Create. That is my word for the year. Within it exist myriad possibilities.
For art. For a more soul-centred existence. For health and fitness. For life.
I had a sense of what I wanted to achieve by the end of this year, but focusing on this word has taken me down paths I could have never imagined.
Create has helped me to focus on my soul. Create asks me what I want to change, what I want to call into being, what I want to release. Create has helped me design a morning and evening ritual that finally feels right for me. It’s nudged me towards trusting my intuition instead of waiting for exact guidance and approval from teachers and mentors. It’s allowed me to absorb the rituals and practices that I enjoy and to leave the parts that don’t serve me without fear or guilt. Weekly oracle readings, daily tarot readings, designing tarot spreads – all things that I’ve long wanted to do – Create has helped me to do.
Create gave my fitness goals the momentum it sorely needed. More movement, mindful eating, radical self love. Yes, please! But then a back problem derailed that momentum, and I’ve been struggling to get it back ever since. Rather than beating myself up, which is what I would have normally done, Create has nudged me into inquiry. It’s given me epiphanies galore, led me to articles and people that have helped me to shine t
he light on my body image issues – difficult for a girl who has been called “fatty” all her life. There’s a lot of deep healing required here, and Create is making me open my eyes and address them head on. Creating a new relationship with movement, with food, with my body – all of it needs a lot of inner work combined with outer work, and I’m looking forward to seeing where Create will lead me.
Create has blown my socks off on the art front. I embarked on a mission to end the year with 52 pieces of art, which means 1 piece of art per week. Of course, that came to a stop during the crazily hot summer, but Create took me on a whole new adventure – mobile artography, which is a fancy way of saying that I use my iPhone to create composite works of art by combining photographs and graphic elements and running them through various apps. The idea for the InstaTales series was born from this exploration of creating digitally. Create also nudged me to set up an art store on Cupick, and though I still have to stock it up well, I know I’ll get there soon. {This little monochromatic girl is on Cupick, so if you like her, why don’t you hop over there and take her home?} There are a lot of ideas bubbling under the surface, I’m sure Create is going to nudge me in a whole slew of directions soon!
Where Create took me completely by surprise is on my blog. I fell in with a crazy bunch of bloggers over on Blogchatter. With them, I found the community aspect of blogging that I so sorely missed. With them, I took part in the A to Z Challenge again this April. But unlike 2014, this time Create handed me a theme – art journaling. And with some prompting and nudging, Create also helped me to turn those 26 posts into an ebook – Art Journaling 101 – that I am really proud of. But it didn’t rest on those achievements. Oh no! Next, Create made me dust off my long-held dream of writing newsletters, and I launched Gypsy Wanderings – a monthly missive from my heart that I send to subscribers along with exclusive goodies and a monthly oracle reading. {I’ve been told that they’re juicy – why don’t you sign up?}
It’s been a whirlwind o so far this year. I wonder what new exciting things Create has in store for me next!
Create 😀
Inspiring word .
Create gave birth to an artist in you and is actually the bestest thing I like about you.
Had learned many tips from your novel Art Journal to improve my drawings .
Adorable post .
#InkingReflections
Thank you Dixu! I’m glad you found my book helpful! I love being an artist, and this word sure helped me to grow and expand on my idea of what it means to be an artist, and where I want to go with my art. It’s been interesting!
Wow, may you keep creating and creating and creating every time. Beautiful reflection and am sure you’ll achieve that goal very soon 🙂
Thanks for the encouragement Shalini! 🙂
Your word of the year reflects in you. A creator you are and a beautiful one. And I hope you spam my inbox coz I just subscribed to Gypsy Wanderings.?
Wishing you many more creative months. ?
yay! Thanks for subscribing! I’ll arrive in your inbox every month ?
Wow… i love how you write. Absolutely splendid post. Makes me wanna create something! 🙂
Thank you! And go, create! It’s the biggest high you can get!! 🙂
I love your word Create. So inspiring, and I love that it led you down this inspiring path. You now have inspired me to work more diligently on my own newsletter. Signing up for yours. The ebook has been downloaded but sadly yet to be read. Will get to it asap.
Thanks for signing up Jaibala! Take your time with the book, and feel free to reach out to me if you need any help 🙂
This is an extremely beautiful post, so full of soulful affirmation. Very glad I got to read it and look into the way you process the good even out of the seemingly negative. That, right there, is what makes people unique.
Thank you for dropping by Shailaja. I’m really thrilled that I managed to get the tone right on this one. It was one of the hardest posts to write! I didn’t want it to be all about me and I didn’t want it to be preachy – sharing my journey/ story and inspiring others was what I was hoping to achieve, so I’m glad it came across that way! I hope to see you around 🙂
That’s an amazing half year and an even more inspiring word! Create, the very birth of an artist, and the very word for the artist’s survival too. Wonderful post, and good luck with your months ahead with create. 🙂
Thanks a bunch Dashy!!
What an inspiring post it is!! Wonderful!! Btw, people who called you fatty are nuts as they don’t see how beautiful you are because of that. Waise bhi there is saying- “kuch to log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna”. But you played smartly with words in your post. You have covered everything from yours to tarot reading to your writing journey, loved it. Please give me some tips too to write so smart. Keep writing and I don’t know how I missed to subscribe to your blog but did that. Keep writing!! 🙂
Thank you so much Abhi. That’s really sweet of you!
Sometimes I read blogs and realise how much bravery we are all exhibiting my simply writing away our thoughts. Not doing anything miraculous (and yet it is a miracle) but blogging our heart out. It takes some spirit to do so yes. But a lot of character to pull it all together.
May this year my love help you find all those things that help create a better life altogether 🙂
Thank you Richa!
I’ve also realized that sharing our stories is one thing, but making it interesting to someone else – that’s an art, and I still need to learn it better!
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