Mary Richmond Design

Inviting Abundance

So here's an interesting question. How do I visualize abundance? I think I need to actually define it for myself in words. I have lots of ideas about what I think it means and it's not about having a lot of money. It's about having enough. It's about sharing. It's about living in fullness all the time in all ways. As I think about putting together a visualization board about this I find myself having all sorts of interesting ideas--and some conflicting ideas, as well!

How do you visualize abundance?

I will post my collage here later.

Visualize Health!

Here is my health collage! It is 18 x 24" and will be my new screen saver on my computer as well as on the studio wall.

I love the process of making these collages. When I first got sick with the "ick" this week I bought a bunch of health magazines, knowing I might do this project so I had lots of good images and words to use. I also enjoyed reading the magazines to jumpstart my new healthy lifestyle.

The top picture is a close up of the center. I love the picture of the woman on the breast cancer walk and as a survivor I thought a central place on the collage was a good start.

My process on these collages is to just go through a bunch of magazines choosing images and words that appeal to me. I don't think about it too much or analyze it at all. I let it be pretty intuitive. If you look at the images I chose you'll see a few themes emerging.

One of my favorite images in this one is the couple dancing. My husband doesn't dance. He says he hates to dance so for about 30 years I have not danced......I thought maybe, just maybe if I put the picture up......

After my bout with cancer I found myself totally attracted to butterflies. I have since found out that the butterfly is used as a symbol for cancer patients, especially breast cancer patients. Funny how your gut just picks up on these things.

I had a lot of fun doing this collage. If any of you make one, please let me know and I'll post a link here!

I'm a huge fan of visualization. This stuff works! Please share your own stories.

This last one is not such a clear photo but gives you an idea of the whole piece.

Redesign, All the Way Around

It's gray and damp here so I thought I'd put in a photo from a warm summer day to brighten our spirits a bit.

You may have noticed I've redesigned my blog. I love all the banners people use but couldn't figure out how to do one of my own until yesterday. I've been home with this awful bug/cold/strip infection so I had all day to play with it. What do you think?

I'm redesigning other things, too. Looking at things that are working and not working in my life and rearranging a few things. Somehow in the last twenty years or so I became an overweight person. I was bony skinny as a kid, always active and eating like a horse. As I got older I became less active and apparently was still eating like a horse. First it was just a few pounds, then 25. I joined Weight Watchers, lost the 25, felt great for about 6 months and then packed it back on in less than 6 months. Since then I've promised myself to do better, watch what I eat, etc. I walk a lot but I also sit a lot. And, apparently, I eat a lot. I kept telling myself at least I quit smoking but that excuse got tired a long, long time ago now.

My recent doctor visits have revealed that my blood pressure is alarmingly high. In fact when I went in for an antibiotic for a strep throat this week the N.P. was much more interested in asking me about whether or not I'd been having any stroke or heart attack symptoms. I have to go back next week for a recheck of my BP and maybe a cardiac workup. It was especially unnerving as my recent checkup with my surgeon was much the same way. She was very concerned.

Wake up call! Woohoo! Am I awake yet???? I know what to do. In fact, my diet is pretty good. I eat mostly organic, whole foods....just too many/too much of them. Too much cheese, too many sweets. I have 50 pounds to lose. 50 pounds! I buy my dog food in 40 lb. bags and carrying that into my house is not fun. I can heft a 50 lb. box of clay but not for long. What have I been thinking? I'm carrying an extra small person around on my body.....and I'm not going to beat myself up. I need to be proactive. I need to make a plan. I'm just going to look forward. Anyone else out there ready to take a health challenge? I would love to have some buddies to do this with. Most of my good friends are already healthy and those few that are not are not quite ready to commit.

