My Affirmation - Share Yours Too!

Part of what I submitted to Carmen Torbus for our C4 sessions together was the following affirmation.  It is both who I strive to be and who I know I am.  She encouraged me to share it...and who am I to turn down a challenge??  So here it is, a little arts-i-fied:

Now it's your turn.  You can handwrite it, type it, draw it, make it as simple or elaborate as you'd like.  Just take a get some materials together, take a few deep breaths, and write whatever comes to mind.

Don't worry about your answers being "right" or complete.  This isn't a contract.  The words I used above will change with my life.

But right now, I celebrate my responses and thus, myself - and I encourage you to do the same.

If you would like to share yours, I will post your response on a page on my blog along with a link to your blog/website (if you would like) so we can learn even more about you!!  

Please email any pictures or typed responses to me at lifeunity at gmail (dot) com by Sunday, September 5th.  I will post any affirmations by Monday.

Distractions

Sometimes distractions are just that - distracting.


Sometimes, if I can let go of my attachment to my expectations and my tight grip on my should-be-doings, distractions become the best part of my day.



Laughter from Lisa Wilson on Vimeo.

Lisa Learns How to Make a Video

AUGH! Seriously.  That.  Over and over.

For the past few days, I've been working on a mixed media painting.  We just purchased our new web camera that also shoots video (the Logitech C910).  I was so excited to roll out the red carpet and present my first ever Video (not just still shots) of my art process!!

Notice I said, "was".

The painting was done over 3 days time, shot in video segments of 33 minutes, 33 minutes, 17 minutes, and 55 minutes.  (Because the camera is connected to the computer, they record directly to the hard drive.)

My first issue?

1)  The last video - probably because of its length and size - continued to lock up (the program and the computer) every time I tried to pull it into any editing program. I eventually gave up and decided not to include it.  Thus, the whole last hour of the painting process was basically not included.

The second issue is mainly my fault.  I'm just too picky.

2) After over an hour of searching sites for copyright free music (mainly Jamendo and CCMixter), I came up with zilch.  I decided to just use music from Afro Celt Sound System as YouTube currently does not block videos using that music.  (I've made videos before and because of copyright and licensing issues, had the entire soundtrack blocked when uploading.  I learned my lesson.)

I spent all afternoon editing the video - adding transitions, cutting an hour and a half of material down to a few minutes.  I could see the video in progress in a small little window in my editing software and it looked good in there!  So I rendered it (i.e. made it into a format that could be uploaded to YouTube) and excitedly hit play.

The third issue??

3)  I discovered that the autofocus didn't work through the entire second segment - meaning over half the completed video is out of focus.  

By this time, however, I'd already put hours of work into this sucker.  If I were to get rid of that footage, there would be little left to share.

Why do I share all of this?


Because I - like my art, like my video skills, and like almost everything else - am a work in progress.  


All too often we see the final edits of online work, of art pieces, of blog writing...and think "I could never do that".  But we forget that everything is a process.  We forget and we disconnect from the humanity of anything which seems beyond it.  

So, with humility, a giggle, and a divine accepting smile, I share this video with you - blurriness, cut segments, human "oops-es" and all.

May you create and express likewise.

My Perspectives. My Reality.

For those of you semi-new to this blog, I have something to share: I used to call myself a runner.

I started running in the fall of 2009 (after swearing for years that I hated running) and through October of 2009 - May 2010 I entered into and completed 2 - 5K's (3.1 miles), 1 - 4.5 mile event, and a mini marathon in Indianapolis (13.1 miles).  (I made a video of that last one and posted it here.  Sorry - because of the music I used I couldn't put it on YouTube...so you have to be my friend on Facebook to view it.  That sounds kind of sad, doesn't it?  you have to be my friend.  Sheesh.  Send me a email (see the sidebar for my address)  if you aren't already there......)

After the mini marathon, I kept up weekly runs.  For about a week.

Then the reasons and excuses started flooding in.  Our son finished school, which meant paying for 2 kids for daycare at the YMCA if we wanted to go there.  The temps outside soared past 95 degrees F almost every day and didn't get much lower than about 80 degrees in the evening.  To be completely honest, through June and July, I ran maybe twice.

This morning, I remembered something very very important.

I am a runner.

