Category: Reading Nook

April 1, 2014

Fool’s Gold: Lessons the Fool Taught Me

Here at the studio, I’ve decided to redefine April Fool’s Day. See, I’m not much into trickery. In fact, in my family you could always ask me to find out if someone was just teasing. And in high school I wore a blue ribbon during the first week of class so that freshmen knew that if they asked me where the gym was, I’d tell them where the gym was. So the April Fool’s tradition here is to revisit the lessons (and wisdom) of The Fool. Enjoy!

Lessons from The Fool

I almost called this article, “Lessons Fools Have Taught Me” but that sounded like I was going to write about ex-boyfriends and bad teachers, when what I really want to talk about is the wisdom of The Fool, the first card of the tarot.

1. Have beginner’s mind.

Over time we fill up with knowledge, habits and experience, and generally, that serves us well. But sometimes being that full gets in the way of fresh thinking and creative possibilities. The gift of letting go of knowing is the opportunity to learn.

2. Leap.

Traditionally, The Fool is shown teetering on the edge, just about to go over a cliff. Whenever we step into a new adventure, it’s a risk. It’s natural to be nervous. But think how many things once felt risky and now are second nature, like standing, for example! Courage and confidence are created one leap at a time.

3. Don’t pay too much attention to your fears.

The Fool is often depicted with a little dog nipping at his heels or biting the seat of his pants to stop him from going over. Our fears do this to us all the time: sometimes protecting us, but sometimes holding us back. Take the time to listen to your fears, do what you can to support your safety and then get on with the adventure!

4. Play.

Even on the cliff, the Fool takes time to enjoy the moment. The most precious gift you have is now. Make room for some lightness and joy, maybe even some silliness – you may just find it delicious!

5. Don’t worry about being a 0.

Our real human need to be respected and valued can sometimes transmute into a drive for and dependency on status. Keeping up with appearances and worrying what others think of us is exhausting! The Fool reminds us to drop out of that game and simply be. Wherever you are, it’s just the right place on your journey.

What foolishness will you get up to this month?

March 31, 2014

I Made This: Getting Over My Fear of Drawing

Drawing intimidates me. In fact, when I go through a list of all the arts I can think of, drawing would top the list as the scariest.

When did I get this fear of drawing?

I can so easily cast back to being a little girl gleefully making the most of my crayons, markers and coloured pencils. Hours upon hours were spent drawing trees and ducks and writing my alphabet. We had a little art table at the back of the family room and I can still feel what it was like to sit there, absorbed in creating.

The turning point was whenever it became clear that “representation” was the purpose for art, that if you drew a dog it should look like a dog, by which I mean, really look like a dog. How did you accomplish that? Nobody told me that part! If you were an artist, if you had talent, you would know.

Well, I didn’t know. And so drawing just dropped out of my repertoire. Forever.

Until this year.

If you follow stART: Creating as We Go, you know that my sisters and I are signed up for Life Book. We’re exploring our way through weekly mixed media exercises and recently did Carla Sonheim‘s lesson, which included drawing. At first I felt that old familiar dread. My body tensed up as I thought, “I don’t know how to do this.” But Carla’s exercises were imaginative and playful and I found myself easing in. After all, who was going to see these little drawings anyway?

Then I checked out Lisa Congdon‘s Line Drawing class at Creativebug* and for the first time since I was a little girl I was excited about drawing.

Drawing is just shapes?

I can do lines and circles and squiggles! In fact, I love doing lines and circles and squiggles! I could do that all day. And this week I did! I spent hours making circles and flowers and stars and having so much fun.

All of this exploration is helping me redefine what “drawing” is and to reclaim the part of it I truly love – the simple pleasure of making lines and shapes and squiggles on the page.

I’m getting over my fear of drawing one line at a time.

I’m sharing this post as a part of I Made This! If you want to share something you made this week, come on by and join in!

Psst… I’m going to be interviewing Lisa Congdon on Creative Living with Jamie. Be sure to keep an ear out for that!

March 29, 2014

Working with Focus Areas – And Free Focus Journal Sheets!

My Gift To You: Focus Journal Sheets

Thank you so much to everyone who let me know that sharing this concept of focus areas both here and in the podcast struck a chord. I’m so glad that sharing the specifics of how I have developed clarity around my core focus areas helped you too. Last week on the podcast, I promised that I would share with you how I actively work with these focus areas on a yearly, weekly and even daily basis so here we go!

