Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Week 9 - Compassion


Comet McNaught posted to Flickr by mattisj

Tonight we saw Comet McNaught but not such a brilliant view as this and no photo to show for it. Hence the borrowed goods...



Yesterday, as I sat writing little cover notes for each of the pieces I was sending off for my give away, the doorbell rang. It was relatively late in the day but there was the postman with an Amazon parcel for me. I wasn't expecting anything... who could if be from? It was even gift wrapped... it was a present from someone I'd met at the IMDb's Christmas party, the wife of Jim's boss...

There was a competition at the party which she had won easily and for which she got some Amazon vouchers. I'd come third (no prize) and someone else on our table had come second (no prize either) but the beneficent winner obviously felt we deserved prizes too! What a wonderful surprise!

She picked Celebrate Your Creative Self: More Than 25 Exercises to Unleash the Artist Within which was a wonderful gift to be getting just when I was, finally, sending out pieces of my art to others!

I sent out my art to the four takers - as no-one else had asked for the fifth piece even without the blight of having to offer 5 pieces on one's own blog I've sent the fifth to Tinker who has been so consistently encouraging to me - thank you Tinker!

Do let me know when you get them, please - I don't trust the post!



This week is Compassion and is the last week I'll be doing in this revisit of the Artist's Way. At the very beginning I'd renamed the last three weeks and now I know I've already covered the same ground. What I do plan to do is carry on giving each week a name and having it begin on Wednesday and reviewed on the Tuesday after. I'm continuing to either doodle or write every morning and most of all I'm carrying on making things.

For the moment my focus is still SoulCollage(R) but I know that other things will come along too. Something that has come as a surprise is how much I enjoy making these cards for others.

I know from last time that the main target for Compassion was oneself.

How could you treat yourself with more compassion?

17 comments:

Caroline said...

If I was to treat myself with more compassion I'd...

* expect less of myself
* encourage myself more
* be more forgiving of my shortcomings
* take more breaks from my computer even when I'm really enjoying using Painter!

Anonymous said...

Hi Caroline,

That's the hardest one. People often tell me not to be so hard on myself. I carry a picture of me at age 1. I'm a chubby, happy, bubbly baby. When I'm being horrible to myself I turn to the photo. That helps.

Anonymous said...

Hi Caroline,

That's the hardest one. People often tell me not to be so hard on myself. I carry a picture of me at age 1. I'm a chubby, happy, bubbly baby. When I'm being horrible to myself I turn to the photo. That helps.

Anonymous said...

How cool that you rec'vd a surprise in the mail! And obviously it is something you will get great use of:)
I wonder what synchronicities it will spark!

Compassion...hmmm...
To slow myself and my thinking - To make time in the day to reflect on the positive aspects of what surrounds me.

Anonymous said...

i have that book, it's awesome! i'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Anonymous said...

What a happy synchronicity, receiving such a great prize in the mail!
And - really? lucky me, too? Woo hoo - I get two pieces of your cool art, from you!
XOXO

Oh - and thank you for sharing the pic of Comet McNaught - I heard about it and meant to look it up as it got brighter, then forgot all about it, so I'm so glad you reminded me. Somehow I connect it with the lucky star theme that's been popping up from the Universe lately.

Anonymous said...

love the photo. Now, self compassion: I write a love letter to my Love and then address it to myself to remind me that loving myself first is what allows me to love others. And I also use the question: is this how you would treat your best friend? to pull me up short when the head hamster starts running on its wheel.

Caroline said...

Potato Print - you sound gorgeous as a baby! Lucky you to have such a photo.

Joy Eliz - I was pleased - and still am! It was you I was writing to at the time it turned up, of course... Reflecting on the positives that sounds good.

Leah - I think I will!

Tinker - you are so kind to be so pleased! I do hope what turns up is not a disappointment to you... its hard to catch the comet as it's only visible for a short time before sunset / sunrise.

Tammy - yes its a great photo I wish I'd taken it... you are right that to love others (and indeed to accept love) we need to love ourselves first, that was a lesson I learnt once a long time ago, always worth a relearn!

LDahl said...

Hello... how are you today? I'm so happy I checked in here as you have given me a book and a comet to look for:)
Have a great day!

Caroline said...

Ldahl - hi there! - good luck seeing the comet - the book ought to be easier to track down ;-)

Anonymous said...

Hi Caroline :) Great post! Love the photo of the comet, and feel completely ignorant as I hadn't heard anything about it...
I'm cheating myself at the minute, procrastinating for a bit longer before I set to all the things I've been putting off! Need some of that compassion for myself, and there are some great tips here from your friends. Thanks for that!
Glad you liked my spirally pebble, and I'm intrigued about yours now...
I'll be back when I've got those jobs done! ;)
Enjoy the book, what a lovely surprise that must have been! :)

Caroline said...

Suzie Q - I hadn't heard about it until Jim told me... my find seems to have completely disappeared... it lived in a cabinet with other treasures but isn't there now... so I can't photograph it... maybe it'll turn up...

Melba - it certainly is a challenge - and I don't have any children underfoot I can't imagine just how much harder that would be! You are a miracle worker to do it.

I can understand the intimidation of digital programs - they are too large and unwieldy to get into quickly. I found it useful to restrict what I'd learn about to begin with and there are still parts I don't know at all after over a year of frequent use... I don't think I'll ever be an expert at it but I feel competent enough to have a go and that's what matters.

Anonymous said...

I love the idea of a theme for each week. I will watch with interest to see which themes you give yourself. Now I'm at college I get given themes which last for weeks, which is fine at the beginning but by the end of it I never want to make another whatever-it-is!

To treat myself with compassion is hard. I am very hard on myself. Sometimes I can do it for myself but more often I need my friends to tell me to.

Anonymous said...

Cameras

Caroline If you haven't bought one yet have a look at the new Canon G7.

Caroline said...

Zinkibaru - having a week for a theme seems long enough for me - I suppose my overriding theme for sometime to come will be Soul Collage but there is plenty of scope within that for some variation. I hope you are good to yourself today!

Davem - still no camera here - haven't liked the ones I've tried enough. I've not looked at the the Canon G7 - I'll check it out thanks!!

Word veri: pqxqirki - very qirki indeed...

atomicvelvetsigh said...

oh my im too busy to not know that a comet will / have passed by the planet! geesh! how could i treat myself with more compassion?

- give more time for myself than to my job
- give time for myself to enjoy the simple things in life.. like laying under the sun by the beach doing nothing just enjoying the scenery.. etc..
- paint more, read more, love more, live more..

8)

Caroline said...

Atomicvelvetsigh - hi there! It helps to have someone else tell you about these things - in my case it was Jim, my husband.

There seem to be a lot of mores on your list, that must mean you are getting some of these things at least a little I hope!