It doesn't matter if I haven't run in months.  It doesn't matter if I never enter an event again.  It doesn't matter how slow I go or if I have to or choose to walk or what gear I have to adorn myself.

My perspectives create my reality.

And so, this morning, hubby and I took our daughter out in the jogging stroller and ran.  I went maybe 2 miles.  It was blissfully difficult.  And deliciously rewarding.

As I sit here recovering (mostly from more yummy yoga poses over the past few days), I am reminded of that fundamental belief that structures my days.  My perspectives create my reality.

I will paint today - even if I never sell a thing - because I am an artist.
I will find my running shoes again - even if only once every so often - because I am a runner.
I will kiss all over my children and discipline them when they slam their doors because I am a mother.
I will sit and share a glass of wine with my husband and discuss our days because I am a wife.
I will pull out my yoga mat and remember a 3-part breath in line at the groccery store because I am a yogini.
I will cry and yell and bitch and complain and falter and fumble because I am human.
I will always find my peaceful smile again after it all because I am part of divinity.

My perspectives are as such.  They will change.  I choose those perspectives and am blessed to do so consciously.

I define them (what does it mean to be a mommy?  a yogini?  an artist?) and they then define me.  I play with the definitions all of the time.  That's part of the fun of life.  

Now I think I need to go tend to my poor knees.  Eh, that's part of life too.

Just a Heads Up

In case you couldn't tell (You are reading this, right?  If you are having someone else read it to you, that's ok, but you'll miss the full impact....)......

things are changing.

No long explanation, no big fanfare, no promises of what is coming (though there's a lot!!)....just a teeny tiny little design change.

For now.

Just a heads up.

Discovering Yourself Elsewhere

Oh dear blog, how I've missed thee.  But without apology or explanation, I dive right back in:

I've noticed a lot going around recently on Twitter and various blogs about individuals taking/setaling ideas, pictures, words, and so on from other online sites.  

To be honest, I just wrote a very a long blog post about this topic.  I spent a good deal of the morning on it.  Towards the end, I typed, “Keep all of this in your awareness when discovering yourself elsewhere”.

That phrase, “discovering yourself elsewhere” both negated and underlined everything I had typed.  I have not been able to let go of my fascination with this.  Instead, I will just let go of the muck that I'd written and instead, write this post.

Discovering yourself elsewhere can take many forms.  Here’s one way of looking at those.

*Stealing: You find that someone has, without permission, taken your idea, your art, your outpouring to the world and in some form or fashion expressed it as their own.

*Borrowing: You find that someone has, with or without permission, taken your idea, your art, your outpouring to the world and in some form or fashion expressed it while still giving you credit.

*Impression: You find that someone has, with or without permission, taken your idea, your art, your outpouring to the world and in some form or fashion incorporated it into their own work.  Your color of playdough has been smooshed in with theirs – still clearly visible but fully incorporated into their color and the form they created.

*Reflection: You find that someone has already expressed an idea or feeling that you had/felt but that you have not expressed in a public manner.  (e.g. reading a book or blog in which you feel that the person “took the words right out of your mouth”)  In this sense, you are discovering yourself through the other person.

Each of these situations can be unsettling.  They remind our ego that there are other egos out there clamoring for attention and acceptance.

I challenge others to do no more than I ask of myself.  

Can we act in each of these situations?  Can we act without judgment and with respect?  

Can we assertively address those who intentionally act without regard for consequence?  Can we gently address those who unintentionally act without regard for consequence?  Can we realize that both forms of action are done from a place of Not Knowing and choose our own actions out of kindness?

Can we act without jealousy when discovering ourselves reflected?

I am human.  I can be (and have been) a real bitch...angry, logical at the expense of kindness, jealous, judgmental.  I know that while reactions taken while in this mood feel awesome and powerful in the moment, they always leave a residue of ickiness that does not wash away.

I leave you with a few other perspectives on this:

Bindu Wiles: The Pain and Annoyance of the Rip-Off

Kelly Rae Roberts: What Is Ok and What Is Not Ok

Obviously there is more to say on all of this, but I find the more I type - the more the words just get in the way.

And lunch calls.

Perhaps you will share your thoughts as well?

Our Days In Pictures

The past few days have been simultaneously busy and slow, trying to squeeze every last ounce of fun and relaxation out of summer before school starts in a couple of days.