My core focus areas, honed in on over the years, are: work, home, art & creativity, self, love, loved ones, body, spirit, and money.

My secondary focus areas are: experience and adventure, doing good, learning & style.

And a very special pivotal focus area is: serendipity.

Knowing these makes it easier to say “yes” or to say “no,” to invest or to pass, to fix or to let go. It helps me make choices and take a stand, to decide where to put my energy and my talents and when to walk away. It’s powerful, motivating and useful

If hearing this inspires you to make your own list (and I hope it does) remember, I didn’t come up with these categories overnight. I made a start at identifying my priorities and then I began working with them. Over time, I made adjustments, tweaked this or that. So, don’t feel like you have to know everything right at the beginning. Just make a start.

So, how do I work with them?

Yearly Focus

Many of you know that every year I spend the time between Christmas and New Years making Vision Cards. In fact, many of you have taken my Vision Card workshop and done the same! At this magical transition point of one year to the next, I contemplate what I wish for in each of my focus areas areas and then create a kind of mini dreamboard for each one.

This year I added something new, inspired by Shannon: two journal writes. The first was a check-in for each of my core focus areas and the second explored what I dreamed of for each of them this year. And let me share a tip for you on this; I timed myself! I could totally have spent days upon days writing about each of these but instead I gave myself a couple of minutes per focus area for a really focused write and I let that be enough.

Weekly Focus

This is where the whole idea of focus areas began for me. At the beginning of the week I sit down and plan some things that I can do to tend to each of my focus areas. I know you’re probably saying, “OMG, Jamie, that’s too much! You have, like 14 areas! That’s way too many to-dos.” But it isn’t really. First of all, I prioritize the core focus areas, so that brings it down to nine. And no one’s saying you have to plan big earth-shattering events or achievements in each area. In fact, knowing that you’ll be tending to each area again next week really allows you to trust smaller steps.

Plus, knowing these focus areas doesn’t mean you have to add more to what you’re already doing. You simply have a category for recognizing the importance and value of each focus area in your life. For example, if you’re going to a birthday party this week, you can note that as an activity that honours your focus area of Loved Ones. Doesn’t that feel so much better than seeing it simply as a commitment on your calendar or even an obligation?

So, I can look at my week and say,

Home: a big clean-up because my dad’s coming to visit.
Work: I’ve got lots of to-dos here! Which ones are going on the schedule for this week?
Art & Creativity: I’m going to do the next lesson in Lifebook.
Self: I’m going to stick with my morning pages practice this week.
Love: I’m going to chat with Justin about what we’re going to do for our wedding anniversary in February.
Loved Ones: I’m going to make sure to say happy birthday to Suzie on the podcast!
Body: I’m going to play obsessive amounts of Just Dance 2014.
Spirit: I haven’t been meditating lately. This week I’m going to make an effort to sit at least once.

I could also look at my secondary areas and say, hmm.. I’m going to pay attention to Style this week too.

Style: While I’m out this week, I’m going to pop into H&M and look for a new pair of earrings.

Imagine the difference in your life if every week you spent some time focused on your true priorities!

Daily Focus

On a daily basis, you certainly could take a similar approach, starting with your focus areas and creating and/or categorizing to-dos with that framework as a guide. Personally, I don’t try and fit in every category every day. That feels way too full and way too structured for me.

What I actually do daily is work backwards. I keep a running document on my computer for gathering my accomplishments during the day and as I note what I’ve done, I categorize it by my focus area. This becomes a tracking mechanism, though I treat it lightly, trusting my awareness. Over time, I’ll notice which categories continually show up and which never do and make adjustments. Maybe I’m having resistance to a certain focus area or maybe the truth is I’m not that interested in it. Paying attention helps me tweak my focus appropriately.

Your Focus Areas

If you’re interested in playing with this model, I’ve made something to support you: Focus Area Journal sheets , a printable PDF for planning your actions to honour each focus area. It includes both the subject areas that I have defined and also a sheet that you can add your own categories to. I hope you love it.

This practice has been key in helping me align my life with my priorities. I hope it inspires the same in you. Let me know how you find working with these.

I’d also love to know how you relate to my focus areas. Are these things that interest you too? If they are, I might expand what I share with you to cover more of these areas or I might find a way to categorize content on my site around those subjects.

