Starting Again

Wednesday April 15, 2015

It has been a very long time since I have updated my blog. Due to the continued promptings of my very sweet son in law I will try my best to keep things current and post some things on this blog. 

Life is in a constant state of flux, and I have never been very adept at navigating those changes. I would beg, plead and fight against the universe hoping that I could somehow keep things at a status quo. What a very crazy and stupid thing to do. Why was I so worried about change? I don’t really know if I have the answer as to why I hate change. I think it is a pretty widespread truth that as humans we fight change. My theory is it’s because we are a fear based culture. We tell ourselves, our children, or anyone. “Don’t be too different”… “Keep up with the Jones”… “Work hard to get ahead of everyone” All those absolutely negative things, not to mention the ones that are told to women about how their bodies, hair, face should look. It is out of control! It makes our lives and our focus on things that will never bring us the happiness. 

So what does this have to do with change? Everything changes in life. Children grow-up and move on to their own lives and families. Parents grow old and eventually pass away. Jobs come and go, bosses come and go. Physical health can go. Soon we look in the mirror and see our mothers/fathers. You might come to a place in your life, when the people you thought would always be in your life changes. You need to walk away, you need to create something new/different. 

It is all temporary. The minute you realize how transitional life is, the better you can cope with the flow of your life. 

How do we do this? 

I am no expert, and even when I think I have it down you realize that feeling is also fleeting. It is a process…. I used to hate this phrase. It would make me physical angry. I didn’t want a process, I wanted a magic pill that I could take and it would cure everything. Our culture is the quick fix culture. Take a pill and you will be thinner, happier, and prettier. Instant cures are always promised. What happened to the idea of work? What happened to the idea of craftsmanship? Working at, and creating the life you want. That is where we need to focus.  

A series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.

This is the definition of a process. 

Everyone’s process will be different, and that’s OK. What I do to help myself will not work for everyone or maybe anyone else. But the point is to have a process. Daily rituals that move you in the right direction. Tasks that bring you joy and happiness. They can be so simple. I make my bed every morning, because when I arrive at home and walk into my bedroom it makes me happy to have a clean uncluttered room with a bed that is made. Cooking for someone you love. Recently my mother had a birthday, my thought was to take her to dinner. I invited my two youngest children to come. Then I thought… I should cook for them. Simple, but something that showed them how much I cared. It was perfect to have then all seated around the dinner table enjoying each other talking about things we have been doing. Catching up with each other.  Running, my artwork, a quiet moment to meditate on the things I am grateful for. All of these are the simple processes that I do to help me be happy. 

Fall in love with the process and the results will come. 

My new favorite saying. 

Falling in love with the small daily things are what I focus on. I think most people myself included have bought into the belief that everyday has to be like a vacation. That if it is not the best, and not entertaining us than it is a bad life. Shifting our focus to loving the simple things in our lives… a cup of coffee sitting on my porch on a beautiful morning. Tea, book and cozy blanket on a rainy cold day, conversations with loved ones, etc. I am not perfect, there are days that I get overwhelmed and my focus shifts to all the negative, the perceived losses, the crazythings we say in our heads. But my goal is that I can have less and less days that feel negative, and more and more days that are filled with optimism, focus, processes and results. 

Race Report for El Vaquero Loco 25K

Well I have not kept up on this blog in such a long time, but I think about posting all the time. :) I will never promise that I will post more because I don't know if that will be possible. But I did participate in my first trail race so I thought I would post some comments on it.

Here is a picture of the start of my race. The race is in Afton Wyoming and the scenery is amazing. As much as I loved the location of the race, The beginning is the only time I really enjoyed it. The rest of the race was just a long death march to the end.

 Looking back at some of the trail that I had come on. I know that it looks relatively flat but trust me it is an optical illusion on this photo.

There was a little Carin on the trail. If you look close there is a small rock on the left that I added to the Carin. That was as much effort as I could do at this point in the race.

After a long climb you crested to see this lovely little lake.

Looking back up the steep decent to the lake.

After another long climb I created over another pretty lake.

With another very steep decent. I Think I fell a couple of times on this one.

At the base of the last peak. This one reaches 10 thousand feet. When I came around the corner and seen the last climb I really just wanted to cry. I was so tired and wanted to be finished.

Looking down from the top of the peak. It was a grueling three and a half miles of almost un-runable down hill to the finish. As I look back on this post and day I should have taken pictures of the volunteers at the aid stations that packed all the water and food in on horses or backpack for the runners.They were amazing and encouraging to everyone.  I should have taken some pictures of the finish line and the beautiful lake we were at. But I was tired and so done with it all. Even though my time to finish the race was dismal I am happy that I accomplished it.

 

Sister Date

So it has been ages since I have posted on my blog. I feel a bit bad, but I also have felt overwhelmed with so many thing that blogging takes the last priority. But I did have a sister date last month with my sisters. (obviously) My sister Annette is wonderful at mix media art and we created fun pictures to remind us of the lovely trip we all took to Europe last summer.
I do have some doll and other sculpture projects that I have been busy working on. I will try to post updates on them soon.