Artful Losers

Last night my cousin Laura came over, and we had a great time catching up and hanging out in the studio. She did a bit of work on a journal, and I piddled around sorting things and putting stuff away. It was sooo nice to have someone in there to talk to while I straightened a little. Still have tons of projects out in various stages of completion, but it is a little better. I can see patches of surface area now! I didn't make it to church, as I am still avoiding crowds of people due to the continuing hacking cough from bronchitis, so it was nice to see her.

Funny, she and I were discussing our goals to find increased happiness and help others to do the same this year. We are going to informally team up and see what happens. My Dad always told me the best way to get what you want out of life is to help enough others get what they want out of life. So that is what I want to do.

Many of you who know me know that my weight has been a battle for me ever since I was burned in the tractor accident in my college years. That forced inactivity, along with the 6 years down with chronic fatigue and severe asthma has taken it's toll. Well it's been 10 years since the chronic fatigue now, so it's time. This is the year I'm serious about getting all the extra off.

I've got a couple of friends I'm going to recruit as accountability partners. My idea is this, we each encourage each other, and keep each other inspired! I've started a yahoo group just for this purpose. Artful_Losers. Through constant positive reinforcement, and with an art incentive every now and then, I hope we can all achieve our goals. For example, every time one of us hits a smaller goal, say 10 lbs, the others can all send them a small piece of and made art, or a small bit of ephemera as a reward and celebration. Other challenges and tips will be freely shared as well. If you would like to join in, please e-mail me, and I'll send you a group invite to join. I freely admit that I started this group because I NEEDED it. I hope it will fill a need for you too! I have a dream of it being a totally non-judgemental, supportive and positive world we can escape to when we need a boost. A place for tips to be shared, and troubles to be shared as well. A place where we all know the same pain, and the same passion for art. This hopefully will be that place. I would also like it to be a place of positive strokes and incentive rewards. As accountability partners, we will each encourage the other, and keep each other inspired! With an art incentive every now and then, I hope we can all achieve our goals together. Other challenges and tips will be freely shared as well. What do you say? Would you like to play? I've got alot of hard work ahead of me, and having friends in the same boat along with me would make it so much easier.

Happy New Year!

(A day late!) But I'm not going to worry about it, because one of my goals for this year is to strive to "go with the flow" a little more, enjoy what is a little more and worry about everything a little less.

I set several goals for myself this year, and am going to post a few challenges along the way to encourage myself along with my readers.

All of them are aimed at helping to feel more happy, and enjoy life in the moment. I don't want to someday look back and think, 'wow, I really had it good back then- why didn't I appreciate it at the time?'

The First Challenge this year: To keep a "Gratitude Journal" for the month of January.
While flipping thru 2 different magazines recently (Good Housekeeping and LHJ) I stumbled onto similar stories done about some tests conducted in 2007. Basically the tests said that people who wrote down something they were grateful for each day, felt happier with their lives
than those who didn't keep any sort of written record. They all came from similar backgrounds and were in similar social and economic circumstances, yet the ones who were tangibly reminded daily of something they were grateful for felt more fulfilled and satisfied with their life.

I found this profoundly interesting and thought it was a great way to improve my happiness quotient without a major life change! I've also read from many different sources that you must do something regularly for 21 days to become a habit. So I'm willing to give it a grand try. I've been working on an Art Journal of prepared backgrounds, so I can just grab it and journal away. With the backgrounds already prepared, it takes away that "blank-page" block, and puts the emphasis on the thought behind the words. I don't intend to spend long hours writing, as I'm more of a visual kind of gal, but even if I write a sentence or two, I intend to be faithful to keeping up with this challenge. (And if some interesting art happens along the way-more the better!!)

So I challenge you to play along with me, and see if we truly can be the navigators of our attitudes!