December 30 – Karuna (Compassion)

What compassionate actions do you aspire to in the coming twelve months?

Finding the courage to go to the places that scare us cannot happen without compassionate inquiry into the workings of ego. The Buddha taught that flexibility and openness bring strength and that running from groundlessness weakens us and brings pain. But do we understand that becoming familiar with the running away is the key? Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears but from getting to know them well. ~Pema Chodron

Gratitude and Poetry

December 28 – Agradecimiento (Gratitude)

What eleven things were you grateful for in 2011?

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~G.K. Chesterton

December 29 – Poesia (Poetry)

Write a poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme.

A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom. ~Robert Frost

LovingKindness

December 27 – Metta (Lovingkindness)

The metta mantras are: “May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you be free from suffering.” To whom do you wish to send metta? (Don’t forget to send it to yourself, too!)

"Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, 'You owe me.' Look what happens with a love like that -- it lights the whole world." ~Hafiz

Gift, Wonder, Service

Catching up and planning ahead...

December 24 – Regalo (Gift)
What was the most cherished gift you received this year? What were the most thoughtful gifts you gave?

For it is in giving that we receive. ~Saint Francis of Assisi

December 25 – Milagro (Wonder)
Illustrate your own personal wonderland -- real or imagined. What’s the weather like? Who else is there with you? Use vivid detail.

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about." ~ Charles Kingsley

December 26 – Seva (Service)
How did you serve in 2011? Who will you serve in 2012?

"Service is the rent we pay for being on this earth." -Marian Wright Edelman

Action

December 23 – Karma (Action)

Actions speak louder than words. What daily actions will you take this year? How will you begin your January mornings -- routine or not?

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing.  Action always generates inspiration.  Inspiration seldom generates action.  ~Frank Tibolt

Every day I will do just one thing, however small, working towards my goals of being a creative entrepreneur, owning my own studio, and teaching workshops. Every day...

Happiness

December 22 – Sukkha (Happiness)

Where did you discover sweetness in 2011?

Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Sweetness was found in the small moments: coffee/tea with my husband, workshop collaboration with friends, walking the DeCordova museum grounds with Mom, breakfast with Dad.

So much focus is placed on what we need to achieve, what our goals are, "The Master Plan." We think the destination is the bees knees, that when we've made it, everything will be just fine....life starts becoming the end result, when really, it's made up of all these small moments, intimate connections with other people that craft our story. And it's the story that interests me. How people have the courage to make small changes, the laughter shared over a silly joke, sharing a new recipe. Those things fill the bucket and make the journey worthwhile...that and a nice chunk of dark chocolate....

What's your story? Where's life's sweet spot for you?

Misery

December 21 – Dukkha (Misery)

What was the low point of your year? How did you heal and move forward?

The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it. ~ Carl Jung

Heat

December 20 – Tapas (Heat)

What stoked your creative fire this year? What did your discipline enable you to achieve and/or create?

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience. ~George Washington

Creativity and making has been part of my life for as long as I remember, it's just who I am. But unless you're doing, you're only dreaming. 2011 was about Shaping Time and Showing Up, consistently, on the yoga mat and in the studio. All the lessons I learned from Jeffrey Davis and Yoga As Muse, were about follow through. It's not enough to think of yourself as a _______, you have to also act on that thought.

This year I delved into my card making with wild abandon. A dear friend turned 40 and received forty cards in the mail, the last one showing up 7 weeks after her birthday. There were cards for weddings, more birthdays, and for another friend, this one post divorce, moving out on her own for the first time in many, many years. Each time I make and mail a card, I send a little part of me with it. Perhaps it will sparks someone else's creative fire...

Seeing

December 19 – Drishti (Seeing)

What is your vision for your spiritual practice in 2012? How do you see yourself achieving it?

"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Friendship

December 18 – Amistad (Friendship)

Describe your best friend(s) from elementary school, high school, college, and/or the present.

A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

They: laugh, embrace life, are unashamed to cry, up for adventure, listen well, offer honest ideas, open their hearts, laugh, reach out and call, send love notes, make dinner, buoy my spirit, collaborate, laugh, trust, create community, seek joy, lend a helping hand, laugh, build a better tomorrow by being here today.

Scholar

This week flew by and I'm behind in posting....here's a catch up of the last few....

December 15 – Acharya (Scholar)

What did you study this year? What did you learn? 

"Persistent questioning and healthy inquisitiveness are the first requisite for acquiring learning of any kind." - Gandhi

December 16 –  Viaje (Trip)

Where did you travel this year? What was your best trip?

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

December 17 – Bhakti (Devotion)

What did you devote yourself to in 2011? How will you devote your energy in the coming year?

True strength lies in submission which permits one to dedicate his life, through devotion, to something beyond himself. ~Henry Miller

Self-knowledge

December 14 – Jnana (Self-knowledge)

Name something you did that was completely out of character. How did it feel?

The beginning of self-knowledge: recognizing that your motives are the same as other people's. ~Mason Cooley

When I think back to all the activities I've fearlessly added into my life this year, I would have to say becoming a Yoga As Muse facilitator is most out of character and at the same time so aligned with my character. When I said, "what the heck, let's do this thing" it was so out of my normal realm of planing and organizing and having all the right credentials already lined up that I'm sure friends and family may have thought I've gone off my rocker.

But sometimes that's what life needs; a little derailment, shake things up a bit. Doing something out of character changes the perspective, shows life in a different light, and if like me, you're feeling trapped and in a rut, it can offer a new direction.

As you reflect back on 2011, do something different today. Especially if you haven't done anything out of character....and tell me about it....

Today's prompt brought to you by Dawn Curtis, fellow Yoga As Muse facilitator and writer.

Wisdom

December 13 – Sabio (Wisdom)

What lesson or piece of wisdom did you learn from a child this year? Did it surprise you?

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives. ~Albert Einstein

Book

December 12 – Libro (Book)

What book did you read in 2011 that was most inspirational? Why?

I cannot live without books. ~Thomas Jefferson

In the beginning of the year it was The Gifts of Imperfections by Brene Brown. Writing about the hard stuff, shame, she was instrumental in teaching me to let go of my strangle hold on perfection. Her writing is backed by years of research, it's practical, it altering and it's applicable on a personal level as well as a professional level. It changed the way I craft and create (sewing a straight, perfect line is over rated) and it's changing the way I speak with patient's (staying away from shaming sentence structure when discussing compliance). Highly recommend.

In the waning of the year, it was The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Writing about the easy stuff, happiness, or supposed easy stuff, she was instrumental in reminding me that happiness is a habit. Again, very practical and applicable...hmmmm....seeing a pattern here....I happened to be reading it at a time where huge life changing decisions were about to be made and certainly our decision to move to Colorado and improve our quality of life was influenced by thinking about what makes me happy. As an individual and as a couple.

What turned your page in 2011?

Thanks

December 11 – Gracias (Thanks)

Appreciation and acknowledgement are corner stones to building trust and deepening relationships. Write a thank you note or poem to someone who impacted your life in 2011.

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." ~William James

There are many people I am thankful for in 2011, but the man I am most thankful to died in Aug 2010. I can't write and tell him how he impacted and influenced my life in the last 12 months, in fact if he was still alive the incredible changes I've experienced wouldn't have been...well...experienced. His death was sad, sadder still that there were so many regrets, unfulfilled desires and missed opportunities crowding around the hospital bed as he breath his last breathe. And in his death, I learned that if I let my fear guide my path in life I will also be carrying around those same regrets, unfulfilled desires and missed opportunities. And that's not an option.

Fearless is the spirit I took into 2011, and I thank you, for letting those of us living, learn from your dying.

Joy

December 10 – Ananda (Joy)

A positive frame of mind is a habit. How have you silenced the propaganda factory of negativity with positive thought and behavior in your life in 2011? How has this changed your day-to-day being? 

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Happiness is a choice.

And it's hard to clear the mind to negativity, it's often easier to be negative and pessimistic.

Happiness is a habit.

And with all habits, it takes time and awareness. You might find yourself having a Homer Simpson moment "D-oh!" when you realize you could have responded to something more positively, but at least you're aware now...

