doing what you love + food + travel
Monthly Archives: September 2011
acting kindly
Yesterday me and a mate had a bite of lunch at Circular Quay, Sydney followed by a big fabulous double wopper dooper icecream (I was encouraged). We ate said ice cream while walking around the Rocks soaking up the sun and sparkly harbour view. So all rather lovely.
On my way back to work nursing a spiking sugar rush I spied this in the corner of my eye…
My curiosity piqued I closed in and read……it was the recounting of a story of kindness. Random I thought. Then I realised it must be part of the Art and About crazy fabulousness that has taken over Sydney city with art in the places you wouldn’t expect – outdoors in our city! Actually it is Michael Landy’s work where he has asked for and collected peoples stories of kindness and placed them throughout the city for us all to read. ‘Acts of Kindness investigates the meaning of kindness in today’s fast-paced world, focusing on the simple everyday gestures of compassion and generosity that occur throughout the city streets and often go unnoticed. Stories of kindness have been collected from people across Sydney to form the basis for Landy’s ambitious new artwork’. - Art and About Website.
I love the concept of collecting stories of kindness. Of shining a light on the warm gift of giving energy to somebody, somebody you may not even know. I can’t wait to find and read loads of stories while tramping through the city of sparkle.
Tonight the month of Art and About opens officially and I’m looking forward to exploring and being inspired……and having my mind opened just a tad, well actually pried open……I’m up for that.
red wall of power keg delight
On my way to work this morning my eyeballs were hijacked by a wall of red scrawl which had sprung up overnight. In the 100 shades of grey the city offers this was a beautiful, rebellious and cheeky gift.
I was drawn to it. My usual walk to work from bus to front door was deviated and I was crossing a road and marvelling at something beautiful and pondering its genesis (and hoping madly it was an installation which would stay around for a bit). And that for me is half its beauty, that I was drawn and considering the ‘how’, ‘who’ and ‘why’……I was engaged. That and the fire keg of energy that radiated from it.
Watching my dumfounded grin were the curators of said street art (Amanda Sharrad and Justine Topfer) sitting on the curb, checking it out for the first time (it was sprayed the night before). I found out it’s part of; Laneway Art, which is part of a bigger program - Sydney Art and About month run by the City of Sydney. And the artist is Barry McGee from California, who I never knew about till this serendipitous morning, but I like muchly. Muchly I like.
Whether you appreciate graffiti and street art is a matter of personal taste, politics and generation (Im a lover not a hater). What I love about this work is how it engages and brings you out of yourself and your relationship to your usual surrounds. And how it demands your attention and begs your curiosity for even just a minute. And I think that is a marvellous under valued gift. To get ‘out of ourselves’ and our routines and what we ‘know’ and just marvel at something thats different. Even if for just a second.
I was inspired this morning. And I can’t say that everyday.
ooopsy
A lovely reader let me know that my link in yesterday’s post on ‘faking it till you make it’ by Sarah Wilson didn’t work. I’ve fixed it and It’s working now, and here it is fake it and you always make it.
Its a short worthwhile read.
making it happen (fake it till you make it)
A mate of mines got a saying “you gotta fake it till you make it”.
This usually enters the conversation when we’re talking about making a big scary change which requires the taking off of comfortable pants and the venturing into the new. The change is generally anchored around a dream or goal, and I don’t know about you, but being clear on ‘what it is you want’ can be an achievement in itself (well it was for me). So here I was glowing with the flush of victory at gaining clarity on my future direction when it peevishly dawned on me that vulnerability (my favourite of emotions) along with the need for a good pair of steel balls was required to make things happen. I say peevishly, because I was side blinded by my victory at ‘getting clear’ and thought I was on the home run (running away from needing to dig deep again). But I digress.
Me, you, people and the whole ‘starting something new’…..what an interesting dance.
For some, starting something new is no sweat. I find I need a bit of a run up, swaddled in courage and confidence. You know the things that can start coming up, we’ve all been there……..you start asking yourself ‘can I do this’, ‘am I good enough’, ‘I don’t have enough time’, ‘I don’t have the skills’, ‘what will others think’. The catalyst for needing steely balls swathed in a veil of vulnerability can be; starting a new business venture, going back to study after an absence, telling someone you like them, starting out in a new industry, dating when your a bit rusty, starting a new hobby, a work presentation. The list is endless.
And back to faking it………I stumbled across this gem of a post by Sarah Wilson, about faking it till you make it, about just starting with what you’ve got. And my friends saying went ‘ping, ping, ping’ in my neural jungle of a brain. The lights were on and I was home. So I have now included the ethos of ‘faking it’ to my hustling strategy for living my creative life of joy.
If your feeling like you need a bit of inspiration to start something new, and your maybe waivering in confidence and thinking ‘where to start?’ click the link to read Sarah’s post. And be inspired like I was, by one of the most famous *alchemical hustlers* – Michelangelo of all people. Now there’s a man with balls (read on).
Oh hello Spring, what are you going to bring?
Today is the first day of Spring*, diddly ding ding!
It brings out in me all things; new growth, new beginnings and/or opportunities and getting down to some good old fashioned hard work on the projects that matter. It’s such a fertile time of year.
What are you going to do with your Spring? What projects, intentions or goals have you been saving up ready to unleash on the mystical fertile powers Spring brings? It’s a magical three months and you’d be surprised at what you can create, start, turn around and change. If you’ve been putting something off this is the perfect time to jump in and take it on.
My Spring menu includes:
- Annual Spring Clean of the house and contents, I just love clearing out clothes I don’t wear anymore, books I don’t read, sorting through the pile of paper/bills……..getting my house and affairs in order. I love the feeling of knowing the house is cleaned out, cleared and ready for some new energy.
- Immerse myself in creating and writing
- Continue giving the love to my body – all things well being and self care.
- Be courageous and venture out into new experiences
So make the most of the next three months, if you snooze through these babies you’ll wake up and it will be all things Christmas, then New Years and then 2012. And that’s all good and all, but don’t forget the power and the gift of Spring……three months of a fire cracker of new growth or some good old fashioned clearing out and getting clear with where your going…..if you want it.
*and for my Northern Hemisphere readers (and thank you very much to the two of you by the way, I hope Dublin is treating you well) its hello to Autumn for you!