Some goals.

 I want to do more of these things in my life:
1. Recycle, Reduce, Reuse.
2. Compost.
3. Grow an edible/medicinal landscape = more basil and beans, less grass.
4. Buy local, organic and fair trade.
5. Use alternative energy.
6. Get to know neighbors, share.

Babysteps to a better world.

"Only when the last river has been polluted, and the last tree been cut down, and the last fish been caught, will we realise we cannot eat money."   -Cree saying

Pinterest

"Pinterest, ugh."  I thought.
Another place on the internet to pull me away from my work, hours of mindless browsing that keeps my hands away from my own pens and papers and glues and paints and inks and scissors.

But the truth is, there is so much amazing inspiration to be had out there, it is worth browsing if you can pull yourself away after a time, and open up your own journal.  (maybe set a timer!)
I have been posting inspiring journaling images on THIS BOARD, these are not my own pages, but a portfolio of other artists' work from all over the world.
Have a peek.
Get inspired.
Then DO go to your own work space and do some journaling.

Happy Sunday.

“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.”
--Auguste Rodin

my last week of summer. . .

I like a road that doesn’t know just where it wants to go,
a road that’s always wandering and turning to and fro…
following a winding stream, or curving round a shore.
Making loops upon a hill to reach the valley floor.
I feel akin to vagrant roads for I like best to roam
not knowing until evening comes what place I call my home.
--Rachel Hartnett

Celebrating life's very small accomplishments

I have a friend with an autistic son. He went away to a special school, and of course she was quite worried about him. When he came home from the first break, he showed her his cell phone and the fact that he now had a friend listed there, with a phone number. She was overjoyed for him and so very proud of this accomplishment.
In life, we often look at the highest achievers to compare ourselves to, our society tends to focus on the winners in our culture of celebrity; the gold medal Olympic athletes, the Hollywood superstars, the mega millionaires . . . .

When we say "I wrote a book" it feels like it is not an achievement unless we can add the words "and it sold ten thousand copies!" I am here to remind us all that each small accomplishment in our lives is wonderful. That sometimes just getting up to face the difficult tasks of the day is a glorious achievement.

I was sharing last night in a group that I have been feeling very unruddered lately, unsure of my next step, not clear in my personal path right now, and how that makes me feel so unaccomplished. Thinking more about why I feel this way, I realize I've been caught up in our competitive society's thinking that unless we are at the top, we are nowhere.

Phooey to that.
I am going to choose not to get caught up in the whirlwind of defining success by the media's terms. I am so impressed by Olympic athletes, amazed at the hard work of best-selling authors, interested in those people who make statements the whole world can hear.
But I am equally proud of a differently-abled person who manages to get his very first friend listed on his cell phone.  He deserves a medal, too.

“There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.
You feel it, don't you?”
--Rumi