Last year I wrote Message in a Bottle post about saving one positive daily message: thought, song title/lyrics, quotes, bookmarks etc. I saved them in my grandfather's large blue mason jar.
My Jar Runneth Over!
Then more blue jars, smaller ones, appeared. They were issued celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Perfect Ball Mason Blue Jars! Yes~I love colored glass, especially blue. I love using the blue jars for many items at home. Picking up a blue jar in my hands helps me feel history.
This year, I am choosing a "gratitude jar" to note goals, intentions, dreams, and more. I will add these as prompted throughout the year.
What will I write today?
I reached into the full blue jar and chose the following message from 2103.
"Be Happy"
What is Happiness?
* Recently Deepak Chopra mentioned, "Happiness in internal, rather than external. 'If I get a new car or a big house, then I will be happy,' is an example of external happiness. This is fleeting. Soon you will want 'more and more' and still feel empty and searching. True happiness comes from within. The joy of waking up to see a golden morning or touching a flower can set you on a path for a happier day."
** Beginning Each Day with some quick centering five minute exercises helps you to say 'yes.' Tai Chi and Yoga are internal integrated exercises, balancing mind-body-spirit while experiencing strength building routines. Seated meditation in quiet settings brings a refreshing break for a few minutes at a time, several times a day.
Take a Happiness Walk outdoors, in your home, or around your office. Express gratitude for positive events, thoughts, emotions, tasting food, hearing music and laughter in your imagination. Jot down these positive feelings in a happiness/gratitude journal or write online.
*** Walking Meditation 101 go outdoors if possible and concentrate on your feet touching the Earth, one step at a time. If your mind wanders, simply bring your attention back to your feet.
**** Negative thoughts creep in? Take a timer and set it for 3-5 minutes. Take a pen to paper (yes paper), and write as fast as you can about any irritations in your life. Then, daily, tear in little shreds and discard. You are expressing yourself to yourself and no one but You will see them....Gradually, negative energy will becomes neutralized, and more positive light will start to flow. Empty your cup then fill it with fresh energy!
"Happy YOU Year!"
Begin Again
Awaken Happiness!
Feedback via LinkedIn
Christine Paul, MS., CRC, Yoga Instructor, Twin Cities, MN USA, "I love this! "....with my clients I talk about gratitude journals, vision boards, even powerpoints with their favorite quotes and relaxing/inspiring photos/images but this adds and additional component." Christine brings hope and healing to those dealing with trauma, loss, and disability.
Elaine Collier, co-owner of the Como Center for Enlightenment, Wantage, Oxfordshire, UK, "What really resonated with me was writing everything down that irritated you on a piece of paper and then tearing it up-so simple but so powerful." Elaine and others bring Reiki therapy for people and pets, meditation and much more.
Related Posts:
Message in a Bottle (Jan 2013)
Since Yesterday (July 2013)
Resources:
Ball Perfect Mason Jars: The original blue jars were made from 1913-1915. Ball commemorated the blue jars with a 100 Years of American Heritage Vintage Jars available in 2013.
*Deepak Chopra, M.D., author, spiritual teacher, online meditation, yoga, and more.
** Wake Up with Tai Chi and/or Yoga. Build strength and open your heart-mind to greet the day in just minutes. Tai Chi and Qigong shown on Dr. Oz, Crane and Bear from Five Animal Frolics, tapping for health and more. "Happy YOU Year!" I have added some of these in the early AM with great results! Later in the day, I can practice Tai Chi longer routines.
** Dr. Paul Lam, Medical Doctor and Tai Chi expert, Tai Chi for Health, free lesson You Tube, awaken your self and invite healing adventures. Dr. Lam helps people worldwide with Tai Chi for specific conditions such as Tai Chi for Arthritis and many more programs. Begin
today! Change your Life.
*** Walking Meditation, The "M" word is recommended for ADD/ADHD people. This basic walking is calming and centering. ADD and Managing It documentary and more to help adult ADD/ADHD. Brian Green and Patrick McKenna help blend humor, coping skills and medical research.
http://www.totallyadd.com
**** Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way and other books to awaken your creative heart. "Morning Pages" help you express and release your true feelings for you by you. Release then unlock your creative life
Music to inspire: Taylor Swift, Begin Again, Since Yesterday and more, Red Album.
