Big Hearted

At the start of May, I spent a full weekend attending this uniquely inspiring 'Big Hearted Business (un) Conference' in Northcote. The Regal Ballroom was a gorgeous setting, and styled with tree branches and flowers, Loom rugs and gorgeousness in general. I came home with a notebook full of thoughts and quotes from the speakers there.

CORRENE WILKIE

"Are you the lone wolf, the connector, the quiet achiever... we need everyone to have different qualities."

"Think about the sweet spot in your comfort zone that is still in a place of reaching"

"You self sabotage more easily that you give yourself permission. We are in our own way."

"When are you going to start? Now, and now, and now."

"It takes courage along the way - through every single knock back you get - to keep going....
I think starting a business is a hero's journey" - Clare Bowditch

Beautiful food and inspiring talk by Joost, a creative powerhouse who lives ten minutes up the mountain from here.

KYLIE LEWIS

"If you're not enjoying it, maybe you're not digging deep enough, or maybe you need a break"

FABIAN DATTNER

"Don't compromise what you know to be important to you, for yourself. Don't compromise your values"

"Learn to value people and lean on people"

"We make choices because we know why we do what we do, and what we value. Purpose and values matter. Your connections with other people matter more."

"Our panicking self is the furthest from our authentic self."

"The greatest gift you can give yourself is to try new things. What comes from exploration is the second phase of artistry."

"Stop complaining about the amount of things you can do. Be clear about why you do what you do. Then, learn to say no."

DANIELLE LA'PORTE

"Your voice is your art in the world"

"You are chasing a feeling that you hope you will experience when you achieve what you want to achieve."

"Entrepreneurship is about having the fire, the courage to keep showing up"

"If it's not a 'Hell, yes!', it's a no."

"Your true nature is luminous"

"Smart people quit sooner."

"The things you stop doing are even more important to revealing your most powerful self"

"Why would you want to distort who you are in any way to appeal to a different audience?"

MISSY HIGGINS

"Getting over shame is often a struggle for an artist"

"Creating art of any kind is contributing to the world in a heroic way, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time."

"Simply by telling our stories, we're keeping people company"

"We lost the sense of freedom as we grew older, but only because we thought we should."

"Do the work"

"Tell the truth"

The May List of Fantastic Finds

An occasional list of things I've come across that are cool / cute / interesting and some that are great gift ideas I have found for other people too :) Find the first list here. (click image to enlarge)


Rob Ryan Egg Cups

Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights

Joy and Merri-Mint Flats

Hand Painted Bird Bowls

Cute Heart Rain Pendant

Tape Measure Bangles

Wooden Paper Plane Brooch with turquoise stitching

A Storm in A Teacup Mug

She & Him Volume 3

Butterfly Mask

Walk to the Beat of Your Own Drum - Seedling Kit

She's A Bird Nerd Cardi

Orla Kiely Square Biscuit Tins (Set of 4)

Day 21 - Doing things

Doing things, and keeping on doing things. I am grateful for that. It's an approach to life, I think, and a bit of an attitude thing. Proactive, I guess? Persistent, perhaps. Stubborn, probably. It's kind of the opposite of a victim mentality, or a waiting attitude. Taking action. I'm not an insanely active person, or anything, but I do try to deliberately focus on what I can do, instead of what I don't like, and it's an approach I am grateful for as it is a good starting point on the days when things seem like too much.

For instance, today we had a good first session with Sienna's new psychologist. And I thought to myself, yes, I'm glad I did the research and made the appointments and got the referral and so on. Deciding that something wasn't working, and doing something about it. And then, in the spirit of this blog series, I thought I am grateful that I have that response, reasonably naturally, to pursue solutions instead of dwelling on problems. I think of the problems, they make me feel crap, I do my best to push them aside and go, "Right, what can I do about it?"

Occasionally I do spend a day reading (while parenting, of course, as with everything) in complete denial of my to-do list, true, but a delaying tactic is sometimes just some much-needed time off. And then it's back on. A couple of things I read today also reminded me of this feeling - one was the blog of my friend Lauren. She was talking about weight loss, becoming strong and healthy. Reflecting on her amazing progress in order to remind herself that she is doing something good, she is getting somewhere, and she can keep going toward her goals, dreams, ideals. It's in her power.

Another reminder was my friend Lou talking on Facebook about making progress in the scrapbooking industry. She had a friendly rant about not giving up, putting in the dedication to your goals and dreams, waiting it out, keeping on trying. Good things will come, and do. Don't give up quickly, time could be needed to see your ideas pan out. It is an approach I like, especially when feeling hopeless about something - take action, it's the only thing you can actually DO about making things better.

Edited to add: I just went and read another fave blog of mine Maxabella Loves and just had to add here one of her comments today: "From now on, every To Do list will include a To Doing component to make sure we are heading in the right direction. Life can just go on without focus if we let it." Love it.




So I remind myself, with decisions to make about which fencing quote to go with, or whether to get another, and research about other renovations which may be possible over the next however-long. Travel which may be possible depending on saving and earning. Creative satisfaction which may be possible if I take time to do the work. If I make things work. I remind myself: don't feel helpless, help yourself. Work out how you can make it work out. Make another list - even though you lose most that you write - and get things out of your head and into the real world. Commit, to yourself, to making things happen. Step by little step. And remember to feel grateful along the way.

And I am.


Images are of the K&Co Smash Journal - Eco Green - that I worked on for Aussie Scrap Source. I love this journal, and will gradually share more pages as I fill them with dreams, plans and actions.

I am blogging grateful posts for the 21 challenge, raising awareness and funds for Australia's homeless youth. This is my last day and I am at 86% of my goal - thank you! Only $40 to go until I meet my target of raising $300 for Open Family Australia :)
 

If you would like to sponsor me or donate to the challenge, please click here.

This is brilliant

Yes it takes time to watch, but try and just watch the first 4 minutes - the first poem - if you can't fit in the whole thing.




Via Dumbo Feather

Fernweh (wanderlust)

There are many times when, if you asked me who I was, I wouldn't know what to say. I would know the answer that I know - my name, what I do, etc. But it is not always that we feel really connected to those details of identification.

Today I received a package in the post from my artsy ant friend in Germany. And among others, there were two things there. On one item, it said heimweh - homesickness. And on the other, this word, fernweh. Wanderlust.

And I felt, yes. That is who I am.

Pinterest Pretties

Pinterest is a mighty addictive website, that's true, but I've started realising how useful it is as an alternative to bookmarking things in your browser.

So, see a yum recipe with an inspiring photo? Pin it to your Pinterest boards and both the image and the link to the original source will be saved for you AND shared with others! Yay! Same for craft tutorials (I have a mega long bookmark folder just for tutorials). Pin one of the images, and it will link to the source. It's also handier to have a visual bookmark instead of trying to remember what the page names mean in normal browser bookmarks.

Some of the categories I save things in are 'For the home', 'Photography Inspo', 'Scrapbooking Inspiration' and 'Garden love'. I'm slowly building collections, and a lot of them are from following the pins and boards of people I know and who inspire me.You can follow my boards too. Feel free to pin anything from my blogs or website that inspire you :) Fair warning, though, Pinterest is a visual wonderland, it's easy to lose time there!

Ooh, I just posted a recipe for one of my faves, Wattleseed Affogato, on SWS.