Are you interested in creating a more balanced life, adding an healthy routine, learning to cook, reading more, spending more time with your children, keeping your finances in budget, renovating your home, or taking a few classes?

I don’t personally believe in “New Year’s Resolutions”, I feel they tend to be changes we wish we would make in our lives, but are end up just that- wishes.  I prefer that the changes in our lives be made at anytime through-out the year and are something we are passionate about so that the changes can stick, improve our lives, and grow us.

What motivates you to make a change?  What motivates you to maintain that change over a long period of time?  What causes you to stop actively making that change?

A few popular ways to make a change that sticks with our lives and routines include:

1.  Create specific goals.

Ex: If you are looking to add a healthy routine you might:  schedule time to walk with a friend 3 times per week and take a nutrition class.

2. Create “do-able” change.

Ex: To spend more time with your children:  Plan to spend Sat mornings making breakfast together and read or play games together 2 evenings per week. 

3. Learn from those who went before you:

Ex: Planning a renovation?  Contact friends, co-workers and family who have done this before and get advice and information from what they learned in the process.

4.  Get support.

Ex:  If you are trying to have a better work/life balance: buddy up with a friend or your spouse to cheer each other on and offer support. 

Change is a part of life.  Growth requires change.  So embrace the ways that you can bring new energy and quality of life to your daily routines.  Because when changes are made by creating goals, planning, and with passion behind them, they are changes that stick in our lives.

So, jump on here and leave comments as to what changes you are making and how you are moving forward with those changes!

My best as you make changes to you life this 2012.

Supplies:

Large bowl, tray or low vessel to fit your dining table

Assorted pumpkins, silk or dried flowers, fruits, artichokes, leaves, branches, and greens

Scissors, floral foam, pins and tape (optional)

Any other accessories, ribbons, green or spanish moss, do-dads, or fun things that you would like to be part of your table decor

Here is an example of what I’d like you to assemble:  (in your own creative way of course!)

I’d like you to fill your vessel with the elements that you have gathered.  Don’t worry about being too stylized, just make a loose arrangement of fall gatherings.

To Start:

Use your largest item as the first piece in, building around that.  I like to put in off center, if possible. (My largest item is the twig pumpkin.) 

Next:

Cut a square piece of floral foam to sit next to your largest item.  This doesn’t have to too big, just an anchor to build up some height with your next items.  If you can gain height without adding the floral foam, no need to follow this step.

Next:

Now the rest of your pieces just get layered in, so just go ahead and just start arranging in the objects that you have collected. Vary the height, color and texture of your collections.  If you have any open spaces that you want to fill, add some green or spanish moss to fill those areas.  The moss also is a great “bed” for everything to lay on.

Final touch:

Add a few ribbons to your arrangement.  Don’t worry about making bows per say, just use some floral tape or wrap, tie or fold them into soft loops to fill in and compliment the other textures in the arrangement.

Now, you’ve just made a super easy centerpiece that didn’t take too much time and will be the perfect centerpiece when the table is all set.  Remember to keep your arrangement low, it’s much easier to talk and see your guests when they don’t have to crane their necks to see over the centerpiece.

Good job- what part of this challenge did you find the most fun?  The part that challenged you the most?  Thanks for participating! 

Today’s Daily Creative Challenge is spurred on by this lovely autumn weather we are having.  I think nature is our biggest source of inspiration.  It almost instantly de-stresses our bodies and minds, allowing us to be creative, along with giving us endless inspiration to draw from.

So… I would like you to get out there over the weekend to enjoy it… but there is a small catch!  I want you to play with your camera while enjoying the bounty of fall. It doesn’t matter if you are a professional or amateur photographer, or even someone who “just owns a point and shoot”.  You can play with your camera creatively!

First, don’t worry about what you’re going to do with these photos.  You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want!  I just want you to see nature’s gifts through the eyes of your camera.

Take photos, lots of them.

Take them up close and from a distance.

Photograph leaves, mums, pumpkins, kids, blue sky, the lake, farm land, it doesn’t matter.

Just take photos and really SEE what surrounds you.

If you’re able, try to play with light, shadows, contrasts and even backgrounds.

But mostly just let yourself be creative!

That’s it… just enjoy the lovely weather and colors and try to see things you wouldn’t notice if you didn’t have a mission.  We all miss so many of nature’s delights because we are just too busy or preoccupied to notice them.

Have fun and don’t forget to stop back and leave comments about what you photographed and what you really saw through this challenge!

Blessings for your journey!

When we constantly keep our minds busy, we miss out on a great many things.  We miss out on our deeper inner thoughts, our creative muses, being comfortable with our own silences.  It may take practice at first, but it’s almost like meditation.  Quieting our thoughts and mouth to let our true selves really “speak” to us can make us grow in many other ways.

I have always wanted to go on a weekend silent retreat, the time just hasn’t worked out yet.  It is my goal to do that someday soon.  I just need to really plan out in advance to m ake that happen.

So…have you ever been on a silent retreat?  Have you taken time just for you and your thoughts? Maybe it’s something to add to your list.  If you think “no way!”, maybe a semi-silent retreat is a place to start.   Or, maybe try this first by taking a day or an afternoon all to yourself and not talking.

I have treated myself to several Silent Days and just love it.  I like to do it in the fall and spring, as it seems like a perfect “change of seasons” kind of thing to do.  I will often pack a lunch and go to a lake near the city and spend the day enjoying a walk, some prayer time, maybe do a short bible study, some more quiet time, and writing in my journal.  I have had some fantastic creative and life changing ideas investing this time alone with myself.

Guidelines for your own Silent Time:

Go somewhere you won’t be disturbed, or let those who you live with know you need your quiet space for a while.  Shut off your phone.  No watching TV.  Spend time reading, journaling, listening to quiet music, meditating, praying, talking a nature walk, or generally being quiet and reflective.  If you choose to read, only read for a short time, and choose something simple.  The point isn’t to just read your favorite book and avoid talking, but to really settle yourself into a time of quietness.  Have a notebook or journal handy to jot down your thoughts.

So, dear blogging friends, my challenge to you is to gift yourself a silent time.  I know it may take some planning, but set aside a day in the near future to do this.  I would love to hear your thoughts on this, if you tried it, your experiences, and how you felt after you did it.  I am looking at my calendar and scheduling my own day right now…

“The master in the art of living make little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion.   He hardly knows which is which.  He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.  To him, he is always doing both.”

That quote was written by James Michener.    I have always believed that God has created each one of us with distinct abilities that only we have.  When we are in our “sweet spot” as Max Lucado says, we are where God has designed us to be.  That spot is where we find this “mastery of living”, it is our ART.  It is who we were meant to be and it doesn’t feel like work, it is who we are.

So my creative challenge to you today is to really think about who you are.  Are you living the life you were designed to? Are you mastering your sweet spot?

IF you are… yea!  I am so thrilled for you, you have found your calling.  Rejoice in it and share it with us… please comment below.  IF you aren’t, it is time to really reflect on this challenge and maybe make some changes to your life.  Life after all, is far too short, and if we aren’t doing what we love and were designed for, then it’s probably about time we did.

Go ahead, what are you waiting for?  The world is waiting for you…