Playin' Around

I'm having fun continuing to play around with my Iphone camera as I get inspired by the experimental art class I'm loving.  These few shots were taken at a picnic Kestan and I had in our backyard.

I love getting pushed to look at the everyday in a whole new way.

It rained for what seemed to be two weeks straight. So as a way to get out of the house and treat myself to life's little luxuries, I took us out to my favorite breakfast joint, not once, but twice in one week!  It was spectacular.  Kestan is a great restaurant companion, and as long as he has a few animals, some crayons or food, he's pretty content to imaginary play by my side.  I even pulled out a few notes to work on for an upcoming summer camp e-course I'm creating.  (More very soon!)

Hipstamatic is still my favorite Iphone app.  You must check it out if you like taking photos with your phone, but want to add some cool and simple vintage appeal.

And after a weekend of being sick, we were very happy to get outside yesterday just in time to enjoy the sunshine.

Your Personal Reflection:  Get out today and do something different.  Play, experiment, and have fun seeing the everyday moments in a whole new way.

Letting Go of Perfect

The past few weeks have flown by, with returning from a family vacation, to starting my spring session of Inside Out e-course, to reducing clutter in my home.

So I decided to take a much needed break and enjoy the sunshine with paints and my 2-year-old.  I have my paints ready and set out some for Kestan with his own book.  Ahh, great...everything is perfect.  The birds are singing, not a cloud in the sky, the flowers are in bloom and I'm enjoying a clean patio (that we worked all weekend on!)

But, Kestan had other ideas.  He wanted to paint on mommy's paper.  At first I could feel a sense of resistance creep up.  "But this is my journal," I thought.  I took a deep breath and let go of expectations that this was going to be the perfect moment for creating.

As we started painting together, this experience turned into a new assignment for my class participants, which included encouraging them to explore their unique brush strokes.

In fact, Kestan gave me a great idea on how to make cool strokes with an old toothbrush!

I could have easily given up, put all the paints away and gotten frustrated that my perfect moment was ruined.  But instead, letting go of the idea that I must find the perfect moment for creating, I ended up discovering new things about my little boy and myself.  I learned that I still have tendencies to be uptight, despite my practice in letting go and implementing more play into my life.  And I was reminded, once again, that Kestan is my true teacher.

We both got lost in the moment - together.  We played.  We used our imaginations.  We had fun!  And we created something that is imperfectly wonderful.  

Your Personal Reflection:  Do you wait for the perfect moment to create?  Does that moment ever come?  How can you practice creating more in the middle of things, while letting go of perfect?