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Thursday, June 7, 2007

DAYDREAMING FOR INSPIRATION

Do you remember your childhood days? Do you remember what it felt like to daydream? Do you remember how natural and easy it was to play? Do you remember how your imagination would bring you to places beyond the known world? Do you remember the time when you believed in your dreams, imaginary friends and secretly wondered if a giant actually did live in a castle built in the clouds? Did you believe in fairies, dragons, elves that played in the forest, the troll that lived under the bridge and leprechauns that guarded the treasure at the end of the rainbow? Do you remember wondering where the end of the rainbow actually was? And do you remember wishing you had wings to fly there, picturing yourself soaring with the birds and sliding down that rainbow into the pot of gold itself? Do you remember how magical everything appeared to your senses? Nothing seemed to be beyond the realm of possibility. Do you remember what it felt like in the days when you allowed yourself to play in these magical worlds?



Take a minute to recall some of these special moments from your own childhood days. While you are there, visiting these memories, please don’t judge them to be silly or ridiculous or any of the “Grown Up” titles that we tend to put onto the imaginary world of children. Try only to remember what you felt like, way back then. Try to recall that feeling of magic and endless possibility that lived in your heart. Let yourself sense the wonder and excitement of whatever memory comes back to you. No justification, no judgment, just be there, feel it. Give yourself about 20 minutes or so to contemplate this notion. Let yourself plunge entirely into the waters of pure blissful childhood imagination. Be there. Then, when you are ready, gradually bring yourself back to the present moment and write a note about what you experienced and how you felt.



Imagination, inspiration, where did the magic go? Life has become so serious for most of us. We have forgotten how to play, imagine, dream. At least I know that I have, for the most part. But the time has come to recapture the magic. Why not believe in fairies, elves and the castle in the clouds? It really doesn’t hurt anyone and as a bonus, it can add a little element of intrigue and delight into the day. Besides, how do you know they are not real? We cannot always trust our eyes to tell us what is real…Perhaps…Who knows for sure?



If you have trouble recalling the magical feeling from those childhood days, I suggest renting a movie that you used to love watching as a very young child. For me that movie is The Wizard of Oz. Wow, does that bring me back, in a heartbeat. But the same thing happens when I watch Mary Poppins with my own kids, and I never actually watched that movie as a child. If you cannot recall your favorite childhood movie, then go ahead, give Mary Poppins a try. See what happens. Or more accurately, I guess I should say, “Feel what happens”.



Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to live in this world as a fully functioning, responsible adult but with the added bonus of the active imagination, daydreams and pure wonder of a child? If this is not pure inspiration, then I do not know what is. That’s all from me for now. I am off to play; first with my kids, and then with my paint. Who knows what will happen from there.



For this particular blog entry I felt inspired to include a quote from one of the great “Daydreamers” of our times. But in searching for the “one” that felt just right, I was flooded with inspiration by so many. I could not seem to narrow it down to just one. So instead I have included five.



“There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.”

Elizabeth Lawrence



“I am enough of an artist to draw feely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

Albert Einstein



“I think there’s a little child in all of us and we all too often forget to let the child out to play.”

Donna A. Favors



“They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night”

Edgar Allan Poe



“You see things; and you say, Why? But I dream things that never were; and I say, Why not?”

George Bernard Shaw



PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE A COMMENT, SHARE A DAYDREAM OR PASS ON SOME OF YOUR OWN INSPIRATION

All the Best to you

Pam

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

ATTRACTING INSPIRATION

By now many people have heard about the law of attraction. Basically, where you put your attention, is where you will be. What you focus your full attention on, is what you will get. If you haven’t heard about this yet, I strongly recommend checking it out! There are hundreds of articles and books written on this subject as well as many DVDs available. I recommend “WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW” I like it because it doesn’t seem to step on any religious toes (in fact one person I talked to said that it actually strengthened her belief). I also found that it does not put an overly excessive amount of weight on material gain alone. It’s kind of like Quantum Physics for Dummies (don’t let the words quantum physics turn you off. It’s actually very entertaining.)



I think that we all instinctively know about the law of attraction. We use it all of the time! If I sit here thinking “I’m angry, I’m sad, I’m blocked, I can’t do this anymore” then that is exactly what and where I will be. But if I tell myself that I’m letting the spirit of creativity flow, in whatever direction it wants to (NON-JUDGEMENTAL) then that is what happens. And when it does, I cannot help but feel happiness. In this state, blocks do not exist!



I think that the reason why I’m writing about this today is because I need a serious reminder myself, a giant kick in the pants with the boot of inspiration. The truth is that I found myself, once again, off track, and needed to affirm and clarify (in my own mind) the truth of how things actually work in my life. This morning I was sitting at my computer thinking…”I’m all out. I have nothing to say. How can I do this week after week? I’m tired. I didn’t sleep well. Why am I doing this in the first place? I don’t think anyone really cares anyway. Or worse yet, maybe they think I’m somebody trying to be some freaky modern day prophet, better than thou, with all of this “Divinely inspired knowledge”. But of course on my end, I know that there is no truth in this. Wah, wah, wah. So why did these thoughts enter my mind? I don’t know for sure. I think it all started with an incident this morning that I just could not seem to let go of. From that point until now my day was on a downward spiral plummeting at the speed of light toward the ground, ready to crash and burn! But luckily, before the complete and total annihilation of my day occurred, a voice inside myself reminded me once again to walk the walk. Click, the light bulb turned on and I remembered.



Really, the reason why I write is to provide an ongoing reminder for myself to actually DO the things that I know work for me. It’s like a self affirmation…a reminder of the things I’ve uncovered along the way and lessons that I’ve learned. It’s a way to refocus my attention on the positive aspects of my life and the route to pure inspiration. If anyone else gets anything from my blah, blah, blah, then that’s a bonus, and I’m thrilled!



So what did this refocusing do for me today? It reminded me of the law of attraction, helped me to shift my attention to something positive and affirmed to me how the process of writing things down helps me to remember the tools that I know will help me to stay in the stream of inspiration. I guess that I’m not “all out” after all



THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ MY BLOG. IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS TO ADD, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO SO. YOU ARE WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED TO SHARE YOUR IDEAS AND POINT OF VIEW. I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU.