Tuesday, 7 January 2020

I think I've changed my mind

Do you get those feelings?  You know, those feelings when you think something is about to change, but you don't know what!  A sort of unsettled feeling - not quite like the butterflies you get when you're waiting for an interview - but a gut feeling!   No, not indigestion!!!

There's something lurking at the back of my mind about change.  It can't be a change of job because I'm retired.

It could be a change of direction in my creative work.  As I mentioned I'm working through the Head, Heart and Hands workbook and that's throwing up some questions.

I haven't been able to start a journal yet this year for my word of the year.  If you remember I said that my word for 2020 was Be Resilient.  And as a start towards that I began re-reading Brene Brown's 'Rising Strong'.

On January 3rd Nicky Gumbel published Talk As You Walk and straight away I felt drawn to the word Walk.

I wonder sometimes whether my inability to complete the goals I set myself for the year, especially those related to my chosen word, is due to setting too many goals. So, picking up from Nicky's post I'm going to have two goals:
  1. To walk for health
  2. To walk with God
These probably need breaking down into bitesize pieces and currently are not particularly SMART.   (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based goals).

In our monthly phone call Valerie and Mary talked about Intentions.  I asked Mary what the difference was between setting goals and setting intentions.  She said: 'I think the main difference between goals and intentions is in how you view them. Goals are usually specific in nature and are future oriented. I want to save 100.00 each month or I want to lose 20 pounds. Intentions are usually focused more on daily living in the present moment and lean toward habit forming and lifestyle. Both play a role. In fact intentions can help us meet goals. But I tend to prefer intentions because I think they help create a lifestyle or mindset instead of just completing tasks. Intentions can help us become the type of person we want to be. So instead of simply setting a goal of how many pounds I want to lose, instead my intentions are to eat healthier for my overall health. As I work on that I may or may not lose the pounds but will gain so many other health benefits. If I simply have a goal of losing ten pounds then every time the scale doesn't change I feel like I have failed'.

So would I be better to set an intention which leads to a goal?  It certainly sounds more proactive somehow.

In 2012 I determined to take one long walk each week - long being over 4 miles.  We actually did 62 because when we were on holiday we took walks on several days not just one per week.  The key word here is 'determined'.  I made up my mind to do something and carried it out. 

So while I continue to ponder on my word I still haven't started a journal.  So I thought I'd invite you to look back at some pages Valerie and I did back in 2014 when Walk was a word in a Practising Gratitude  art journaling challenge I set.   The challenge.   Valerie's guest postMy journal.

 Thanks for joining me today.
 Bernice



Living Your Word 2020
Valerie Sjodin, Mary Brack, and I share insights through blog posts for creatively living a word of the year. In our Facebook group, we encourage one another by posting questions and prompts to inspire living out a word focus, keeping a journal etc. It is a safe place to ask for prayer and support. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word, you can ask to join our Living Your Word of the Year 2020 by clicking on the link below.

Join our Facebook group: Living Your Word of the Year

On social media: #livingyourword2020

To ensure you get updates from Valerie, Mary & I why not subscribe to our blogs.
Mary:  www.foundonbrighton.com
Valerie: www.valeriesjodin.com/blog/
This one: www.newlycreative.com/

Saturday, 4 January 2020

Looking back, looking forward

Thank you so much for reading this blog, making comments both here and on Facebook and generally staying with me throughout 2019.  I really do appreciate you.


I have posted twice a week throughout the year - on Tuesdays and Saturdays.  I hope that wasn't too much for you.

That said, I write my blog for me and only me.  So if you find things of interest here, it's a bonus.  I don't usually look at the Stats but for the benefit of this post I thought I would.

My most popular post of all time was this one Playing which to my astonishment has had over 11,000 views.  Most of this is down to the fact that someone shared it on Pinterest.

The most popular post in 2019 was Further work in my workbook which received 567 views.   It is astounding to me that so many people are interested in what I do.  Especially, as I've said, I do this for me.

So thank you again to those who find me by chance, those of  you that follow by email or by blog readers or my Facebook page.  I appreciate each and every one of you.

So what is to come in 2020?

More of the same really. 

Photo tutorials.
Recording my creative journey.
The occasional post on mental health.
Photos of my travels - currently only Australia planned for this year.
Living Your Word of the Year

Sometimes I wonder if I should change it up a bit.  But if it isn't broken - why fix it?

If there are things you would like to see on my blog, please let me know in the comments below.

Thank you again for sticking with me
Bernice


Living Your Word 2020
Valerie Sjodin, Mary Brack, and I share insights through blog posts for creatively living a word of the year. In our Facebook group, we encourage one another by posting questions and prompts to inspire living out a word focus, keeping a journal etc. It is a safe place to ask for prayer and support. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word, you can ask to join our Living Your Word of the Year 2020 by clicking on the link below.

Join our Facebook group: Living Your Word of the Year

On social media: #livingyourword2020

To ensure you get updates from Valerie, Mary & I why not subscribe to our blogs.
Mary:  www.foundonbrighton.com
Valerie: www.valeriesjodin.com/blog/
This one: www.newlycreative.com/

Tuesday, 31 December 2019

Head, Heart & Hands

I have started working my way through a workbook called Head, Heart & Hands: A Workbook for Developing Your Creative Voice.  You can buy it as a book or as a download.  I've got the download which is useful because I have been able to print things on the back of some of the pages.

One of the exercises in the book is to choose two pieces of your work and ask people to give you 5 words to describe the work.  I used these two pieces and put them on Instagram and Facebook.


You could join in if you wish, by putting 5 words in the comments below.

Another exercise is to have a daily practice.  I have chosen the heart practice.  For this I have to take a photo, 6 days out of 7, for 7 weeks.  That's 42 photographs of things I love.

I've only just started so there's only a few!



It will be interesting to see where this leads.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice