Collage Diva

Blossoming tea and hearts

Like a tight bud

that needs hot water

my heart slowly opens

and a blossom emerges.

Like the Lady Fairy pictured here, I witness my own blossoming.

Today is an especially quiet day at the tree house. My son left for the summer and I'm a wee bit tired from a late night concert and an early rise to get my sweetie to the airport. I'm thinking of this day as a "retreat" day, a time for rest and relaxation, with bursts of creativity.

To fuel my body, I'm savoring champagne mangoes, melon, and strawberries.

I'm sinking into the present moment and in anticipation of this quiet and solitude, I promised myself that I would not become a zombie as I have in previous summers. I believe if we try to numb our sad feelings we numb all of our feelings. If we don't let go of the feelings, we get blocked and there isn't room for connecting to joy, grace, and flow. I'm taking a different approach this season - I'll watch the emotional storms swell up and pass by. I'll remember that I'm not those fleeting feelings but something calm at the center of the storms. I'll anchor to my core. I will sit. I will walk. I will sing. And, I will dance.

So far today there haven't been any squalls and my eyes haven't been leaky.

Feeling Connected

DailyOM seems to be watching me - I swear they are so in tune with what is happening to me each day. Today's horoscope speaks of loneliness and offers a helpful perspective on feeling connected. If you are not a Leo and feeling like you could use some encouragement in the lonely department, not to worry, I'll loan you my horoscope.

Now watch one of my favorite videos about "How to Be Alone." I love all of her ideas on how and where to be alone. Maybe I'll dress up tonight and go dine someplace where there are linens and silverware or maybe I'll stay tucked in. You know it is entirely up to ME!

A Facebook friend request came through this morning and the artist had just posted this mug with the message, "I am not alone."

I am heartened with all of these reminders and I'm feeling good.

For now, it is time to drink some blossoming tea, eat some fruit, nap, follow my creative urges, and simply just BE.

{soul hugs}

Kathryn, Collage Diva

 

In Search of Angels

Did you know that angels are real? They have been depicted as these ethereal beings sporting powerful wings. I set out on Sunday in search of angels. A friend of mine who lives in Australia shared some recent photos that she took. Inspired I set out to find some angels to photograph. I was greeted by the angel above in the very first cemetery that I went to. My son and dad were with me on this expedition and my dad was impressed that I found one right off. "It is a good sign, isn't it." I said as I stopped the car and stepped out with my camera. 

On my morning walk today I thought about how angels are real. I've seen evidence again and again but not of the mythical figures we see cast in stone and illustrated so beautifully in books and greeting cards. The angels I see are walking among us. They are the generous and kind people who breath love and life into those who cross their paths. 

Some of these angels are broken and lost for they too have hearts that swell and contract. As I continued on my walk I realized that each one of us has an angel within. Did you know that you are an angel? Your wings are there, you just can't see them. Have you ever felt compelled to take an action out of love and genuine kindness? Your wings are beating at these times and they are guiding you on your journey.

Are you wondering how you can be an angel today? I have an easy assignment for you.

Let's begin by having you close your eyes. (helpful hint: read these instructions first, then close your eyes.)

Be still.

Feel your breath as it gently moves in and out of your nose.

Feel the wave moving slowly, in and out.

When you are ready, notice the lines in your face.

Is there any tension?

Keep breathing, gently.

Now allow that breath to soften the lines in your face.

Keep breathing.

Feeling soft yet?

Now move your mouth to form a smile.

Feel your cheeks as they change shape.

Ooooh I want to pinch those cheeks right now.

Keep that smile moving up into your eyes.

Now open those eyes and feel how sparkly they are.

Keep breathing and allow that sparkle to move deep down into your body.

Let that smile ride the wave of your breath.

Feel the smile fill your lungs

and circulate throughout making it's way to your heart.

Now you are ready for your angel assignment.

It is quite simple.

Take this radiant smile of yours and twinkling eyes

and, greet everyone today with them.

Your smile reminds others that the world is a beautiful place.

 

Here is one of my favorite scenes of an angel in action.

Today, may you feel the "spirit of giving."

