Seeking Inspiration: Visualise

Dearest Devotees,

Last semester in my Modern Drama Literature class, we spent some time talking about the importance of the scene and setting and how in some plays, the scene is so important that it can even be thought of as a separate character. Outside of art, everyone knows how important atmosphere can be to our mental, emotional and physical states. This is why some people take walks by lakes and sit in candle lit rooms with aromatherapeutic oils when they are feeling stressed. I find that when I'm feeling creatively blocked atmosphere matters a lot. To overcome my creative blocks I usually:

• Make sure I'm working in a clean, airy, well-lit (preferrably sun-lit) room.
• Make sure that all technological distractions are set to a minimum- that means no facebook, twitter or tweetdeck, and that my phone must be on silent or vibrate. To prevent my computer notifications from distracting me I use programs like Concentrate and Ommwriter to turn all my notifications off as soon as I start working until I'm done.
• Surround myself with inspiring quotes, pictures and works of art.
• Have calming music and sounds playing in the background, such as Ommwriter's nature soundtrack, and some of my favorite classical pieces like Yiruma's The River Flows in You and Maxene Cyrin's piano version of No Cars Go.

If I'm still feeling stuck after all of this, I try to get my mind moving in the direction I want to go by using the visualization technique. I believe that all art tells a story, and therefore has a plot, themes and a setting. Perfect chemistry between characters and the setting is vital to the creation of a good story. With the visualization technique, all you have to do is to imagine the setting or scene that corresponds to your work and mentally place yourself in that setting. It could either be a literal place such as a clearing in a forest, or a figurative place such as a world in which you are the best version of you. After imagining yourself in this place, feel free to explore it and allow yourself to get to know the place better. Imagine the little details, and think about how your interactions with the space could influence your actions (or those of your characters). Using visualization in this way helps you to have (almost) firsthand experience of the place you are trying to portray and could lend believability to your work.

Another way of using the visualization technique is by thinking about the message you would like to get across, imagining the effect it would have on the lives of you or the desired audience and figuring out what it would take for you to get that desired effect. For example, let's say you want to get across the message of what it means to truly love yourself in a song you are writing. You've written about half the song, but you are not feeling pleased with what you've got because it feels too preachy to you. By reminding yourself of the reason you are writing and thinking about what you would need to do to get the message across to your particular audience, you would be able to understand your audience better and therefore write a song that would appeal to them.

Finally, visualization is not just a technique that can be used by artists in a creative block. You can use visualization to reach any kind of goal that you are having difficulty with, be it creative or not. People use visualization to help them reach academic, physical, spiritual and life goals all the time. Being able to imagine yourself somewhere can help you rekindle the flame, when fear and intimidation may have snuffed it out and can help you get back on track when you're feeling derailed.

***Seeking inspiration assignment***

Create a work of art (it can be any kind of art, dance, music, design, poetry anything you want) that represents the story that you think is being told in the picture below. Or visualise your favorite place in the world (it doesn't have to be real). Explore the place and create a work of art that best depicts this place.

Links I've Loved Lately

I know this has nothing to do with anything but this little boy is just too cute. Plus laughter and smiles are great for creativity.

If you are lacking inspiration and have never heard of this search engine- Go. You're Welcome :)

I love TED talks! I recommend that you check out the talks given by Isaac Mizrahi, Elizabeth Gilbert, but really you can just choose a topic and search for the talk or look for a person that inspires you.

Okay. This video is probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Love Steven Johnson for it. The full talk is on TED too and is totally worth watching.