Here's how I've worked at shutting down the propaganda factory in 2011:

• Something funny every day....every single day. You Tube videos, books, my husband...
• Less screen time...this is hard, but my mornings where I start out reading a book, magazine, something tangible, are calmer and more positive.
• Constant diet of positivity: here, here, here...but after I've started my day with something tangible!
• Positive Friends. Ones you can honestly go to and say, I'm scared, I'm sad, I'm in a raging bad mood and want to poke someones eye out...
• Crafting/Making. When you make something, anything, you access a different part of your brain, you get into a rhythm, endorphins flow, it feels good. Even if you have a pile "prototypes" that in no way resemble what you saw in the minds eye, you still did something more productive, more positive, more fulfilling than sitting and stewing in negative thought.

That said, if you're in the Boston area Jan 7th and want to Craft Your Intention for 2012, $50 will get you a mighty fine day with all the crafting supplies and positive attitude you could possible want...plus I'll feed you....Email (heidicrafts@gmail.com) or message me on Face Book and I'll hold your spot...

Resourcefulness

December 9 – Listo (Resourcefulness)

How resourceful were you in 2011? What new ways could you incorporate resourcefulness into 2012?

“What you seek, exists within you. Every resource you need is available to you.” ~Marcia Wieder

For us, resourceful meant using what we already had around the house or in our community as well as trying to create an environment that used less resources...We...

Made cheese

Roasted our own coffee

Milked an almond

Baked homemade crackers

Used the public library

Created a compost pile

Watered with a rain barrel

Lived with one car (and five bikes)

Built a veggie garden...

We pooled food resources with friends and had potluck dinners, we pooled brain resources with friends and developed workshops...

In 2012 we'll be moving to a new city and while resources may seem scarce when relocating, having friends and colleagues offer up their resources means a collaborative effort to help us settle in a new space.

Wander

December 8 – Dharma (The Path)

Wandering can be good for the over-focused creative. How did you wander well this year?

We have to do our best and at the same time give up all hope of fruition. -Pema Chödrön

To wander is to discover and wandering well is being open to those discoveries. Wandering wants you to be open to taking a left when you though you’d be taking a right...and being OK with that. Wandering wants you to be open to new experiences as they present themselves. 

Have you ever really listened to the small still voice in side your head, the one channeling the Nike ad, that says “do it, just do it.” and then your voice of reason pipes up, with fear making it quaver all jello mold like, and says “I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense to do this, it’s too much money, time, effort (fill in the blank).”

But then something magical happens, you do listen and you set out on that path, the one that makes a  left instead of right. Lo and behold, you’re wandering....

2010 was my year of thinking, standing still and contemplating. 2011 was my year of wandering, sometimes so far off the path and so far away from what I thought I should be doing that I had to sit a spell, hyperventilate, and then get back to my journey. But I’ve kept wandering, right into teaching and facilitating change through yoga and creative written expression, teaching yoga, building a business and helping people engage their creative spirit. 

Where have your journeys taken you this year? 

Calm

December 7 – Tranquilo (Calm)

Sometimes the most beautiful, memorable moments are also the quietest. What quiet, beautiful moment do you recall?

Live simply and take life more easily. Happiness lies in giving yourself time to think and to introspect. Be alone once in a while, and remain more in silence. ~Yogananda

Aug 7 2011 6:05 AM Sky Lake Retreat Center Rosendale, New York

Part of my Project 52::Sundays this was taken towards the end of my Yoga As Muse facilitator training, the day before my workshop presentation Writing to the Address Within: Exploring The Body Through Self-Compassion.


Where did you find calm this year?

Health

December 6 – Salud (Health)

What did you do for your body's benefit this year?

“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.” ~Buddha

The most powerful aspect of health I added into my life was breathing....funny how we forget to breath when we're stressed, worried, angry, scared or any other negative emotion you could insert here.....Yoga has helped with creating a structured time, but also, just stopping during my day and breathing, fully and deeply so the ribs expand, the chest is quiet and you can feel the racing mind start to slow to a nice cruising speed.

if you get a chance, sit for a spell today and really breath. Just focus on the in and out, let your belly rise and your chest stay quiet. Let the thoughts drift in, and out. Just breathe....