Lisa Call

Home #57
©2010 Lisa Call
2.5" x 3.5"
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed and painted by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
$40 + shipping
Purchase Here

Transition

In my studio newsletter last week, I wrote about my life in transition. I wrote about learning to let go and enjoy the process.

There 2 big changes in my life at the moment: my landscaping project, which is rolling along, and my son leaving for college.

Much activity cleaning his bedroom, packing and buying all the fun stuff needed to make dorm life livable. Like sheets for mattresses that are weird sizes. And baby refrigerators, etc. Not to mention the joy of understanding the tuition bill and manifesting a pile of money to pay for it.

It’s all very fun and I’m excited to see him move on to the next stage of his life, yet it also takes an emotional toll. During the downtime, driving in my car, relaxing at home, quiet moments in my studio, the reality of my son leaving makes me sad. It’s like being pregnant again and crying for no apparent reason (interesting how life cycles back like this).

I’m definitely going to miss him. He’s a wonderful kid. Fortunately I know he will do great out on his own.

Happily this is not the start of the empty-nest, as my daughter will still be home for 4 more years. I’m looking forward to having just 1 kid home (the one that knows how to clean the kitchen) and seeing her blossom through high school.
 

Yesterday, I got home from work late, was very hungry, tired and feeling drained. The work day had been difficult with my technical lead giving his notice and the weekend had be a challenge with a fight with my boyfriend. What I wanted to do was eat bad food and watch bad tv and sleep.

Instead I went to yoga. After the class the instructor (the studio owner) said “You’ve been coming to yoga 2, 3 and 4 times a week for a couple months now. What is the biggest change you notice as a result?”

I thought about my answer for a while and finally said: Happiness.

With all the stress, change and emotional upheavals, yoga helps keeps me grounded, centered and happy.

Notes from The Universe

Yesterday morning I posted the following status update on facebook:

Love my notes from the universe:

Young souls learn to accept responsibility for their actions.
Mature souls learn to accept responsibility for their thoughts.
And old souls, Lisa, learn to accept responsibility for their happiness.

Weeeeeeee, The Universe (No one cares what time it is in paradise, Lisa, huh? )

Feels good to take responsibility. Even with all the transition in my life and unhappiness with my boyfriend – I am at the core HAPPY.

It’s now time to take my happy self off to my studio for an hour, without beating myself for getting in no studio time yesterday. Yay!

You can sign up to gets these wonderful emails yourself at Thoughts from the Universe. I highly recommend them as they are both funny and extremely helpful.

 
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Home #3
©2008
10.5" x 8"
$550
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TUT

Today’s Notes from The Universe:

No one ever regrets raising the bar, Lisa, ever, ever, ever.

Scare yourself,
The Universe

I love these daily emails – they make me smile – and think, good thoughts.

Fear and my Purple Paint

I thought about my choices for the paint in my bedroom when I first read the email this morning. I was choosing the lighter purples because everyone always says to pick lighter colors for paint and etc etc. So I was following rules but when I did, it so was not what I wanted.

I want a really deep dark royal purple – so scare myself I did by daring to go with the darkest purple I could find. I’m sure I’m going to love the room. Sometimes I have to ignore everyone else’s voice and just go for it to get the results I want.

Raising the Bar

When I first starting writing about my studio addition I wrote about adding on a small studio and living small. Somewhere along the way I raised that bar and went for the studio I really wanted.

Sure there have been a few scary moments along the way (mostly when I get hooked by the fear around the stock market) but it is quickly put at bay because I know this is exactly what I need and want. Absolutely no regrets here.

Same story on raising my art prices. I finally owned my success (to copy a phrase from Christine Kane’s latest teleconference) and it feels great!

 
Where do you need to raise the bar in your life?

Priorities

In my series of posts on holding intent I’ve talked about some of the quotes I have on my studio wall. Here’s another related to priorities:

My Take on the Parts

What: I need to identify the specific tasks, or at the minimum the next task, that will get me to my goal. Without this breakdown of the parts it’s hard to identify the next action I should take to achieve a goal. Priorities imply that there are things to choose from, I need to identify those things.

I: There is only 1 person that is in charge of me reaching my goals – and it’s me. Taking responsibility for all of my choices and actions is a huge help in reaching my goals. It is not the internet’s fault that I waste time reading email and blogs, it was my choice. If I don’t like that choice and I can change it.

Doing: If I just sit around it’s unlikely my goals will be met.

Right Now: Worrying about the future or stressing out about the past isn’t going to move me forward. It’s when I stay in the present moment I make progress.

Closer: This is a process (and not a quick one), not a destination. Doing things gets me closer to my goals but I need to be patient and enjoy the journey, because without that the goal is rather empty. For me it’s about a life time commitment to living life one day at a time with the intention to be the person I want to be and living the life I want to have each day giving my situation in that exact moment.

Ultimate Goal: If I don’t know what I want and who I want to be, it’s kind of hard to make progress in that direction.

The Universe

On Alyson Standfield’s recommendation in January I signed up to get Notes from the Universe. I love these emails each morning as they make me smile and remind me that my thoughts do become my reality. Today’s was particularly relevant to my topic:

Where are you spending your time?