Enjoy!

My Gift To You: Focus Journal Sheets

March 26, 2014

Finding Focus & Knowing Your Priorities

As I focus on starting my year with clarity and vision, I want to share with you a starting place, a “great beginning of the year” place, but also a “beginning of the week” place and a “beginning of the day” place. It’s a framework for finding focus that I have been using for years, a simple practice of identifying and working with core focus areas. (If you did my Vision Card workshop this year, you’ve got a great head start on this!) Now, it may be simple but it’s not always easy to identify your top priorities but, trust me, it is worth the effort!

Focus areas are simply categories that hold and describe what is truly important to you. They provide a powerful support for creating plans, priorities and actions that are truly aligned with your heart.

Here are some useful questions for starting to find focus and explore your priorities:

What would you say are your top priorities?
How do you spend your time?
What do you notice about the relationship between these two things? (Be gentle with yourself)

One of the ways that I’ve built a more and more congruous relationship between my priorities and my time has been to first name my priorities as focus areas and then to use them as planning tools – yearly, weekly and daily.

I started out with a very general idea of what was important to me mixed in with what happened to be on my plate. Over time, I began to hone in on what came up year after year (even if their particular expression changed) and what was a passing interest. Now, every year when it comes time to make my Vision Cards, I find myself turning to the same 10 or so core focus areas. Their names might shift year to year but their heart remains the same. They provide a core structure to my life, like perennials in the garden. I also have some secondary focus areas that I truly love and that often knock at my heart and ask to be included. Like colourful annuals I enjoy picking a few each year but, truth be told, I find myself simply drawn to the same ones again and again and again.

I thought I’d share with you my focus areas in the hope that it will inspire you to identify yours and to discover how knowing them might guide how you fill your to-do list and your date book in a truly meaningful way.

Core Focus Areas

Work

I’m not referring to a “job,” though that might be a part of it. It”s more, “What is the work that I want to do here in the world?” “What do I want to create and contribute?” “What is the body of work that I want to build and share?” There is something about the way I am wired that makes this a high priority. I have always wanted to be doing, making, creating and this category holds all of that for me.

Home

This focus area is so close to my heart that I can barely put it into words. Ever since I was a little girl I have been in love with spaces and places. To me, home is the place that you can actively create an environment in which you and your loved ones thrive. Home is a place for expressing who you are and what you love. Home is a deep expression of you.

Art and Creativity

I have always been drawn to art and creativity. One of the things I’ve learned over time is that a regular practice of creating myself plus an engagement with music, dance, theatre, art and the like are essential to my happiness. I’ll never forget being a real grumpy pants after finishing up my expressive arts training and not really understanding the relationship between the two until my sister Shannon said, “So… do you think it might be because you don’t have regular creative time anymore?” Yep, that’s it exactly.

Self

This includes things like writing morning pages, meditating, reading, going for walks and on artist dates. It’s nourishing me as distinct from anyone else. Having your Self as one of your focus areas is a great way of making sure that you don’t leave yourself out when it comes to planning and prioritizing. Trust me, you don’t want to leave yourself out of your own life.

Love

For me, this really means Justin. This is a reminder to pay active attention to my marriage and to the loving relationship I have with this wonderful man I live life with. I love Justin and I love our relationship and one of the reasons we have so much happiness together is that we consciously care for one another.

Loved Ones

And in terms of consciously caring, I also have a category called Loved Ones and that is, of course, my family and my friends and everyone that is near and dear to me. This is to remind me to make an active effort in connecting with my loved ones and that can be anything from remembering birthdays to planning coffee dates to helping someone with their blog or business.

Body

Over the years I have called this focus area anything form health to wellness to vitality but what sticks the best for me, what holds all the layers while staying the simplest is Body. This is a reminder actively attend to and care for my body– to move, to stretch eat nutrition-rich food, to sleep, to groom.

Spirit

This names the importance of the sacred in my life, the way it’s important to me to connect with and be at ease with The Universe. It’s my reminder to pay attention to the rhythms of life, to be aware of life around me. At its heart, it means deep listening and responding to the messages that I receive.

