Entries Tagged as: guest post
Seven Pounds, a Guest Post by Eileen Valazza
May 18th, 2011, Comments (8)
Seven Pounds
Oh little one, you made everything so big.
The love.
I was pretty sure the love would be big, and it's true. I could stare at you for hours, with that soft giddy new-parent look on my face. The one that every parent in the world ever has had.
I saw a couple pushing a stroller down our street the other day and it occurred to me, holy crap, they love that baby as much as I love you.
And it seemed impossible, that there could be this amount of love in the world. We should capture it, use it to power everything and solve the global energy crisis.
The Fear.
Maybe I wasn't thinking about the fear ahead of time, or I underestimated it. Because the fear really blindsided me. I remember the moment it hit me, a few weeks after you were born.
Before that, I worried that I might do something wrong, that I might mess up and not do the right things for you. But in that moment I realized that we won't always be here, together, all day every day.
You are going to go and be a part of this world, and other people will put their marks on you. Someone might hurt you. Someone will likely break your fluttery little heart.
I think, how can I exist knowing this? That there is this living, breathing fragile piece of me so open to the entire world? How have other parents done this before me?
It seems impossible to go on living and be this vulnerable.
Me.
But you also made me so much bigger than I was before.
I used to be able to get lost in my own dark corners for days. Now I don't the option to indulge in that. It's scary to hit a wall, to be at the very end of yourself, and realize that not going on is not an option.
When leaving is not an option there is only surrender. And so again and again, more space opens up.
I don't know how you brought so much with you, inside only seven pounds.
........
Eileen Valazza is mama to 5-month-old Zane, and serves up moonshine for your creative business at the Hopscotch Distillery.
Guest Video Post by Goddess Leonie
May 13th, 2011, Comments (5)
Oh my, my dear friend Leonie is pure magic. Enjoy this guest video post all about living and creating BIG!!
Goddess Leonie is the creator of www.GoddessGuidebook.com, a popular creativity + spirituality blog for women.
You are Invited to Liberate Your Art: Guest Post by Kat Sloma
May 11th, 2011, Comments (0)
What happens when you create your art? Does it make you happy? Do you find that you have an amazing boost of energy, of insight into life and self? Do you find that you feel centered and grounded, as if some piece of you has been completed for brief moment? I've discovered the act of creating, of making art of any kind, can have an amazing and transforming effect on me personally. I know I'm not alone.
Now, what happens when you share that art with world? You share a little bit of yourself, and add a little bit of beauty or joy or brightness into someone else's day. When you share your art, that wonderful energy you gained in the act of creation is not gone, it is magnified. You will see it reflected back to you in different, positive ways.
That's what the Liberate Your Art postcard swap is all about - sharing your art, liberating it out in the world, where it can do its greatest good. I'm so excited to be able to share this swap with the Creative Every Day community (thanks Leah!), and invite you to join in.
An overview of the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap follows. If you would like to participate, follow the link to the Liberate Your Art page on my blog to sign up for the email list. After you confirm your sign up, all details will be sent to you via email. You can unsubscribe at any time if you choose not to participate in the swap.
WHO: Artists in any medium. Photography, painting, poetry, typography, jewelry, sculpture, knitting, cooking, illustration - you name it. If you can have an image of your art printed on a postcard, you are in! If you want to share a blog or website address, I'll have a list of participants posted on the Liberate Your Art page so you can find each other.
WHAT: You will send 5 printed postcards of your original art to me, along with your address and return postage. I will then swap them around and you'll receive 5 postcards from different artists mailed back to you over a period of a few weeks. (The email you receive once you sign up will have all of the details on what to do.)
WHERE: You don't have to go anywhere, and participants from all over the world are welcome! You will send your postcards to me in the US (I'll be moved back from Italy by then) and I'll mail them back out from there. Details for international participants will be included in the email.
WHEN: The postcards will need to arrive at my US address between July 5 and July 15.
WHY: To liberate your art into the world, where it can do the most good!
