PAPER SEEDS Seeds of ART and THOUGHT


Come on in... relax, kick off your shoes, and get cozy for a few minutes. I intend this space to be a happy and encouraging spot in your day where perhaps you'll sign off feeling better than you did when you signed on.

I have so much in life that I want to create, experience, and wrap my head around, and I bet you do too. I dedicate this space as a safe place to "grow" our seeds... Seeds of movement to increase our joy, inspiration, and insight - Seeds of change and evolution of our souls - Seeds of of celebration and creativity - a place where we thrive to live lives we're proud of.

How cool is it that we are given the opportunity to create a future that doesn't exist yet. That we have the choice in creating our lives and planting seeds that will grow into our dreams. I want to learn more everyday about how to do this in my life, and I would love for you to join me.

Stacey

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Law of Proportion and Good Old Mark Twain

"Nothing that grieves us can be called little:  by the eternal laws of proportion a child's loss of a doll and a king's loss of a crown are events of the same size."  - Mark Twain


I happened upon this quote while looking for something entirely different, but obviously this was the intended message for me because this baby jumped right off the page and into my lap and has layed there ever since.  It resonates with me on several levels.  First, it really touches me as a mother because there are many times when I am not aware of how great a "thing," an event, or a thought actually is to my children.  Perfect example... my son just came running up so excited... I mean like jumping up and down, crazy flipping stunt-on-the-floor excited that....(drum roll please....) on his Roblox computer game, he just got a new shirt with an orange fire-breathing dragon on it.  To me, well, to me it's something I am happy for him about but in a way that is like... "great, now can I finish writing this blog" kind of happy.  But to him, oh MAN it is really a fantastic thing... almost like me ordering that new pair of winter boots and jeans I've been wanting.  Probably even bigger.


Or when my daughter is writing a story on the computer, and I hurriedly ask her to log off  because it's dinner time.  Then she protests, and I get angry that she's not listening to me and it escalates into something that is uglier than need be.  But what I often fail to see is that all that typing... all that effort that she is pouring onto the keyboard has been incubating in her heart for weeks.  This is her baby.  She is as proud of her story as someone would be of creating a new law supporting unemployment.  She is as proud of her story as someone advancing Peace Talks between nations. 

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Sometimes as I'm vacuuming or cleaning up the house, I'll come across a vignette of pure creation... a little area in the corner of the living room where there are little characters all set up, and little blocks that have been built into some type of building, and little animals, robots, and barbies all posed up ready for something fun.  Sometimes I'll take a moment to think about the time and pure joy of creation that went into building that little world on the floor.  The hours the kids took choosing the characters and naming them and dressing them and building them homes, and the hours of pure and unbridled imagination that flowed in that space.  In one fell swoop my hand comes crashing down and swoops it up.... and what's left where there once was play, is now just a clean void waiting for the kids to come back.    

Good Old Mark Twain got the idea, didn't he?   And how spectacular it is that the things, events, and thoughts we adults might deem "silly" or " minuscule" in our kids' lives are truly magnificent to them, and should be to us as well.  Children know how to see miracles in everything, don't they?  And we really shouldn't stop with our children, should we?  We should extend the idea of proportion not only to being more aware of our childrens' things, events, and thoughts but to each individual we come in contact with whether it be the grocery store cashier, our friends, or our spouses. But let's take baby steps here.  It's going to be a challenge just to do it with my own kids let alone the cashier, But I'll get there!  


And one more thought on this quote... when I am going through tough times, I tend to say, "well, I know that I shouldn't be so down because other people go through many worse fates," or "I should feel lucky because it could be worse... we could have terrible health issues, or we could be living in poverty, or dead."  And my sweetheart mom has always said, "Yes, it could be worse, BUT you still feel pain over your problem, and it's still real and true for YOU.  Your problems are valid and apply to  you.  You can't compare your problems to others' problems.  Mr. Twain and my mom are pretty smart cookies!  

Which leads to my last quick thought about Mr. Twain's quote.... Proportion means "the relationship of one thing to another in size, degree, and amount."  Knowing that each of us are living from our own vantage point, our own perspective... that no other person in the world is standing in our shoes and experiencing exactly what we're experiencing, and that the "eternal laws of proportion" are in play, how can we possibly judge another?  Kind of silly even trying, isn't it?   

So, today I intend to be more present and more aware of what is really important in my children's (and the store clerk's) lives, not what I think SHOULD be important in their lives, but whatever THEY deem important... and value it. 

And I intend to leave judgement to the Universe. 

I'd love your thoughts on this quote!  I appreciate your visit.

Stacey 

Monday, August 23, 2010

Turn Up The Volume

"Listen to the gentle whispers of the holiest places in your heart"  unknown


There is a voice within us all that is so powerful and brilliant and wise.  A voice that has been around the block once or twice, or 100 times, and knows the essence of us better than anyone else.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Creating


My personal DreamBoard
The more that I create, the more I realize how extremely happy it makes me... not just in the artistic aspect of my life, but in pretty much ALL aspects of my life! My new favorite

Soul Writing

Word Birds
So, I finished reading Julia Cameron's The Right to Write, and I am so struck with it that I must write about it. I am a believer now and forever that writing is the best therapy we have to heal our lives.

Cleaning Up From the Inside Out

"Dream Trees"
Geez... You'd think after 44 years I would embrace a very important lesson that has re-visited me over and over again. It has been gently knocking throughout my life but lately seems to be ringing the door bell and banging pretty hard...
And it's really simple, but I'm scared to death...