Travel, Trust & Intuition: Laura's ReVision 119

Dear Tina,

It was so wonderful to see the bright and cheery camellia flower from your garden! I love that you planted it for Aidan when he was born. I have many flowers in my garden that were given to me from special people in my life and I always think of them when they bloom. Right now we are still covered in glistening white snow but I swear I can hear it melting. It was a little hard coming back to the cold after my sweet escape to paradise! I will be forever grateful to Brett for his generous gift to me. :)

Do you ever feel like traveling fills you up so much you can't believe you are where you are and then in a blink you are back to laundry, groceries, cooking, etc... and can't believe you ever left? Time passes so quickly and I am in need of time to reflect. Often when I come back from a trip my mind races with ideas and things I need to do and I strive not to let  overwhelm set in.

I must have intuitively planned for this while at Trader Joe's last week with Brigitte. I decided to stop on my way home from NH which was a treat as we don't have one close to us in CT. It was awesome finding special ingredients for recipes that I can never find around here. They even do wine tastings!~who knew? :) I packed my basket with fresh fruits and vegetables to get back on track with my Green Smoothies. I still can't believe I love them so much! Those Simple Green Smoothie girls inspire me with their creativity and belief in small steps to a healthy life. They are always coming up with new recipes, offering tips, and the photographs on their website are amazingly gorgeous. It always lights me up seeing people living their passion. (BTW~I am going to join the next 30 day green smoothie challenge and try out some of their new recipes~care to join me? It's free!)

Trader Joe's had the prettiest flowers! It wasn't surprising that the miniature potted, pink and white gerber daisy forced it's way into my cart. :) I really wanted the last bunch of sassy yellow ranunculus but hesitated, guessing they may not survive my long drive home. I got them anyway though! It was like I was possessed by their beauty and found myself asking the clerk if I could run back and grab them while he was ringing me out (yes, I was one of those people). Luckily I was back in no time, grateful they were still there. These flowers are inspiring my new ReVision. Their shape and form reminded me of your camellia and the cheerful color brought me back to the warmth and texture of St. Martin with it's bright sunshine. Do colors ever bring you back to a place or time?

I spent some time photographing them, trying to capture their beauty and translate how they were bringing joy to my spirt on this cold, dark, New England day. The lack of light challenged me and I know my photos would be better had the day been brighter but I am learning more and more about my camera. Photographing them allowed me to be present and quiet my mind as absorbed in their intricacies and worked on getting the compositions just right.

 

I then warmed up with some blind contour line drawings in my sketch journal and did some small studies with just my pens on 4 x 6 inch watercolor paper.  I love the looseness of the pen and not caring how they look. They certainly aren't perfect but have a spontaneous quality I like a lot. I have been thinking about presence and what grounds me and keeps my mind calm and both of these creative acts do this for me, much like meditation.

By the way Oprah & Deepak are starting a new 21 day meditation experience on March 16th. This one is about creating success in your life. Now that I have made the BIG leap and have committed to B-School I feel it is very timely. The theme is also right in line with my WORD for this year. I love how they explain that:

"True success is a joyful process that will help you achieve the kind of success that brings happiness, fulfillment, and prosperity into every part of your life. Your goals will take on new meaning and your path to success will become clearer and easier."

You will learn to:

• connect with your true self
• cultivate loving relationships
• create balance in your work and personal life
• experience vibrant health and wellbeing
• find passion in your career

Don't we all want that? Let me know if you or any of our readers are on board with me! :)  It's always nice to have someone to check in with and share in the journey .

Happy day to you!

love,