I've set a personal, crazy-BIG goal for this swap - I would love to have 200 participants from all over the world. Can you imagine, 1000 postcards of wonderful art, winging their way around the world? I can! But I need your help. Please share the word about this swap on your blog, facebook page, tweet it and get your friends to sign up too. If we reach this goal, I am going to do something crazy too - send a personal post card to each and every person who participates. I get excited (and a little scared) just thinking about it!
The sign up form for the email list can be found on the Liberate Your Art page on my blog. Once you sign up, you will need to confirm your subscription to the list and you will receive the email with more details. You can also grab a button there, to show your participation and help me get the word out about the swap!
I hope you'll join me, and the many others who have already signed up, in liberating your art in the world. We're going to have a fantastic time!
::::
Bio: Kat Sloma is an artist, a photographer with a passion for inspiring others to find their unique vision of the world. She currently lives in Italy and travels Europe with an eye to finding the beauty of the everyday, while also working in the corporate world. You can see more of her photographs and read about her creative journey on her blog, The Kat Eye View of the World.
Painting Big, a Guest Post by Connie Hozvicka
May 8th, 2011, Comments (10)
My parents got divorced when I was just a wee little kiddo--and for the first years my Dad would pick my brother and I up every other Friday for our weekend visit. I was certain--100% sure that while we were gone my Mother couldn’t live with out us. I imagined, quite vividly in my six year old mind, that the entire weekend my Mother buried herself under blankets, soaked her pillows in tears, and moaned out sporadically in agony--as she waited for her beloved children to return.
Especially me, of course.
So, one Friday afternoon I thought I would surprise her with a gift. Something that she could look at and think of me--and not feel so sad and miserable in my absence.
I carried my poster paints, a small bucket of water, and that free paintbrush that comes in the watercolor kits downstairs to the family room. I moved the furniture just a little bit closer to the wall so I could balance--and I began to paint a self portrait.
Mural style.
Right there on the oak faux wood paneling.
I can remember that I drew the outline of my elongated body in blue and my hair, even though it was blonde--I began by drawing it long and wavy with thick black lines.
I remember exactly how it felt to paint that self portrait. The power of moving my little body with each brushstroke. The danger of balancing on the back of our mustard colored sofa. The rush I got from creating a surprise gift for my Mother.
The pure bliss of painting BIG for my very first time.
Then, unexpectedly, my Mother came downstairs.
Yep. You can imagine what happened next.
But here’s the thing. It doesn’t matter that my Mom was rightfully upset. It doesn’t matter that she cried tears and even sporadically moaned out in agony as she scrubbed with bleach and other stinky chemicals. It doesn’t matter even that I got grounded or that she didn’t fully embrace my gift.
I don’t remember all of that stuff.
I just remember how it felt the first time I ever painted BIG.
And now, 30 years later, I’m back to painting BIG and it has cracked my life open into a canyon of beautiful possibilities, abundance, and welcoming surprises. I’m no longer the person I used to be--instead I found myself again. I picked up where I once left off.
When my Mother walked down the stairs.
::::::
Connie Hozvicka is the founder of DirtyFootprints-Studio.com--the home of the FEARLESS™ Painting Revolution which focuses on empowering creative souls to strengthen their intuition, connect deeper with Creative Source, and grow confidant as Artists through FEARLESS™ Painting. Connie's online FEARLESS™ Painting workshop: BIG starts Sunday, May 22, 2011. This is a 6 week adventure that will introduce you to the FEARLESS™ Painting Process and inspire you to paint BIG!
Guest Post by Katina Wright
April 19th, 2011, Comments (11)
When Leah set “small” as the inspiration for April I smiled to myself at the synchronicity this theme had with my present project and approach to creative living. This past few years chronic illness has necessitated I slow down and approach everything I do, from creativity to rehabilitation, in small chunks.
I know that creative activity helps nourish my wellbeing but sometimes when I’m feeling ill, tired or pushed for time I need to be gently nudged into action. One of my favourite ways to do this is to use short timed creative prompts. Small time chunks, between ten or twenty minutes, usually work best for me. I’ve used many prompts I’ve found in books or learnt on courses but for a long time I’ve enjoyed making my own mini exercises up and sharing them in groups/workshops I attend or run.
