My March Magic Journey

It seems that we have to fight damn hard for the things we want in life. The temptation to give up is strong. That or withdraw into a form of escapism for a while until we either recover or feel strong enough to try again. Many choose to just give up because the fight is just too hard. They then join in the flow of the mundane of every day at the mercy of it's tides and currents. 

I've come to a point in life where I believe it's perhaps not so much fighting against something as it is about unlearning what we have been taught growing up and accepted as truth. This unlearning is a battle. It can be isolating and a lonely path to walk on. But in the unlearning there is also the learning of something pretty amazing. We're not exchanging one prison of thought for another. This is about freedom. About becoming not who the world wants you to be but who you were born to be. The problem is, from the moment of your birth, the world has had it's own plans for you. What those caring for you thought was best was, in most cases, just debilitating and stunting your growth into being the best possible version of yourself. 

For example, "You need to stay in school, get a good education and if you do those things you will get a good job." Without getting into a debate, the school system is a model that convinces people that only certain topics matter and doesn't nurture their natural gifting. It's basically trying to produce sheep. 

Then there's the age old nurturing your child on fairy tales and father Christmas, only to one day break it to them that that period of life is over and they must now come to what is called reality, a totally new and horrible concept for them having been brought up with the idea that anything is possible and imagination is your super power! Toys must now be put away and work begins. I fought hard to keep my dreams but I was soon bullied out of that with the added horror of watching my most treasured possessions being thrown out.

So I've been on this journey of unlearning and becoming now for a few years. About five now to be exact. Before that I did what everyone else wanted me to do. I was being who they wanted me to be. It has been one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life! 

Back in February, after seeing no progress, not even a hint, of my dreams coming to fruition, an idea came to me like a bolt out of the blue. I put pen to paper and started writing and writing and writing....until March Magic was born. I knew it was to share but I also knew it was for me. March Magic was a way for me to hold my focus everyday and not get distracted by the hardship of becoming. That transition takes time and I feel if we're not careful it also takes our focus off pursuing our dreams. The L.I.F.E course on Dream Create Journal is about becoming. March Magic is about focusing on our dreams, like a magnifying glass steadily focusing a beam of light, until something happens. 

So the first couple of days were good. They were great in fact! Magical moments happened. Ones that meant something for me personally. But then at the end of day three I felt as if I'd pissed off whoever it is that doesn't like the idea of us owning our power. Things started happening that normally triggers me into retreating. Actually, one night I did, only to wake up about 3am thinking what am I doing? And then deciding to fight back. 

A new kind of strength from within appeared. It was so small I wouldn't blame anyone for missing it. But I felt it. I told myself no matter what, I will fight for the right to be myself. 

When I wrote that I had had enough. When things come against you it is sign you're on the right track. If you keep retreating however and not learning from it or applying what you learn and face your fears, you will find yourself constantly facing this same battle. I am so familiar with it now I recognize it for what it is and know now I have to push through and stop retreating or it will repeat itself over and over again. 

I'm writing this on day 6 feeling a bit bruised but yet also feeling sense of achievement. So I took my own advice and got myself some flowers!

I'll be sure to keep updating you with my progress and check in with you all to hear about yours! 

Below is a short intro video to March Magic.

Happy Mail Planner

As soon as I saw this month's kit I knew what I wanted to make with it. My old happy mail planner wasn't really serving me anymore. I wanted something that was a joy to come to and made planning my happy mail a happy experience! With so much in these kits it's not hard to make them go a long way! 

I began by making the essentials...the pages themselves which I needed to track my mail and record my penpals. For this I used watercolours, a micron pen, the stamp and stencil from the kit. Once I was happy with the master pages, I scanned and printed them. 

Next I moved onto the dashboards. I wanted something bold, so choose the bright patterned papers from the kit, decorating them using the stickers and embellishment card.

Now, if you are a subscriber, you will have noticed the small pack of beautiful sequins in the box. How could I not make a shaker dashboard. The problem is, my sewing machine really doesn't like making them anymore. So I got some thinner acetate and pushed my luck! It worked out...just!

Next I made a bookmark using the love heart embellishment to create a top tab.

I then added the envelope as a place I could keep stamps.

Using the twine, I created a very simple closure for the planner itself, decorating it with the charm. Both included in the kit.

I now have a beautiful, fully functional planner for my happy mail! I'm so pleased with how this turned out and cannot wait to start using it! Check out the bottom of this post for a flip through video!

Circumstances Creating Metamorphosis

Okay, I'm going to try and put into words something that I have recently experienced. 

When you're forced to endure uncomfortable or trying situations, a couple of things happen...

You react & hide...

or

You react, hide then change.

Generally, you react. You're still practicing positivity to the best of your ability and knowledge, but the ego, that part of you that reacts, still has more ground than your true self. There's a lot of kicking and screaming in the form of moaning and complaining (and actual screaming) until you're exhausted. Then, a small voice says 'You done now?' And you say 'No!' and go and find something to numb the pain. For example..

