let's throw open the windows (in your corner)
your corner (jan 3) from liz lamoreux on Vimeo.
earlier today, i had the desire to continue the conversation about how we can focus on our own corners and make them beautiful. (visit this post from last month to watch the first [much shorter] video about this idea of letting go of focusing on everyone else's corner and spending time on our own.) this video is a bit longer than i planned (you will understand why a few minutes in), but i just felt moved to share some thoughts that came to me today...
(so you might want to settle in with a cup of tea for the next 12 minutes [or bookmark this to come back later]. if you know me, you will nod when i say that this video really is a bit like having tea with me in this little house of mine.)
and my hope is that we can continue to have this conversation here. i plan to post on this topic every now and then as a reminder to me...to you...that we can work on our own corner so that we can be even more present to share our work (our stories) with the world.
*****
if you feel like sharing your response to my challenge in the video, i would love to hear from you. feel free to email me or share a comment here or maybe you will even share some thoughts on your own blog and let me know. i am really drawn to the idea of how the simplest of prompts can push us to think about who we are and where we stand on our paths. simple is good sometimes. especially when life is full full full and the time for one's self feels a bit non-existent. and taking the time to see yourself (even in small ways like i mention in the video) is a way to remember you in the midst of it all.
*****
PS and anyone who lives in the seattle/tacoma area who wants to come over and help this "living inside what is real" new mama continue to regroup the world that is the little room so she can actually work in her studio? well, oh my goodness you are so invited over. tea + cookies will be provided.
PPS oh and more soon on the goodness that arrived by post.
notes to myself, your corner in in moving pictures
Reader Comments (21)
Hi - I am writing slowly with one (left) hand and holding my new baby daughter with the other. Yours is adorable. I love love love your video message. Timely for me. I feel that I spend far too much time thinking about doing and looking at what other people are doing rather than doing myself. Thanks!
PS - I so want to come for some community creativity (and tea!). I am in Vancouver (CA). The invite is open the other way too!
:) Good, good thoughts here, Liz ~ and thank you for sharing yourself here in your most real moments. While you were talking about unearthing our corners and sifting to find that one thing... my mind wandered to my most recent "project" I've given myself: clearing out the 4 little cabinets scattered around my home that house my art supplies. I started doing this a couple of days ago and during the process I've managed to put a couple of items to the side and set up a little painting area in my dining room. This little step of clearing out and organizing, locating items that I LOVE but had forgotten all about ... well, I'm using some of the supplies now to create (not anything for the world to see, just a little color therapy for myself. painting = stress relief for me).
You've got a good conversation going here. And Miss Ellie... she is a little beauty. Her eyes just lit up when you held that bowl of buttons in front of her. Happy day!!
This was a wonderful video, and believe me, though my boys are in school now, I remember those days of sweet baby scattered-ness!
For 2011 I have embarked on a photo a day project, partly because, like Jeni above, last year I spent so much time stuck and looking at others' creations rather than digging into my own. All that wonderful endless inspiration can also be a big excuse for never even going into my corner.
So, to start with, an image a day.
Not so very long ago, it seems, I had little ones. And yes, you do keep walking down the path...only now, you have those that walk with you...and you little one seems so comfortable in that space. My mother enjoyed sewing and I remember fondly the trips to fabric stores for patterns and buttons and all the wonderful sewing supplies....and the fabric...oh my! the fabric. When she passed away a little over a year ago, I was, at Dad's request, going through her "sewing closet" and found a quilt top she had done for my daughter when she was born 28 years ago....and never finished. I adopted it, to finish for my new grand-daughter...and it still sits...incomplete. THAT is my one thing....my place to start....and finish. Thank you for the spark that grew to a light.
really wonderful video. your message is speaking to me - and your baby is cute!
There is so much good stuff here. I re-watched the original video and it really spoke to me. I have been worrying about everyone else's corner too much. Wondering if it was a mistake to start my own network It really had paralyzed me from going forward. I think this reminder will help me push on and realize my corner doesn't have to be like anyone else's and really shouldn't anyways. I think it gives me validation in some ways. So I didn't start it all like everyone else well that is perfect;y okay I am who I am and will do it my way and that is ok.
I am not sure what my one thing is re todays video but I think I will spend some time thinking about it today. Thanks so much for opening up the idea for me. I really look forward to seeing your future talks on this subject.
Kate
Love, love, love everything about this video! My heart and soul needed this so much. Bless you!