Money

This year I’ve named this focus area Prosperity but usually I call it Money. I like simple and concise labels but this year I wanted to add a hint of colour to the mix and that colour is prosperity. Money is a part of our daily lives. It’s one of our resources and I want to pay attention to it the same way I do to my food or my environment. I want a healthy, strong and positive relationship with all of the tangible aspects of my life, including money.

Secondary Focus Areas

These areas are like the accent colours. They show up in varying intensity at different frequencies – but they do always show up.

Experiences & Adventures

This often shows up in the guise of Travel but there are so many ways to honour this focus area! I love life and I want to experience it. That might mean bringing home a new fruit I’ve never seen before and learning how to eat it or it might mean walking along the boardwalk in the Beaches and people-watching or it might mean going out for a night of singing or a summer in Paris!

Do Good

This is a newly named focus area for me this year, though it’s been a part of me since I can remember. Do Good might be actively volunteering or holding the door open for someone or doing work that makes a positive difference in the world, which I hope I do. I’ve always wanted to be a force for good in the world.

Learn

This is one of the most persistent (and insistent) focus areas in my life. In fact, I have to laugh at myself on this one. I consciously tried to leave it off my list this year. I figured since I tend to learn in every category, I didn’t really need to create a focus for learning on its own, did I? Yep, apparently I do.I’m just not happy if I’m not taking a class or learning a new skill or thinking through a fresh idea. (Thank goodness I’m starting guitar again soon!)

Style

I have tried to resist this. I’ve judged it many times and worried about being judged for holding it dear. It was only when I looked back on pictures of me as a little girl and saw my joy in big glam sunglasses and the way I was wonderstruck by evening gowns and sequins and larger than life-ness did I finally let the judgment go. This is just me. I have always loved expressing myself and seeing others express themselves through their personal style. And that’s been affirmed as I delight in my earring choices for the daily Behind the Scenes videos on Creative Living TV!

Pivotal Focus Area

Serendipity

And lastly, a pivotal focus area that I only became aware of in the past few years is one that I often call Mystery. This year Shannon helped me find a word that felt even better: Serendipity. If I look back on my life, without question, all of the very best things that have happened have come from being open to chance, from not insisting that I control it all, that I go only the way I planned to go. Sometimes, quite often I’ve found, the Universe has something far better in mind and I’m going to say yes to it.

What About You?

So those are my focus areas. I wonder what yours might be, if some are the same as mine and others completely different. I hope you’ll take some time to consider what yours might be. Perhaps you’ll find, like me, you have core areas and secondary ones. Maybe you’ll find that you too have one or two that are a little difficult to claim. I hope you’ll take a moment and share where this idea of focus areas leads you.

A long time ago I came to the conclusion that purpose is really centred around two simple things: being ourselves and loving our lives – and by loving our lives I mean actively loving it up as best we can.

Paying attention to these focus areas and building my life around them helps me do just that.

March 21, 2014

Practice, Persistence & Improvement

One of the things we do to develop our creative gifts is practice. We practice our dance steps. We practice our drawing skills. We practice our lines. And one of the hardest parts of practice is persisting when you’re seeing absolutely no signs of progress!

As a newbie guitar player, I know what I’m talking about. As I hear myself plunk-plunk-plunking day after day, sounding incredibly like I’m playing that Snoopy guitar we had when we were kids, my heart sinks. How do I stay hopeful when that E minor chord sounds the same today as it the day I learned to play it?

Thinking about planting helps.

On the new moon I planted three beautiful seeds (as those of you in the Full Worm Moon Dreamboard Workshop will know!) I’ve been watching that little plant pot very closely and so far there are absolutely no visible signs of growth. But one thing I know is that even though I can’t see anything happening, it doesn’t mean that nothing is happening!

It’s the same with our creative practice. When we’re learning French or knitting or singing or playing guitar and we don’t see any improvement, that doesn’t mean that we’re not making progress!

I noticed that when I took up running too. My progress was anything but linear! Some days I would have a good run (Okay, an all right run) and other days it was a slog. What I realized after a while was that it wasn’t helpful me to worry about my progress. It was simply my job to show up, again and again.

Just as I know that one day those seeds will sprout, I know that one day I’ll be able to run a little longer and one day I’ll play guitar and it will sound a little better – as long as I show up and practice.

I know that practicing in those circumstances is pretty painful. That’s why I add in another strategy: looking for the pleasure in the practice itself, not just in the progress. I may not love how I’m sounding when I play my guitar but I do love singing along. I may not love going out for a run but I do love having some alone time.

