The wind carries with it a salty perfume, and I sigh, knowing that the sea is oh-so-near.
Lunch will be on the terrace today: roast chicken and fresh salad.
I sit popping olives into my mouth and rub my cheek against our white laundry.
That’s probably the best smell on earth: cotton sheets drying in the afternoon sun.
It’s been two months since my last post!
I took a brief break from creative activity, hoping that some time without writing could help me understand the next steps to take in my writing path. However, all but one question were left unanswered; the only thing that I realised in these past two months is that I can’t live without writing – it is as much a part of my life as breathing. Even if I’m not writing, I’m constantly thinking about writing. Everything I experience in the world around me goes into an idea bank, from which I withdraw a precious currency called Words – it is Words that make my world go round.
I am happy and excited to be blogging once more – I have missed sharing with you, fellow bloggers, and can’t wait to catch up with your posts.
Hope the sun shines on you this week-end!
One of my favourite things to do on a winter evening is listen to jazz and make collages.
A recent collage
I started making collages two years ago, after my yoga teacher asked everyone in the class to “go home and make a mood board”. In fact, “our subconscious works with images”, she said “so it is more useful to look at an image of what we wish to bring into our lives, rather than to make a list of New Year’s resolutions, for example”.
In order to pick out images that relate to our subconscious, our yoga teacher gave us the following instructions:
1) Set aside at least half an hour in your day for solely this activity.
2) Create a calm atmosphere: light candles, put on relaxing music, dim the lights, take a few deep breaths, clear your mind.
3) Have a selection of magazines and newspapers ready. It doesn’t matter what they are, as long as they have pictures in them!
4) Flick through the magazines and cut out all images that you feel immediately attracted to. Don’t think about it – your ‘gut’ choice may be surprising or unexpected to your rational mind, but the important thing is to go with your gut feeling.
5) Put all of the images together either into a frame that you can hang up in a visible place in your home, or into a large art notebook, to which you can add images regularly.
6) Keep on looking out for images that seem meaningful to you – ask friends to give you their old magazines, pick up free newspapers and leaflets, take photos, print out images from the internet that you love. Keep on building up your mood board and make new ones when the older ones no longer seem relevant.
After having made our collages, my yoga classmates and I began discovering amazing things manifest themselves in our lives. A girl who had chosen an image of a horse walking on a beach was soon invited by a cousin to do horse-riding along the sea. I had made collages based around photos of the beach and nature, to find myself moving to the South of France half a year later.
Collages not only remind our subconscious of what we truly want, but they add a personal and warm touch to our homes. In my kitchen and my living room I have collages that reflect my desires. These carry so much more meaning for me than the artwork of an unknown (or famous) artist hanging on my wall, because they are something that my subconscious itself has chosen and created.
Kitchen Collage
I also have a large art book, to which I regularly add images from any magazines I can get my hands on. I choose a page in the book that I particularly like and put it on a visible place in my home. Looking at these images brings me a sense of peace and comfort.
Try it yourself: set aside half an hour this week to make a mood board. Follow the instructions above and keep your mood board in a visible place. Let your subconscious and the universe do the rest!
Two weeks ago I realised that I was unhappy. I started a Happiness Project with a list of activities to introduce into my everyday life in order to bring positivity back into my life.
Thoughts on Week III of the Happiness Project:
1) It makes me happy to help or to bring joy into the lives those around me. A day seems almost unfulfilled if I haven’t made that little effort to do something for the people I love.
2) Helping someone – from the heart – and knowing that my action has made even the smallest difference fills me with positive emotions.
3) We cannot judge other people’s happiness and we cannot let other people by a judge of ours.
It makes me happy to look out of the window and watch the trees sway.
It makes me happy to take walks on dark cold evenings.
It makes me happy to live in a place where I cannot hear cars going past.
It makes me happy to not wear make-up every day.
It makes me happy to sing along to pop music as I work.
This is certainly not everyone’s idea of happiness, but if we listen to everyone’s idea, we can wave our happiness goodbye.
4) Being in contact with those less fortunate than ourselves can transform our outlook on life. It makes us realise how lucky we are to have all the basic things we take for granted: a home, a job/an income and regular meals. When we have these three things, what could stop us creating a life of happiness, peace and love? In most cases, only our thoughts.
Aims for Week IV:
-Take one step towards making one dream come true.
Every Monday, I post a song or piece of music that I like. I ask you to close your eyes for three minutes and simply listen to the music that I have posted. Listen to it for the sake of listening to music, for the sake of being moved by music and for the sake of experiencing the world through your ears, not through your eyes.
You may like or hate the songs that I post, but one thing is sure: in closing your eyes and listening to music, a new world will unfold in your mind. It is the world of the imagination.
Happy listening.
(Don’t forget to close your eyes…)
If there are songs or pieces of music you love, please share them with me and other bloggers by posting their title in the comments section. That way, we can all open up our musical horizons together!