Minus the tantrums that have been building as the kids itch to get back to routine and those moments that I haven't been carrying my camera, the following is a photo journey of our past few days.  It is a reminder for me that amidst the art, the painting, the journaling, the laundry, the screaming, the exhaustion, life is happening.  And it is going by quite quickly.

These photos are a celebration of this life that is happening for me and for our family right here, right now.

 

 

 

What It Feels Like

What does Big Fearless painting feel like?  How does living Big feel?

I don't have just one answer.  I don't think there is just one.  But I do understand how it feels, how my soul moves when I'm in flow with it.  I'm sure I'll have more responses to this, but here's what arose today:

Big is textured.  Life is so much more fun when we can delight in the hills and valleys, run up to create a sweat then slide down and feel the wind in our face.

Big has its own frame.  Putting something this big behind glass and framing it in denies anyone else the delights of touching it, experiencing it as the artist did.  Keeping something confined or trying to preserve anything forever ironically kills the essence of the life that is trying to be grasped by the receiver and radiated by the giver.

Big is wavy.  And straight.  And curved.  And spiraled.  There is no right or wrong direction in Big - just different paths.

Big is glittery.  Because glittery colors, glittery surfaces, glittery bodies reflect a delicious light that twinkles and dances and reminds us that we can do the same.

Big painting uses a palette knife from time to time.  Being big means using what is available in a variety of ways so the process can be explored and the outcome unknown.  In this way, life is celebrated.

Big is splattered.  Why not?  Big likes to play and play...and revel in the beautiful unexpected results.

Big sometimes uses a heat gun.  Big can be impatient.  And human.  And frustrated and angry and jealous and frightened.  Big means being it all.

 
Big is messy.  Because so is life.  (FYI, being big one also delights in finding magnificence and creatively incorporating that which is often discarded.)

Big brings out the bling.  Big breaks out the fine china on a daily basis, wears the little black dress just to go groccery shopping, tosses rose petals around the house just to delight in how they feel underfoot.  Big isn't afraid to bring in a little glamour...juuust a dash...to remind us how delicious every moment is.

Big is indescribable.  It means different things to different people.  It can seem ugly, intriguing, boring or endlessly fascinating.  Big doesn't mind.  It just goes on being big.

(Big is already hung on the wall.  Because there is no reason to wait until tomorrow to celebrate.  Speaking of...join the Tribe who know how to unearth and play around with being Big.  Don't miss out!)

Finding Your Voice

Expression of any sort has always been tricky for me - and I would guess, for many of you as well.  Even if just in the place of business, allowing our true nature to show is a journey into unknown territory.

It is essential to be conscious of what we are expressing throughout our days.  (What we are allowing into ourselves, how we process it, and how we "put it out there".)  When I discuss creative expression, it is just that: Expression that is created.  Expression can be very dry, very routine, very conditioned.  In tune only with those around us so we can create a comfortable social situation, but not in tune with our true voice.

Creative expression is consciously created, at least on some level - it happens when we first get out of the way of ourselves.  When we allow the universal voice (collective unconscious in psychological terms, God as understood by some religions, a pervasive energy of sorts in scientific terms) to speak to our soul.

Without censoring that voice (through fear - oh my goodness, I can't do that!, through intellectual thought - well that just doesn't make sense!, or through countless other filters we've picked up through our years), we create.  We allow that voice to be heard through our voice in how we speak to others, through our fingers in how we handle the food we are preparing, through our bodies in how we hold ourselves and allow or constrict our breath.   

Creative juice isn't confined in a paint jar.  We can express ourselves creatively - dancing with the inner voice that longs to be heard and the outer world that cannot be ignored - through everything we do.  Wearing your hair differently, coming up with a different greeting to meet others, directing your thoughts in a symphony of responses to the most mundane of situations (stuck at a red light, perhaps?).

 That being said, it is sometimes easiest to speak with our creative soul when doing something with no perceived right or wrong...such as pulling out crayons and just scribbling.  As we learn to hear the voice better, we can converse in situations where more filters are usually present.

***
As I grow into celebrating my own flow with life, I too am finding my struggles, my obstacles, my filters.  Some of these are walls that will take quite a while to scale.  Others....well, others just require a change of perspective that I find much easier to do these days.