I love being made to think by videos like this.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What's inspired you lately? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Seeking Inspiration: Creating from Chaos

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Dearest Devotees,

There is a wildly held belief that artists must not only be able to live with and accept chaos but must able to miraculously draw beauty from said chaos. Now, whether there is any truth in this statement or not I can not say, but I have noticed that creative minds are usually able to create connections between seemingly disparate things. This talent helps artists to be able to see things in a new light and helps us free our minds from the conventional roles in which something is used. Have you ever taken anything apart (be it an idea, an object or a problematic situation) to understand it better only to find that taking it apart leads you to come up with a new way of looking at it? This process of destroying to rebuild is at the core of the idea of creating from chaos. When things are taken apart you are forced to see each part as an individual piece, with all of its own possibilities and potential roles outside of the roles that it had been playing in the group. This inspires creative thinking that can honestly lead to anywhere. Some ways in which this kind of connective creative thinking can come in handy include:

• Looking for a theme for your first clothing collection from your mood/ inspiration board.
• Renovating your room/personal space
• Creating a storyboard for your next short film/youtube vlog/music video
• Finding inspiration for your NaNoWriMo Novel
• Looking for a stylistic theme for your costume design project
• Solving a mini-crisis-soon-to-be-epic-crisis at your new business or within your group of friends/family (like when one friend thinks someone said something about the other that the other didn't person didn't say i.e. one of those he said-she said situations. )

And so much more :)

So, how do you develop this amazingly useful skill?

Well you could start with this week's Seeking Inspiration Exercise...

First of all, gather loads of wildly different things together, taking care to include a mix of both 2D and 3D pieces mix, and throw in things that appeal to all your senses. Mix them together, and move them around in any way you want on a flat surface like a board (the desk or the floor works well too).

Then, ask yourself these questions...

Is there any common theme?

What is the mood that you get from the scene?

Is there anything you are most pulled to?

Study your answers to the above questions and choose one of your answers as a springboard for your next work.

Links I've loved this week:

I honestly don't know how I hadn't known about this site before. Ideas is like a well of inspiration in and of itself.

Have you got what it takes to be a creative entrepreneur?

If you haven't seen this awe-inspiring talk on where good ideas come from, you need to see it. Now.

Soo much truth. Honestly if you are a writer you'll agree with me.

Three simple steps to a Clutter Free Creative Space has some pretty good ideas.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

Seeking inspiration: The Art of Role Play

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"When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge." ~Tuli Kupferberg

"Imagination and fiction make up more than three-quarters of our real life."~Simone Weil

Hello Dearest Devotees,

I think it was towards the end of the summer that I read Harry Potter Book 4 (The Goblet of Fire) that I first decided to explore my own imaginary world. Using Hogwarts and the rest of Harry's world as a jumping off point, I began to create an intricately detailed alternate reality, occasionally furnished with ideas from other fantasy-like books I'd read but largely full of places that I had come up with. Each place had their own wildly different culture, languages and physical environment as well as their own well established royal family. I loved being in this place that I called "my magical world" ( I know. Extremely creative :P) so much that I would spend hours of my day interacting with this place and with people and friends I'd created in this place. I would imagine full length conversations, and would sometimes even invite my siblings to join in my crazy adventures.

It was around this time that I first gained serious interest in writing novels and I'm pretty sure it was sparked by my love for the imaginary place I'd created. I desired to share this world with others and I thought that by "becoming" a character in my imaginary world, I would be able to have a special connection with the characters and therefore be better able to accurately represent them in my books. The character I chose to become is called Aury and I now have a wealth of stories that in diary format that I have collected over the years about her life. Acting as Aury was my first experience in the art of role play. I later found out that actors often use role play to get into character and to be better able to portray their characters during performances. In a similar way, role play helped me to realise that in the world I was creating in my book, Aury and all her friends are people with "real" emotions, problems and relationships and not just characters. I want my readers to be able to believe, at least for a little while, that she is real and in order for that to happen I must believe it too. Only by truly believing this will I be able to make her actions and emotions real enough that my readers will be able to see themselves in her and relate with my novel.

