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Me.....being grateful for every thing, every breath, every day of this life
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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Inspire, Excite and Breathe In! ~homage to my inspirational people.


I am dedicating today's entry to those who have inspired me most in my life time. All though there are too many singers, writers, artists and teachers who have greatly touched me and changed me to even mention, I still would like to name a few. I have searched for my college poetry professor online and have not been able to find her. I actually want to talk with her again someday. Alas, she was wonderful and her name was Martha Furlong. I think Poetry I and II were in my top five favorite classes in college. She taught us so well and I loved her sassy attitude. She loved Sylvia Plath and Martinis and I loved Mrs. Furlong.

When looking up synonyms for the word: inspiration, I found the coolest different meanings. In one source:

inspiration

Part of Speech:

noun

Definition:

Divine guidance and motivation imparted directly.

Synonyms:

afflatus

How divine is that!? To say that someone who inspires you could be Divine in essence, or the experience is Divine of being inspired. Perhaps I could even go so far as to say that when we are inspired, it could be a direct experience all of our connectedness to God and to one another, our Oneness. I love it.

In another source:

inspiration

Part of Speech:

noun

Definition:

A sudden exciting thought.

Synonyms:

brainstorm

And how is exciting is that!!?? Of course it is. When someone or something inspires me I feel the need to drop whatever I am holding (hopefully not the baby), run to a studio and begin to create. Weather it be write, sketch, paint, sculpt or simply do Yoga and meditate, I love that exciting feeling.

In the last source I checked:

inspiration

Part of Speech:

noun

Definition:

The act of breathing in.

Synonyms:

inhalation

How could I have forgotten about this definition?! Ha! And how cool that it can combine meanings in my mind. Ah! To take in a fresh, clean, morning breath! It is just like bringing in a fresh new perspective and/or idea. To breathe in new O2 can bring vitality and cleanse the mind, blood and body just like a miraculous idea can. Maybe that is why I love Yoga so much, it is multiple patterns of inspirations! Ha!

So here are the folks I love to love, thank you all for being.


This is Shiva Rea. Yoga instructor, surfer, dancer and many more things but really an inspiration to Becca. If I ever said, I wish I could be more like.....the only person I would say is Shiva Rea. She says she is not interested in "doing" Yoga, but rather BEING Yoga. Nuff said, sister. I aspire to be half as strong, peaceful, centered, healthy and intellectual as she. Both of these photos were placed in Yoga calendars around the time I discovered her, I believe back in the late 90's early 2000. Check out:
http://www.shivarea.com/ for the very best Yoga DVD's you could ever want.






This is one of Paul Cezanne's famous paintings called
Mount Saint Victoire. He painted this mountain several times in several different ways. He is the father of cubism. The reason why art is the way it is, in my opinion. As my sister Lisa (always an inspiration) so eloquently puts it, "the beauty of art is making a simple brushstroke look like a peach, rather than trying to paint to look like a photograph." That is art man. And Paul knew this better than anyone. I was lucky enough to see his private studio and this exact view out the window, in Provence, France. Yes, I feel cool.








This is Iris DeMent, she sings and plays beautifully. Her way is different, her voice makes me cry. I totally dig that. She is a true, creative artist. I almost named my first daughter Iris, after her....maybe if we have another girl. My other sister (also another constant inspiration) gave me a mix tape in like 1993 with her voice on it. Thank you Meg, good taste is your thing! Check her out at:











This is Christiane Northrup, M.D. She is a writer but also an OB/GYN. But she is so very much more than those two titles. She, before almost anyone else, was connecting the spirit and happiness to health and wellness. I have her book planted directly to my left this very minute and really, most of the time! The one book of hers I own is the size of an encyclopedia called, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing. She prescribes things like tai chi...just to give you an idea of her coolness. I will be investing in each of her books as time passes for me. They are priceless volumes of knowledge. The next book of hers I want is to do with Mothers and daughters, awesome! And then she has one for menopause. I love her I wish she would have been my OB.