I don't want to take meds, I'm willing to change. Today I tied on my sneakers and went walking in the mall. Yep, I have now officially become my mother. She walked miles in the mall every week. Sometimes I went with her but mostly my walking has always been done outdoors. I've noticed, however, that my winter walks are short, slow and sporadic due to cold, ice and nasty weather. I walk a lot in my job but mostly with kids so I rarely walk any more at any pace above what a snail might do. The mall is many distasteful things in my mind but it is the climate controlled part that makes it palatable for walking. I can do this and really, I can do this every day. As you might imagine I was not alone there. A lovely and unexpected benefit was seeing my big fat self reflected everywhere. So much for denial.....

Anyone else ready for a redesign???? I'm psyched! I'll be making my health collage today and will post it either later today or tomorrow.

Check This Out

At least once a week I check out the blog, Ian's Messy Desk. Ian McKenzie is the blogger and he posts all sorts of fun and interesting information about being organized, both in our offices and in our minds. He also posts some other random stuff and his links are usually quite interesting. Today I popped over and he has listed 17 Affirmations for Better Self Esteem. I'm not always a big fan of such lists but I know a lot of people like and use them. One woman I work with posts different affirmations on everyone's computers during the work week and has gotten a lot of smiles from people. Her choices are right on target, too, which makes it even more fun.

My favorite affirmation in this list is #11.

11. It is not what happens to me, but how I handle it, that determines my emotional well being.

I grew up with this as family mantra of sorts so was glad to see it included here. You can check out the rest of the list here.

Ceramic Tile Update

Lately I have been receiving phone calls and emails from folks who would like me to make and paint some tiles for them. One woman has my tiles in her bedroom fireplace and is adding on and would I.....another woman did her kitchen with my tiles in 1994 and has had a water disaster in her home and must redo her kitchen and could I possibly....and yet another woman is a designer I have worked with for years who needs some help pulling together a Delft theme in a kitchen and could I just this once....

And what did I say???? Of course I will!

I am no longer selling tile through wholesalers who don't get what I do....I am no longer doing tile for people who are, shall we say, so entitled they forget to be nice....I cannot do tile for people who cannot be patient for I have a full time job.....

But I can and will do tile for special folks in times of special needs......

An Artist Date

Every now and then I am reminded why I became an artist. Especially these days, when my energy seems better spent elsewhere and art seems so, well, superficial when I look at all the drivel that is floating around out there on the internet in the name of art and it is hard to remember when and why I felt so passionate about art.

I was really sick this past weekend and ended up watching a DVD I had ordered from Netflix a long time ago. It was a film I had added to my queue months ago and then forgotten so when it showed up I wasn't even sure what it was. I put it in and was instantly transfixed. If you are an artist, if you love nature, if you love poetry, run and find "Rivers and Tides." It was the first real artist date I've enjoyed in months. I loved, loved, loved this litte film.

Andy Goldsworthy has a way of seeing the world that just makes my heart sing. He looks at nature and dares play with her in such a living, breathing way. And I love that his work is so impermanent, that its impermance is part of its profound beauty. He lives on a farm in Scotland and of course does not have a website....

You can see bits and peices of this film on YouTube or rent it or buy it. I tried to embed a video here but that seems more than my sick and fevered mind can deal with today. Anyway, it's easy enough to find by heading over there and putting in the name.....

Have yourself a treat!

Just Because It's Fun

How often do we allow ourselves time to go out in nature and just enjoy it?

This week I was out every day with a bunch of kids exploring various habitats and playing outdoor games and making drawings, paintings and funny sculptures. We even made play doh and slime. We laughed, we told silly stories, we looked at all sorts of nature stuff and well, mostly we just had fun.

Much of my job takes me into schools or on educational programs which is great but sometimes it's just about having fun, plain and simple.

Kids are great for bringing us back from our sometimes overly serious grown up selves. Sure it's great to have goals and lists and reasons and duties and all that stuff. But sometimes it's just about the fun.