I believe that role play is a skill that can be used by people in general and artists in particular. Our art comes from our realms of experience and our personal realms of experience are pretty limited when you imagine all that it could be. Role play enables to expand that realm giving you the opportunity to tap into feelings and experiences you may not have otherwise had in order to draw from these experiences and create something extraordinary. Also role play can be used to help you reach your goals and ideas of the person you want to be. If used well, it could help you get a realistic idea of what it would take to become that person and maybe even let you decide if that person is really who you want to be. Finally, the art of roleplay can be used to help you understand people in your life better. It will give the chance to " walk in their shoes" and understand things from their point of view. The art of role play is so much more than a game. It is a way of letting your imagination help you see what your eyes can't.

Seeking Inspiration Assignment:

Use the art of roleplay to pretend to be someone who you could see as the opposite of you. Or step into the shoes of someone you aspire to being. Be this person for at least a day.

*Clarification edit*

In order not to freak people out I would recommend you do this on a personal day- a day in which you have a lot of personal time. Or you could just take some time out and just go through the motions of an average day in the life of your character by only pretending to do the activities.

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Links I've loved

GenYwealth gives 5 weird habits that can make you rich. Hmm...

A truly original way of glamourising your filofax by the Glamourous A.

I so LOVE the Lolita Lifestyle.

These dates are soo sweet!!! .

I really like this ode to overachievers. I don't know if I'm there yet but I think I'm pretty close.

Wishful thinking is giving a free course for Creative Professionals. If you haven't signed up yet do it! It's gold.

Two pretty awesome morning routines on Zen Habits.

And its pretty random but I really love Taylor Swift's Mine and If I Die Young by The Band Perry. The colours in their videos are so beautiful.

Love you and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. Have you role played before? What for? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Seeking Inspiration: Dreams

Dearest Devotees,

One night when I was in boarding school a couple of years ago I had the most surreal dream ever. It was exactly like something out of a horror movie, except I don't watch horror movies so I don't have these kind of dreams. What basically happened is I went to sleep that night, just like any other night and woke up the next morning soaking with sweat and with my heart racing. I won't bore you with the details of this dream, but I will tell you that it involved a zombies, people in my boarding school, a crazy mad scientist professor and a giant mud pool on the school field. It doesn't even end there though because the next night, I had a similar dream, with the same characters but a slightly different story line. It even started off where the last one left off. I will never forget how the dream ended because just after the heroes (a friend and myself) saved the day, I remember seeing a movie poster on a tree by the gate of my school in the dream. It said "Zombies" and had a really cool picture of my friend and I on the front with the other main characters in my nightmare-movie. It was like The Twilight Zone.

So what is the point of this little spiel of mine. Basically it's that inspiration can come from anywhere even from your dreams. I told the friend who featured in my nightmare-movie about the dream and she said that that was the coolest thing she ever heard and that we should definitely make it into a movie. That experience showed me just how much inspiration is apart of our everyday lives. I'm not saying every dream is going to be a perfectly packaged and ready to go work of art but it could lead to explore something in a way you may not have otherwise. After all, when we dream our brains are truly free to explore and create without our self-imposed reins of reality and practicality. They continue to work out problems that plague us doing usually coming with a truly creative and imaginative (albeit sometimes unrealistic) solution to our problems. So if you're running low on inspiration why not try documenting your dreams either in a dream diary or on a dream board. You may be surprised by what you find.

Now let's get real. I want to let you guys know the main inspiration for this post came from an amazing movie that came out this past month, a movie I'm sure you all know as Inception. I will not go on a for too long about this movie but I will say that I really really enjoyed it and that if you haven't seen it I definitely recommend it. It was not only visually stunning with great actors, it also had an fantastically unusual plot that left me questioning everything I'd known by the end of the movie. A movie that amazes me and makes me think is definitely a winner in my books. So there's my random movie recommendation. ( Also, I feel compelled to say that if you haven't seen Toy Story 3 yet, especially if you saw the first two when you were a kid, you should see it. You will not be disappointed. )

Now for this week's Seeking Inspiration Assignment:

This week's assignment is to create something based on a dream you've had or just based on the whole concept of dreams. It can be in any kind of art form you want, a poem, short story, video, painting, dance, whatever you like. I have a song called Dreams that I am working on, but it isn't done yet, and I have finals this week. So after finals I will put it up :) It will probably be an a cappella rendition of the song in video format.

