Well-Being Enterprise

I might as well be a sloth. I am a slow-moving American mammal that power lounges on couches and beds as much as possible. I avoid working, if at all possible.  The best word to describe how I feel is "sluggish." I feel like a slug. I cannot seem to get moving physically. I am suffering from inactivity. I fell asleep driving to work a couple of weeks ago. The one thing I do not feel is "apathy." I really care about the fact that I am sliding down the slippery slope of complacency and letting myself go.  It needs to change. It needs to change NOW.

I am starting my own well-being enterprise. I have no idea how to get out of this funk, but I WILL figure it out. Last night, I bought two Groupons - One was for hot yoga and the other was for three months of downloadable yoga videos. Typically, I buy these items and never use them; or use them once or twice and let it go. I need to develop some stick-to-it-iveness. I believe I have stumbled upon sub-project number 1:  Stick-to-it-iveness: Who, what, where, when, how, and why.  Who are the people who develop habits that they are able to maintain? What are their methods? Where do they learn from? When do they find the time to focus on wellness? How do they make their own well being a priority? Why are they able to "do it" and I am not?

This will be my first task - to figure out how other people do it. First, I will research who has done it. Then I will read all about them and glean what I can about their methods. Who knows? Maybe one of them has written a book that might be helpful.

Why blog? I want to chronicle my thought process and how I progress in my endeavor to find my well-being. I want to hold myself accountable.

Hi! It's me, Susan

Please tell me how you do it?
 

Warming Up

I spent over an hour, before coffee, writing my first blog post of 2014. Mistake. Never do that! I got it just the way I wanted it and tried to upload a photo. I uploaded two the same by accident. I highlighted one of the photos and pressed my delete key. My entire post disappeared. I am going to stop now, get my coffee, and get warmed up first. Then I will try again....

Unfinished "Warming Up" by Susan English 2014

This is a sketch on a scrap piece of paper that turned into a mixed media piece. 

Dream

I woke up this morning after having a very vivid dream. I was walking through a field picking up two guitars in guitar cases. I looked down and saw a blood red rose. It was so beautiful that I bent down and began pulling it up by its roots. I must have intended to take it home and plant it. I saw the crucifixion in the sepals and ovary. Two sepals made Jesus' outstretched arms and the ovary was his face.  I wrapped it up in paper towels and ran home to show my mother. When I unwrapped it the crucifixion was gone and it was just a regular rose with plain 'ole sepals and ovary.

I laid there vividly picturing this and thinking how amazing it looked in my dream. The memory faded so fast; unbelievably fast.I can barely picture it in my mind's eye now. I am already thinking of the different ways to use this in my art work. Words cannot describe what I saw in my dream. Even so, I needed to write it down in order to start the process.

Sunday Swoon

Greetings and salutations from Arizona, USA,

Unfortunately, there was an unexpected death in my family that has prohibited me from doing any drawing, writing, or painting in the last 2 weeks.

The problem was - How do I create during a time when I have very little extra time and when I am feeling very sad? The outcome I was looking for were outlets at my fingertips for which I could use sporadic spurts of creativity at will.

I discovered a Smartphone App that made me SWOON during this time. I have a plethora of saved photos of my artwork and miscellaneous other photos on my iPhone and I heard about the Blender photo app. It was $1.99. I downloaded it and it took about 3 minutes to figure out how to use it. It really made me SWOON and it allowed me to use spurts of creative energy during a very tough family time.

The second strategy I used to get through the sorrowful time was to look at my vintage art book collection. I viewed a lot of paintings by Monet because the colors he used make me happy. I cannot resist the endorphin it generates in me. Pretty much, without fail, perusing my art books makes me SWOON.

The final strategy I used to utilize my creative writing juices was to make a daily list of things for which I was grateful. I picked one of the items on the list and wrote a paragraph about the item and how it made me feel. Then whenever I was feeling blue, I went back and re-read them. It proved quite useful as a coping mechanism. Being grateful leads to overall happiness, which is the ultimate SWOON.

Here are 3 favorite results of my 2-week experiment with the Blender Photo app.

Go forth and create. 

Peace!

Shake Your Tu-Tu Tail

"I can see clearly now the rain is gone.
It's gonna be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day."

Picture a Rastafarian mermaid, about 10 years old, with dreadlocks and a heart-shaped mouth. She wants to be a ballerina and cook cupcakes for her friends. She has problems though - She can't cook underwater and she cannot put ballet slippers on because of her tail.

We've all been there.

We know what it feels like.

So, what does she do?

She covers her tail with a pink tutu and shakes her tail. She sneaks away and buys cupcakes for her friends. They make do with what they have and they find joy anyway.

Shake your Tu-Tu tail.

By Susan English 9/9/13

Good and Evil

By Susan English January 2012 - Original Mixed Media Art

"RUGER" THE LITTLE DOG

What do I remember most about 2011?

How “Ruger” came to be a member of our family.

My spouse was taking a walk around the neighborhood when he heard what he thought was a child crying. He followed the menacing sound to where he found a little dog short-tied to a bush. He could not move at all and lay there crying.

Mike brought him home and the little dog quickly bit him in the hand. I thought to myself that if there was any chance of my keeping this little dog, it had swiftly passed. We tried to find the owner, to no avail, and then took him to the dog pound. When Mike got to the pound, he couldn’t turn the little dog over.

It is amazing how much a pet can improve one’s life!

Today, when I look back on it, it is as if he saved us; We didn’t save him.

I have enjoyed every minute with him.

When you think about 2011, what do you remember most?

Namaste