What pleasure can you find in your practice? Even if you don’t love your painting, can you love communing with colour? The feel of the brush on the page? The dance you create as you move that brush?

Tapping into that pleasure will help you practice with persistence, develop your creative gifts and enjoy yourself along the way!

October 1, 2013

Clear & Claim

At certain points of the year, and at certain points in our lives, there comes a time to both shake things up and pin things down, a time to let some things go while holding onto others more tightly.

There is a time to clear and a time to claim.

We all know the value of decluttering, how good it feels to clear out what no longer serves, whether that’s shoes that hurt our feet or relationships that hurt our hearts. It is a powerful practice to clear our homes, our schedules, our hearts and our lives.

It’s powerful to edit.

And as we grow experienced with editing, more and more we develop our discernment.

Pu-lease take that away!! But that, never.

This jacket was me 10 years ago.

That blouse is so 10 years ago and it was never me!

These red boots represents who and where I am right now, right here.

And this tattoo I pinned, that’s the me I hope to be.

A part of clearing is claiming.

As you send something away, you say to yourself and the Universe, “No, not this. Thank you very much.”

As you choose to keep something, you say, “Oh, yes, this! Yes, thank you very much.”

Clearing and claiming, like yin and yang, balance our lives.

These actions magnetically move us, choice by choice (no to this, yes to that, no to this, yes to that) towards our self and the life we long to live.

But don’t take my word for it. As with all things in our creative lives, the only way to know if something actually works for us is to give it a try. Let’s start today.

For a Clearing and Claiming Quickstart, answer these questions:

What’s one thing you want to clear?
What’s one thing you want to claim?
What do these two choices say about you and the life you want to be living?

Jamie’s Clearing and Claiming Quickstart

Unfinished projects.
Myself as an artist.
It is time to create some closure and make room for who I am becoming.

What about you?

August 4, 2009

Raising My Standards

I’ve had an amazing opportunity to work with wardrobe consultant Safina Ruda. She offers a 3-part Signature Style package that includes an initial meeting where you bring an inspiration board (another use for dreamboards!) and talk about your tastes, your lifestyle and your loves, a wardrobe consultation, where she comes to your house and goes through your clothing with you and finally a shopping trip! This weekend was part 2 for me!

It was an amazing experience to try on everything I own to show Safina. How I felt about showing her was often the determining factor of whether something stayed or went. If I was kind of embarrassed and unsure – gone! If I wanted to walk in beaming – keep! One thing I noticed was how important it was to me to express what it was about a particular item that had drawn me. So even if the piece wasn’t that successful, we knew that in my wardrobe I wanted sparkle, tailoring, sass, that kind of thing.

This experience wasn’t about someone else telling me my style. It was about getting clarity. It was about reminding myself what I truly love and holding that as the standard. For example, I like to dress a little bit formal. I don’t feel at my best in yoga pants or comfy jeans. I also work from home, so it’s a bit silly to pull out pinstriped pants or a sparkly shirt, right? Not so, says Safina. “Every day is special.” “You love it, you feel great in it, so why not wear it?” And the moment she says that, I know that I believe that too. That I’ve always believed that. How did I forget?

Safina set me a great tool for remembering. I’m not generally a shoe person, but I’m wild about the 2 pairs I have in that picture. I just lit up when I showed Safina the vintage metallic kitten heels. So, she told me to use that as my standard. “If you don’t love it as much as those shoes, let it go.” The goal is to aim for that lit-up energy when I pull anything out of my closet and put it on. Imagine!

And so I cleared with enthusiastic abandon. 4 large garbage bags of clothing will be finding new homes. I’m sure I’ve bagged up at least half of my wardrobe. Now when I get up in the morning and look at my options, sure, there’s a lot less to choose from but I love what’s there. And if those limitations mean I put on a spangly top or a pretty dress to spend the day at home and coach my clients – awesome! I feel great.

Raising your standards can be a bit intimidating. Often our wardrobe and our lives are filled with the mediocre because we know we can have it. It’s achievable. How do we know we can find/get/achieve the amazing? We don’t know. But we can have a bit of trust in ourselves and the Universe and take the chance. We just might find something truly remarkable on the other side. I’m going to go for it! How about you?

How can you get rid of the mediocre to make room for the amazing?