Wishcraft - Stylesearch

I am RED.    I am passionate, fiery and glorious. 

I shout, I sing, I am noticed.

And so starts my 'Stylesearch'. You are to pick a colour and then write as if you were that colour. Not sure what the big loud red says about me... should I be nervous??

EXERCISE 5: The Private Eye Game


"Play detective. Snoop around your own  house or room as if you were a private eye trying to find out who lived here just from the style revealed in the house. After all, in a way you  are learning about a stranger. You are following the tracks and examining the fingerprints of a unique individual you do not know who happens to be you."


Here we go, my house:

The house is busy, cluttered but not dirty. It has the feel of being lived in. There are bookshelves in every room, and art all over the walls and on shelves. There are bright colours, bunches of flowers and bits of whimsy everywhere. The couches are comfortable and invite you to relax on them. Family pictures are all over the family and living rooms. There is a big dog bed in the living room and the family room. The office looks like barely contained chaos, with sketches, photos, and drawings on all surfaces and walls. By the desk on the wall are post-it notes saying "I love you mummy". Encouraging quotes are around the computer monitor. The stairway has framed children's art along its wall. The seem to have been there a while. Two of the upstairs bedrooms burst with the spirit of their occupant, one is being reinvented and the master bedroom needs a good clean out and some colour but is otherwise comfortable looking. The are colourful art and objects displayed, effort has been made, but it needs more attention to shine. The garden leading into the house is verdant, causal and friendly. Several wind chimes tinkle in the breeze. The containers overflow with many types of ivy. Overall its on the small size and packed with more than it can hold, but its also friendly, inviting and interesting.

Next: Seeing Yourself as Others See You...

Wishcraft - The Environment that Creates Winners

From the Book:


In your family, when you were growing up:

1. Were you treated as though you had  a unique kind of genius that was loved and respected?
let me see now.... no.

2. Were you told that you could do and be anything you wanted—and that you’d be loved and admired no matter what it was?  

right...

"If you were a little girl, you probably weren’t told you were selfish unless you tried to do something you wanted to do that wasn't for anybody but you. And then—especially if you got so wrapped up in it that you forgot to be nice to your baby brother or set the table—it was made swiftly clear that you lacked the quality that makes for lovable people and you’d better shape up.
 
Women are raised for love. That is, we have been raised to give it in order to get it. Our upbringing trained us to nurture other people. We’re supposed to be good to our children so that they  can grow up and realize themselves. We’re supposed to back up our husbands so that they feel free to go out and realize themselves. In other words, the flowers are to grow, and guess what that makes us? Fertilizer—to put it politely. That’s how most of us were taught we would get love—not by being flowers ourselves. If we dared to flower—to be active and self-absorbed and good at things—nobody would feed our roots, and we would die. At least, that’s how it felt."


3. Were you given real help and encouragement in finding out what you  wanted to do—and how to do it? 


This is where I stop answering the questions - it comes out as no. no. and wait...no.

EXERCISE 3: What You Might Have Been

Now imagine that that gifted child—you—had grown up in a family in which you were:  

•  treated as though you had a unique kind of genius that was loved and respected . . . 

•  told that you could do and be anything you wanted—and that you’d be loved and admired no matter what it was . . .  

•  given real help and encouragement in finding out what you wanted to do and how to do it . . .  

•  encouraged to explore all your own talents and interests, even if they changed from day to day . . . 

•  allowed to complain when the  going got rough, and given sympathy instead of being told to quit . . . 

•  bailed out when you got in over your head—without reproach . . . 

•  surrounded by winners who were pleased when you won. 

  

What do you think you would be doing now? What would you already have done? What kind of person would you be?  

Here it goes. 

I would be a famous artist and writer. I would use my skills/gifts/talents to help others realize their own talents. I would have horses and dogs and cats, and maybe a bird. I would travel and continue to learn from exceptional people. I would share what I learned to help others improve themselves. My home would have many large windows and I would be able to walk to the water's edge when I needed to quiet myself. I would be explosively creative. I would have a business manager and someone to help organize my home. My laundry would wash itself and hang itself up neatly arranged by colour in my very organized closet. Fresh fruit would be available  for me to snack on anytime. I would sing and dance joyfully. I would be a creative and spiritual guide for others. I would love unconditionally. I would paint on HUGE canvases. I would feed people who were hungry. I would preform in local theatre productions. My home would be full of colour, and of art, and occasionally people. Mostly it would be a restful place. I would have sheer bed-curtains around my large pillow filled bed. I would have a front porch to sit on and a screened in back deck. My lover would have a wonderfully active life and we would get together regularly, but would each have our own homes.

Wishcraft - Care and Feeding of Human Genius

AKA - WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

Should not answer that right now, ah, what the hell -

I am an overworked, way, way WAY under-appreciated comic and artistic genius?

I'm a Canadian living in big, loud U.S of A?

I'm a mother of three teenagers who all have decided while I'm not horrifying, I'm certainly not the sharpest crayon in the box, and I am here on earth to transport, feed, clothe and basically serve their very important and obviously 'cool' needs.