{soul hugs}

Kathryn, Collage Diva

Cultivate Love

My sweet friend and creative companion, Suzi gave me the darling woven heart and "cultivate love" stamp pictured above on Friday when we met for supper and some creative brainstorming. The message on the stamp has me thinking about how many of us desire more love in our lives. Really the way to experience more love is to cultivate it and the best way to begin is to love ourselves and where we are at now.

This notecard came from my talented online friend, Cat Savage. "If you love the life you live, you will live a life of love." I'd say there is a recurring theme here - love life, seek out what you love, and your life will be filled with love. Earlier on Sunday morning I was in a funk but the mood shifted when I was out in the gorgeous day with my camera and connecting with my family.

What activities fill you up with love? Seek them out often and you'll be living a life of love.

{Namaste}

Kathryn, Collage Diva

Lucky Mermaid

I embellished one of the pages in my journal this week. I'm feeling like one lucky mermaid!

Images of a rosy romance warms my heart.

I'm thinking about my own good fortune this morning and I'm feeling oh so grateful.

Are you feeling lucky? If not, begin by thinking of all the things you are grateful for. Before you know it you'll see just how lucky you are!

{Namaste}

Kathryn, Collage Diva

The Gift of Hope

On Good Friday, I was given a gift from my employer, the day off. Our offices are closed each year on this day and I see it as a bonus day off. My son is in school and it is an extra day just for me. For a couple of weeks in anticipation, I thought about how I would use it. I woke up in the morning with laundry piling up, stacks of clean dishes needing to be put away, and my creative room looking more like a cave than a studio, but I decided that what this mermaid needed most was some salt air in her lungs. It is the perfect place for daydreaming and dream scheming.

I seem to work in cycles. Perhaps it is a sign of my day job, but the cycles correspond the Catholic liturgical calendar. As Lent is winding down and the Easter cycle of 50 days begins, this is a time for me to check-in, to review what I've accomplished in the last 40 days, to reassess my goals, and to identify the next steps. Even before seeing the water's edge, my mind got right to work on the drive.

By the time I met my friend at her house, I had a strong sense of where I will go in this new cycle of creativity. What is interesting is that it wasn't where I thought I would be going. As we walked a few miles along the North Hampton Beach shoreline I shared the thoughts from my car drive. Speaking out loud our dreams and plans is powerful, especially when the friend is someone you can trust and who is so affirming.

This morning I opened the book, "365 Mary: A Daily Guide to Mary's Wisdom and Comfort" by Wooden Koenig-Bricker. I like to open to a random page to see what message appears. Today, the message is on hope. Wooden writes,

"We don't use the word hope correctly, for the most part. We tend to employ it as a synonym for wish. If someone says, for instance, that he hopes he'll win the lottery, what he's really saying is that he wishes he'd win the lottery.

Hope has a quality of expectancy that wishing doesn't. Hope sees with the eyes of faith, while wishing sees mainly with the eyes of desire. Hope is confident that all shall be well, while wishing is desperate that all will be well."

Wooden makes a connection between gratitude and hope. When we are able to give thanks, even for what hasn't yet happened, because we have hope in God, we are cooperating in the fulfillment of the things we hope for.

She writes, "It's odd, but true: when we have confident hope in God's ability to give us what we desire, we make it possible for God to give us that very thing."

She asks the reader, "What am I hoping for right now that I can begin to thank God for in advance of its fulfillment?" Wishing is something done on a star. I hope in God.

Wooden's words spoke to me this morning. I have recently experienced the power of prayer, of putting my hopes and fears in the hands of God. Each time I surrender and trust, miracles happen, mountains are moved, and the right people I need in my life show up.

A dear friend recently asked me what I wanted in my Easter basket. I've been thinking about this question for a couple of days now. What I hope for is love, health, and right livelihood. Today my heart is filled with gratitude for I can see that my basket is already full yet has room for more.

I found this sign at the back of a store in Portsmouth. I hope you'll take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt.

Namaste,

Kathryn, Collage Diva

True Prosperity

This milkweed pod empty of it's seeds looks barren and dead. When I first contemplated it's state several months ago I projected onto it my fear of emptiness. I feel so alive and energized by the creative process. With ideas and emotions coming to life in my photos, journal pages, and canvases, the thought of being barren like this milkweed pod, is scary for it represents death. 

