Gratitude

One of my intentions for this year is to be more grateful. Late last year, Kikki-K had a sale on their journals and I purchased the set of the old design (Happiness, Goals, Wellness, Gratitude) as I don't really like the new design. On New Year's Day, I opened the Gratitude journal and started a process that I've so far kept going for 12 days. Every day I will write three things I'm grateful for and why.

There's only about 77 pages in the existing journal, so at some point I'll have to suck it up and buy the new style journal, but until then I'm rocking the old design. It's so nice to be able to reflect on the little things, big things and awesome things that happen each day.

And on that note, I also started another daily process of collecting all the great things that have happened each day and sticking them on a post-it note, then into my 2014 Great Things jar that I received for completing a three-day yoga intensive from 29-31 December. My yoga teacher Emily gave us each a jar, which I promptly came home and pimped out with a banging jar tag. 

Yoga has certainly reignited my creative fire and I've done a lot of crafty stuff so far this year. 

Long may it continue. 

Creative Expression

One of my favourite things to do on a Sunday is work on craft projects. I also like making stuff, pimping stuff and spending time making extra stuff special. I love putting a part of me into each project and it helps me stay busy, grounded and balanced. Some yin to all the yang activities I do each day, etc, etc and so on and so forth.

My yoga studio has it's first birthday this week so I spent (literally) hours hand pimping a 3D birthday card to say congratulations, thanks, well done and hooray!

Here it is.

The gold edging on each page alone took three hours. This was a real test of and exercise in patience. I just cranked up the yogi tunes and got it done. I wanted something that looked hand made, was totally hand decorated and is an outward expression of gratitude for all the hours of love and kindness that Emily has put into creating and developing our yoga studio and yoga family.

Having a creative outlet is important to me, as it gives me time on my own to just make stuff. I don't get to do anything too creative at work (other than draw on the chalkboard / inspiration wall once or twice a month), so craft stuff gives me a sense of balance and helps me defrag my brain. Plus, with the fiscal resources required to live out my dreams and achieve my goals this year, it also keeps me occupied on weekends so that I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything by choosing to stay home and save every last cent that I can!