Inspiration for a joyful and creative life

I had the most delightful day yesterday.  There wasn’t a big event.  There wasn’t even a special occasion.

It was an ordinary day that brought me so much pleasure.

I got up early to work on my drawing and went to my Colored Pencil class at the Botanic Gardens.

We are working on this fun drawing with 4 different vegetables in small squares.  I’ll post pictures of it when it’s finished.  It is taking me hours to layer each color to get the depth and richness but I get lost in the process and time goes by so quickly.

After my class, I strolled through the gardens looking for a shady spot to eat my lunch.

Everywhere I looked, I encountered something that beckoned me to photograph it.

Since I’ve been working on drawing lately, I am noticing even more details than usual; the variance of color, wonderful textures and shapes.

I kept finding inspiring things to photograph, even as I left the gardens.

On my way to run errands, I decided to stop at one of my favorite flower and gift shops, Happy Canyon Flowers, just to see their beautiful displays.  I wasn’t disappointed.

I needed a few groceries and went to Whole Foods.  I wanted to pick up a couple more “specimens” to draw for my project and got a whole new appreciation for picking out fruits and vegetables!

Instead of enjoying just the idea of eating the produce, I was looking at it in terms of drawing them.  I carefully selected things based on their beautiful color and form, quirky little stems, etc.

As I continued with a couple more errands, I found myself appreciating everything and smiling.

My last stop was the library to return a book and pick up my next read for book group.  I decided to check out their drawing section.

They didn’t have a great selection of drawing books but instead I found a stack of really cool books on metal projects.  I couldn’t help myself and checked out a big stack of books to take home and peruse.

So, while this may have been an ordinary day, I found myself filled with inspiration at every turn.  I felt a great sense of satisfaction and gratitude.

That is what brought me such delight.

What little things or experiences can you bring to your day that would bring you that sense of joy?

The other day I was having a conversation with my friend and she said she was afraid of doing something because she didn’t want to be disappointed again.

The only way to avoid disappointment is if you don’t have specific expectations.

Even in unimportant matters when you have an expectation and things turn out differently, you can be disappointed.

If someone tells you that they just saw the funniest movie, and you have to see it because you will just love it, that is what you will expect.  Even if it is a good movie that you would have liked otherwise, when you don’t love it, your expectations won’t be met.

Does that mean you should lower your expectations?

I don’t think that getting in a habit of having no or low expectations is a good idea.  However, it is worth practicing letting go of specific expectations.

This is a bit tricky and that is why I use the word practice.

There is a balance of having hope and visualizing that things turn out well without getting attached to things turning out a specific way.

Letting Go of Specific Expectations

The other day, my husband took our son and me out on a hike overlooking the Indian Peaks mountain range.  He has been saying that it was one of the most beautiful hikes he’s been on ever since he went on a company outing there a few years ago.  He has repeatedly told us how much we would love it.

The starting point of the hike is a 2 hour drive and in order to park anywhere near the trail you have to get there early.

He got us up at 5:30am on a Saturday morning.  I am not a big fan of getting up early or having to skip my morning coffee routine, which is a long, leisurely ritual.

We drove to the recreation area and found that the gates for the road were closed for the season.  It is at 10,000 feet elevation and they don’t open until June 30^th when they hope the snow has melted.

I was rolling my eyes thinking I could have been snug in my bed dreaming of a café latte.

Instead, we walked along the road that circled two small lakes since the hiking trails were still covered in a thick blanket of snow.

It was a beautiful, perfect day.  Not too hot, not cold, just right.  The mountain peaks were iced with snow set against the pristine blue sky.  It looked like the Swiss Alps.

It wasn’t the plan or what we expected but it turned out to be a great day.

What about the Big Stuff?

That was a small example of something that might happen on a day to day basis.  But what about the bigger stuff like getting a new job, relationships, moving, starting a business, or choosing what you want to do with the rest of your life?

That is when you consider what matters to you and make your decisions based on who you are and what you want now.  Not what happened in the past or what might happen in the future.

You can start moving toward the direction and the outcome that you want, while being hopeful and trying to let go of specific expectations.

The specific details of your goals, dreams, and desires might change as you are in the process of creating what you want.

What if it turns out better than you thought it could?

What if it looks different than you expected but is just as good?

What If you are Disappointed Again?

Once again, your disappointment will be because you thought it should turn out a certain way and it didn’t.

If you were painting a picture and decided it wasn’t what you wanted yet, you could continue to make changes to it until it reflected your vision.

Or you could begin a new canvas using the knowledge and experience you gained to get the result you want.

Another option is that you could choose to create something different than your original vision.  Your vision changes and evolves as you continue in the process.  It could be better than what you started out to create.

The same things hold true to creating what you want in your life.  And the only way to is to begin the process.

Whenever you make a choice to invite new sights, sounds, tastes, and experiences into your life, your world expands.

If you learn to fly fish, grow tomatoes, train a guide dog, take a class in Japanese Tea Rituals, painting, or writing poetry, your experience of the world becomes a little richer.

One of the great benefits of creating art for me has been the way I look at things.  What would have once looked like a dull and bland landscape of endless fields comes alive with variation and depth of color, with 7 shades of yellow and gold.

Another more obvious way to expand your world even more is to travel.   It doesn’t have to be anything exotic but the more different the place is than what you are used to, the more your senses are awakened.

Your mind loves comparisons and will search for things that are different and compare similarities as well.

All of these things stimulate your creativity and accumulate treasures of experiences and memories as you learn about yourself in the process.

How will your expand your world?