Yesterday I pulled a Zen card on prosperity. It reads,

Prosperity is not

in what you have

attained, but rather in

what you GIVE away...

for it is only when

you BECOME empty

that you can be

filled with something

greater.

Every artist I have spoken with has creative cycles - periods of activity and periods of rest. I refer to the down times as restful periods to remind me that is what our bodies and minds need. We can't keep tilling the land and growing things in it and expect to get good crops - we need to rotate the crops and have seasons where the ground is still.

The practice of morning pages, where I sit and write in a notebook three full pages, is a process of emptying mind and clearing out the creative vessel. What starts out as nonsense on the page, gibberish, petty, shallow thoughts gives way to making deeper connections and exciting creative ideas. Here again, I witness the cycle of emptying and filling up.

I'm getting ready to head out for my morning walk. Like the journal writing, each step moves the body and the mind to empty out. I return feeling refreshed and by the last leg of the walk new creative ideas or meaningful insights emerge.

I envy this milkweed pod for it seems free of old baggage. In our creative vessels are we chock full of limiting beliefs and old wounds? If we empty these from our shells can we make room for something greater?

Now when I look at the milkweed pod, I see not a barren dead shell, but true prosperity. I see how the seeds have been given away to grow into something more. I see a pod open and ready to be filled with something greater.

Today, I embrace emptiness and in so doing I open up for prosperity.

{Namaste}

Kathryn, Collage Diva

 

Patience

It is a beautiful morning today with the sun streaming in my window and the sound of birds chatting in the trees. I sit and pause. I sink into the moment and rest. My heart is filled with such gratitude for this day and I'm feeling content. Each month a watchword emerges guiding me on my journey. This month, "patience" keeps showing up. Every day I pass a calendar on my fridge and it reads, "Have patience with all things but especially with yourself." There would have been a time when I would have felt resistance when hearing the word patience. Like a child I would say "I want it now!" In the last few weeks, I've greeted this word with ease. I'm comforted as I whisper it over and over. I trust in its message that I'm exactly where I am meant to be and I have what I need right now. As my vision for my life's purpose is getting clearer, I'm feeling more patience for the journey I'm on and the time it will take to get there. Today, I'm basking in a sunny spot, and savoring where I'm at. Today there are no worries only being.

Namaste,
Kathryn, Collage Diva 

Blogiversary - 3 Wonderful Years of Blogging!

Yesterday I went over to one of my favorite lunch spots, Jewell & the Beanstalk, with my art journal.

It was a special day for you see it marks 3 years since my first blog post. THREE YEARS! Anticipating this day, I've been thinking for a couple of weeks about what's next for Collage Diva and True North Arts.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Good question!

ANSWER: I'm going to continue to create + connect.

Blogging will definitely be a part of making connections with others. When I set out three years ago with my blog I had no idea that I would be where I am today. I learned to listen to my heart and I found my voice. I've made so many new friends and I've learned so much about myself and others. I am so grateful to have made this discovery!

I have a bag of fortune cookies and from time to time, I enjoy pulling out a cookie to see what the message of the day is. What perfect timing to get this message, "You will become more passionate and determined about your vision."

Yesterday I was feeling energized. I have a clearer picture of my future plans and the next steps to take. I'm so excited to continue this journey with you my reader and I hope you'll reach out and leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you enjoy about my blogs and what interests you most.

Thank you for sharing this creative, wild, and precious journey!

{Namaste}

Kathryn, Collage Diva

A different angle

In this shot I turned my camera. I am surprised and thrilled by the results. So often I shoot things the same way. I'm finding that my photos all have a similar composition. I think this photo pulls in the viewer to look at the lines in a way that a straight on shot would not achieve.

How can you do something you always do in a different way today? Try making a slight adjustment and be open for new discoveries.

Namaste,

Kathryn, Collage Diva

PS - Today I'm grateful that I tried a different approach.

Rustic Gate

Portsmouth really does offer the visitor with some many neat nooks and crannies. Here is a rustic gate abutting a bright blue building. Look further in and you'll spy a bird house. I wonder what it looks like on the other side of the gate. What does the entrance to your home look like? Is it rustic and whimsical?

Namaste,

Kathryn, Collage Diva

PS - Today I am grateful for the whimsy of others. It inspires me to add more whimsy to my surroundings.