What advantages are there to a timed creative exercise? I’ve discovered that:
- * Ten to twenty minutes is manageable even during difficult times.
- * They help kick start my inspiration
- * A burst of creative activity makes me feel good
- * They’re not overwhelming in their expectations or length and so meet less resistance from my tired mind than a larger project might.
- * Often they inspire further creative output and ideas.
My main rule when approaching a timed challenge is to have no expectations for the results. I give myself permission to make a huge incoherent mess and remind myself that the resulting creation is not to be judged. Taking off any pressure to create a huge project and allowing freedom from our inner critic seems to open the imagination up; having shed the weight of expectation it seems to fly.
I now create and email weekly prompts suitable for inspiring a variety of creative mediums, named TIC TOCCs. I also write a Tuesday post on my Wright Story blog where I hope people may be able to discuss (and if they wish link to) their TIC TOCC experiences. On this post I also share my own art and writing results. You can read more about TIC TOCC, what the anagram stands for and how to sign up here.
My first Wright Story Extra email was sent on Tuesday 12th April 2011 with TIC TOCC and bonus interview. You can read it here. Its never too late to give it a try and post your link in the comments of a Tuesday TIC TOCC post
I hope that people receiving my TIC TOCC prompts are encouraged that, no matter how tired or pushed for time they are, it’s possible to set a timer and create for just ten or twenty minutes. It would be lovely to share my TIC TOCC journey by sharing experiences with others. Some of my favourite ideas have come from doing these timed exercises and the ‘high’ I get from giving free reign to my imagination is wonderful. Even small bursts of creativity can do us the world of good and often great things grow from small.
Thank you Leah for inviting me to do this guest post on your constantly inspiring Creative Everyday Blog!
Nest: A Guest Post by Goddess Leonie
March 8th, 2011, Comments (11)
This is a love letter.
To all those who are creating nests.
For babies. For projects. For wild, magical ideas. For life.
What is it to become a nest?
To grow a bird inside you, one that tweets and sings and rolls and dances.
The heartbeat that rolls like an ocean.
It is to know, in an instant, your life will change.
It will overcome you.
It will bring you to your knees.
And from there,
you will pray.
It is to give up yourself.
Give over yourself.
Let yourself swirl out into the sea of the unknown.
And slowly, find what it is
to be a wise, ancient turtle
adrift.
It is to take comfort in the changing tides,
the sweep of your new ravishing beauty,
in the way not only your belly swells
but your soul opens and blooms.
Free.
It is to dream big dreams.
Clean and open and new.
It is to devote yourself wholly to a pure cause:
one that is love
and one that is light.
It is to walk deep into your own shadow
to find the shamaness there.
The courageous one
the brave one
the one with a full heart
and strong body
who knows where she must go.
It is to hold strength and vulnerability
together
in one fist.
To be a lioness
and to also know
that all around
there are a thousand angels
chanting your name.
It is to find within yourself
the kind of glow
you've only seen in others.
It is to see yourself
for the first time perhaps
as you truly are:
the most perfect of perfect
the most divine of divine.
This is what it is
what it takes
to build a nest
and become a nest
for all your dreams
all your visions
all you desire
and all you are brave enough to seek.
It is to arrive.
At the mountain top.
And to make the decision
to leap
off the edge
into the deep.
Because you know
that is where you belong.
And like an avalanche,
she arrives.
This image of perfection,
this dream you have dreamed,
she is now alive
and awake
and walking in this world.
Because of you.
You, the nest.
The one who allowed herself to be
and become.
It took courage.
And faith.
And love.
And heart.
But you did it.
You, lioness, mama,
the abalone shell which holds new life.
You are the creatrix.
You are rounded out
and softened now.
Interwoven with soft fur
and strands of golden hair
and flinging threads of magic.
You are the nest.
The one wide enough to hold the space for new things
to spark to life,
be nurtured,
be born,
and bloom.
____
Goddess Leonie is the creator of www.GoddessGuidebook.com, a popular creativity + spirituality blog for women, and the upcoming Business Goddess course. She is also the nest of a thousand dreams come true, including her baby daughter Ostara.