Dahlis Roy: Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor
Photos:
Large and Small and Memory Jar by Dahlis Roy
The Dream of the Black and White Horses
"The Horses are Strength. The Green Symbolizes Your Hope Waiting There," Louise Watson, R.N.
**Celebrate!
I love horses!
I have always loved horses!
I will always love horses!
When I was about seven years old, at night, I imagined a large white horse with long mane and tail flying, galloping along a golden sand strip near a large body of water. The image brought me inner peace and harmony. I was already seeking ways to tame and relax my overdrive brain, body, and imagination. I used the horse to guide me into the restful world of sleep and restful space.
Yes, I was a night owl! What a trial to get up in the morning and (gasp) go to school!
Through the journey of years, I learned to draw and paint the horse.
And now it is the Chinese Year of the Horse!
*This Year the *Wood Horse is Brave, Adventurous, Intelligent, and Sociable
Looking at the Moon: Intuition
*The Wood Horse appears this year. Wood is one of the Chinese Five Elements: Wood, Water, Earth, Fire, and Metal are the elements. Each element has unique characteristics. Many people world wide practice Five Element Qigong exercise to balance and strengthen the body-mind-spirit. Qigong means "energy work or energy exercise." A doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine may prescribe specific Tai Chi/Qigong regimens to help the patient recover and maintain healing, strength, and balance. Tai Chi and Qigong are integrative exercises, combining Medication and Meditation in Motion. Joy through movement becomes part of your life! You meet friends and share through group practice and enjoy quiet solitude of daily practice. Your life changes!
"Run in the sand along the ocean," Deepak Chopra
Related Posts:
The Dream of the Black and White Horses (June 2013)
Reigning Cats and Dogs (and Horses) (Sept 2012)
The Painted Word (July 2012)
Running with Horses (March 2012)
Resources
* The Year of the Horse, Barnes and Noble Books, originally published in London by Pavilion Books Limited. Written by Nigel Suckling and beautifully illustrated by Wayne Anderson.
Paul Lam, M.D. Tai Chi for Health World Wide, free lesson You Tube, author, medical research
Dr. Yang-Jwing Ming, Yang Style Expert, Taiji and Qigong exercise, author
Deepak Chopra, M.D., author, guidelines for meditation online, workshops
** Bridge to China: Celebrate the Year of the Horse on Sunday Jan 26, 2-4 PM, St. Joseph High School, St. Joseph, Michigan USA. All Are Welcome. Classes: Learn Chinese for all ages!
http://www.bridgetochina.org
Dahlis Roy: Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor
Images
** Celebrate Year of the Horse, photo with permission from Bridge to China
The Dream of the Black and White Horses
Looking at the Moon
Free As the Wind
Crazy Horse, a "cave painting" fun with paint
New, New Year~
"God is Infinite Creativity," Deepak Chopra
What is Your Sacred Space?
Resources:
Join a Writing Group!
Box Factory St. Joseph, Michigan USA, facilitator Isabel Brady Jackson
www.sunsetcoastwriters.com
SW Michigan and N Indiana USA "a different kind of writing group"
workshops, blog and more
Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way, The Writing Life, inspiration is here!
Deepak Chopra, M.D. author, meditation, healthful living and more
Dr. Paul Lam, Tai Chi for Health, inspire and create, improve range of motion, balance, strength and flexibility. Tai Chi Helps!
Photo:
New, New Year, poem and art work contributed by Isabel Brady Jackson
Out of the Blue
Dahlis Roy, Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor
Printed sheets of words appear as if by magic, excavated from archives of boxes and folders. I greet each story-friend with joy, a family reunion experience. Meanwhile a storm came blowing in sporting sub-zero temperatures. Horizontal snow sheets danced furiously like grey-white billowy clouds of light. "No wonder bears hibernate."
