Being present in everyday life is like showing up to an important event. The sights and the sounds of an experience can be missed when you are not paying attention to them. When the event is over, you can be left feeling like you weren’t really a part of anything, or that your life is passing you by.

Seize those moments with a vice-like grip. Don’t get lost in your own thoughts. Wake up and stop ignoring the possibility of having the life you are dreaming of.

Here are my…

7 Ways to be Present in Everyday Moments

Count the ceiling tiles.

When you are tempted to lose yourself in your phone, take a few minutes to focus on the number of ceiling tiles, or the number of steps in your area. Take inventory of the architectural features of the room so that you can keep your mind in a state of awareness of what is around you.

Speak last in your meetings.

Wait until everyone else has spoken, then voice your opinion. Be sure not to seem impatient as if you are only waiting for your turn. Listen.

Recall other languages

In certain moments, try to recall phrases from different languages that you know. If you are fluent in other languages, even better! Try to describe what you see in the alternate languages that you know. You might even come across something that you cannot explain, which in turn can churn inspiration for a later date.

Put down your mobile phone

This one is self-explanatory. How can you be present in any situation if your eyes are glued to your phone?

Draw a sketch

Use a piece of paper to leave beautiful artwork for someone else. You might be surprised by how relaxing the sensation of a pencil moving across paper can feel.

Using your same paper…

Write an interesting quote or turn of phrase that you over hear in any conversations nearby. If you are in silence, think of one that resonates with you.

Chew, breathe, sip…

If you are eating, chew slower. Resist the desire to inhale your food.

Focus your breath to breathe deeper. When was the last time your lungs REALLY expanded?

Sip some water. We can all use a bit more hydration every now and then.

I hope you enjoyed my 7 ways to be present in everyday moments. Do you have any ideas that you practice? Leave your comments in the section below, and thanks for stopping by.

Stephanie

As you get to know me, (or if you already know me), it becomes evident that I get a kick out of frugal living. I enjoy finding life hacks that save me cash, or save the environment from accumulating more garbage. If I can accomplish both at once, I will have a smile on my face to last all day.

To save on production costs, I enjoy making my own art canvas. I have the advantage of tools and a space to do the work- so this definitely helps me to carry out my artistic passions.

I call it my “cheap canvas” because I am able to spend less money on materials than the cost of buying a similar size of canvas at the art store. When I create artwork on my cheap canvas, I am surprised by the results I arrive at. I believe that…

My best concepts as an artist exist on cheap canvas, and here are my three reasons…

Cheap canvas can take a beating.

I source high quality cotton canvas with an 8oz- 10oz thread weight for my canvas. I buy meters of the stuff with my Fabricland membership when there is a sale. It is so sturdy, and when applied with gesso from De Serres Art Store, the art canvas becomes resistant to everything. I can leave a wet field of paint to dry on the surface for many hours, with reapplication, and there will be no leaking through the canvas.

I am more apt to experiment on cheap canvas with art concepts I have been thinking about.

I think that creativity blooms when money is no object. Obviously that is not the reality most of us live in; but I also think that dreamers are meant to have tall aspirations for the world to be inspired by. When I create my own art materials, I think that I am reaching a compromise between ideals. I can paint things that are pure experimentation yet, are at risk of failing- but the risk is mitigated by saving costs/ being resourceful.

Luckily for me, my failures are simply the bricks that will build my palace of success.

No fear of failure

If you take a risk that ends in failure, and you cannot live with the failure staring back at you while sipping your morning coffee (having a laugh here!), you can relax! We are only talking about cheap canvas!

Canvas is what? A fabric material that has been stapled to a wood frame, with some primer painted on. At the end of the day, you can always pry the staples off, peel away the canvas, and start the process over again!

The beauty of using cheap canvas is that I am never overly “attached” to any concept that I paint. Nothing is truly lost, except the time it takes to start the project over. However, can the time truly be calculated as a loss when it was spent refining one’s skill as an artist?

I love using inexpensive materials in my artistic practice. What money or time saving strategies do you use? Leave your comments in the section below, and thank you for stopping by.

Stephanie

Positivity is something that I talk about a lot. I speak about it so much because it has worked to help me through very dark times in my life. I recall a conversation with my surgeon in 2012 (before my cancer operation). He told me that the biggest determining factor between cancer survivors and those who do not survive, is an outlook of hopefulness and positivity. I survived, so I believe that it is a beneficial practice.

Being positive can lead you on a direct path to happiness; and by happiness I mean a general contentment with the here and now. To be happy does not mean that you must be ignorant to suffering; however, even in moments of loss, we can still appreciate and have gratitude for what remains.

Here are my…

5 Reasons why happiness is a choice

You see what you see

Your focus depends on the beliefs and thoughts you hold. Your inner narrative can put you on a broken record of despair if you get stuck in negative beliefs and thoughts about yourself. If the record is always playing the song: “I’m a victim, I’m a victim”, and it is your number one hit; it may be time to change the song that is playing. Perhaps even throw the record out of the window to escape those self-defeating thoughts.

If you are experiencing this, it is no wonder that your focus (in the external world) will be one that focuses on things that tend to make you feel unhappy. You are seeing what you are concentrating your mind on seeing. Change your focus, and you will see things differently.

Your experiences give insight

At some point, you should get some guidance for future actions from your past experiences. You may have made a poor decision in the past; however after getting through it you should now have the experience to do things differently if the same situation presents itself again.

If you are not learning from your past mistakes, you should examine why not. There may be some reasons that need to be examined that will give you insight into your mistakes. Learning from your mistakes is a choice that will clear a path toward happiness. That choice is one that only you can make.