I took a group of kids out to a swamp yesterday which was covered with a light skim of ice. "Don't walk out on it," I admonished, responsible grown up that I am. It took them about 5 seconds to figure out how to hop, skip and jump around on logs and rocks without actually walking on the ice to get to the other side.  Along the way the kids grabbed big branches and started to play with the breaking ice to see where it was thickest and thinnest. They skidded smaller branches and pine cones across the surface and made up little races all without a hint of suggestion. Before I knew it they had a whole little world created around that ice and all the fallen logs. (Don't worry, no one fell in and if they had it is about 6 inches deep....)

Kids just know how to have fun. They made up games and challenges in minutes and had a raucous good time doing it. Later in the day while we painted, made some play doh and slime they continued to laugh and imagine outrageous things. Who could ask for anything more? I laughed all day long. It was just plain......fun!

If you're feeling blue, go find some kids to play with. They'll remind you how to laugh and they'll never ask you what you're goals are or if that ice cream is on your diet. They won't check your lists and they won't worry about the laundry that didn't get done. They may show you the best way to roll your tongue in goofy ways or how to make the best rude noises in town, however. They also may know every bad knock-knock and elephant joke ever told and how to blow milk out their noses at will. 

More than anything, hanging out with kids takes you out of yourself for a while. And sometimes that's the best gift of all, to see and enjoy the world around you through the senses of a child.....

Making Our Goals Visible

When I made this collage about two years ago I was living in an apartment, separated from my husband and not enjoying running a shop. I didn't know what came next. I was tied to a lease and a business, my daughter and her family were living in my house and I was out of money. I needed to be inspired. I looked through some magazines, cut out images that inspired me and put together this collage. Most of it shows the outdoors, something that was missing from my life during that brief hiatus.

In the past year I have reunited with my husband, moved back into my beloved house (my daughter and her family bought a new home nearby) and am once again working outdoors. The only thing that has not happened that is in this collage is the gallery part. Every time I see it here it nags at me a bit. I actually put this up as the screen saver on my computer so I see it all the time.

It's time to make a new collage. In fact, more than one. I want to be healthier and so my first collage will be about that. I want to integrate more travel into my life. I am not sure how that will manifest but I'm going to just put it out there. I want to finish the children's books I have started but which are in a stall mode and I want to make my home my sanctuary by clearing out the clutter and making it look nice. All these things can be made visible. I also want to entertain more. I love having people over and it's something we haven't done much of in recent years due to one thing or another. This, too, will go into my collage.

I was reading a friend's list recently and it struck me as being very general. I understand she doesn't know the answers but maybe she is too worried about logistics instead of just saying, this is what I want. How specific do our lists need to be? In a book about money I read that if we just ask for "more money" we may find a quarter on the street and our wish will have been granted. After all, it is more money. If we want to make $10,000 more a year we need to say that. If we want to travel and aren't specific about it, a trip to the next town could count.....When what we really meant was Africa.

With the law of attraction we don't need to know the how or the why, just the what. It's up to the universe how that manifests. I have had this happen over and over again. One year I put up a postcard showing a well known Monet painting of a small house by the sea. "That's where I want to be," I said. "I want to be there and paint and write and just look at the sea." It was on the wall of my studio for about six months while I was going to graduate school. I had school age kids, a busy business and was a full time student. Travel seemed out of the question. Not only didn't I have the time, I didn't have an extra penny. As the school year came to a close one of my professors asked me if I'd like to go to France. "Sure," I said, laughing. Who wouldn't? She told me there was a scholarship with my name on it to go on a three week painting trip to France. I was speechless. We were to stay in a castle on the Mediterranean where we would paint and learn to make our own books. I was very disappointed when we got there to find I was assigned to a room in the villa next door to the castle. My disappointment didn't last for long. The villa was even better than the castle! My room had floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Mediterranean and when I looked out guess what I saw.....the same small cottage overlooking the sea that I'd had on my wall all those months. It really wasn't the same one Monet painted but close enough! I've been a true believer in letting the universe know what I want ever since!

How about you? Feel free to share your stories in the comments.