A few days ago in the midst of a Fearless Painting project for BIG, I got paint on a shirt that wasn't meant to have paint on it.  I'm on cycle two of laundering it to see if the paint can be removed.

Funny enough, I'm not angry about it.  I probably  will still wear this shirt, with pink paint on the sleeve.  In an odd way, it is a recognition and quiet celebration of being an artist.

Yesterday, after pulling the shirt out of the washer and seeing the paint still there, I decided to take my awareness of this new voice to the paper.

In many ways, this is where my art...my life... is going:  A celebration of the mundane and divine voices mixing, dancing, conversing, sharing stories.

(And in full honesty, I'm still not happy with the colors.  I love that I finally used some fabric in my work and I adore the message...this just may have another reincarnation on another sheet.  Those are my kiddos handprints at the bottom, by the way!)

Today, Friday, a new day.  Millions of new opportunities to silence the conversation as I plod through the day and get school shopping done, decide how to handle the fights between the kids, navigate the toys that are scattered around the house.  Millions of new opportunities to keep the conversation going as I give nose-kisses to the kiddos, sing loudly in the car, let the tears fall when I sit with the pain of lost friends, braid my hair, paint fearlessly, and live.

Creative Process

Hello lovely ladies & gentlemen!  (And those, like me, who admit they may not be such a "lady" but are totally cool with it.) :)

As part of the super-speed life changing path I'm on, I picked up a few books from the library today that were recommended in our Big tribe (merci, Connie).  I've started a couple of pages of the first one, "Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go" by Shaun McNiff....and already feel that I have come home.  This book was written for me.  (Ok, the author didn't know that at the time, but I'm sure it was.)

In between the words on those first pages, the questions I've answered for Ms. Carmen Torbus, the fascinating processes going on over at our Big Tribe, the fearless painting and art journaling, and the movement I've been asking my body to do over the past few weeks...I am swirling in and creating a very focused tornado that is *thwip*ing away everything I don't need and honing me in just where I need to be.  (There's no place like home!)

(Speaking of movement:  This morning, after a rough morning, I went downstairs and closed the basement door.  I knew I need to "workout" in a sense...getting on the elliptical the other morning made my whole day better.  But the elliptical wasn't speaking to me this morning.  So I just turned on Itunes (Madonna!)...and DANCED.  Wildly.  Quite silly.  Freely.  I worked up a sweat and it felt awesome.  I am definitely doing this workout routine again and celebrating that there is no "right" way to move!)

I feel quite alive right now.  It isn't a wild, out-of-control-this-can't-last kind of alive; rather, a peacefully energetic way of Being.

It has found root within my soul.  Finally, I feel as though these bits of my life - life coaching, photography, study of holistic wellness, yoga, art, even work in scientific research - are finding a common language with which they may speak.  It is refreshing...they've each had so much to say.  All I can do is giggle at the conversation.

It is that conversation that is radiating light, energy, stories that are finally ready to be shared.  Ah, how I laugh at the beauty of all of this!!

I explore who I am and thus, what LIFEUNITY as a blog, a vocation (voice), is and is becoming.  One thing I wrote on an art journal page I decorated today?

It is "Creative Expression that simultaneously celebrates our humanity and our divinity".

(Copyright Lisa W, 2010....) ;)  It is a big idea.  I know this.  It is deeply seeded in my being.  It is the song I am here to sing, the stories I am here to share.

I can't wait to see where all of this is headed, but I promise that I will share this silly, light, delicious love with anyone who wants to journey with me.  Let's keep doing the dishes (at least enough to have for the next meal), the laundry (or at least navigating the piles), grabbing for the wine when the kids finally fall asleep, crying when the bills come, maintaining our to-do lists....and ever-so-slowly allowing our creative nature to streeetch, awaken.

When the creative process becomes part of the party of our lives, it's going to be a wild ride where the spirit won't be able to stop smiling.

To celebrate with a mantra of sorts that a dear friend kept with her during an overseas trip.....
Let's repeat together....

WHEEEEE!!!

Me. BIG.

We are in our last week of Connie's Fearless Painting course, BIG.  The following video is made to show the process of answering the question, (in the form of Fearless Painting), How Does It Feel To Be Me?