At any moment…

One of my favourite quotes says something like: “At any moment you can turn everything around.” I think this is a great quote because it challenges the belief that our lives are in a “predetermined continuum”. I like to believe that there is no singular future for anyone- but infinite possibilities that are constantly flowing out from what we think, say, and do. If this is true, then there are infinite future timelines where YOU are happy, and YOU made choices that took you to that outcome. Equally, there are timelines where you are in the same place as you are now, as well as others where things have become much worse.

Either way, these ideas are not unique to me. I think that many people accept this, and those people are often living successfully happy lives.

Not choosing is also a choice

Sometimes people think that not making a decision will delay the outcome of what making a decision would bring. This is to say, that they sit on their hands and wait to see what will happen by doing nothing. Choosing nothing means that you have equally chosen to be happy, and not to be happy. These are cancelled out, and leaves you in the same spot you continue to be in.

Change your perspective

If you have no control or choice over your life decisions, you may need to look at your happiness in a gratitude centered way. Spend a day, or an entire week practicing gratitude. Use post it notes, a journal, or your cellphone to record things you are grateful for in your life. You will start seeing a difference in your happiness levels when you consciously take inventory of what you are grateful for.

Do you have more ideas for this list? Leave your comments in the section below, and thanks for stopping by.

Stephanie

The Pandemic of 2020 has shown many of us that life can be incredibly short. The lives we have become accustomed to can change rapidly, and on a macro scale. For some, this has led to the revelation that the life they are leading may not be sustainable in the long run. If you are experiencing any of these following signs, it may be time to leave your unhappy job and pursue a passion, or a lifestyle that will bring you more satisfaction.

3 Signs that it is time to leave your job and pursue your passions

You always wonder…what if?

Wondering about “what if” can be dangerous because it prevents you from fully investing in the life that you have. It can cause a state of “waiting around to see if something better will come along”. Meanwhile, waiting for something better distracts you from the real work to be done: improving yourself.

Perhaps the path for your life was laid out by your parents, or some other tradition. Perhaps you have never needed to think about where you would end up in life. If you find yourself asking many “what if” questions during sleepless nights; there may be things that need to be explored within your mind.

You are unhappy at milestones

If you are feeling unsatisfied with the trajectory of your life, news of people moving on can cripple you emotionally. Think of it like being stuck on a lifeboat at sea, and the other passengers get rescued one by one. While everyone else is being rescued, you remain in peril. Stranded. Isolated. Many emotions apply to this idea, but the one that you can get stuck with is jealousy.

When you are not pursuing your passions, a deficit can begin to emerge. The space that you want to fill can, in fact, grow wider. This can cause people to become bitter and jealous when they see others being rescued from the life boat. This can cause a more immediate and extreme need to leave your unhappy job, and to start pursuing your passions.

You are spending too much $$$ just to get there.

Have you ever sat down and completed a budget? Many people think they know how much they are spending to get to and from work; however, these numbers rarely get recorded or tracked.

You may surprise yourself to learn that between paying for:

• Parking/ transit cost
• Gasoline/ miscellaneous coffee and snacks
• Lunch (10$ per day)
• Time spent commuting (2 hrs per day round trip @ your hourly rate)

…in a major North American city may be costing you as much as 29% of your biweekly income.

If this could be your financial picture, you may need a serious wake-up call! Your job is costing you too much! At 29% of your biweekly income, on getting to and from work, you may find that you would be farther ahead if you made less money, but worked closer to home. Do the math tonight!

If you have experienced any of these three signs, you may benefit from leaving your terrible job to pursue passions that help you build satisfaction with your life. Life is short, so why not spend it in a better mood?

Thanks for stopping by,

Stephanie

Dreams can tell us a lot about our internal thoughts. There have been times where my dreams revealed concepts to me that I had barely registered in the waking world. I think that there are so many competing priorities in our day while we are awake, that it is now more important than ever to get adequate sleep so that our brains have an opportunity to “catch up”.

In my artistic practice I strive toward trying new things, and toward exploring new concepts. What better way to explore, than to use the inspiration of a dream from the past to express an artistic passion?

If you have never thought about using the events of your dreams to fuel an art project, it is worth a try! In the least, you can check out my…

3 Reasons why painting your dream sequence works

Dreams are personal

Your dreams are the enactment of the thoughts and experiences you have had. Usually dreams are current; their meaning connects to something currently happening in your life. You dream about the things that are pertinent to who you are right now, and so the personalized nature of a dream sequence is really incomparable.

When you use dreams to create art, it will be identifiable in your work.

Dreams contain layers of meaning

Each layer of meaning is a story that can be shared. As you create your artwork, go deeper into the dream. If you dream of certain animals, for instance, there may be a message that your dream is communicating.  Embrace your weirdness and include deep messages in your work. They will lead you to a unique and very creative product.

Pushing your creativity to new limits

Using your dream sequences combines two huge skills: memory and artistic skill. Being able to recall a dream sequence is not easy, and can prove to be nearly impossible at first. However, our brains can be trained over time to improve the ability to recall information. If you are tracking your dreams and want to remember them, assist yourself by keeping a journal near your bed to record things before they wither away.

Your artistic skill will be pushed to its limit because the images contained in your dream sequences may not be the easiest things to represent. Strange things can happen in dreams, and it may be a challenge to accurately represent them in your artistic work.

I often use digital drawings to assist me when I am using my dream sequences as inspiration. This has helped me to communicate diverse concepts in a single drawing. Have you ever tried this? How did it work for you? Please leave your comments in the section below, and thanks for stopping by.

Stephanie