Mojo Monday ~ My Body Is Magic

“I like my body because it’s magic.” - 5-year-old Sofia (aka Lola)

Interrupt Magazine published an article that caught my attention.  Writer Marie C. begins by sharing a startling statistic.  "By the age of 13, 53 percent of girls say they are unhappy with their bodies. When were they happy?"

In order to find out, Marie C. photographed and interviewed girls between the ages of four and eight and asked them what they liked about their bodies. These girls share wisdom the rest of us have forgotten.

Sharing this article was already on my agenda for Mojo Monday.  Yet I took note last Saturday during a water aerobics class how many women were making critical remarks about their bodies.  Comments were made now and again that reflected how many of the women wished they looked different.  A part of me wanted to address the whole group and ask "How many women here like their bodies?" I had a strong intuitive sense that most of the women would not have responded positively.   

Consider the wisdom in the answers of these other young girls when they were asked what they liked about their bodies.

“I like my body. I like my eyes because they help me see different things. I also like my hands because they help me write different things. I also like my feet because they help me walk and have fun. My name is Jeniah and I’m 8-years-old!” - 8-year-old Jeniah

 “My whole body I love I love.” – 4-year-old Layla

“Something I like about my body is how fast I can run,
and how healthy I am.” – 9-year-old Lana

“I like that I can move with it. I like that eyelashes are long. I like that my skin is half white and half brown. I like that my hair can shake.” – 6-year-old Bayan

“I like my hands they help draw.” –  6-year-old Laila

“My body is magic because...
...of my bright green eyes that are soulful and shine.
...of my ability to float, glide and swim in the water like an otter.
...of my big smile that is warm and toothy.
...of my hands that can transform my creative thoughts into art and written words.
...of my strong legs and big traveling feel that support me well.
...of my arms that give comfort, bug hugs and serve a volleyball fast and hard.
..it provides me with the tools to live and love this life."
 –  44-year-old Michelle Ida Fairchild

Now it is your turn.  
List some things that you love about your body.  
How is your body magic?
Take a self portrait.
The photo(s) can be your whole body
or of parts you particularly love.  

Lastly, be sure to embrace yourself as your own beloved.

Come learn more about A Beautiful Body Project
and watch this video for a very inspiring experience.

Mojo Monday ~ Banging On the Doldrums

Banging On the Doldrums by Michelle Fairchild

It began as a word nerd alert. In an exchange with a friend the word "doldrums" was used. I found myself curious about where the word doldrums originated. So I looked it up. Then I found myself getting an image of a colorful art journal page with drums and the saying Banging on the Doldrums. That is how creativity can shift things. Just picturing that image was very amusing to me. 

Two days later I created this journal page.  She is indeed Banging On the Doldrums and the note below reads She was reminded of how creativity can shift things.

The topic of creativity has been much on my mind too, as I was working on my August article for Cosmic Cowgirls Magazine on that very topic.  My focus was on how creativity is a healing force and how it is an expression of our very souls and spirits.  

Is there something that is troubling you?  Is there something that inspires you right now?  In either direction one can use creativity to wonder and contemplate more deeply a subject.  Try drawing an image while thinking about a certain situation.  It can be random doodles or an image of the thing that you are thinking about.  Transforming thoughts and feelings into images can be very powerful and transformative.  Give it a try and see what happens.  

Mojo Monday ~ Express Yourself

Jack Kornfield, Buddhist author and teacher once wrote “I’ve been told the story of a six-year-old girl who asked her mother where she was going one afternoon.  The mother replies that she was headed for the university to teach her students how to draw and paint. ‘You mean they’ve forgotten?’ her daughter asked, amazed.  Many of us have forgotten how to give voice to our creativity.  And yet it is said that play —- our ability to let go, dance, sing, create — is one of the most wondrous expressions of our aliveness.”

Excerpts from the book by Nina Wise called A Big New Free Happy Unusual Life: Self Expression and Spiritual Practice for Those Who Have Time for Neither.

“Everyone is creative.  Creativity is our very nature.  But for many of us, the creative impulse has gone into hiding, ‘I can’t draw, I can’t sing, I can’t dance,’ we confess to each other, and we plant ourselves in front of the television for the evening. But the creative impulse that is at the core of all being remains robust within us.”

