Hitting the road. . . .

Off to Oregon, Northern California, then Iceland!
Lots of journal pages when I get back.

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” - Jack Kerouac

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

Have a Great Day!

"Let there be more joy and laughter in your living." --Eileen Caddy

Big changes afoot!

Hello blogging buddies -- I need to be away for a while. I have some travel coming up, several large work deadlines to meet before I head out, and also some big life changes afoot.
So please know that in late June, I will be back with tons of new pages and inspirations from my travels to several western states (Oregon and California) and an arctic country (Iceland!) that I will be visiting. (Yes -- I will actually spend the Solstice inside the Arctic Circle -- so much sunlight will certainly make for some inspiration in my journaling life.)
I am headed into this new adventure with an open heart and expecting good things to come, and my journal will go with me and help me process it all - I can't wait to share that journey with you here.
So please do come back again in a bit. Until then:




"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty." --Maya Angelou

until I can add more pages . . . .

I am on some sad family business, but I read this in the New York Times in an article about Absinthe, and just could not let this get away without sharing it - I have had Absinthe and found it almost impossible to drink it is so strong - but sometimes in life, we need a kick like that -- this is from the article:

"While a little absinthe can be quite pleasant, a lot, as with any other strong spirit, will make you drunk. Perhaps, if you are of an Oscar Wilde bent, too much absinthe will do to you what it did to him: “After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were,” he said in one of his many disquisitions on absinthe. “After the second you see things as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.”

"Personally, I prefer how martinis affected Dorothy Parker:

I like to have a martini,

Two at the very most.

After three I’m under the table,

after four I’m under my host."

jack of all trades, master of none?

I am spending much much time these days on some graphics work honing my skills; a website and magazine layout.
I am doing this because I might be transitioning into needing full time employment and I need to be up to what the marketplace would demand.
"WHAT?" (you might be saying to yourself) -- "all her talk about the Spirit taking care of us and being in the bliss of the moment, and here she is talking about money and a job. . . ."
Well, for me right now it is like this -- I trust the Universe to help me be who and what I am meant to be, but I also will responsibly create an ability to take care of myself, should I need to.
Rather than jump out of the plane with no parachute, I choose to buckle on a parachute, hopefully one that works and is up to date.
There is peace and joy and dancing in this life, and there is also hard work and responsibility.
Without the darkness, there is no light.

So as I spend this month focusing on the hours and hours I need to get the website and layout work done, my reward is some awesome travel next month, which I will be journaling and blogging about in force. You will go along with me and hear all about it.

and today's page is one I did a few weeks ago about the fact that I trained many moons ago to be an architect. . . . and haven't practiced that profession in almost a decade.
seems like another lifetime ago.



"I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of ''work,'' because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don't always want to do. The machinery is always going. Even when you sleep." -Andy Warhol

all life is energy . . . .

I am learning in a deep way how INTENTION creates our reality.
IF we are clear and focus on the thing at hand, everything goes so much smoother.
I have been doing a website for a client, and if I let the hodgepodge of a million stresses get to me, the whole thing turns to mud and I feel like smashing the computer with a hammer.
But if I set my intention on creating a beautifully designed, pleasing, and clear site, and let that vibration inform my thoughts as I work, I find that I organize the folders better, I tackle each obstacle with patience instead of anger, and the whole process is so much more enjoyable.
Stopping periodically to breath deeply and stretch my body a bit sure helps, too.

If our intention is to do what we do with integrity, and to exude love to all around us, how can we not succeed?
Life is here to support us, so as we set our intention to the higher good, we will feel that support in a thousand ways.
Awesome!



"Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance." --Brian Tracy

Spirit Teachers?

Some of us go to therapists, others have spirit teachers.
In my practice of Shamanism I have found that the wisdom from Spirit Teachers works for me. Therapists -- not so much.
Partly I think we all have our own inner truth, and good therapists are really just asking questions to get their clients to find it out on their own.
For me, the Shamanic path has been the most direct to my own truth.
But there still are questions, and I love that I can ask several shamanic practitioner friends to journey for me and confirm my truth.
I learned that two amazing writers whom I admire very much both feel all their writing has been channeled from an exterior source - from their Spirit Teacher. Both are quite successful authors, and do not shy away from sharing that they feel they are actually just a co-authors of their work.
Really -- when we feel connected to that FLOW that is creativity, it is all part of one whole.
For me, being here in my studio, doing this work feels like my highest calling.
So I am trusting the Universe to support me.
(Hear that, Universe!?)



"Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart." --Jan Phillips

my job . . . .

My job is not to try to become famous or well known.
My job is not to make art that one day the world will be in awe of.
My job is not to sell paintings from a gallery or even to sell numerous copies of a book I write and print and sell from my website.
My job is not to push my own agenda into the world for money or prestige or accolades.
My job is simply this:
TO CREATE A POSITIVE VIBRATION OF LOVE IN EVERYTHING I DO.

It's really that simple.
I love making art, and I love working in my journal, and I love writing about it here.
I love exploring the way creativity works in our lives and sharing the journeys of other beautiful creative beings.

So this is my work.
Money - who cares.
Fame - who cares.
I would like some stability, yes, in life, but I trust the UNIVERSE will help me out with this, as long as I stay true to the idea that creating a vibration of love in all I say and do is my main goal.
Amen, Ole, and So Be It.



"The honorary duty of a human being is to love." --Maya Angelou