Links I've loved lately:

I thought this stop motion video of a guy walking round the states in his levi jeans was really cool. I loved the music especially.

Now that I'm actually working on my Vanille my future fashion company, I am eating up everything I can about the business of fashion that I can find. That's how I found Daily Fashion Diaries which is a blog about few girls trying to make their way in the fashion industry. Also, if you are looking for an internship in the industry you should definitely check out Daily Fashion Jobs. I must warn you though: most of these are LA and New York based (no surprise).

Merlin Mann gives some great tips on how to future-proof your passion.

HA! No words.

I took this really cool quiz on HomeGoods Decorating Style Quiz.

The Organisation vs Creativity Debate: Why you need to be organised to be creative

and Why you need to be disorganised to be creative.

Beware of Your Inner Whining Artist on the Lateral Action blog.

Donate rice to the hungry by playing this simple but super fun game. Go on I Dare you.

I really loved this creative weekend to-do- list.

This video of fireflies is just so pretty and I thought that this piece was really nice.

Love you all and Stay Inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What inspired you this week? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Seeking inspiration: Thinking outside the proverbial box and following your impulse

Photo from: jakobjaded

Darling Devotees,

If I learnt anything from my acting class last semester, I learnt this: to portray your character, you must become your character. My acting professor consistently urged us to get outside of our heads and the proverbial box and to free ourselves from our preconceptions and misconceptions. Only by so doing would we be able to follow our impulses, which are the truest reflections of our creativity. Creativity in its nature is impulsive. If you try to force it, it will not come. You must be able to let go of so many things at a certain point in time in order to let your creativity roam free. I don't particularly care for the phrase daydreaming and wandering minds because it suggests no end in sight and no product as a result. True creative thinking always has a product, because whatever you come up with, whatever you create is a product of your thinking. The product could be a question, a solution to a problem, or a newly discovered truth.

Be impulsive. Impulsivity is what happens when we do what we're inspired to without letting 'rational constraints' hold us back. Create music out of pots and pans. Store your books in a crate and quils in a glass jar. Make a painting with coloured sand. Do a fine work of art in crayon. Add a acoustic/country beat to a metal rock song. Do it and see. You could be surprised and stumble on a brilliant new method. Or you could just sit back and enjoy your creative freedom. At the very least, in the end you would have learnt a little more about yourself, your talent and your art.

Inspiration Assignment:

My Translation:

I'm producing a beat for an acoustically-folksy rock song for my translation: Here is a snippet. I'll try to post the rest by the end of this week on my next Artist Corner post.

Links I've loved this week:

I found so many amazing little gems this week. It's Exciting!!!

This post about how to get rid of sentimental clutter is really helpful.

I feel like this post by A on how to create a core wardrobe is so relevant. It could be the solution to numerous poorly timed wardrobe malfunctions.

I just love blogs that bring fiction into the blogosphere. If you like them too you should check out ellie, Cass and Cady and caitlin and megan

I dream of having Andrea's style and thrifting skills.

This is an amazing talk for anyone not just people with ADHD.

I never realised there were so many sewing and DIY tutorials and vlogs out there. Himehood is one of my favorites so far.

How to have an Alice in Wonderland tea party- It must be the theatre lover in me.

I would love my life to mimic the flow of this poem on Creative Everyday.

If you are a writer (as I assume many of you may be), and are looking for somewhere to get feedback on your work, you could check out this site.

This post on Zen Habits reveals a new way to approach simpler living.

Did you love Daphne of Scooby Doo's style when you were growing up?