This is good old Lex Gillan, the great man who certified me to teach Yoga in 2001. He also taught me how to be simple and have a magestic meditation. "Lex Gillan has been a practitioner of yoga and meditation for nearly 40 years. He has studied with world-class teachers – including Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Ram Dass, Stephen Levine, Father Thomas Keating, Andy Gold and James Ezelle, M.D. – since the 1960’s. Mr. Gillan has been a full-time instructor since 1974 when he founded The Yoga Institute in Houston, Texas, one of the oldest yoga studio businesses in the country. Since its inception, he has taught more than 20,000 yoga classes, 70 ten-day retreats and 300 meditation workshops. Mr. Gillan also teaches the Yoga Teacher Training and National Certifications Course, is a founder and Trustee of Rose Mountain Retreat Center outside Las Vegas, New Mexico and is on the Adjunct Faculty at The Institute for Religion and Health in the Texas Medical Center in Houston. He is degreed in Business Administration from Stephen F. Austin University (Texas) and spent five years as a commercial banker in Houston in the 60’s."


Hope I can pass along a little inspiration to some of you out there along with me, with this great list of folks.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti
Peace, Peace, Peace
BECCA, out.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

StART Me Up






So I had to squash my sobbing from yesterday's post with a more lovely, celebratory post today. Although I let myself have those days....sometimes, I try to stay positive most of the time. What am I excited about today???????????

ART! DESIGN! CREATIVITY!

I am planning the biggest move of MY LIFE to Japan, here soon in what feels like a week, but we have 'til August, thank ya Jesus. I plan on being more into my work there. I plan to take writing classes and start my own greeting card line.

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone in the world. Humanity. Humans who create Art. I have been so inspired lately! I love it. I can't wait to get sketching and painting again. To hopefully inspire someone out there like me, I have enclosed some of my favorite sketches. These are old, but I love to draw people....it is my favorite thing. If I could have majored in life drawing, I would have. Alas...these are for the artistic eyes out there...or anyone who wants to draw or simply enjoy! Join me!!

Pick up that pencil or pen!!!!

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."

"As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed."
~Two amazing quotes by Vincent Van Gogh

-Girl with the Chop Sticks Bun, Life Drawing II 1998

-Sleeping Girl, personal sketch journal, circa 1998

-Guy Meditating, Portfolio class, 2001

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Fear and Honesty in Augusta

My two babies, Mirabelle and Raja
This night I am sitting in my foreign home in this town I never had any desire to move to. I am just being honest here today. I am not well. I am scared. I got a bad virus or infection this past weekend. I got really sick. I always believe we get sick for a reason. Our wellness or dis-ease is all because of our thoughts and actions. It is simply what I believe.


I have been off track. I am growing weary of our HUGE move coming up. I am finding myself emotionally overwhelmed about it. Moving is one of the top 5 stressors of our entire existence. As an Army wife I am made to have to move all the time. I am not at peace with this yet. I am scared and stressed out. That is why I believe I got sick.


We recently found out that we cannot bring our dog with us to my husband's first duty station of Okinawa. She and I have been together for over 10 years. I have no one, as of right now, who I know who can take her for me. This is causing me much sadness and strain.


But I have to believe in every experience is a lesson. That everything works out for the highest good for all involved, always. Even for my dear Raja. Things look bleak right now. This is stressing my body, my marriage and I am quite sure the child and dog feel this sticky, dark energy also.


Thank you blogger for being my outlet. It is my place to say.....I know everything happens just as it should. It is my place to write and publish....that I know what we are experiencing and going through is the very best thing we all could be feeling and learning right now. Thank you words for being wings to my illness, flying away from this body in keyboard clicking.


Thank you to the devine. I believe in divinity, that it is everywhere. Our tough times are opportunities to remember the good. How could we ever know good if bad didn't exist? How could there be brilliant light without any shadow cast? There would be no yin to the yang. The Universe would not have a balance. Perhaps we are here to find out why this precious balance must exist.


To everyone out there ever struggling with anything, I pray for you tonight.


Love,

Becca