poetry and smash books

I am having so much fun over here in the land of poem it out and smash books and cheese and my mother's cooking that I wanted to check in with you in a video today.

Notes from the video:

I talk about how I am using yet another Smash journal (this time the "mod black" smash folio) to catch all of my ideas and inspiration about poeming. (And I share a peek at the new HUGE Smash book you can find here.) Best prices on the new large ones might be at Michael's with your big coupon of the week (oh and I want to share that I get the weekly coupons by email and just learned that you can just open the link to the coupon on your phone and they can literally scan your phone!).

I read a poem by William Stafford (and a short excerpt from an interview with him) from the book The Answers Are Inside the Mountains: Meditations on the Writing Life by William Stafford. 

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And after several emails asking me to share book and journaling recommendations, especially poets/books to begin with when one wants to really become friends with poetry, I decided to do two things:

1) Begin a new series of posts about some of my favorite poetry collections and poets and books about writing and poetry. Look for the first in this series next week.

2) Create an Amazon store to have a place where you can easily go and check out the poets (and a few other god things) that I recommend. There is a section called "Poetry: Start Here" that lists the books I think might help you fall in love with poetry. There is another ever-growing section of the books of poetry I turn to again and again. (And as a writer, I feel really moved to say: Consider buying your books from your local independent bookstore or checking them out of the library.) And just to be totally clear: If you do buy through my Amazon store, note that it is part of the Amazon affiliate program, which means I get a small commission of your purchase. Next week, I will share a bit about the dream I had in my 20s of opening up a bookstore called "Curled Up (With a Good Book)" and how adding things to this simple Amazon store feels a teeny bit like choosing books to fill that fictional bookstore.

May your day be full of lightness and moments to just rest. Thank you for visiting my corner over here...

Liz

PS speaking of poetry, have you seen what Maya Stein is up to? oh my goodness how that woman inspires me.

PPS if you are new to my corner of the blog world and want to find out more about my wholeness practice and how the Smash journals are helping me with it, check out this series of posts on journaling.

note from here (in moving pictures)

from dream to do (in moving pictures)

Recently, Grace, a kindred spirit who attended one of my retreats last year, sent me an email with the following questions: You wrote recently about a new dream project you are working on. So my question has to do with when you have in inkling of an idea, and the more you think about it, the more you are convinced it's something that must be brought to light, how then do you move your mind from dreaming and thinking to fleshing out and planning (especially when you haven't done anything like this before)? What is it that you are doing/saying to yourself to move into that space?

When thinking about her questions, I felt moved to share my response in a video. However, as I mention in the video, I recorded this as a really organic off the cuff not at all planned without any notes response to Grace's questions, which means the video is a bit long (about 18 minutes). You might just want to read the rest of the post below that includes the main points I made. In the video though, I do share about why I decided to begin to host and organize retreats and why I created Poem It Out when the idea tugged on me in just the last couple of weeks.

I don't always do things in the following order, but here are some of things I do to move an idea from the dream stage to the "do" stage. 

1. I listen to my heart and choose one or two ideas at a time that have me jumping up and down with excitement. [Reading this later, I think I will devote another post to this piece soon.]

2. I circle with my kindreds/think tank to get some feedback. (Hiring a fantastic, soulfull business coach has helped me with this big time.)

3. I use an idea journal to begin to visualize how I can make the idea happen. (My Smash journals are helping me so much with this!)

4. I simply try to believe that I will find my way to make it happen (that I can do it). And part of this is being honest with myself about what I am good at and what I most want to do. [This feels a bit like I am a product of staring at those posters and mugs in Successories when in my teens (remember that store?), but believing I can implement what I most want to do is a big part of living an idea into reality. Though I guess I should say thanks to my mom for always having some of those cards/posters around.]

5. If something doesn't work but it still stirs my soul, I try to rework it or look at how I might not be explaining it well enough to my audience. In other words, I repeat numbers 1-4.

6. I try to let go of the ideas that don't continue to really excite me (even if I think they might make money).

And as I look through this list above, if I had to sum all of this up in one phrase, I would say: I try to get out of my own way.

Thanks again for the questions Grace. I am excited to share some more on this subject and have tucked a few more ideas for future posts into the "blogging intentions" section of my creative wholeness journal. Stay tuned...

hearts

I was wishing that you could come over for tea this afternoon, so I recorded this video about the hearts hanging in our living room because I just wanted to tell you the story. You really should settle in with some tea though as I ramble for about 14 minutes...

A few links for you after you watch the video:

1. my (ever-growing) heart pinboard on Pinterest 
2. the "paint chip" heart banner that originally inspired me
3. Dottie Angel's heart banner post/tutorial
4. a link to my old first video post that was a tutorial about how to make a garland with felt circles (i use the same techniques to sew the hearts and other banners i make...my hair is shorter and oh my goodness i have a lot of energy in this video, so if you watch it, i hope it makes you giggle)

Blessings to you and yours on this day,

Liz

creating space for overwhelm

Yesterday was a day full of overwhelm, and as I found myself practicing self-care in many ways today, I wanted to share a few of the thoughts that led me from there to here. (You will see the video is in two parts because of an interruption in the middle and then Ellie makes an appearance at the end, which still has me laughing just a bit.)

In the video, I mention Jen Lee's new Iconic Self Home Retreat Kit and I am wearing the "you don't have to be so good" t-shirt that is part of the Iconic Self. I am just diving into the conversation between Jen and Phyllis Mathis that takes place over four CDs, and I will share more about my experience with this kit soon. (so so good)

(And I can't help but tell you that the wall behind me used to have three huge bookcases on it that we moved last week while my mom was here. and now it is a blank canvas for some photos I have been wanting to put up for a long time. Can't wait to show you more as I keep making this house into the home we most want live in.)

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This week, I am readying the Create Space classroom for the session that begins this Sunday. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have these conversations about how we can create space for all that we feel and experience and how we can honor who we are, where we have been, and where we want to go.

I want to share what Stephani, a participant from the last session, said in response to one of the lessons in the course:

I've never really asked myself, "What do you need today, kid?" I know what I want, but have never given myself real permission to give it voice and to allow it to be real and not a dream of "one day, maybe some time in the future." Such emotion has filled me today because I believe I CAN, instead of wondering IF I can. This practice for me personally has lifted a layer of self-doubt, negative talk and given me the motivation to throw out my beautiful box of excuses with tomorrow's trash…I truly am where I need to be right now.

You can read a few more testimonials over on the Create Space page. Registration is ongoing until class begins next week.

Blessings and light,

Liz