REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

This Has Become a Time of Discernment for Me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, Sacred Ordinary blog, I’m back. On May 21, 2015 I posted at my blog Sacred Ordinary and since then I haven’t gone back. I miss it—and I miss the blog walking I used to do. When I started blogging in November 2003 I vowed that it would be part of my daily spiritual writing practice and for several years it was. I poured out thoughts, posted photography, art and spiritual things that struck me. I have written 2,491 posts over this 12 year span. So, what happened?

Social media has really, really changed and it changed me. I got sidetracked with Facebook primarily, but I also use my “computer allowed” spare time for Pinterest and Polyvore and to Google stuff I don’t know about that I want to know about. I haven’t even used Polyvore for several months and I loved creating digital art there.

This summer I had a health crisis and in September I had my second surgery to remove an adenocarcinoma from my bladder. Right now I’m feeling well, almost normal, and the surgeon got good margins. I’m back to work three days a week, but my life has been forever altered. Part of my bladder was removed and that all by itself has physically and emotionally changed me. I’ve survived breast cancer twice, so I’m hoping for the best, but frequent testing is in the cards. And because of my age, I am simply not as mobile as I used to be. Traveling, for example, will be rethought because of some new limitations. I am, however, filled to overflowing with gratitude for each day, far moreso than I have ever been.

I’m really second-guessing how I want to spend the time I have left, I guess. It’s a process of discernment. I am blessed with a great family and lots of friends so I have many opportunities to meet and mingle. I also feel very strongly about giving back through community service. But—and this is a big but—I find myself preferring being home alone reading or doing art, or streaming movies vs. being the human doing I have been until recently.

I’m even very unsure about whether I want to continue my part-time job; I have so loved it until recently but the climate has changed and I have not changed enough, and I'm not sure I want to. Am I really benefiting anybody anymore with this use of my time? I already resigned from two non-profit Boards this past year, even before I got sick, because there was more minutiae and politics going on than I was comfortable with. 

All I know is that today I wanted to post to Sacred Ordinary and to officially announce to anyone who might trip across this post that I have entered yet again another period of discernment. I’m going to start examining what I really love doing, what I dislike doing, and making changes in my life. I am just so blessed to have had the great life I’ve had—and I’m planning on making my life even more meaningful. 

Two Art Journal Pages With Similar Elements

After a few weeks of not working in my art journals, I managed to finally create a few pages while watching the Academy Awards out of the corner of my eye. These pages were created for Kelly Kilmer's Revel in the Moment class on Tumblr. 

I used many of the same colors and some art cut out of an old beat-up copy of one of Louise Hay's books I found in the free box at the Peninsula Friends of the Library book sale. There is a little bit of everything here and the Buddhist Evening Gatha is one of my favorite sayings in the whole world. 

Among Other Things, I Am Grateful for My Hands

This is an art journal page I created for Kelly Kilmer's Revel in the Moment class. The hand with the writing is my hand drawn on a copy of one of my handwritten journals with other hands snipped from magazines on top of mine. I'm just so darned grateful for the mobility that I have and particularly my hands. If you enlarge the photo, you will see some of my musings about my hands, which all too often I take for granted. 

I am thankful that for the past few years they have functioned well and I haven't had frozen fingers lately from arthritis. When that happens, the doc injects cortisone and so far no surgery has been necessary. Knock on wood!  I forgot one more thing my hands/fingers do that I didn't write on this page--using the computer. 

Off the top of your head, what particular part of your body would you like to thank for serving you well? 

 

Haiku My Heart Friday: Miss American Pie

Nostalgia runs deep

When thinking of the 50s

I still feel sixteen. 

This is an art journal page I created for Kelly Kilmer's Revel in the Moment class, but it is also my offering today for Rebecca's Haiku My Heart Friday.

I was a teenager in the 1950s and Don McClean's "Miss American Pie" was written in 1971, but I've always thought the words epitomized what I was feeling when I was young. Last week I went out with old friends to Ruby's for dinner and this waitress is on the front of all their menus. Memories flooded back of hanging out at Bob's Big Boy in Glendale, CA--and then "cruisin' the main'" which I imagine kids still do today. I had a lot of fun creating this art journal page as it truly took me back to our coming of age experiences. Damn, we were so innocent, so clueless. The world then compared to the world now, especially for teenagers, seems very complex. The 50s were said to be a bland time in history, but I loved those years. But--I love these years, too. 

Wishing You All a Happy New Year

It's just another day today, at least for me, and I am so grateful that I have this day! As you grow older, the gratitude for the time given to you becomes immense, paramount. I spent the early hours cleaning out my e-mail boxes and then went to the gym for a one hour workout. Today I was on my own, but I owe so much to Rachel Ragona, my trainer, at the Center for Health and Fitness at the Beach Cities Health District. I just returned to her yesterday after a few week hiatus with the bronchitis. Next came the pharmacy, the grocery store, the scrapbooking store, and the 99 Cent store. I'm good to go! 

This will be my third year alone for new year's eve. I do NOT miss the partying of yore, but I do wish I had invited some girlfriends over. (Note to self: do that next year.) I'm planning to stream something on Netflix, work on my art journals, and do the end-of-year write in my handwritten journal that I do each year.

So, here is another of my 2012 welcoming art journal pages. I wish a happy new year to all of you read here. Be sure to enlarge this photo by clicking on it so you can read John Marsden's timeless words. 

Back to the Art Journals

There has been little time for art journals lately, although in between all the prep and social time of Christmas, I'll admit I've been reading like a fool and streaming Netflix some, too. I did take time, however, to tackle my art supplies and reorganize my two spaces right before Christmas. I have a dedicated office/studio, but when I'm working in the art journals, I like to work in my bedroom so I've set up a little corner and am keeping supplies in plastic see-through 12 x 12 boxes. 

Here are two of the pages I have shared with Kelly Kilmer's online Revel in the Moment online art journal class. 

This page I called Advent Girl and my writing describes how I've been feeling lately. 

This was my first art journal page for Revel which is called Beginning. I like the begin template and whole concept very much and often find myself using it. 

 

 

 

Kelly Kilmer's Revel in the Moment Online Art Journal Class

If you want to get a creative injection while you play in your art journals, or learn how to keep an art journal, check out Kelly Kilmer's Revel in the Moment Online Art Journal class that starts on Dec. 23. The timing couldn't be better for me personally because I've finally gotten most my gifts purchased and my cards are out. I've got my art table cleared and I'm sorting supplies. I have presents to wrap and many, many phone calls yet to make. And since I'm having Christmas dinner at my home, there will be lots of food preparation.

Here's an art journal page started weeks ago but finished tonight. 

This card is all the more poignant to me this evening as I have watched the news and seen how brutally some women were treated yesterday in Tahir Square. 

So, here I am in Southern California, living the good life, and my heart goes out to my sisters throughout the world who are oppressed and suffering. I have the luxury of working out my feelings through my journals and through my art. Many others are not so fortunate.