Thursday thought: Discover yourself

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want."

-MARGARET YOUNG

Finding myself going back to the drawing board

Use it or lose it has never had more meaning in my life than right now.

Trying to get back to the gym and lifting weights has been a struggle, and its funny to realize that after all of these years I still can only lift the bar. What happened to my progressive side?

Now I am setting the intention to be able to add some weight to the bar and keep it there. Baby steps. Means I will have to hit the gym...tomorrow. Riiiiiight. No really, in all seriousness, I will.

Additionally, being back on board the creative train makes me realize how angry my inner artist has been for holing her up all these years. While I was never someone dedicated to art on an intentional basis, I had my run with it in elementary school through high school. I took a few classes in college, but my artistic endeavors were limited to crafting and beading and unfortunately my beading took a huge plunge once I went away to college. Sad, but true.

Well now that I am "doing art" again on a daily basis I am enjoying drawing again, even though I am not necessarily the most accurate of drawers. Check out my little self-portrait of my user pic. I think I need to add some more hair to make my face look less large, but I might just have a big head. I am pretty sure the latter is more than likely the case...which means perhaps my drawing is more accurate than I give credit :)

Anyway, I bought some amazing colored pencils so I was happy to try them out this morning on my first page of my "visual journal" that I am making for one of my graduate studies courses. This journal is supposed to visually tell my story so naturally my first page that describes me provides a visual representation of myself.

I tried to write a poem that I was going to put around the picture, but this morning my inner poet was nowhere to be found so I'll have to postpone it for another day.

Until I write my own words about myself here are some quotes about identity--a theme I always find myself coming back to throughout my life and a theme that has resurfaced through the creative process.

We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people's models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open. - Shakti Gawain

Since you are like no other being ever created since the beginning of time, you are incomparable. - Brenda Ueland

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any medium and will be lost. - Martha Graham

Looking for a New Life Adventure? Read on...but make sure you include yourSELF on this journey.

Good morning!

Today is one of those days that I am feeling the infinite possibilities that still lie ahead of me, and I am feeling inspired rather than stressed about it. Even though from time to time we may feel stuck in our current situation or in an unfavorable pattern, sometimes there are moments where if we let ourselves believe and imagine--we can find new possibilities either right in front of us or across the world. A quote that I found that brings this idea together a little is by Dale Carnegie: “We all have possibilities we don't know about. We can do things we don't even dream we can do.” So let's not forget to dream!

A perfect website for discovering the opportunities that are out there is backdoorjobs.com. Here you will find links that bring you to endless possibilities with retreats and centers and little life adventures that will help you grow and shape yourself, the meaning of your life, and the community as well. These experiences might be limited and may not be a possibility for you now, but their existence alone reminds me to feel blessed to know that there are so many things we can do with our life and there is no such thing as being stuck. Unlike the generations that went before us, we have almost bottomless choices. While choosing may bring stress upon you (if you don't believe me, check out this amazing article about decision fatigue), it is important not to look at these possibilities as more opportunities to choose from or miss out on but more so as opportunities or resources that are available to us, if it is our calling or vocation--if it is meant to be.

Now I know that "meant to be" is confusing and troubling for some people--knowing what is right for us is the last skill we have nurtured and acquired over time, while we eat all the wrong things for our body, date the wrong people, make what we think is the wrong choice-- but all that aside (humans make errors, too) if you sit and actually listen to what your true self needs and wants and pay attention to what is right for you (and not anybody else), you will be surprised that you know more than you think, and that you have a natural intuition that you were born with that is pretty wise, despite the fact it gets ignored a lot of the time.

So take a moment to be with your true self today. For people that means many different things. For some of us it is purely sitting and meditating over a cup of coffee or tea, for others it might be paying attention to your breath while driving, or going to yoga class, or writing. Whatever works for you, just as long as you are being with yourself and nourishing your being. While you are in this state of being, think truly about what you want to do or who you want to be, and make sure that you are seeing this person or quest as a possibility in your life.

If you are still feeling stuck or don't know how to take a moment for yourself, I have started reading a book that has some great centering and stress reduction techniques in it, and will post the first technique I learned shortly.