So Many Things, So Little Time

I was in a used book store in Cambridge last week and at one point I just sighed. A woman I had never met laughed. I looked around me and at her and said, 'wouldn't it be nice to just take a year or so and just sit down and start reading here and see where it would lead you?' She agreed. Amazingly enough we were both looking for books by Joan Didion and got into a conversation about reading her years ago and then stumbling on her again recently. Books open so many doors and lead us down so many paths. They, the ubiquitous ones, say reading is going out of favor, that children are not reading much at all. How sad is that? I spent so many hours, days and nights reading when I was a child and especially as a teenager. It is how I survived the hubbub that was going on around me in my noisy, dysfunctional family. I escaped into the world of books and I was gone. I still do it and often have half a dozen or so books going at the same time. I don't know about you but I can't go into a library without taking out 8-10 books and often it's hard to stop there. So many interesting things to read about out there.

So many interesting things, period. Years ago I made a list of all the things I wanted to do one summer with my kids, my husband, my friends and just me, myself and I. The list had over 65 things on it, more than there were days of summer vacation for the kids! It was the first time I had to really laugh at myself and my 'plans' because there just isn't time to do all the things I would like to do.

Mostly the things I do in a day or week or month are things I like to do. And I dream of doing so many more. This past week I organized a little reunion of women I used to spend a lot of time with. We took our children to the beach every summer day for swimming lessons. We packed lunches and sunscreen, diapers and buckets. We talked about everything under the sun, literally. Our kids grew like weeds each summer and we used to laugh and say it was because of all that sun and water. Over the years the kids grew up and we all went in different directions. Some of us stayed in touch but rarely were we all together in the last 15 years. 10 of us got together the other night for drinks and h'ordeurves. We laughed, we cried, we learned what all had transpired for each of us over those years. Some of us are grandparents, some of us have children in rehab, some of us have sons heading to Iraq or sons just returned from there. Some of us have gotten divorced, some have gotten new jobs, some of us have had cancer and some of us have teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. All of us were happy to see each other. And as I walked away from the gathering I was glad we had this chance to reconnect.

There is something in me right now wanting to connect the dots of my past as I prepare to move on. As I move through these things and let them go I feel space opening up in my life, both literally and figuratively. It's true what they say, clearing out the clutter makes room for new things, new ideas. I have several projects I am ready to begin. I bought new colored pencils last week and two tiny sketchbooks to play in. There are so many new ideas rolling around in my head. I am never bored. I will never do all that I think I would like to do (I won't live that long!) and the things I think I want to do change. Years ago I thought I would like to sky dive and I have to say I'm over that one. I would like to go down the Amazon on a boat, though. And I would like to go on safari in Africa some day. I would like to go to Alaska. I would like to do more yoga and lose a lot of weight. I can do all these things. There are over a hundred things on my life goal list. I may never get to all of them but I am starting to make plans for a lot of them.

Ah, so much to do, so little time! How wonderful is that?????

What Do We Count as Success?

If you were to write down 29 successes you have had, what would you write? Would you write about the times you were brave enough to stand up and talk to a group of people even though your knees were shaky and your deep red blush grew from your feet to the top of your head right there in front of them? Would you count little awards and big awards, getting published by a local paper and selling a big wall piece to the local hospital? Would you say success was about landing the job you wanted or having a painting accepted in a big art show? Would you say it was finally throwing away boxes of old stuff you no longer needed or housebreaking the puppies that have wandered into your life over the years? Would you include the great dinners for friends and family, the holidays that managed to be almost stress free, the curriculum you wrote for teacher workshops on creativity? Would you include raising two wonderful daughters who seem to love and respect you and choose to spend time with you now that they're grown? Would you include a long standing marraige and maintaining long distance friendships? Would you include teaching hundreds of classes and workshops that encouraged people to paint with their hearts and not worry about what their hands were or were not doing? Would you include learning to be willing to forgive everything you're not and being eager to discover everything you are? What would you include?

Check out Original Impulse here and write up your own list......