“Creativity is about having the courage to invent our lives – to concoct lovemaking games, cook up a new recipe, paint a kitchen cabinet, build sculptures on the beach and sing in the shower. Creativity is about our capacity to experience the core of our being and the full range of our humanness.  The question of how to become more creative is not about learning anything or even doing anything, but about allowing whatever arises to gain expression.  To do this, we must bypass the voice inside of us that says stop.  The censoring mind is clever and has an entire litany of reasons we must refrain from expressing ourselves: you are a bad dancer so sit back and watch while the skillful ones dance.  And you certainly can’t paint so don’t even try because you will embarrass yourself. You sing off-key and you can’t hold a rhythm – you will disturb everyone within earshot if you open your mouth.  And if you happen to disregard this sage advice, you will make a total fool of yourself and no one will ever love you or give you a job.  We obey this voice as if being guided by inner wisdom, but when we tune in, we hear a quieter voice calling out to us to express ourselves freely.  This is the voice that can liberate us.  If we listen and respond, our lives become rich with the pleasure creative freedom provides.”

“It is our nature to be free and it is our nature to express that freedom, spontaneously and without hesitation, through song, and dance, and painting, and poetry and prayer.  In the same way that the universe gives birth to uncountable shapes, forms, colors and beings in a grand panoply of flowing, changing manifestation, we too, are of the nature to give birth to myriad forms of expression.”

What are your thoughts regarding the excerpts from Nina Wise's book?

Has someone you know ever stated “I am not creative”?  Did you respond?

Have you ever felt that you weren't very creative?

This week if you hear that voice that says "stop" when you think about painting, dancing, writing or inventing a new recipe put your fingers in your ears and go "la la la la la" until you can't hear it anymore and then proceed with wild abandon to create without judgement, to create just for the sake of creating. Liberate yourself! Set aside time to just play and let go.  See what happens when you give yourself permission to just create without a specific purpose in mind.  

What do you gravitate to first  - paints, crayons, scissors and glue?

As Greg Anderson so brilliantly put it

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. 

Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it."

 

Nina Wise is known for her provocative and original performance works. Her pieces have garnered seven Bay Area Critics' Circle Awards, and she has received, among other prestigious honors, three National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. Her written pieces have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. Nina lives in San Rafael, California.
http://www.ninawise.com/

Jack Kornfield is one of the leading Buddhist teachers in America. A practitioner for over 40 years, he is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness and vipassana meditation to the West. His approach emphasizes compassion, lovingkindness and the profound path of mindful presence, all offered in simple, accessible ways in his books, CD’s, classes and retreats.

http://www.jackkornfield.com/

Mojo Monday ~ Rocking Chair Moments

When I'm 80 and sitting in a rocking chair listening to the Rolling Stones, 

there is absolutely no way I'm going to feel old or forget my younger days. 

~ Patty Duke

A friend of mine once described a particularly happy experience as a rocking chair moment. He said he knew that when he was old and sitting in a rocking chair that he was going to  think back fondly on that event.   We humans do have a tendency to reminisce and it can be fun to look back in time.  One of the things I also registered from the comment and realized is that we still had a lot more living to do and a lot more moments to experience that would become a part of our treasured history.  

Rocking chair moments don't have to involve expensive vacations or life changing events necessarily.  Many of our most special moments take place because we are doing them with loved ones or simply participating in a favorite activity.  Talk to most parents and they will have very specific memories of their children growing up that stand out to them.  There are poignant moments during milestone markers, such as completing kindergarten, graduating high school, getting married, having a child, losing a loved one or achieving something meaningful, no matter how big or small.

One of the ways I like to track time and record special moments is through photography.  Photography is a favorite art form and also a storyteller.  Several years back I even participated in a photo blog group and for over two years I posted at least one photo a day. There were a few group leaders who would post the word of the day and the goal was to interpret or represent that word with a photo.  It was fun, creative and sometimes challenging.  It enhanced my tendency to look around myself with wondering new eyes.  I know the photographic project came easily to me because I already had a tendency to look around myself with artful eyes.  

Whether you are around the house, just going around town or away enjoying a summer vacation, look around you with the eyes of an artist and a photographer.  What do you see?  What do you notice?  What draws your eye?  What could you want to capture as an image?  What would you want to share with others?  

I recently went away on vacation with my husband and twin daughters.  We spent a few days in Monterey and then moved over to camping at Little Basin, near Santa Cruz and Boulder Creek.  Being on the coast and in the redwoods provided a smorgasbord of images to delight me.  

 

Here is a slideshow from the Monterey area and another of camping in the redwoods at Little Basin with more photos.

Make your own free digital scrapbook

Customize a free scrapbook design

I'd love to see some images delight you.  Consider what sorts of things make for rocking chair moments and photograph them, describe them in words or paint or collage them.  The creative options are wide open, so explore and have fun.

Mojo Monday ~ What and Who Inspires You?

