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This is a layout I made for Maya Road for CHA.
And the journaling says: details:
This week was also light on photos. Here are some snapshots from our week: A few months ago we signed up for the San Fran Color Run and I couldn’t wait for it to arrive. I couldn’t bring my SLR there so the photos aren’t that great, but they still capture the memories.
The weather was really cold and it took a while for all of us to get into it but David loved getting sprayed and even rolled around the colorful ground.
I was pretty covered by the end.
so were Jake and the kids.
David even had color on his teeth.
I don’t think Nathaniel understood what was going on but he was ok about the whole thing.
and got quite a lot of color himself.
all in all, it was wonderful! Nathaniel also got a new bike and he enjoys riding it often.
the boys have been making cities, garages and electronic creations at home. This was “traffic.”.
David started a blog where he shares his lego stuff and he made this for the blog.
There was some hugging, of course.
and laughing!
The boys also played with my china marker. they loved how the white writes on the kraft paper.
david’s been reading harry potter again and again on the reader.
then it was family shot time.
and tickle time.
and here we go. i hope your week was lovely, too. Weekly Diary is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here. Next page:
This is my first assignment for Your Living Canvas class. The first week was about your story and as I wrote mine, one of the things that came up for me was that I have a lot of instances in my life where I made big leaps of faith or did things others would consider brave. This was a big deal to me, especially now cause I am not feeling so brave at the moment. So I decided to make this page as a reminder to myself. I wrote some of the things on top of the big butterflies and then more around the smaller ones. The quote says: I am brave. Here is one more shot of it: Journey into Collage is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here. Here are some more pages I did:
The full text reads: find solace in nature. And here’s the next page:
The full text reads: integrity matters. do what you said you would. here’s another view so you can see the stitching: this bird was inspired by this amazing one. Well here we go. More coming next week. I am creating multiple art journaling pages a week for now. You can read more about this project here. This set uses the Fabriano Roma papers.
I learned (relearned) today that everyone has his own perspective. We go to the same meeting or attend the same event, but come away with very different thoughts. Very different take-aways. Very different emotions. It is quite fascinating to watch. But nothing new, of course. This is always true when two people interact. It’s even true when we’re alone. Think of a book you read that really made you think or feel strongly. You can read the same book ten years later and walk away with completely different thoughts/feelings. Clearly the book itself didn’t change. You changed. You way of looking at the world (or at least at the contents of the book) changed. Depending on where we are in life, what we’re thinking and feeling and dealing with, we listen with different filters. We don’t always hear what the other person is saying, we hear what we want to hear. We listen selectively. We react to parts of what’s said and not to the whole message. This is constantly true and constantly changing. No wonder it’s hard to interact with someone. Now put four, five, seven people in the same room and all of this becomes exponential. It just becomes this mass of people who are all talking without realizing that the other person isn’t really hearing them. And then the other person talks and the original person doesn’t really listen. On and on it goes. Then the meeting/get-together/event is over. And everyone walks away with completely different feelings and understanding of what just happened. This happens very often in face-to-face time. Imagine how much worse it is over email, skype, text messaging, etc. Today’s event made me remember that I need to be more aware of this. I need to be careful when I talk that I am clear. I need to follow up to make sure the goals I had in mind were communicated properly. That the other person and I are on the same page. That there are no bad feelings or uncertainty. I am not always diligent with follow up. And on the opposite side, I need to speak up when I am not certain I follow. I need to repeat back so the other person can make sure I understood what they meant. This all seems a bit silly but I really think it’s not. Even with my husband, whom I’ve known for almost twenty years, I sometimes misunderstand what he says. I definitely hear differently depending on my own mood and perspective. And if I do it with a person I know so well, I must be doing it so much more often with other people. And since communication is the cornerstone of any kind of relationship, being aware of how we don’t always hear what the other person is saying is crucial. If not, all we have is a bunch of disgruntled people thinking the other person just didn’t get them at all. Which is exactly what happened to my friends today. What a waste. And here’s the spread for week twenty-seven:
here’s a closer up of the left side:
The first story here is about the kids blowing bubbles in the backyard and then the other one is about seeing Brave with the kids. We all loved it so much. And here’s the right side:
The first one here is about the new water and sand table we got for the backyard and how much the kids love it. The second one is about how even though it’s noisy, crazy and messy with all of us here for the summer, I wouldn’t trade a moment of it. ever. Art along the bottom as usual. Another great week. Happy Savoring. The Savor Project was supposed to be a weekly project for 2012. You can read about my setup here.
Another book I read not to watch the movie first was We Bought a Zoo and I am glad I read it. (Listened to actually.) It was really interesting and fascinating. From what I’ve seen in the previews, the movie looks like they’ve changed the plot quite a bit. Have any of you both read and seen it? Is it worth seeing? I mean, it does have Matt Damon in it, but still I hate getting disappointed when the book is so different.