One Theme Flows to the Next
April 28th, 2010, Comments (13)
Wow, what a fun time of year to focus on the senses. I think my senses are already on high alert in Spring, especially as I've gotten older. Summer has always been my favorite month (I love the warmer weather, my b-day is in July, and summer used to mean vacation!), but in the last few years, I've been especially enamored with Spring. I can't get enough of its young, green, flirty ways. I've been especially loving the flowering trees all around this new neighborhood I'm living in, the young birds visiting our yard (cardinals, blue jays, robins, and a woodpecker, among others), and just being outside. When I was feeling a bit funky on Monday, I took a long walk through the woods and snapped these pictures. Doesn't the path look mysterious? And then below, another mysterious looking picture of the sun reflected in a bog. It felt like I was looking into the moonlit sky, a through-the-looking-glass kind of image.
The senses theme this month also seems to lead perfectly into the theme of Intuition for May. A bunch of people mentioned Intuition or their sixth sense in the comments this month, so I sort of hinted about the upcoming theme here and there. I could barely contain myself from shouting, "Yes, you're right on the money, Intuition is next!" Hehe. I'm terrible at keeping secrets.
I love the way one theme has flowed seamlessly to the next this year. But really, getting in touch with your senses is a great way to tap into your intuition. And speaking of Intuition, today I have a guest post about creating sanctuary to help discover your purpose over at Intuitive Guide, Bridget Pilloud's fabulous blog. I've taken a Chakralicious class from Bridget and think she's just awesome. And I'll be sharing much more about Bridget next month, so stay tuned!
Your Favorite Senses: A Guest Post by Kat Sloma
April 15th, 2010, Comments (12)
I am in the midst of an amazing, unique opportunity. I'm currently living and working in Italy with my family, our first year is coming to an end and we have one year yet to go. There is so much that is difficult but wonderful about living outside of your culture for a while. This has been an expansive adventure for me personally as well, I've been exploring my authentic self and my creativity in a way that I probably wouldn't if I were still in my normal life in the US. As part of this adventure, I have been toying with this idea that there is a "soul language" that each of us has, a language that is a shortcuts our brain circuitry to our heart and soul. It gets past all of our outer layers of shoulds and shouldn'ts, our learned responses and expectations from our family, our friends, our culture, whatever. To a place where your response is truly you. And that soul language is connected to one of the senses, a primary sense if you will.
My soul language is visual imagery. Whether it be color, composition, light... It's one of the reasons I love photography and painting and any other type of visual art. It speaks to me. For me, the loss of sight would be more than just the loss of a useful tool. It would be the loss of a deeper part of my connection to the world.
A while ago, I was reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and feeling guilty. I was nearing the end of my Italian language lessons and was just ready to be done, to have those 4 hours a week back for myself. I wasn't studying or practicing. And here I am readying about Elizabeth Gilbert, who loves the Italian language just for it's sound. She came to Italy to live and learn and experience the language (ok, and the food). There are many people who do this, so my brain was asking me, "Why aren't you so excited about learning Italian? Here you are in Italy for two years, every opportunity to immerse yourself, but you aren't taking advantage of it!" Complete guilt mode. Then I realized - that's not my soul language. Elizabeth Gilbert is a writer, sounds of words and language are probably her soul language, not mine.
I can immerse myself in the art and visual beauty of Italy and get just as much out of the experience, because it's my soul language. If I force myself to experience it in a way that does not ring true for me, it will be an empty experience. I will hate every minute of it. So I've shed the guilt and immersed myself in the art and beauty of this country, and I am much happier for it.
So, with this in mind, I have a couple of questions for you that tie the 5 senses in to the idea of soul language. Don't overthink these, the first answer that comes to you is usually the true one for you. My friend Jenny of Rising Sun Coaching and I came up with these a few months ago, and have been asking people to answer when we get the chance. They are fun and easy, but give you some insight into yourself:
1. What's your favorite sense? By this question, I don't mean the most useful sense to get around in day to day life. But the one that you feel like in your gut that you just can't live without. This probably ties in to your "soul language." (You already know my answer: Sight.)