Here it is, my official introduction - (clears throat)

My name is Ruth Ann Elliott, formerly Ruth Ann Day, which, in my opinion is seriously lacking in pizzazz of any sort, and has an embarrassingly short number of syllables. When the opportunity came - with marriage - to double said syllables I jumped at the opportunity. (aside: Mortensen has 3 syllables as well). I've been married just over 20years, separated for at least 5, lacking in marital harmony for about 10... okay, enough said. I have 3 teenage children, two of which are taller, and all more cool than I could ever hope to be. I am in the process of starting a divorce, something I have been starting for a good 4-5 years. I've made myself nearly mad several times 'trying to do the best thing'.

I have always shared my space with numerous pets - gerbils to dogs, rats and cats, and several outside friends who seem to think I should feed them (generally they are correct in this assumption). Currently I am down to 2 cats and an enormous rescued greyhound (I 'rescued' the cats as well, really, I should not be allowed out of my house). I'd get a goat if I could, and dream of having horses...

In Canada (where I'm from and still have citizenship) I was a RN, and I was good at it. Somewhere in too many new addresses, 3 babies, and a change in country of residence I let my registration lapse. It seems exceptionally difficult now to get it back. I work part time helping care for an elderly woman, who is... let's say not always as kind as I would like.

I am an artist. I write poetry, take photos, paint, sketch, sculpt and doodle manically. I am learning to feed that part of myself that creates.

I'm not quite as tall, or as slim as I would like to be. I have finally given up and let my hair do it's own thing meaning my head is covered in a tangle of unruly curls. I do colour it, I'm not ready to be grey yet.

Back to the book....

"Those “rare” and “special” qualities we think distinguishes geniuses from all the rest of us? You had them. I had them. Where did they go? As long as you were too young to listen to reason or to be trained to do anything “useful,” you had a marvelous freedom to be who you were. By the time you were 5 or 6, if not even sooner, the precious right to make choices based on your own wishes began to be taken away. As soon as you were old enough to control yourself and sit still in school, the honeymoon was over.... All the people we call “geniuses” are men and women who somehow escaped having to put that curious, wondering child in themselves to sleep. Instead, they devoted their lives to equipping that child with the tools and skills it needed to do its playing on an adult level."

EXERCISE 2: Your Original Self

Question: "What especially attracted and fascinated you when you were a child?"

I loved animals, nature, texture and colour. I loved to touch things, my mother's make up (that didn't end so well, my mother obviously had not seen the fuzzy happy commercial, and therefore did not know she was to react with joy and and wonder, instead of... how she actually reacted). I would get into everything, I was wild, the hero of every story. I wanted to sing and dance and ride horses without saddles while singing and dancing. I was full of wonder.

Question: "What sense did you live most through?"

Sight and Touch - I'm so visual it's nearly a handicap.

Question: "What did you love to daydream about"

I would dream I could talk to animals, sometime I could fly. I'd dream about becoming famous and adored by thousands. I'd dream of being rescued, or of being the hero where I saved everyone and then people thought wow, there's an awesome person, let's hang out with her.

next post: The Ideal Environment...

Wishcraft - Introduction

Okay, I'm going to learn how to get what I REALLY want...

I am skeptical (but I think she accounts for that sort of attitude). Barbara, let's see what you've got...

"Winning to me means getting what you want. Not what your father and mother wanted for you, not what you think you can realistically get in this world, but what you want—your wish, your fantasy, your dream. You’re a winner when you have a life you love, so that you wake up every morning excited about the day ahead and delighted to be doing what you're doing,

even if you’re sometimes a little nervous and scared."

Oh the tangents I could start here about my childhood...

The first half of the book is about wishing, and here's the big question?

What do I want??

Seriously... Viggo Mortensen on horseback aside, what the hell do I actually want from my life. I've had a lifetime of putting off, making do and doing the right thing. Somewhere in there I lost what I wanted. Of course I could give glib answers all day (see Viggo on a horse reference) and make sure they are unattainable because then I don't have to really be disappointed when Viggo doesn't show up on horseback to sweep me away and spend our days in a beautiful studio by the ocean with a few horses, and a very quaint town just a few minutes away...

So here I go on my journey of self exploration

wishful creating

Here I am getting back to blogging. I have a 'smart phone' and have managed to make a mobile site for my blog and for my photos www.magpieartistry.com . Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/MagpieArtistry?ref=pr_shop is around there someplace as well.

Recently I put up post on facebook www.facebook.com/pages/Magpie-Artistry/249106215100103 asking the Universe - God(dess) - Flying Spaghetti Monster - To Whom it may Concern, for some life guidance. One of the things that came back was a book called 'Wishcraft', which handily is available for FREE as a pdf which I then sent to my Kindle (the technology is going to kill me, or grow me some more brain cells). My process through the exercises has been interesting, and since I'm fairly certain only a handful of people read my blog I've decided to record my progress out loud, on the web, for the world (should the world look) to see.

This blog is me testing the handy email I made to go with my newly mobile blog. What will we think of next?

ps this may seriously cut into my Angry Bird's time, this may be a good thing.