Hi there,
Loved your video post... I can so relate to all aspects of it. Sometimes all we need is to hear someone else give us the permission or indirectly empower us to follow the path which lays in front of us instead of taking the familiar. It has been 5 years and 2 kids since I have pursued my creative path, like you mentioned it is all in boxes, or in the craft room downstairs with the door shut. I stepped out of my corner with the arrival of my little ones and into everyone else's to the point that I almost forgot that I actually had my own corner, i just need to recreate what it looks like for who I am now. I am now SOOOO ready to dive into my corner again and find the true me, the one i have become... not the kids mom, the wife, the friend, I need to get selfish and get back to the true me! Thank you so much for inspiring joy and tears all at the same time.
Have a fabulous day!
This is so timely-thinking the same things. I recently rearranged my studio space and found so many wonderful treasures that were simply good intentions tucked away. I decided not to beat myself up for not doing anything with them and rather spend some quiet time honoring them -deciding if indeed I still wanted to do with them what I had planned or if they could be used in some new way. It turned out to be a great time of reflection, re-evaluation, and new found inspiration. By the way I loved the opportunity to see that beautiful baby girl so thank her for waking early! I look forward to more posts on this subject.
Oh absolutely perfect timing. I feel as if I have been standing in quicksand these last few weeks. The whirlwind of the holidays, the excitement, the mess, the clean up, the need to control it all, and the back to school dread from everyone {including me}. I do believe I was more alive when I had little one's like you. I felt more compelled to take that time out to do what made my world sing the songs of my heart. I have time and space to create where I am -- but I hoard it all. I don't touch what use to make my heart sing and it makes me sad. I am working on "unearthing" me.. and maybe that might be my world for 2011 and I thank you for that.
So have you ever thought of singing? you have such a nice voice...
you are a beautiful soul... i loved this conversation with you...and the interruptions only made it feel more real...like i was really there sitting with you... and that makes my heart happy...
I have quite a few lost treasures that are hidden away in boxes and plastic containers and since I don't go back to work till the end of January I might just go on a treasure hunt!!!
Thanks again Liz for the wonderful, inspirational peek into your life... I too remember life like that, days like that, with little ones... crazy beautiful it is.
I wish I lived a little closer, I would have come and had a cookie and a little chat with you.
Katherine
Wow... my "home" word seems to be becoming more and more real and right every day. Thank you for this. We have been on a great mission of sorting and purging lately (and letting go of a garage-full of boxes!). We are looking ahead to our upcoming move to re-think our home spaces... and my corner of that home is high on my list of priorities. I'd love to hear your thoughts on balancing your own space (and self) with kidspace and mamahood... I struggle a lot with the feeling that I've surrendered to the floods of kid stuff and kid energy.
Blessings!
Nikki
Yes! Yes! Yes! Please do blog, write, record more of your idea on how to renovate our corner into something that truly reflects our beauty and uniqueness. I've really gained so much from everything you've had to share on this idea so far.
I love the way your video exemplifies everything that you have been talking about and working on. It is infused with every day life, exquisite memories, fatigue, glimpses of transformation and magic, interruption and so much love.
Thank you. Thank YOU.
Kat x
oh yes! This is so crazy that you just posted this cause I was JUST thinking about my beads...and how I have quite the collection...and I really should do something with them. Perhaps that will be my mission this weekend (or this year! haha!) and I will let you know how it goes... Love these video series! It's also a great reminder that we never know what might happen - who knew that so many people would resonate with that first video - I can't wait to see what more unfolds!
I really love watching your videos, they are so real and make me think. I love the idea of letting go of living in someone else's corner and making your own corner beautiful and all about you and living in that...
I am so glad our paths have crossed and maybe some day I will brave a plane ride or you will come to the east coast!
Love and blessings
Karen D (from muse class)
PS: you have inspired me to think about making a video now also..
thank you liz for sharing in such a real way - i have two little guys and work full-time and often find myself comparing corners and that creates obstacles. my goal is to back off of this and focus on my own little corner and the precious time i do have in it.
i love this. and i am sharing it. we all need to open up those corners.
Liz, am catching up with my google reader posts at long last and am so glad that I found you video today. It was honestly like medicine ( of the sweet kind). Thank you so much for giving me that inspiration to make a start on my own corner, for making me think about what is actually stopping me in the first place. I needed that push and that nurturing. I also love the way you talk so openly, I have a real sense of connection- even though I don't know you it feels like having a coffee with a friend and that is so lovely.
i so want to pop over for tea. and why don't we live closer? ; )
this made me smile so big. and made me think too. so much so that i stopped and took a picture of my "corner" right at this moment so i will always remember. my corner is a table at work. i spend most of my time there. and even thought i have to work outside the home, i am glad to embrace a space that's just for me.
luckily i have flowers my husband sent me to lighten the space right now.
thank you for this post and your words.
so glad i found your blog.