2. What's your least favorite sense? What's the one you would give up without thinking too much about it? Why?
For me, this second question has turned out to be just as important as the first one. My immediate answer was Touch. I'm just not a person that revels in the feel of things, of all of the senses that would be the least favorite for me. But since answering this question for myself, I've become more aware of how much I do appreciate Touch. How much I would miss the feel of a warm cup of tea in my hand, my cat's soft fur, my son snuggled up to me. I have become more aware of all of my senses. I still delight in sight the most, but I'm also more aware of the experiences and enjoyment of the rest of the senses. Now, I occasionally close my eyes and experience the world in different ways.
When you are experiencing the world around you with all of your senses, you are much more in the moment. You are aware and appreciative of the little things that you encounter throughout the day. I hope that you take a moment to answer these questions and think on them a little bit. I would love to hear the answers you find!
****
Kat Sloma is a creative soul with the brain of an engineer. She calls Oregon home but is currently living near Milan, Italy, with her 9-year-old son Brandon, husband Patrick, and skittish cat Stevie. She spends her free time with a camera in one hand and gelato in the other. She loves visual arts and is traveling like crazy all over Europe, making the most of every moment on their two-year adventure. You can find Kat's every day creative musings at http://www.kateyeview.com.
Guest Post by Bridget Pilloud
March 16th, 2010, Comments (8)
Found Art Story
As long as I can remember, my dad has been making found art. My dad finds bits of metal and old things in dumpsters, junkyards and garage sales, and then he turns them into art.
When I was a kid, my nightlight was a 3-foot tall robot whose previous incarnation was as a parking meter. The only signs of his past life were the dome of his head, and a tell tale “Duncan Meter” embossed on his chest.
I like that my dad does this, because he takes things with stories that are seemingly over and turns them into things with new stories to tell.
Take his "Pig on a Pedestal," for example.It's a pig now. But prior to its porcine days, it was a faucet and a pipe.
I asked my dad, Earl about his process. He told me that he keeps his eye out for things, but he has no preconceived notion about what he wants to build next. Something interesting catches his eye and then he turns it over in his hand, and the next thing you know, he's turned it into a woman, or a pair of dancing figures or the six-foot-long steel earthworm that graces my mother's garden.
Perhaps this is how life is. When a story has played out in our lives, we have no idea, we have no preconceived notion about how something once functional, perhaps something we've thrown away can become new, can become a new story for us. We can be our own trash to treasure. We are mutable and transcendent.
***
Bridget Pilloud is the woo-woo badass intuitive guidance counselor over at http://www.bridgetpilloud.com. She teaches people how to tap into their intuition. Her first book, the little book of Bridget is in the works. Follow her on twitter here: @intuitivebridge. You can follow Bridget's dad on twitter too: @earldepearl . Perhaps someday he will tweet something.
Guest Post by Heidi Fischbach
March 5th, 2010, Comments (15)
Stories. Ooof!
Don't get me wrong. I love a good story as much as the next girl. Also, I'm not talking here of wonderful books or stories I see on the big screen.
No. I'm talking about certain stories that run in my mind and keep me from moving about with ease. The kind that put kinks in my back and pains in my neck. Oof!
Oftentimes these are stories that I've been telling for some kind of forever, and over the years, what with all the things I’ve gathered as supposéd evidence and exhibits a - z for these stories, some of them tend to get rather heavy.
I'm also not necessarily talking of stories that leave me sad, because, truth be told I don't mind me some straight-up-sad from time to time. At all: a good cry can clear my heart of clutter, not to mention draining my sinuses, which is not a bad thing these days.
The heaviest stories tend to be old. I might have started telling them when I was a kid. Maybe I even took them over from where my parents or grandparents left them off.
I know I'm in the presence of a heavy story when the canvas of my future feels like it's been washed in doom, and any paint I splash takes on a hue of hopeless.
This winter, an old and heavy story has come to my awareness for some loving. It is long and convoluted and in need of fresh eyes, not to mention an editor who is unafraid to discard anything that doesn't serve what would otherwise be a lovely life plot. I will spare you the details—you're welcome! Don’t mention it—and cut to the gist: "I have a hard time."