And for those who share my interest in the day of a Costume Designer, see this post.

***

"...And the winners for the 2010 Blogiversary giveaway are":

1. The surprise gift winner is Zmaga.

2. The CSN giveaway winner is Debbie.

Congratulations to you both! To get your prizes please email me your contact info. My email address is aury4eva@gmail.com.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What inspired you this week? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Photo from: Daily Lolita ; Beat copyright of Frances a.k.a Aury.

Seeking Inspiration: Never Alone

Dearest Devotees,

I love people, I really do. I love being around people (particularly people I know and love) and I can even be said to get my energy from being around many of the people I love at the same time. However, and I'm sure all of you lovely artistic and creative spirits out there can relate, sometimes you just need to get away from it all for awhile to enjoy some quality time with yourself. Inspiration can most certainly come while going through the motions of your daily life, but it is much more likely to hit you in the moments of calm in which you can take in everything that you've experienced, process it all and create with it. This is why I did an artistic retreat at the beginning of this year. I just really needed some time to let things sink in and to prepare my heart, soul and mind to create. This is why some writers go away to quiet little cabins in the middle of nature to write. This is also why I've decided my favorite time of the day is dawn because everything is so quiet and calm and beautiful that I am able to ponder various things freely and without distraction.

Lately, I've felt an intense desire to disappear into some remote place with nothing but the bare necessities, and all my art supplies, and I really think that I may do this after summer school is over before the next school year starts. It would be a creation (rather than inspiration) centered artistic retreat and would honestly be one of the best ways I could spend the remainder of my summer holiday.

That said, not everyone has the luxury of dropping all of their responsibilities and disappearing into the wilderness for two weeks, and even if you do, that isn't always the best plan of action. So here are some ways of injecting little drops of solitude into your week.

• Set apart a creative space for yourself in which you can return to regularly when you want to create. Decorate this place in such a way that it inspires you and moves you to create.

• Use beautiful music, pictures, or scents if suitable to help create the desired atmosphere.

• Find a particular time in the day in which you are least likely to be disturbed while creating. If necessary, ask people not to seek you out at this time. If necessary, get noise canceling headphones that can block out average background noise (very useful if you happen to have a roommate).

• Give yourself time to think. Seriously, I've heard of CEOs who schedule meetings with themselves throughout the day, so they can just stop and breathe every once in a while. The best thing for you to do at these times it to just sit quietly and let your mind wander.

• Take tranquil scenic walks or runs. By doing this, you can exercise and wind down at the same time.

• Do yoga/meditate at the beginning and/or end of your day. Again its all about clearing your mind and taking stock of all the stimuli you receive each day.

Assignment for the week

I'm still working on last week's assignment but I'm happy to say it's going quite well and that it has two different parts to it that I will be really excited to show you next week. That said, here's this week's assignment. It's another song called Never Alone by Barlow Girl and I actually have the assignment for this done.

My Translation

It's a part of one of my songs. It's a pretty loose translation of the above song, (I only really used it as a spring board) but it also has to be pretty loose since they are both in the same medium. I hope you like it. The song is called Locked up.

Chorus

Locked Up in this tower

Away from it all.

Don't want to listen

'Cause I don't wanna fall.

Locked away in this tower

Away from it all.

Don't want to listen

Because I don't want to fall.

Broken pieces, parts of me

Lying on the ground.

People, places, things I've seen

Have turned my life around.

Run me into desperation.

Seeking for a light within

The cold

and the dark that surrounds me.

Ran up here to get away

From everything else.

Hope is so bizarre to me

When all I know is hell.

But yet I want something more.

I long to finally reach that door

And break out.

Escape.

But I am....

Chorus.

It's a work in progress and when its fleshed out complete with melody, harmony and accompaniment I will present it to you in an Artist Corner feature.

Links I've loved this week include:

I absolutely adore the SparkNotes site, especially when I stumbled upon this really sweet playlist on it!

