Shine Upon the World

We are ALL natural beauties; it stems from within our heart and spirit; and shines upon the world if you allow it. It starts with a smile in your heart. When you are in a blissful state of mind, and you are not harboring any negativity, your natural beauty shines brightly upon the world. You really do glow!

If you take a moment to pause and release the stresses of the day, you will feel it. A great way to do this is to take one to three long, deliberate breaths as you really experience and delight in that moment. It is yours to enjoy. No matter how busy our lives are, we can take a full minute for ourselves, even if it is in the privacy of a bathroom stall (and what a great place to release all your stress).

Remember, your thoughts become things. When you think joyful and beautiful thoughts, then joy and beauty become reality. You will feel a warmth in your heart and being. Really, you will. You only need to embrace it, choose it and believe it. Let your inner beauty shine upon the world.

(The image is from my art journal; you can find out more about my art journal experiences on my Blissful Art blog as I will be posting more on the process and my techniques in the days to come.)

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Art with Edie…Again!

I had an amazing day! I was able to guest-host on Edie’s show again today. Click here for the replay: Life By the Seat of my Pants – Positive Message STOP Sign. Edie also has a phenomenal blog with the same name: Life by the Seat of my Pants.

Today I demonstrated how to doodle using patterns inspired by Mother Nature. I started by explaining the 5 basic element families of shapes. Every shape is made from dots, circles, lines, curved lines and/or angled lines. This is instruction that comes from Mona Brookes’ book Art With Children. (For more information go to this link: Art Makes Kids Smart) Then, I started a doodle (in Zentangle style) on a 4-by-6 blank index card.  I shared a couple of objects from nature, a seashell and a whelk egg case on the show to show how patterns can be found in them. This inspired the spiral pattern and a repeated irregular rectangular pattern in the doodles I demonstrated on Edie’s show today. I then started a larger art pieces, a portrait with doodling around it.

Edie demonstrated creating a “You are AMAZING just the way you Are” sign as inspired by www.operationbeautiful .com that she plans to post on her neighborhood corner stop sign. The purpose of this Operation Beautiful campaign is to remind people how wonderful, beautiful and amazing they are by placing sticky notes and/or signs in conspicuous places that would grab people’s attentions. It is a fabulous idea; furthermore, it helps promote positive thinking. (Picture below shows the sign Edie made on the stop sign in her neighborhood.)

Sadly enough, too many of us put our own selves down daily with negative self-talk from the moment we get up and look in the mirror to start our daily routines. Instead of saying or thinking, “oh, gee! I look like “poop” this morning”; how about having a sticky note to remind us of how amazing, wonderful, beautiful and even sexy we are! Why not! Getting up in the morning would be a zillion times more fun if we greeted ourselves with “HEL-LO, sexy!” or “good morning  sunshine / bright eyes/beautiful!” I have a tickle in my heart just thinking about it. I love this idea Edie found and it has me thinking now of creative ways to bring positive attention to people. How about you, does this inspire some ideas? I would love to hear some feedback on this!

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Today you are You…

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” – Dr. Seuss

“Do not wish to be anything but what you are.” – Saint Francis de Sales

Many people are not comfortable with who they are. A bombardment of advertisements and marketing schemes scream at people telling them they need to wear this and that, eat this and that, use this and that product, go here and there for this and that, and so on and so on!

It is no wonder why so many people have self-confidence issues, are searching for themselves/their purpose and/or are taking medication. Madison Avenue executives have people brainwashed that if people do not use, eat, wear, etc. what they are selling then they are not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, successful enough! How does one break free from this nonsense!!!! People need to embrace who they are.

How? Great question. How, indeed? That is one of many questions each person needs to ask of themselves. What brings joy to your life? Embrace all those things you cannot change, like your height and  your freckles. Those are the parts that make you who you are! Do and be what feels right. Why squeeze into a “mold” that does not fit? If long hair is how all the pretty women are wearing their hair; and, you look and feel fabulous in short hair, why change? We need to be who we are and nothing less! Do not let people steer you into what you are not!

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