::grateful::

I am grateful for 

morning walks in the forest

a visit from Nana Rose

happy, smiling Max

backyard bonfire

morning coffee

kind people

yoga

{this moment}

an occasional post by me, inspired by soulemama's friday ritual.

 

 

::grateful::

I am grateful for:

flowers in the forest

a day at TEDx Santa Cruz

Basmati rice

ice water

pizza

my community

out and about: Capitola Village

I took this photo with my iPhone 6 through the home made telescope!

The other night my friend, Jodi and I went to Mr. Toots in Capitola Village. A coffee house on a Saturday night, we're such party girls! We had planned to go for a walk on the beach but Chris and I had hiked about ten miles earlier that day and I just didn't have it in me to clock another four miles - and it was really cold. Jodi was a pal and agreed to skip the walk and do coffee cake and coffee with me instead. Life is good when you've got good friends to share it with.

On our walk back to Jodi's there was a man with a telescope gazing at the stars. He had made the telescope himself! Um, that's pretty neat, don't you think? This place we call home has some pretty interesting people roaming about it. Just waiting for a conversation.

Jodi looking at Saturn and two of its moons.

create: hearts of gratitude

We painted the clay heart rattles with acrylic paint after they were fired to cone 05.

Recently I volunteered in Max's class to teach a clay lesson with my friend Desiree. The school has no art teacher, but the individual teachers do give some art lessons. It's not as regular as math or humanities. As an artist I find that so sad. Not only because as a society it seems we have devalued the arts, but also because when I was a kid art class or wood shop or sewing or anything that had to do with using my hands was the place I felt most at home in myself. It was also the one place I excelled compared to math or history or a foreign language. I was good at something, and that was using my hands to make things. Every child needs a "win" at school. I'm willing to bet there are children today in classrooms all over our nation that might excel in art - if they were given an opportunity to do so. The more narrow the curriculum the fewer students it serves . . . but I digress.

We had a very short 30 minutes to fit in a project of gratitude and creativity. Miraculously the kids were able to listen and create one or two hollow heart rattles for their mom and teacher in that miniscule window of time. Despite allowing them to dry completely and slowly ramping up my kiln a couple of them did explode - this was my fault for not being explicit in my instructions about air pockets in closed forms. A hole, or several were put in each heart, but clearly that didn't do the trick for all of the hearts.

These heart rattles have little clay balls in them and they make a lovely sound when you shake them. We decided to use acrylic paint to decorate them. It was something we had in abundance and a medium a lot of the kids are comfortable with. I thought it was interesting that the kids were pretty quiet while they painted, especially if you compare it to how loud they were during the building phase of the project. I think they were all happy with their results. I sure was.

Three things I learned while teaching this lesson: 

1. I learned to not rush the first step,  To set an intention. In this case, a one minute meditation on gratitude (or even 30 seconds) would have helped at least half the class with a mindset towards gratitude and a stillness to listen.
2. I learned that it is better to take my time to explain in extreme detail every step, no matter how obvious it may seem to me - even if time is limited. Maybe even plan this part out. (Duh.)
3. I learned that some kids will do their own thing anyhow. And that's okay!

It was a complete joy to work and create together with Desiree and Ilana, Max's teacher. I'm looking forward to teaching art this summer at Max's former school, Tara Redwood. It's going to be a whole lotta fun!

{this moment}

an occasional post by me, inspired by soulemama's friday ritual.

::grateful::

I am grateful for

The Forest
Pandora

rain and sunshine and a cool breeze

yoga class

WD-40

my artist community

clay

metal

dirt

{this moment}

an occasional post by me, inspired by soulemama's friday ritual.

::grateful::

I am grateful for

this day

fresh eggs

the redwood forest

the beach

lemons!

my family, near and far

my home

listen: work, fitness and nutrition

I recently went on a podcast-listening binge. I love listening to podcasts, especially when I have to do mind-numbing housework, or art projects that need completion even when I would rather run away from them forever.

I discovered one podcast by listening to another. I'm not entirely sure how I discovered Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income, but I adore him. He embodies optimism and is a perfect example of Carol Dweck's Growth Mindset. However I found Pat Flynn, I'm grateful I did. Whenever I need a little pick me up, a reminder that my career is not over yet, I go listen to his podcast. One after another. He's cheerful, polite, has abundant energy, is creative and has an amazing work ethic and he adores his wife and children. Plus, he's got some interesting and useful stuff to communicate.

I was tooling around town the other week, listening, shopping at the hardware store when Pat mentioned The Shawn Stevenson Model Health Show. Specifically how much useful information he was able to get from the podcast that he could put to use right away. My curiosity was peaked. So when I got home, I went straight over to the iPhone app for podcasts and downloaded a handful of The Model Health Show podcasts for my chores. Here's the one that helped me pull together the boys room: How to Create a Sleep Sanctuary. Shawn, the Model Health guy is also exuberantly happy and positive and a font of information. His podcasts include him pumping up his sponsor's product at the beginning of the show, but once you're past that you get to some good information.

The positive energy is a nice change from the crazy information pouring out of the news industry right now. It's good to be reminded of optimism, generosity, equanimity, humanity and humor. It is a good choice to surround yourself with positive words when you want to embody those things too.

Here are some of my favorite sources of words and out-loud ideas these days:

TED talks, ideas worth spreading
This American Life
Smart Passive Income
The Model Health Show

What are you listening to these days?