Goals enjoy a tense rivalry with the power of now’s philosophy. A true grounding in now is sweet solace and a beautiful unfolding of yourself blanketed in time. It activates the senses and settles you in peace. Yes, life is good.  Just living here on this earth is a sweet gift. In contrast, goals are a restless admission that something isn’t what you want right now. They yield a sense of daily purpose and progress in one direction but they limit you with the sensation that now is wanting and not enough. The disquiet is agitating. Often, goals are slippery, ungraspable and unlimited.  One goal is reached, and the immediate next question is what’s next. What happened to the gifts snuggled in now?   

It’s a struggle to find the sweet spot in the process.  There is ease, humor and love in the movement toward the goal.  It is nestled in the time you dedicate to it. Sure, you aren’t there…. Yet.  But find the purpose in the work.  It’s a slog. But the slog should be worthwhile. The process is the point. The doubt, the learning, the backfires, the mistakes, the persistence, the vision making and the slow building of a new belief in yourself. That is the ultimate point.

C) Marika Reinke – Adventures in Art with Heart, Humor and Spirit.

 

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Values are an important map to identity and our impact in the world.  They underly what an individual thinks is important which theoretically drive their action.  Their problem is that many people say they value something but unconsciously act in ways that undermine them.  It’s an interesting and entirely human phenomenon.  We all believe we are good values-driven people, yet we don’t always act with goodness at heart. You hate it when you get caught in the values trap, integrity is important to everyone. Never mind that “good” has an entirely different criteria for many people and cultures.

Value, in our society, is intrinsically linked to money. Our economic transactions reveal a lot; both the ones we make and the ones we abstain from. Sure, there are essential expenses, but even those reveal your values.  You choose to support another cause when you hand your money over but you also choose to support what you value, or maybe you are supporting something you don’t value and didn’t really think about it.

You pay your bills and taxes to support your need for integrity, citizenship, consistency.

You buy art from local artists and books from authors because you want to support creativity and handmade ideas over the ease and price of manufactured prints and plastic replicas.

You choose an expensive smart phone and data plan over a simple phone with text to support the need for the convenience of having a mini-computer at your fingertips, the instant notifications, the state of the art communication tools over saving a little money for an extra cause, the organic meat, or a gym membership.

When you buy a luxury new third car you buy convenience, status and the occasional ease of having extra transportation over other luxuries like a vacation, a home remodel, or even a generous gift to a charity.

You choose debt for more indulgences, or education, or maybe a new house and you trade off the freedom of having money free for the future.

You buy and eat the candy to support a sweet tooth, the sugar rush, instant gratification, a little enjoyment and trade-off long term health, your teeth and even the delayed gratification of losing a few pounds and maybe feeling good.

You buy something from Amazon for convenience, speed and price over the field trip to support the local business owner’s store, the ensuing hunt and the maybe more expensive price.

These are choices that reveal you to you.  Look at your transactions closely instead of spending unconsciously. Honestly assess the values that pave the trail your money leaves as it leaves you. They are clues to you and, if you want a more meaningful or purposeful lifestyle, clues to making small changes to do just that.

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(C) Marika Reinke – Adventures in Art with Heart, Humor and Spirit.

 

Make jewelry from watercolor paintings with me! Book a workshop or party thru Airbnb.com here: https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/140929

 

Some invitations don’t feel welcoming even as they offer you their new world.  Inside, there is no glittering laser-cut confetti or blowup mylar entreaties. No promise of a cake-stuffed bellies or lips crusted with vibrant aqua frosting. No gorging. No indulgent party dresses. No debaucheries. No morning-after, eyes half-shut while the angled light whispers a giggling victory, “You are so hungover. The day is already done before it has begun.”

Instead some invitations boil like sulfuric mud and burp gaping mumblings; incoherent, sincere, summoning. This opened envelope is empty, but packs you with steady rumbling, the shifting tide, an awakening shake. It incites a nervous ticking. Inside is a new world with everything you think you haven’t claimed but its message shapeshifts. Fear or intuition, which on is it?

Stay the path or swerve?

Either way, this invitation insists on the inevitable. Now, there is no more cruise control, it is time take the reins and accept a new change.

Gratitude is magic.

On days when the world is a list of “isn’t-s” and “not-quite-good-enough-s”, gratitude changes focus to what is now.  The mind-shift transforms everything that “is” to exactly as it should be.  It’s a beautiful and surprising magic. Even better, we are all capable of this sorcery.

Your gratitude list can contain anything but the most surprising and powerful appreciations are often least expected.  They are the ones that, without gratitude, we fight the most:

Thank you for the challenge today, it has helped me see my true strength.

Thank you for the critics who have pushed me further than I thought I was capable.

Thank you for love. I mourn my loss but I’m so grateful that I have loved so deeply in this life.

Thank you for the frustrating people in this world who have taught me to be a better human.

Thank you for the unknown.  When I’m uncomfortable, I know I am acting from the most potential for magic and fulfillment.

Gratitude is potent generosity. Practicing this magic reveals a surprising truth: Everything you are thankful for was once a want and desire that you transformed to now.

You have changed your world.

What will future gratitudes bring?

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(C) Marika Reinke – Adventures in Art with Heart, Humor and Spirit.

 

Make jewelry from watercolor paintings with me! Book a workshop or party thru Airbnb.com here: https://tinyurl.com/y9xqt4wv

 

 

The path with heart is what you give freely to the world.

It is believing the moment, no matter how difficult, crusty, unclear, or fettered, is exactly what it needs to be and will carry you to the right destination.

It means believing in your creative power because it is a wondrous power, not because it gains an external end.

The path with heart is doing the right thing over picking sides.

It is doing your best and knowing that in the past you have done your best. There is no need to look behind you anymore.

It is a commitment to learning and being kind to yourself.

The path with heart is working, creating, acting and interacting from love.

The paths asks you to commit to listening, deeply, purely and meaningfully.

The path with heart is teaching kids how to love.

It is laughter, freedom, sadness, surprise, wonder, awe, joy.

It is pure living and the path that gives you passion, energy and purpose.

Walk the path with heart despite what others may say, do or make you feel. They will unknowingly try to take it away because they don’t understand.

The path with heart is definable by your own heart. Find it. Listen to it. Act.

It will change your world.

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(C) Marika Reinke – Adventures in Art with Heart, Humor and Spirit.

 

Make jewelry from watercolor paintings with me! Book a workshop or party thru Airbnb.com here: https://tinyurl.com/y9xqt4wv

 

 

 

The creative process can be a tortured hiding from the world.

When you paint, you close the door and put on music to let your your fingers dance in color, water, light.  When you teach, you turn on the teacher’s mask and preach a philosophy you hope one day to embody.  When you write, you turn your back on the world and let words birth from thoughts and fingers.

It is all a type of hiding, a way of stuffing yourself away so that something is born; painting, learning, a poem or more.  We recede in order to create and to make room for the new tide’s bounty.

When it’s born, don’t hide it anymore.  Don’t be selfish.  Don’t let the “It’s not good enough” or “I’m a phony.” or “I’m not qualified…” prevent you from disclosing something that could change the world for even one person.

No act is useless if it is given in selfless service.  

Let what’s born perform.  Let what’s born push into the world and be free.     

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(C) Marika Reinke – Adventures in Art with Heart, Humor and Spirit.

 

Make jewelry from watercolor paintings with me! Book a workshop or party thru Airbnb.com here: https://tinyurl.com/y9xqt4wv