was they were feeling and it’s not in their system anymore.
That’s what I love the most.
I believe we all could learn so much from the little kids in our lives. I want to allow myself to fully feel my life while i am in it. I want to live all of it. Feel all of it. Let it out.
And then make space for the next thing.
Today’s quote is:
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. – Oscar Wilde
This is one of those quotes that made me cringe when I read it. The truth of it hit me so strongly that I couldn’t breathe for a moment.
The fact is, there are so many days, weeks, months when I am existing, and barely at that. I am just making it through my days, doing the things I’ve set for myself and the things that need to get done. And even those don’t really get done.
At this very moment, my clean laundry is piled up high, my floor is full of toys, the kitchen table has piles of papers, and my hands are covered with paint. I haven’t even begun to write my todo list for two weeks and I am hundreds of emails behind in my inbox. Random important things that I have to do pop into my head and I keep thinking I should at least write them down.
But I don’t want to do any of those things.
And I don’t.
I sit and read my book or write here or do some more art.
I am not even existing today but really in the place where I just avoid everything. I am numbing but not with food or internet, with just avoidance.
So when I read a quote like this, I feel like screaming.
Yes, I want to say, I want to live! I don’t want to merely Exist.
I don’t want it to feel so hard.
And then I remember that tomorrow is another day and I get to choose all over again.
So tonight, I’ll do a little bit, I’ll barely exist. I’ll take a walk and then go to sleep. Tomorrow, maybe tomorrow, can be the day I can take on the task of living.
For this week, I picked something fun that i know I can always do more: play. I find that while I do some fun things, I do not play as much as I would like to. Well, that’s not really true. I play a lot on my own. Drawing, painting, classes, these are all acts of play for me. But I would like to play more with my kids. I would like to listen to the things they like to play. I would like to listen to them play. I would like to hear the sounds of play. I love this one.
The lettering I used here comes from this pin.
The image here is hop scotch.
Listen with Intent is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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