Many years ago I wrote about Another Dream:
Sculptures in Snow
Picture an art gallery exhibition in your imagination. Instead of paintings on the walls, in my dream, I had carved out snow sculptures using cutting tools and carving on rectangular blocks of thickly packed snow. These hung like paintings on the white walls of the minimalist gallery, a Zen Space.
Many people were there to view the art show. Everyone was dressed up fancy. The snow sculptures were mostly abstract designs with shapes like rods and cones and prehistoric plant forms. Hard, frosty chiseled edges were displayed in three dimensional white.
The dream was free of bright colors with some muted ochres, creams, greys, and faded denim blues. I did not recognize any of the viewers, but they were quite fascinated with the designs.
Later I went down the line of sculptures walking quickly past untitled works. I came to the last one, a blank snow canvas. Nimbly I picked up a tree twig shaped like a pointed chisel tool and carved out a 3-D relief image of a white butterfly with wings unfolded. I felt like an ancient stone cutter, I felt like a cave painter! Then with a slender flexible twig I added pencil thin antennae to the Silver Butterfly. I smiled to myself.
Turning to the art show viewers I said:
"Nothing is permanent, all is transient. This, too, will melt away."
Like snowflakes soft and gentle, may peace come to us all.
Share Y()our Dreams: Dream Big!
Related Posts:
Light Show
Shine the Light
Silent Speaking
Resources
Lilian Too's Book of Chinese Wisdom, prophetic dreaming
Deepak Chopra, M.D., author, guidelines for meditation
Dahlis Roy, Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor
Photos by Dahlis
Sculptures in Snow, 3-D white, a fish tail appears or a wing tip shape?
Waves of Snow, look at the right side of the photo, slide left to first big square and scroll up to the second big square. See two black dots 3/4 of the way up and to the left, on my big screen this looks like a bear's ears and face.
Leopard Print and Giant Oak Tree
Sacred Scrolls
Riffling through sheets of random paper, sorting, organizing, and discarding duplicates of already published documents, I stopped stock still! I held in my hands a poem, I recalled it often....but then it had escaped into the archives of (oh no) hard copy storage.
And there it was in all its glory, a poem co-written with a mentor/friend of long ago.
MOMENTS OF JOY
A story is sleeping like a seed under the winter snow.
It is time to coax the flower to life with the coming of April.
* "That's a Book!" Are We Listening?
God Speaks to Us:
In whispers and thunderclaps,
In the quiet of gentle rain and autumn nights.
In crystal winters diamond cold.
Ice melts into April mist.
A mare nuzzles her newborn foal in the foggy dawn.
A kitten purrs furiously and rubs "good morning."
A puppy barks joyfully, running and jumping with his human.
The telephone rings, a friend's voice soothes, a letter comes
at just the "right moment" in time.
Louise reminds us: "God Speaks to Us in Moments of Joy ."
"Let the petals of your life unfold like a rose opening, one at a time and each in perfect order," Louise Watson, R.N.
HAPPY NEWEST YEAR from OUT OF THE BLUE!
Related Posts:
New Year's Resolutions? Transformational Color, and Message in a Bottle (Jan 2013)
The Newest Year, (Jan 2012)
Tonal Vision, What Kind of Animal Are You? Light Show (Jan 2011)
Resources:
James Herriot's Cat Stories, James Herriot's Treasury for Children of all ages, beautifully illustrated by Ruth Brown and Peter Barrett
The Artists' Way by Julia Cameron, unlock your creative inner child with writing, poetry, painting, photography and more.
Dr. Paul Lam, Tai Chi for Health worldwide, get moving with Tai Chi and Qigong! Free Lesson You Tube Tai Chi for Beginners. Change your life with strength, balance and relaxation exercise combined.
Photos:
Sacred Scrolls, photo by Dahlis, like ancient times I write and scribble on rolls of blank paper.
Rose in Full Bloom, photo by Paul
* Dahlis Roy: Artist, Author and Tai Chi Instructor
"That's A Book," became , over the course of 24 years, Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision, the preview for Out of the Blue.