Oof-stories have no respect for grammar and so my succinct little 5-word sentence very quickly runs into, "and I have always had a hard time." And then, not to leave out the future, “and I will always have a hard time.”
End of story. Except for how it tends to repeat and go all Star Wars prequel-sequel on me. Sure, my characters get new names, the numbers in the year flip over, the costumes get changed up, but at some point I notice this story is pretty much following heavily tread and tired mental pathways.
Let me save you time and tell you a few things that do not work on an old oof-story: bitch-slapping it and trying to make it shape up (it will so mock you behind your back and then sneak down to the kitchen for icecream or drinks in the middle of the night); trying to make it go away (oof stories have serious staying power); going all Spanish Inquisition on it (it can smell your agenda to get rid of it a mile away and tends to stick its chin out protectively); calling in the white light brigades to banish darkness (yes, it might go hide in the closet for the afternoon, but watch out at 3 a.m. Booo!). Even what otherwise can be wonderful practices like prayer and meditation have a way of not working when done with the motive of getting rid of a story.
I started noticing my hard-time story sometime in January, and yes, proceeded to have myself a very hard time about it. Crying, hopeless, insomnia…
And then I called in my favorite superhero, Curiosity, and while he didn’t go all vanquish-the-darkness like other big guns might, things have been shifting.
A few things about my superhero. Curiosity can be oh-so-subtle or orange-bright. He looks different at different times, and yes, sometimes she wears a cape. (And, in case you didn’t notice, she really doesn’t get tripped up about pronouns or gender: he, she, it, whatever.)
Curiosity is never pushy, which doesn’t mean she doesn’t stick with an assignment. She is kind but not at all nicey-nice fake. She will never say something just to make me feel better.
Curiosity also has a kick-ass and irreverent sense of humor. I have yet to find something he doesn’t get me laughing about at some point. (Without ever tickling or poking fun, because that’s just mean, and he doesn’t roll that way).
And when I cry, she is there with the towels, or answering the door to let in friends bringing blankets and flashlights for dark times.
The best part about Curiosity is that it has no agenda other than being curious. Even in the face of a part of me that feels desperate and in a hurry, Curiosity opens its eyes, has a calm Clint-Eastwood-ish look around and without missing a beat rolls up his sleeves and gets on with his reconnaissance.
Thing 1 that Curiosity helps me with is noticing. Especially with old oof-stories noticing is key. Curiosity looks at a thing just as it is, without prettying it up, and without making it worse than it is. Straight up truth without bush-beating.
With my hard-time story, this went something like: yes, I had my first panic attack when I was 10. Yes, I swallowed pills when I was 26. Yes… yes…
Invariably, doing this has the effect of giving me some welcome distance from my ooof story, helping me see that IT is not me. Or in the least, it is not all of me. How can I know? Because I’m noticing it, which means something bigger and wider than IT is here. Sure, the story plays out on the screen of my mind, expressing its plot and feelings in the body of me—images in my mind’s eye, stiffness in my jaw, a sore neck… But now something greater and wider than IT is noticing. And that, dear visitor of my friend Leah’s blog, is big. BIG.
And then Curiosity dons his editor cap and says, “Um, Heidi, that part right there, can you rewind that for a sec? Let’s look at that scene again, right about the part where you are also 10 and your dad is teaching you to dive off the rocks at the lake in Lican Ray. Awww, would you look at you. Gosh but it sure does look like you’re having a good time. And oh my but does your dad look proud…”
And so it goes with the editing of the “always had” part. And today it looks like we’ll have a look at the word “again,” which is seriously overused in most hard-time stories.
As you can see, this oof story has not left, at least not entirely. But it’s changing. And who knows, maybe one of these days the final cut will be released, and when it is, don’t be surprised when the opening credit reads: “To Curiosity, my hero. With love.”
***
Heidi Fischbach is a massage therapist, writer and potion-mixer. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. You can visit her at Heidi’s Table, where she and her aardvark business buddy make their virtual home. She looks forward to traveling and writing stories, with or without a hard time.
