Week Two-Mind.Body.Soul.

Welcome to Week 2, girls!! We are now over 100 women strong and growing daily...I can hardly believe it! Thank you for joining me on this journey as we become stronger Mind, Body and Soul.

So last week we got a taste of what it feels like to Believe in ourselves. Maybe you're like me and just needed a gentle reminder or maybe you really, truly can't seem to find one good thing about yourself you  Believe in. Whichever one you are....I hope last week gave you a chance to stop and think about those things. My wish is that each one of us is stronger, more confident and ready to reach our full potential by the end of 6 weeks.

Our Word for this week is

REACH

To make a movement or effort as if to touch or seize something.


I love this part of the definition..."to touch or seize something."


What  are you trying to seize? What is it that when you listen to your heart you want to seize?

I love the artist SARK. I love her passion for life and art and making dreams come true. I love her child-like enthusiasm and the simplicity of her books.

SARK

This is SARK. She looks just like you and me. A normal, wonderful, wild woman...who is living her creative dreams with passion and gusto!

This is just one of her 11 books...

This book is filled to the brim with whimsical drawings, words and creative games to feed our creative life. I highly reccomend it.

On page 81 she shares a few little sentences that just might help you Believe you can even though you are convinced you cannot.

"We are all filled with wonders. Somewhere inside, you know this, even if you haven't made it real yet. The knowledge can give you courage to let these wonders be seen. What else gives you courage? I think that courage is activated by...EVIDENCE. Something that we tried that worked and we can see it. But what gives us courage to try it in the first place? I am often asked how I got the courage to go from being a "starving artist" to being a "successful artist". I'm convinced that this courage was already inside me, and it got activated by things that I tried with absolutely no courage to start with."

Oh my goodness....don't you just love that? She's telling us we just gotta jump in and do it. Feet first...no thinking, none of this "I will start when I get better at_________."Does this sound like you?  I know hundreds of times throughout my life I have missed opportunities to learn and grow and live my dreams because I told myself I wasn't ready. 

SARK ends that paragraph with this profound statement...

"I didn't try new things with courage and confidence, but rather with will and determination. The courage grew as I saw the evidence."

Can I  let you in on a little secret? This is exactly where I am today. I can't tell you how many times I wrote in my journal "This is the year I will write my first e-course!" Each year would pass and no e-course was ever written. I would sit back and watch as other of my blog friends were offering challenges and classes...but not me. I kept telling myself I just didn't have the experince everyone else had. The real truth was this...I was scared. I'm still scared. Scared out of my wits actually. Yet, here I am...reaching out to all of you with my words...sharing my heart and watching myself gain more and more confidence everyday.

Everytime we say NO to a dream of ours we are telling ourselves we don't BELIEVE. We don't think we have what it takes to live that dream. 

I have a BIG dream to run my third marathon in January 2013 with my son at Disney World. This dream of mine seems nearly impossible.  Ten years ago I trained hard and finished two marathons. Not only was I younger then but I was in a much better place both physically. However, after reading SARK'S words I know now what I need to do. I just gotta train. I gotta walk more and more miles each week. Eventually I must build up to jogging then log at least one long run a week. Each positive step I take in the next 10 months will make me stronger and like SARK says, will give me the courage I need to finish 26.2 miles with my son. 

While working on her book SARK said she would go on evening walks everynight. During one of these walks she met a 70 year old painter, Roy. They began discussing dreams and said this to her..."I hope you tell them it's all about letting loose the wonders inside."

Girls...it is TIME! It is TIME to let loose the wonders inside of YOU! It's time to REACH inside your heart and your soul and just GO!!

We are limitless...we really are. We are full of love and passion and creativity and joy. Our hearts know no bounds. So why then are we holding back??

Our assignment today is LET GO! Take out your art journal, your paints or crayons, markers or paper. Buttons, ribbon...what is speaking to you at the moment. Put on your favorite music, movie or nothing at all. Now just create. No thinking allowed. Just put brush to paper. Mod Podge magazine clippings or other images on your pages. Do what your heart is telling you to do. Let Go and Have fun!

*You can make this either a one or two page spread in your journal.

"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out."  -Ray Bradbury