Living Our Dreams

The Countdown has begun...join us!

It's Saturday and the countdown has started. We have 3 more days before our adventure begins! I am so thrilled that you have all agreed to join me, Blue and I are looking forward to being your host and guide.

 

Click the widget to learn more about the Creative Awakenings, One Book-One Community Read Along

Strap on your favorite pair of traveling shoes....We have a special treat in store for all of you for our launch.

To launch the Creative Awakenings, June One Book, One Community Read Along, we are going to attempt to come to you live and in person through SKYPE, Monday evening, June 1st, in combination with a EnVision DreamTime telegathering call (which will be recorded and posted) ! How about that! I am going to try and work with SKYPE this weekend, so those of you who have it...check back and I will have something more posted once details are finalized in that realm.

I will be reading from the book during our DreamTime gathering, and will answer any questions you might have as we begin the journey. So please post your questions in the One Book-One Community Read Along room in the Creative Awakenings discussion Salon- this weekend-and I will randomly choose from them for our call. I will answer the rest of the questions throughout the month by posting the Community Read room.

So here is the plan for the DreamTIme telegathering:

Get out your compass and check your maps....

Where are YOU?

TIME(s) TO TUNE IN:

9:00-9:30pm EST
7:00-7:30pm MTN

6:00-6:30pm PST

Let's meet at the trailhead, here is the Mile Marker and telegathering call in number: 

Tel: 218-844-8230
Participant Code: 381000#
Please note, typical long distance charges apply. This is a traditional long distance number.

Random Acts of Creativity Friday, join us! http://ping.fm/bafu9

Bliss 24-Open Heart Repaired

With preternatural timing, and arriving on the heels of some important decision making I had been wrangling with for weeks, I woke this morning to find my beautiful Open Heart Sculpture repaired. She fell over this past winter during a huge storm and when I righted her, several of her wings had shattered. I had a good cry and then called her Muse...Shannon Muse, the artist who birthed her.

Something has been missing in my life since Open Heart was shattered. I begin each morning by opening my windows, taking in the beauty of the landscape and Open Heart, and saying a prayer of gratitude for the life I have come to live. For the last month or so, each time I looked at her in her wounded state, the metaphor was inescapable and reached deep into my psyche, inviting me to look within. Trials and challenges are an inevitable part of life, and it's important to find the beauty and gratitude, even if it's as tiny as a Alpine Poppy Seed. This seed of beauty and gratitude will grow if you continue to add water and nurture it.  

I have so much gratitude to Shannon for creating this piece for me, it is something I will treasure for the rest of my life. Open Heart has become my touchstone to knowing my heart can remain open amidst sorrow, and my wings-no matter how torn or tattered they might be-are there to give me flight....

Mo' Bliss

It's been an interesting weekend. Some personal transformation is stirring in my pot and although it's BIG STUFF, my Everyday Bliss practice has kept me grounded and attuned to the beauty around me. The weather has been dreary, bringing much needed cool air, rain and low clouds. It feels mor like fall instead of spring. 

I had the opportunity to take several hikes during this long weekend. One in search of wildflowers and one in search of self. My first hike was with my Colorado "mom," Nancy who is 75.5 and had double knee replacement last summer. She is the FEISTY-est woman I know and I aspire to be just like her as I move into the 2nd half of my life season. Along with my husband Andy, Nancy has taught me so much about being a mountain mama, so it seemed fitting we would take a spring hike to find the wildflowers. 

I had been up the wildflower hike Nancy had read about in the paper, and warned her it was a steep climb up, but Nancy was up for the challenge-as always-and we agreed we would take our time and stop whenever we were ready for a break. We saw our first Western Tanagers of the season, their colors vibrant against the multitude of spring greens. 

It was an incredible experience to see Nancy hiking PAIN FREE with a huge smile on her face taking her first hike of the season...with many more adventures to come. 

Nancy hits the trail!

Blue finds some Paintbrush

Heading to the meadow

On the way home

Have you Blissed today? Join the Bliss-30 Challenge..it's a beautiful journey. 

New Random Acts of Creativity posted http://ping.fm/7DPnA

Bliss-15

I walk by this tree everyday and NEVER...NEVER noticed this before. Can you see the BLISS? Look closely....

Bliss-14

I have stepped into day 14 of the Everyday Bliss challenge and I can see the magic and synchronicity beginning to happen. Today 3 emails and telephone calls crossed, meaning, we were on one another's radar. My very first request for a radio interview was forwarded to me by my publishing house!!! It's the COOOLEST program and I am SOOOOO honored!

I want to be honest with you all. There are things going on in my life RIGHT NOW,  yep right now, that aren't all BLISS. There are some heavy, hard decisions that have to be made and I am wrestling some large OLD karmic cords at the moment. People often ask me how I stay so positive in the midst of the darkness, chaos and difficult stuff that comes our way. I believe Everyday Bliss IS THE REASON. 

Everyday Bliss reminds me to SLOW DOWN and literally notice the beauty and grace around me. New Age-y? Maybe, but I can tell you this...Everyday Bliss, brings you into instant gratitude for being alive. Our culture doesn't invite us to slow down and smell the roses. We would rather flip someone off because they are not going fast enough for us to get where we think we need to go in a big A-- hurry, rather than think they actually might be driving slowly so they can enjoy taking in the view! 

This mornings Bliss, was coffee and my portable sketch journal to finish up the sketch from Bliss-2. I love working with the watercolor crayons in this journal on paper that isn't made for watercolor. The rumpled pages comfort me. A sketchbook is just that...it's not supposed to be perfect...and that is the part I love...I can spill without self-doubt.

Have you BLISSED today? WIll you join me?

Weekend Bliss 11-12-13

Sheri and Andy, originally uploaded by sgaynor.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=23039&id=1399825865&ref=mf

I watched Out of Africa the other night and was inspired to spend my weekend Bliss time editing and loading some of our images from our trip to South Africa in 2007. Having my new HUGO screen made the images come alive. It felt like I was seeing them for the first time. 

Watching the movie, I was struck with the same feelings I had while in Africa, a sense of longing and strangely...familiarity. When we flew out of Mala Mala, tears welled up and spilled over from behind my dark sunglasses, and I remember wondering why I was crying. I remember feeling somewhat embarrassed by my reaction, it truly surprised me, yet somehow it didn't.

The entire time we were in Mala Mala I had a sense of coming home. I could not explain it in a tangible sense, it felt deeply archetypal. I wonder what Joseph Campbell would have said about that.....

I hope you enjoy my bliss...click here or visit my FB page to see the full portfolio.

Have you Blissed today? Join us!  It's only 30-days of your life...but it changes everything!

It's Random Acts of Creativity Friday: http://ping.fm/bgjsz

Bliss-10

Why do we consciously resist and avoid doing the things that we know will make us feel better? It's a question I find myself wrestling with today.

I have been avoiding my yoga since taking on the Bliss Challenge. It's not that my body hasn't been screaming in my bones for it, I have literally just chosen to avoid the yummy feeling of stretched and warmed up muscles. Not this morning by golly! 15 minutes of sunrise yoga and this Tracy video have started my day off right. Look at her smiling face and check out the art hanging in the background. AWESOME! 

Have you Blissed today? Join us for the Bliss-30 challenge!