I really miss polaroids, so much so I am considering getting a new polaroid camera. Until then this free application Poladroid is definitely keeping me happy!

This post on being a photographer by Zmaga got my heart racing.

Cafe Fashionista's latest fashion find completely dazzles me.

The poem in this blog post. Honestly, words fail me.

I feel so sad when I see the effects of the BP oil spill.

Zen Habits is just amazing. AMAZING! I suggest you start off your journey there with this blog post.

All images come from We Heart It.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What's inspired you this week? What links have you been loving this week? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

P.P.S A huge Welcome to all my new devotees. You make me ridicu-crazily happy :)

Seeking Inspiration:You ARE Wonderful!

The person that you were has died

You’ve lost the sparkle in your eyes
You fell for life - into its traps
Now you wanna bridge the gaps
Now you wanna bridge the gaps
Now you want that person back

And all your ammunition’s gone
Run out of fuel to carry on
You don’t know what you wanna do
Cause what you want does not want you
If what you want does not want you
And you’ve got no pull to pull you through

Gary Go's Wonderful

It's been awhile since I've done a seeking inspiration post dearest loves and this is because I've been suffering from an intense case of inspirationless living. It's been aweful. It is like being in a writer's block but 10 times worse because it seeped into all aspects of my life. Whenever I dressed up, I felt less than satisfied with my appearance. Whenever I tried to work on my music, or draw I was stumped. Even writing became a chore. I tried to persevere nonetheless. I continued with my hip hop classes, continued attempting to express myself stylistically, continued my meetings with my fellow composer, and even tried to continue blogging. It was hard. I felt like a light within me, the light that enables me to not only see but feel a steady stream of inspiration, was extinguished. As the days and weeks passed, I began to lose hope that it would return. I began to fear that my creativity well had finally run dry. As despair threatened to overcome me I realised that I really am nothing if not hopeful. I tend to have hope in the most dismal of situations and if I could not have hope in this situation, a situation that is extremely close to my heart, I would not be the person I thought I was. As if to reinforce this discovery, a couple of days ago I stumbled upon this quote:

Being defeated is often only a temporary condition. Giving up is what
makes it permanent.

-- Marilyn vos Savant 1946-NA

After this I began anew to look for a cure to my museless state. A lot of things I found online helped me by giving me new opportunities (that I will include in the links below) to challenge my creativity and to interact with others who shared my passion. However the realization as to what had caused me to lose my muse came to in the form of the song "Wonderful" by Gary Go. The lyrics at the beginning of this post as well as the following lyrics below explained me to a T:

If what you’ve lost cannot be found
And the weight of the world weighs you down
No longer with the will to fly
You stop to let it pass you by
Don’t stop to let it pass you by
You’ve gotta look yourself in the eye

My interests, my goals, everything about me has been changing, and in the process of trying to adapt to this change I've lost my muse. I've lost my muse because I am doubting my new self. I am not sure if I have the skills, and talent to achieve the goals I want to achieve now, and everyone knows that self-doubt is an artist's worst enemy. Doubting my abilities had put me in the inspirationless state and only if I believed in my ability to adapt will I get out of it. Hearing theThe final lines of the song:

Cause we are all miracles
wrapped up in chemicals
We are incredible
Don’t take it for granted, no
We are all miracles
Oh we are

Say “I am”
Say “I am”
Say “I am wonderful”
Oh you are

Don’t take it for granted, no
We are all miracles
wrapped up, yeah we’re wrapped up

Oh we are wonderful

Hearing these words in this song helped push me back into believing in myself. It also showed me that being independent does not mean that I don't need social interaction. Humans are social beings and we need relationships with other living things. We need support and in situations like these, when we doubt ourselves, we need people who love and care about us to tell us that we are wonderful.

I love you my darling devotees. You are Wonderful.

