(Yummy wool)

Whew, that was a long break and I missed my little blog-time ritual. Sitting on the armchair with the leg rest engaged, ignoring the cats, husband, son, dinner, doorbell and lots of other stuff and just waiting to be inspired. It’s good to be back.

(Big creative mess…… sigh)

To celebrate, yesterday morning I put loads of craft stuff on the kitchen table and invited two friends to come and play! We had a lovely time… Well, I had a lovely time (I think they had too!). So much so I’m thinking of starting creative play sessions and the only criteria is that you don’t think you’re creative! A lot of people don’t think they’re creative so they steer clear of anything that seems even slightly arty or crafty or even has the word creative attached to something else… like creative writing, creative dance, creative budgeting (!)

Yesterday two “I’m not creative” people created beautiful stuff. Is it a miracle? Nope, it turns out we’re all creative! Isn’t that great?

(String, paper and beads, what else is there?)

So, who wants to come and play at the Creative Play for “I’m not Creative” People sessions? Mairead.

PS May need to shorten the name…..

(For all the people… (Moira and Elaine), who wondered where I was)

“The more we study the more we discover our ignorance.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) English poet.

Probably just as well I didn’t start sooner then, Mairead.

(Safe harbour)

I bought a card today, it had a quote from Mark Twain……..

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. Sail away from the safe harbour. Explore. Dream.”

If you couldn’t fail, what would you do? Mairead.

(Time standing still)

Why are you so enchanted by this world when a mine of gold lies within you? Rumi

(He was a mystic…)

Gold. Mine. Mairead.

(Another memory from summer)

From Byron Katie again……

A thought is harmless until we believe it.

Countless thoughts go through our minds each day, that’s normal and healthy. Hanging onto them, thinking them over and over again, that’s normal and unhealthy. Allowing them in and allowing them pass through with just a breath, that’s not normal but very healthy.

Don’t be normal, Mairead.

(Blue Flower from a long ago summer)

For all the people who think they have to be perfect before they can do their work in the world – a quote from Richard Bach, author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull……..

“You teach best what you most need to learn.”

Go teachers! Mairead.

PS  We’re all teachers…..

(My Children…..)

Just a quote today…… from the author of Loving What Is.

To my children: “You have the perfect mother. I’m responsible for all your problems, and you’re responsible for the solutions.” Byron Katie

That’s alright then, Mairead.

(Almost finished – one of the wall-hangings)

I’ve been playing today. As soon as the success team meeting finished this morning I ran off to find some playthings. This used to happen once every year since my teens. I’d get a mad craving to make something. So I would make my way as quickly as I could to the wool shop and buy needles, a patterns and beautiful coloured wool. In the beginning the patterns were for jumpers, more recently they’re for small decorations.

(Pinking shears edge)

The patterns became less time consuming because I came to realise the most fun part was the start and if a project took longer than the fun part it became a chore. This year I bought a pattern for bunting – small triangles, make ten or one hundred, either means you’ve completed the pattern. Perfect. Fun.

(Friendly plastic and cutters)

Today’s play involves scraps of material (yum) cut with a pinking shears (scissors with zig-zag edge) and then little melted friendly plastic pieces sewn on. I haven’t got to the sewing on part yet and I have only completed making one set of the plastic pieces but it’s still fun so I anticipate finishing it!

If it’s no longer fun, it could be time to stop doing it, Mairead.

(Roundabout Ahead)

I’ve been working on another book review. This book is called Loving What Is by Byron Katie. I’ll share the review here when its finished. In the meantime, I like one thing about it so much I’ll tell you now. The interpreter….

(Walk the line)

So it’s like this… somewhere in our brain some stuff happens and the easiest way to explain it is to liken it an interpreter, someone who translates from one language to another to assist communication. The one in our brain is not translating languages (unfortunately, as that would be very helpful to me). Our interpreter in our brain interprets what’s happening in our lives and turns it into an easy to understand story with the message, “I’m in control”.

(This is not a meccano crane…..)

Unfortunately……  and this is very unfortunate, sometimes the interpreter has to fabricate some details of the story (i.e. it tells lies!) to make the control message work. It’s very unfortunate because we always think the story is completely true! And we start getting very, very irritated, angry and annoyed at the people (family, friends, anyone really) in the (made up) story. Of course the book comes up with a solution, which I’ll explain in the review (coming soon).

In the meantime, is anyone annoying you at the moment? Mairead.