I woke up this morning and I was tired. I sleep for over eight hours, so I can’t imagine that’s it, but maybe it is. Maybe my body needs nine hours. Anyway. Then I started my morning routine. Exercised, showered, we all got dressed, ate breakfast, and then sketched. Then I started work. But I was still tired. More importantly, I was moody. If I am honest with myself, I’ve been moody for some time now. I am trying to snap out of it and I have had moments of joy and even days full of contentment. But there’s an underlying moodiness. One of those periods when negative thoughts pop into my head way more often than positive ones. When my drive and willingness to do anything is low. (Which of course perpetuates the cycle since I won’t do what it takes to snap myself out of it.) And I am sort of unpredictable. Even in the middle of joy, a tiny word or action can take me back down to the annoyed/moody place. Not depressed but cranky. If you asked me what’s going on, I can tell you long stories about it. I have many reasons why all these things are happening. But, the fact is, most of the reasons are bullshit. (sorry for the cursing, i generally try not do that here but i needed something stronger than ‘made up’.) I mean, sure, things could be better. But, really, there’s just no reason for me to be the way I am being. There’s no reason to go through life this way. Doing the motions. And looking at every single thing with a pessimistic bias. I was watching this talk on the optimism bias today and kept thinking how I just don’t function that way. I am pessimistic about the future. Maybe not pessimistic but anxious. I worry all the time. All.the.time. My mind goes to the most negative outcome possible. It definitely doesn’t serve me. But back to my moodiness. Years ago, I took this class that basically said that we go through different emotions mostly for chemical reasons. Happy. Sad. None of them mean anything. We like to attribute meaning to a good day and to a bad day but most of it is just chemical. (Obviously not when something significant happens and your mood changes right then, like being proposed to or getting in a car accident, etc. But on any ordinary day.) And, while I am not sure I buy this thought, I love the idea of reminding myself that “It doesn’t mean anything.” So today I woke up moody. So what. Attributing meaning tends to do one of two things for me. I make it someone else’s problem which means it’s out of my hands; I am hopeless to fix it. So now it’s not in my control and I just sit here and feel small, out of control, frustrated. Or I make it this big problem that needs to be solved and I can’t be happy until it is. This puts me into the postponement world. So I hold happiness hostage until the issue is resolved. And if it’s something I can’t resolve soon, well I get to be unhappy. Both of these are ridiculous. At the moment, I am stuck in some situations that I am not happy with. But I took some time and decided I am not ready to change them yet. The outcome of change could be much worse than how things are. And I am just not willing to take that risk yet. This puts me in scenario two above. I can’t solve it. And I attribute almost all my moodiness to these situations. I hear myself thinking “if this and that were different…” then I get to be happy. Then I can quit being moody. Then I can enjoy my life. Ok I won’t curse again but I am thinking the same word. So. I decided today that next time I am moody, I am going to do three things: 1. Remember that it doesn’t mean anything. It will go away. My moods do change. And this one will, too. So here we are. I know this is a bit all over the place. But if you’re in the same place as I am where you feel a bit stuck and feel moody but are in a situation you’re not ready to change just yet, maybe some of these will help you, too. One other thing I am trying to do is to do more of the activities that bring joy to me. Art, friends, TV, hugging my kids whatever it is. I am trying not to judge, but to do them all. You can never have too much joy, if you ask me. Here are the sketches from last week: Sunday:
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
that’s it for this week. Daily Sketching is a weekly project for 2012. You can see a detailed post on my sketching journey here.
Even though I am usually a monotony-loving person, I feel the need to shake things up lately. The problem is I don’t know in what part of my life and exactly how. I have now been keeping a relatively regular schedule of personal activities. I exercise and sketch daily. I do art journaling in the same format twice a week. A collage page once a week. My savor project. And a layout here and there for assignments. I also spend a good bit of time reading. I have sort of slacked on the journaling/meditating/strength work. And despite several varying attempts in the last few months, I haven’t really integrated anything new into my schedule. And it’s not an issue of time. I have more free time. Especially for things that inspire and excite me. But I feel too tired to go looking. It’s a bit ironic, I know, that I don’t have the energy to find things that might give me more energy. But here we are. I want a super-engaging book. I want new blogs/sites that inspire me. I want some new artistic ideas to pursue. New classes to take. A new hobby. A new passion. Ways to grow. People to meet. People to really connect with. I want to feel more alive. I want to experience different things so I can feel that jolt of enthusiasm that comes with the fresh, the new. But I don’t know how. I don’t know where to start. How to start. I don’t want to let anything go because I don’t think it will help me pick up something new. I tend to be better at making space for something once it inspires me. I have no doubt that if I felt pulled in a new direction, I won’t have trouble letting go of what’s here. I just need to feel that pull. But I don’t know where to begin. Any ideas? This is a layout I made for My Mind’s Eye for June.
And the journaling says: details:
And the next spread:
The left side is an amulet one of David’s classmates gave him and the right side is a paper we created when we sat to stamp and color and play.
Here’s the paper that’s tucked in there on the right side. more next time. David’s Book of Good Memories is a bi-weekly project for 2012 with my seven-year-old son David. You can read more about it here. |
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