***

Now for the inspirational exercise of the week:

How is cross-training your art going? Since I'm cross-training with music I thought I would give a musical exercise. Translate the song into your art form of choice. Get really creative- create an interpretive dance, youtube video slide show, whatever you want to express it. Also this video and this song make me really happy, so this keeps in line with my Creative Every Day challenge of June (Topic: Bliss) !!!

I haven't done mine yet because I just came up with the idea but I may make a video or a composite drawing. You'll have to wait and see (hmmm...).

***

Links I've Loved this week:

Ommwriter and CreaWriter are AMAZING programs for all the mac and windows writers out there (respectively). They are seriously the next best thing to hopping off to your own little cabin in the Alps (in the summer ) and working on an cute vintage-y typewriter.

Creative Every Day- Blog love that I can't believe I hadn't known about sooner! I'm currently doing the June challenge. You just need to se this.

How to get a 4.0 in life: Yes please.

I love this post from Frock and Roll.

Gala darling put this beautifully inspiring youtube video on her blog.

Creative creativity - another creativity blog. You just gotta love it.

I was looking for some more fellow writer support so I joined NanoWrimo, Script Frenzy and this lovely lady's blog.

This is an incredibly well-written story.

I love A Cat of Impossible Colour's Style.

Glamourous Grad Student gives us Style Self Help.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What's been inspiring you this week? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Lyrics for Gary Go- Wonderful on Lyrics Reg.

Photos from: We Heart It

Being Indie: Indie Appreciation Week

Celebrate your individuality and love your independence.

My Dearest Devotees,

I love being myself. I am independent, and to me this means that I am independent thinker. I form my own opinions and I do not mass think. I try to make sure that never follow the crowd blindly or accept information without questioning its source. It also means that I am quite adventurous and curious about the world. I always want to know the why behind everything. Knowing the why behind things helps me makes informed decisions. To me, being independent also means that I love to explore. Trying out new things and travelling to new places is almost constantly on my mind, and meeting new people is par for the course.

When I was younger, I couldn’t wait for the day I would go away to university, and this was because I looked at it as a huge adventure. It was never something I feared and distance from home was never a factor. Now that I’m here I still don’t feel differently. Some days I wake up and can’t still believe where I am and how far I’ve come. When I catch myself doing “grown-up things” like paying the bills and making doctors appointments I still wonder the time has gone. When I came to university I never really felt homesick. I missed my family and friends, but being able to do my own thing sits really well with me. I’m the kind of person that likes to dance to my own drum and be my own person. Since coming to the blogosphere (almost a year ago now!) I’ve met so many lovely and wonderfully unique people that are beautifully independent and strong in their own ways, and I’ve decided I would to make this week “ Indie Appreciation Week”. I know that there has been a subculture built around being ‘indie’ with particular things to identify but I feel this is against the whole point of being independent. Therefore, the list below is what being independent means to me.

Doing yoga to de- stress

Making my own decisions about my faith and actively taking part in it.

Making my own decisions about all sorts of topics- big and small.

Owning my personal style.

Wearing loads of chiffon and billowy shirts.

Taking loads of seemingly random classes (but not really) that challenge me and make me think.

Reading tons of non-fiction and fiction books.

Getting on top of things by being organized in my random and sporadic nature so that I can do all I want to do.

Being comfortable in my relationships with people.

Standing up for what I believe in .

Living in beautiful floral prints.

Wearing flowers in my hair.

Essentially emulating gyspy style and making it mine.

Buying a fabulous leather trunk – vintage or antique

Go vintage/flea market, etc shopping to get unique pieces for my room

Finding out about tarot cards.

Learning widely different styles of dance- I’m taking ballroom and hip hop this summer.

Wearing lots of lovely, lovely vests.

Having an owl- a snowy one like Hedwig.

Hanging ethnic printed carpets and fabrics around the room e.g. wrapping a TV in jewel toned sarong and (false) peacock feathers.

