“I just want to keep on doing the things I love – I just think I’m very, very lucky”

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Michael Eldridge has been exploring this ‘creative planet’ of ours all his life – he’s lived in New Zealand, South Africa, California, the UK and presently in the beautiful Tuscan hills in Italy. As an artist, he treasures the details – “the preciousness of just the moment” and this underpins everything he does. His latest photographic collaboration is called simply, “Trees and Sky“.

For all you stress bunnies out there – try saying this to yourself at those crucial moments on a daily basis – it takes just 10 seconds, so any excuses about not having enough time just don’t wash…

Ten Zen Seconds by Eric Maisel

• I am completely stopping

• I expect nothing

• I am doing my work

• I trust my resources

• I feel supported

• I embrace this moment

• I am free of the past

• I make my meaning

• I am open to joy

Did you know that the average life expectancy for your children is approximately 10 years shorter than your own? Here, in this passionately delivered TED talk, Jamie Oliver shares his perspective on what’s happening right here, right now all over the Western world – parents, schools, society – we are feeding children with food that ultimately will damage their bodies and affect their health. And it’s happening all over.

Two years ago, my cousin died – her body just couldn’t take any more. They had to get special equipment in to lift her body out of her home into the hearse to take her to the funeral home. When she was buried, she took up two plots rather than one. She was 42.

Facts About Projection from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.

What a lovely film – someone who truly loves doing what they do…thank-you Tem.

Do you love what you’re doing so much you’d make a short film about it??

Back in November, I interviewed Winifred Whitfield, a wonderful artist and photographer, whose passion is creating portraits for women of themselves – not their everyday selves, but their inner selves, their intimate selves.

Since that interview, Winifred has been pretty busy – teaching in her workshops and seminars in New York and London, making portraits, and working hard collating and editing her images to produce her first book - “Intimate Portraits for Women”. The book is now available – a beautifully printed hardback edition – one of those irresistible coffee table ones – and you can preview it here online: CLICK HERE.

“It is really like a game – you’ve gotta know the rules of the game, and it takes a while to learn those rules – once you know the rules, you’ve gotta play, you can’t just watch, you can’t just sit on the side and be a spectator and comment – you’ve got to get your hands dirty and start playing…”

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Over on my art blog michellerumney.com, I just turned the page to Week 4  - Developing a Sense of Integrity of the 12 week Artist’s Way program. Snoozily reading my way through this week’s chapter last night, I reached the end of the chapter and thought – “that sounds like a pretty easy week – there aren’t so many exercises as last week… all you have to do this week is “Reading Deprivation” – that just means to not read anything… that sounds ok…” … and then I went to sleep.

If you’ve listened to my interview with Sada Nam Kaur, you’ll have heard her mention a powerful meditation called Kirtan Kriya. Sada Nam ‘prescribes’ this for many of her Kundalini students, as it works on many blocks and common problems. And unlike many meditations, it doesn’t even demand that you sit still and empty you thoughts – you really have no choice, because when you start you have so much to concentrate on and once you know how to do it, you get straight into the repetition and lost in the meditation anyhow… Here’s a fantastic video showing you how (I love this video!!).

Be able to say “I am who I am… and that is that!”

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Sada Nam Kaur began coaching people on their personal development long before coaching became a recognised profession. Trained as a management consultant in the banking world, she adapted what she was teaching in business and applied the same principles to help people improve their own lives. “When we begin to know who we are, we begin to take steps in our authentic path, then we blossom – and that gives me huge joy”.

Over on my art blog, michellerumney.com, I recently started a great 12 week self-coaching program called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. It’s aimed at blocked or recovering artists, writers and creatives but as we’re all Creative, Resourceful and Whole, I think it would benefit anyone who follows it. I’m now in week 3 – Recovering a Sense of Power.

Here’s a great exercise for working out what core beliefs you carry around deep in your mind that just might be holding you back from achieving the success you know you’re capable of. So, the next 20 minute window you get, sit down and do this;

This week I seem to be aware of about ten different paths or programs or challenges or number of days that I could be joining in with, to benefit myself as a human being and also the readers of this blog and the participants in my workshops and groups. They range from the Philosopher’s Notes 50 Day Challenge, to Escaping Mediocrity’s 30 Days to Changing Your Game to Darren Rowse’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog (that I’ve been on and off doing for ages – Darren, it’s brilliant – maybe I just don’t want it to end!).

My post yesterday, where I talked about Shadow Artists was, of course, only one version of ‘my story’ – a story of struggle and what was missing. The way we tell our personal stories – to others and to ourselves – has a great impact on how we go forward in our lives; whether that story is empowering or whether it keeps us stuck in an endless loop, doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over.