Art by Donald Crew from the book Freight Train

If I ask you what or who inspires you, do answers immediately come streaming forth or does it make you sit and ponder?  Just last night and this morning I felt like I was on the freight train of inspiration.  Even just now as the words "freight train of inspiration" appeared in my mind and then on the page I thought hmmmm...I should go google that term and see what images pop up.  Well it appears that no one has quite coined that term yet, at least according to google, but I did find this wonderful rainbow image from a children's book called Freight Train by Donald Crew.  Needless to say I am feeling a bit inspired by Donald Crew this very moment.  Yet, before I get completely off track (no train pun intended) let us return to the topic of inspiration.  

Here is one example of how Inspire is defined:  to have an animating effect upon one's mind or emotions; to stimulate to some creative or effective effort; to elicit or create. 

Considering this definition of the inspire what or who has an animating effect upon your mind or emotions? What or who stimulates or elicits your creativity? 

It will be a challenge for me to limit myself, because there are so many things that are inspiring me every day, but I'll try to share a just a few on my list today and will provide links so you can explore more on your own.  

I just stumbled upon a very inspirational couple just last night via the posting of an artist friend.  The history geek in me is absolutely excited about the work of Maya and Matthew Smith-Gonzalez, who are the co-founders of the Reflection Press and School of the Free Mind.  

Matthew is a videographer, webmaster, designer, accountant, manager, builder, architect, editor, publisher, and just about anything else needed to keep the Press running.  Matthew came from Philly to San Francisco to intern with COLAGE, a non-profit organization for children with one or more LGBT parents. Growing up with a gay father, isolated in the midst of homophobia, taught Matthew the importance of working to include everyone and inspired his activist spirit to take root.  

Maya is an artist, author, educator,  publisher, maker, freeek, spirit, big thinker, blissfully devoted spouse and parent who thinks kids and anything creative are awesome. She has illustrated over 20 award-winning, multicultural children’s book and written three. She has written three books for their press, including Claiming Face, Gender Now and I See Peace.  

They are currently raising funds for their latest project called Everybody's History. The overall goal for Everybody’s History is for this to be a large collection of chapter books. Each book telling the story of one hero who has impacted our world, despite the fact that they may at times not have fit into what was socially acceptable at the time. The series will include heroes from the United States, and eventually, the world.

Everybody’s History comes in 3 book groupings. The series begins with the heroes, Harriet Tubman, We’Wha and Charley Parkhurst. The main themes in the first set are the Civil War era, gender expression and race. Other unifying themes include Night, Secrecy, Disability, A Time of Transformation and Social Agreements. Each paperback book will be 48 pages with full color illustrations. Between the covers kids can explore the life and times of the characters through story, anecdotes, quirky facts and unique activities. Be sure to visit their web site Reflection Press and if you feel inspired to contribute to their fundraising efforts for Everybody's History click here to pop over to their fundraising site on Kickstarter.

Next on my most inspirational list this week is artist Rita Loyd.  I had been looking for an image that might go well with an article I was working on for my column in Cosmic Cowgirls Magazine.  I came across this stunning image called Expansion of Love and this beautiful affirmation that accompanies the painting:

“Expansion of Love”

The expansion of love begins 
as a small seed from within.
irst I learn to love and nurture myself.
And then as my spirit awakens
I find that when I help others, 
I help myself.
And from that awareness
my love expands and overflows 
out into the universe.

I wrote to Rita about including the painting and affirmation as part of the article and she agreed.  We communicated back and forth several times and I even placed a purchase for a couple decks of her Unconditional Self Love Message Cards and several greeting cards.  I am so inspired by Rita and her art and writing.  This is what she shares about herself on her web site:  

"I am a watercolor artist and writer.  The theme of my work is about unconditional self-love.  The reason I write and paint about self-love is because unconditional self-love has the ability to heal and transform our lives.  I also believe that when we can love ourselves unconditionally that we create the internal support system that is needed to reach our greatest potential and to live our best life."

Be sure to visit Rita's web site for a lot more inspiration by clicking here. 

The last inspirational person I would like to share about is Henriette Simon Picker.  Henriette was born in 1917 and is a lifetime painter.  Henriette had her first solo exhibit in 2012 at the age of 95 years old and that was followed up by a retrospective exhibition in March of this year.   Her work has begun to enter distinguished private collections.   

Henriette studied drawing and painting at the Art Student's League of New York from 1939 to 1941, while pursuing a successful career as a shoe designer.  She was hired by world famous I. Miller Shoes of New York at the age of 16 and for the next 45 years designed women's high fashion shoes full time there and for many other major companies throughout the U.S.  During the 1950's and 60's she ran her own shoe companies and her designs were illustrated by many well known artists, including Andy Warhol.

