SPRING: inspiration in bloom

Spring. Inspiration in Bloom.

I am so thrilled to announce this project that I've been working on for the last few months with 3 incredibly inspiring ladies:

*Michelle Ward
*Jess Constable
and
*Carolyn Rubenstein

Spring is about dialogue. We will be creating monthly conversational video posts and blog posts around specific topics-- topics that you want to hear about and participate in! That said, we need your input.

The theme for our first video, which will launch the week of Thanksgiving, is gratitude. What questions/comments/experiences do you have around the idea of gratitude? Through sharing our own experiences and tossing around ideas suggested by you all, we hope to inspire not only ourselves, but also you in the process!

Head on over to our Spring website to learn more about the project and to leave us comments. (You can add comments here, too, or even email us if you want to!)

We have a badge, too, that you're free to put on your blog if you're inspired already:


We can't wait to hear from you and start exploring the topics that emerge!

Blissful Monday: week 3

Here we are again, on Monday morning. Some people dread Monday mornings. I really like them. Fresh week, fresh start.

I'm loving these Blissful Mondays, too, because it's a reason to focus on gratitude and positivity instead of being sucked in by the Monday morning blues.

So, my bliss list for this week:

1. I really truly took a day off yesterday, and I sat outside on the back porch and read a whole book! It was sunny and perfect, and wow did i feel rejuvenated afterwards. (Oh, and I took a nap on the couch somewhere in there as well! Bliss.)

2. I bought my first ever baby clothes-- my brother-in-law and sister-in-law are having a baby in December, and my husband and I bought the cutest things at the Beehive Co-op here in Atlanta! We bought a onesie by happy family that says "chillin' in my crib" and couldn't stop laughing about it-- it's so funny! (This one is hilarious, too.)

3. The most delicious bread ever from Whole Foods.

4. My new duck bag that I ordered from baggu. It's the perfect size to lug all my stuff around, including my laptop. Perfect!

5. Wayne Dyer. I think this man is beyond brilliant, and his books rock my world.

***
Now it's your turn! What's on your bliss list this week? What are you grateful for?

I hope you have a beautiful start to your beautiful week!

{ps- this is the same post that I have over at Treasuring this morning. I figured instead of just sending you over there, it might be wise to post my Blissful Monday posts here as well!}

duality: a new illustration (by me)

I read something recently that I thought was pretty cool-- it was to consider that where you are and what you're feeling/thinking RIGHT NOW is your path. You're supposed to be here. You won't get to where you're going without being here. Literally! Where else could you be but right here, right now?

You know how so many times we think something is wrong? We don't have the right hair cut, the right friends, the right job, we don't know what we're doing or where we're going.... well, what if all of these things are our path, and they're actually our exactly right things, and they're meant to help us learn the lessons we are here to learn? And we have to experience the things we maybe don't like so much in order to recognize the things we do like so much?

Like, the idea of duality-- you can't know what light is unless you also know what dark is. Up, down. In, out. Maybe this is the part of your path where you're learning about darkness, so you'll know what the light feels like. Maybe you've experienced dark, and now you're reveling in the light. Maybe if we accept how we're feeling,whether we're judging it as good or bad, we can just experience life as our path, whatever that means?

I like this. It takes the pressure off. I'm supposed to be right where I am, for reasons that the universe knows, and if I trust it, then I'm on my path, wherever it takes me. And everyone else is on their own path, which means I don't need to compare myself to anyone. Oh, big sigh of relief!

Just some thoughts for the weekend. ;) I hope it's a good one for you!!

Everything Will Be OK: by Ari Moore

Ari Moore lives in Ithaca, NY. Ithaca is a very cool town (I know, because I went to college there), which makes me think Ari is probably a really cool chick.

I love this piece that she made that's a reminder that she made that everything is, in fact, OK. It's easy to forget that sometimes, isn't it? I was out walking in my neighborhood yesterday and I happened to look up in the sky and saw a group of birds flying through the fading light of dusk, and it gave me that satisfied feeling of everything being OK. It was so beautiful, and I remembered that this is my life, right now. And everything is really ok right now, isn't it?

FInd more from Ari on her flickr page and many other places. (Seriously, click that last link to see the huge number of places where Ari and her partner, Shira, are online!)

The True Living Project: Sabrina Ward Harrison

I just watched the most beautiful thing. Sabrina Ward Harrison's True Living Project. If there is one thing you do for yourself today, please let it be spending 6 minutes and 37 seconds to watch this beautiful and touching video. I wanted to post it here but wasn't able, so if you just click here you 'll go directly to her site to watch.

These are some still images from Sabrina's portfolio that were part of the video. Sabrina somehow put into image and sound form the way I want my life to feel. Connected, touched, wondrous, miraculous, free, grateful, joyous.... It's incredible.

And here are some words about Sabrina's work, taken from her website:

Sabrina Ward Harrison makes images that collaborate with this living world - working with it, seeing into it, being inspired by it and creating for it. The landscape of our living is what she presents –- a landscape that unfolds through color, culture, depth of field and slanted light.

These images are created by collections of detail from the subject's surroundings –- details and specifics that define who they are and search for their essential spirit. Intimate details and pieces of life, all in harmony with each other - at times glorious, sometimes discordant but always whole.

The essence of Harrison's work is a search for the living human spirit –- a quest she undertakes with her hands, her eyes, and her intuitive sensibility. Her work allows a place to unfold, a place to build, a place to reveal and essentially cries the poetry of life.

Harrison creates a sense of openness and breath, light and history. Her images are imbued with a power that is both accessible and universal at their core. As you observe her work, time moves with you and you find yourself in a place where moment and memory meet. The work of Sabrina Ward Harrison invites liberation and inspires a thriving life.

***
Beautiful writing, beautiful work, beautiful life. Wow.

Again, click here to watch The True Living Project. (And enjoy it!)

We Are Indestructible: by Jeff Garban

We are all indestructible. We are strong, we are wise, we don't receive more than we can handle from the universe. Even when we think we can't, we CAN. We are infinite. We are here, then, now, forever.

{photo by Jeff Garban on flickr}

Blissful Monday

Good morning!
I'm going to send you over to Treasuring again this morning, for Blissful Monday. Hope you don't mind!

Please add your own Bliss Lists to the conversation if you feel inclined-- I love reading what's inspiring you and making you feel oh-so-good. :)

CLICK HERE!