I'll be posting more about this, but your opportunity to join the TRIBE of fearless painters (invaluable in itself) has arrived!!!  Registration NOW OPEN for the next BIG class.  I cannot stress enough the changes Connie, her guidance, and the connection with my new friends in the BIG tribe have created in my life.  (But I promise I'll be trying in another post.)

For now, visit Http://dirtyfootprints-studio.com for more information.

(Thanks for all of the congratulations on my excellent fortune this weekend!  I'm sure you will get to witness the amazing changes that I KNOW are going to arise from Carmen's guidance - again, EEEE!! - and Kathy's wisdom!)

With Paint On My Hands - I Jump For Joy!

...I lovingly type out an update.  Big, big, big.  Oh, dear Big Fearless Painting.  How art thee changing my life??

First, thou art aligning me with the universe and causing simply AMAZING things to happen.  I WON.  Yes, I WON.  What, you may ask?  Only something that has the potential to send all of this changing, creative wonderfulness into laser speed.

The wonderful ladies at Kind Over Matter (Amanda & Jenn) and Carmen Torbus - the stunning creative entreprenuer cheerleading coach herself - teamed up to offer a giveaway.  A Six session scholarship for C4 (C4 = Cheerleading, Coaching, Consulting & Conspiring)...with CARMEN!  And I WON!!  I "EEEKED!!" in the car when I read the email on my phone and probably scared my hubby and kids.

She is seriously one of the most adorable, authentic, and creative individuals I've seen through the bloggy world.  Just take a look at what she has done throughout her life.  I am so so thoroughly excited!

BIG, huge, tremendous things are coming your way my lovely friends.

Second, I'm allowing my life and my creativity to flow together.  I met my sister tonight at my mother's house...and instead of plopping in front of the t.v., we painted!  We pulled all of our supplies out on the driveway amidst shade and a stunning breeze, and as the sun set, we played with colorful juicy paints sometimes amidst deep conversation and sometimes in silence.

My painting admiring her painting.

 My sister's painting.  I wish I could show the glimmer and details...it is stunning!

Where my lady stands right now.  Not sure where she's headed, but that's ok!  

Color is a bit off...I'm not at my computer so have to do with the from-the-camera photo!

I have so much more that I get to share with my Fearless Painting tribe...and will eventually get around to posting here as well.

LIFEUNITY is what it is about, lovelies.  I'm stepping forward in my life and embracing my gorgeously flawed and sensually delicious human nature and my mysterious wondrous divine nature.  There is so much more in store.  Stay tuned....

With paint on my fingernails and hands and arms and legs, I dance around and celebrate the messy, whine-filled (thanks to the kids),  (and wine-fulled - hah!), smoochy-kiss-filled (also thanks to the kids), sometimes heartbreakingly sad, sometimes indescribably magical life of mine!

(By the way - YOU TOO can jump in on this powerful life-changing wave!  A new BIG fearless painting tribe is coming together...registration is starting, I believe, this Monday, August 9th!  Visit DirtyFootprints-Studio.com  for more updates....)

UPDATE: Immediately after I published this post the first time, I started my blog reading and discovered I WON A SECOND TIME!!  The beautiful Kathy Jordan has been offering giveaways of her new book, Becoming a Life Change Artist, which just came out ....and I WON ONE!  (I promise it's legit - she even showed the process on her blog.) :)

I've been keeping up with the amazing Dr. Jordan for quite some time and let me tell you - whatever she has to share is worth listening to.  Honest.  I cannot WAIT to dive right into this yummy book!

I am NOT GOING to sleep tonight!  I am so so so so so excited!!

I Am Crazy.

I openly declare it.  And I found something to hang in my home that tells me it is ok.

While shopping yesterday in beautiful Nashville, IN, I came across a box sign by Primitives by Kathy.

I fell in love with the message but in honor of trying to reduce impulse purchasing, didn't get it.  It kept floating through my head all night...so I went back today and purchased it.  No regrets.

This message may become my new life mantra:

I'm not familiar with the artist, though I was told Kathy does all of the art and welcomes input from anyone and everyone on the quotes.  Regardless, she/they have a wide range of box signs here and - as I just discovered - a wealth of other whimsical and crafty goods as well!  Visit Http://www.primitivesbykathy.com to find out more.

I declare right here, right now:  I Am Crazy.  And proud of it.