I so appreciated this video featuring Henriette and her son as they speak about her painting and her first gallery showing.  It is also fascinating to visit her web site to view how her art changed and evolved throughout the many years she has been painting and it is wonderful that she is still going strong.  

I would love to hear from you now about who and what is inspiring you these days!  

Do share.  Inquiring minds want to know! 

Other people high on my inspiration list are:

Effy Wild ~ Fling some glitter in the air and then pay her a visit at The Glitterhood. 

Jenafer Joy Owen ~ Her art and musings make me hand-clapping happy! Visit her over that Jenafer Joy ~ Art & Musings

Allison Kenny ~ In March of this year she published her first chapter book for girls with Glitter & Razz.  The book called Starring Celia is the story of a 4th grade girls who goes from being bullied to becoming a 'Go Girl!'  With her best friend Jazzy, her puppy Rootbeer, and her new summer camp, nothing can stop her from taking center stage.

The Red Boa Perspective

Today in Cosmic Cowgirls Magazine
is my latest article called 

The Red Boa Perspective

Perspectives are a lot like opinions in that everyone has them.  I am quite intrigued by perspectives.  Much like our opinions, our perspectives are also formed and influenced by our perceived identities and our life experiences.  Yet just as our identities can change during the course of our lives, so will our perspectives transform and evolve.

However, I have this suspicion that the one perspective at the core of them all is the one you have of yourself.  Do you think highly of yourself?  Do you think you are lovable? Do you love yourself?  Do you see your beauty?

Did those questions make you pause or did you feel immediate conviction in your answers?

Buddha quote with photo by Michelle Fairchild

To read more come visit this article at Cosmic Cowgirls Magazine. 

Mojo Monday ~ Coming Home to Yourself

Art by Michelle Fairchild

The spiritual life is about becoming more at home in your own skin.

~ Parker J. Palmer

As our Cosmic Cowgirl tribe of writers dives deeper in contemplating and wondering about topics like identity, perspective, vision and so on, I find greater clarity.  My latest article in Cosmic Cowgirls Magazine is called We Are Stardust.  It expresses my thoughts on the topic of Identity.   Here is an excerpt from the article:

Can you wrap your mind around the reality that both you and I are literally made of  stardust?  How does an identity of being made of stars feel when you try it on?  Do you stand a little taller?  Does it blow your mind, just a little, or maybe a lot?  Does it make you want to swagger or maybe just stare up at the night sky and say “Why hello there my friend, I had no idea we were related?”

In next months article about Perspective I share my suspicion that the one perspective at the core of them all is the one we have of ourselves.  What I know is that there is a theme, a thread of connection, in my writing.  I feel a calling to shine a light and offer up ideas and tools on how we can heal our wounds and really learn to be a guest in our own hearts, and truly love ourselves.  I also believe as the quote at the end of this posts suggests "Each time you remember the Truth of who you are, you bring more light into the world."

This weeks Mojo Monday is about Coming Home to Yourself.  It is about as the opening quote by Parker J. Palmer states "...becoming more at home in your own skin."

Today I share with you an excerpt from Mark Nepo's book entitled The Book of Awakening Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.  Mark even includes several grounding practices at the end.

"Anything that removes what grows between our hearts and the day is spiritual.  It might be the look of a loved one stirring their coffee as morning light surprises their groggy eyes.  It might be the realization while watching a robin build its nest that you are only a temporary being in this world.  It might be a fall on ice that reminds you of the humility of your limitations.

As Parker Palmer suggests, the aim of all spiritual paths, no matter their origin or the rigors of their practice, it to help us live more fully in the lives we are given.  In this way, whatever comes from a moment's grace that joins us to our lives and to each other -- this is spiritual.  For example, I was having coffee the other day in a cafe and suddenly, from the rain of noise around me, there arose a word of truth in the exposed voice of a stranger whose face I couldn't even see.

I don't know her context or her story or whom she was revealing herself to. I didn't even turn around to see her face, because in that moment, there was a perfect beauty in our staying anonymous.  I only felt, simply and deeply, that without her ever knowing, her moment of pointed and unexpected truth made me more at home in my own skin.

The life of spirit is everywhere: in dust waiting for light, in music waiting to be heard, in the sensations of the day waiting to be felt.  Being spiritual is much more useful and immediate than the books about books would have us think.

• Center yourself, and as you breathe, realize that your spirit fills your life the way your ones and blood fill your hand. 
• As you breathe, realize that your life fits the world the way your warm and living hand fits a glove.
• As you breathe, feel your spirit fill your skin and feel your skin fit the world."