Wearing loads of beautifully colored scarves

Enjoying fabulous poetry

Learning to ride a horse

Travelling as much as possible by plane, train or road

Chemically developing my black and white photos with my vintage Canon SLR camera.

Always seeking to experience different cultures.

Reading loads and loads of books on different cultures and about people that are different from you

Meditate upon every topic under the sun.

Wear loads of gold colored jewelry.

Trying out loads of crafts: knitting, basket weaving, jewelry making, etc.

Trying out loads of art forms: painting, designing, drawing, etc

Dancing with abandon but to the beat and with rhythm in my room and in wide, open fields.

Listening to folksy, vocal and instrumentally dominant music. Think Iron and Wine, and Furlough but also to any kind of music that takes my fancy and speaks to my soul.

Recording my music and putting them on CDs.

Visit parks and open fields. Keep in touch with nature.

Learning to control my range vocally and to play piano.

Being open to different culture and the possibility of learning new languages.

(All photos from: We Heart it)

Love you all and Stay Inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What does being independent mean to you and how do you celebrate your independence? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Seeking Inspiration: Cross Training

Photo from : tumblr

My Dearest Devotees,

Sometimes, I go through periods of inspirational drought. Every time I try to write, or design, or create art through one of my regular mediums I encounter a huge mind block that cripples me creatively. Sometimes, I just get bored of using the same materials or skills all the time. I long for something different and desire a new challenge. At these times, just being thrown out of your comfort zone and having to make use of skills you didn't even know you had is enough to get you inspired. I'm talking about cross-training.

During the last undergraduate retreat I attended, we talked about how athletes sometimes use cross-training to improve certain skills. For example, a basketball player could do gymnastics to improve his/her agility on the court. During the retreat we were told about how we could cross train in our faith, by using different types of prayer. And after taking all the classes I took last semester, I've been trying to figure out how I can cross-train by trying out different forms of art. For the longest time, I've been a writer. Ever since I was eight, I've been writing poetry and short stories. Since then I've written songs, blog posts, a short novel, a short play, and worked on plots for movies, and sitcoms. I've been designing clothes since I was 12. Coming up with new ideas gets hard after a while and just the thrill of trying something new could give a totally new approach. Who knows? You may even a stumble on a hidden talent.

I'm going to take a break from my fashion designer dreams for a while and dive full speed ahead into music and visual arts ( mostly drawing and painting still lifes and human figures.) I've no idea where it'll take me, but I'm really excited to see. I say taking a break because it's hard to imagine that I won't still be caught in fabric stores picking out swatches for my next project in a couple of weeks, but it's all about taking it out of first place and putting it in maybe second place? My darling devotees, if you've been feeling uninspired whenever you take to your art form of choice, why not take another route? Cross-train with me and if you have any ideas of different art forms you think I should try you can let me know in the comments or email me at aury4eva@gmail.com.

Here's the inspirational exercise for this week:

How do you translate this picture into your favorite art form? Or you could translate it into a totally different art form to start your cross-training practice.

My Translation:

At this very moment I felt like I could fly.

As the ground beneath me disappeared, dashed dreams and lost ambitions were left behind.

And hope filled me completely.

Suddenly, I could see a future where I would be happy- where everything I wanted could and would happen.

As my feet reached over the sun, I leaned back, prepared to jump.

And took a flying leap into the great beyond.

I'm also working on a silhouette drawing of this picture that I may show you all later this week in another post.

***

Links that have inspired me this week

I think Doe Deere is absolutely wonderful for doing this.

This song has nothing to do with this post but it makes me soo happy. It's Matt Hires Honey Let Me Sing You a Song.

I really loved this post on being an 18th Century mortician. Who knew they could be so stylish?

I thinking making my dorm room green may just be one of the best ideas I've ever heard.

We can either sit around and sulk about what sucks in our lives or we could decide to do something about it. A advocates the second in this post.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What inspired you this week? What is your favorite art form and what would you try out if you were cross-training? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.