• Binge watch TV
• Drink
• Loose yourself in a book
• Go online etc

Not one of those things are bad at all. It's your motives for doing them. Most people love a good book or movie. But when you run to them to escape a situation again and again, it becomes unhelpful to you and to changing your situation.

Then there is personal change. 

When you do all of the above, once you've exhausted yourself & through lack of energy to fight, practiced a form of escapism, but discovered you feel worse and things aren't improving, you come into a space.

Okay, so what the heck do I mean by "a space?"

Right, well, it's like an instinctive place of being in between who you were, and who you are becoming. It's not a big space.

The best way I can describe it is by using the word 

Metamorphosis. 

 The voice of intuition becomes stronger. There's a knowing that you no longer react the way you did before or hide. You let go of things that are not good for you. I can see this change in the way I express myself through art. New ideas come. 

It feels like a big storm came ripping through and removed old, dead branches, weak structures and left only what is needed to build on.

This new landscape causes you to see things in a new perspective. Old structures you thought were pertinent to life have gone and you see they only hindered you. Pathways that you thought you had to take to get somewhere are pulled up and you see countless options and new destinations.

And then there is the matter of your new wings!

A strength has risen up in you. You are reconnecting to something very old yet new to you. It's a strength that brings ancient wisdom. You become both your true self yet also open doors within to receive via intuition the truth of others. Truths you perhaps read before but didn't see or fully understand. Now, they burst wide open. 

This is then expressed. Slowly at first as you learn to use those wings. But still, there is now the butterfly effect.

The morning of the day that I am writing this, I woke up, still half asleep, to these words...

What you do effects others. The way you express yourself is an energy you use which vibrates out like a ripple effect, touching the lives of people around the world. This is the same for everyone. 

This can be done in complete ignorance and chaos, evil & hatred. Or in knowing and creative intent, goodness & love. By being carried along with the wind or navigating the way of your dreams.

So for me, I guess I'm just making my way out of this space. 

Pipsticks Sticker Club!

If you were an 80's child like me, you will know how much of a big deal stickers were to us as kids. I still remember the smell, the swapsies, and bubblegum!

So imagine my joy when Pipsticks asked if I could review their stickers. 

When they arrived, I sensed, once again, that old yet distant feeling I had as a child when I got a pack of new stickers. The joy the bright colours brought. Then to find a newsletter, just like the ones we used to get. Only this was made by adults for adults! Actually there is a kids subscription too!

If that wasn't enough, there's a competition which you're automatically entered in upon receiving a ticket stub with your stickers!

So go check out my full on geek moment as I open this pack of juicy colourful goodness! You can find out more info on Pipsticks HERE.

In My Creative Planner - With Video

At Christmas I was gifted this small planner. It's only a cheap one from somewhere like Poundworld. As I already had a planner I thought I'd get creative with this one and see how far it's boundaries lay in regards to what mediums I could use. Turns out they stretched pretty far!

Using Dylusions Ink spray...

Using Liquitex Acrylic Ink...

Using Brusho...

This absolutely proves that you should always experiment in art and to always think outside the box. It also proves that it doesn't have to break the bank!

Here is a flip through and process video showing you how I get the effects on my pages. Enjoy!

  

The Darkness Before Dawn - A Lesson In Pursuing Our Dreams

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I did intend on posting Part Two of my previous post What Is Magic? But something else came up which I thought I would share while it's still fresh on my mind. 

While practicing a more positive lifestyle, one negative little thing came up. It was tiny but it was also distracting. I knew I needed to deal with it but I didn't think too much about it.

A couple of days later, all hell broke loose.

I was out with my youngest daughter and as we got off the bus a man turned to us and said, "I've been told to bless you. Happy new year."

Wow, how nice was that I said to my little girl.

Well, now I can only think this man was either an angel or had a direct line to heaven because of what happened next.

We made our way to the shop we wanted to go to and in the distance a man was shouting. Just as we approached the corner of the street, another man in a car calmly told us not to carry on as there was a man out of his mind with a knife. I looked round and saw him. I didn't think much of it at the time but thankfully he had his back to us. We were the closest people to him. Calmly, I told my daughter we needed to get out of there.

Thank God for the man in the car!

Next, our bus didn't show up....neither did the next. A huge crowd formed and the atmosphere became tense. We were told the next bus wouldn't leave until at least 20 minutes. So I decided to jump on another that stops a good thirty minute walk from home.

But, because it was pitch black and an unfamiliar route we got off two stops early so the walk home in the bitter cold was longer. 

Once home, my new neighbours were once again shouting obscenities at their young children. It was then I broke down at the relentless barrage of stress. I mean I didn't even have a moment to recover from our encounter with the knife wielding man. 

I decided to go to a party I had been invited to to let down my hair. Although it was a good night, I did drink but soon came to regret even that.

The next day I lay in bed thinking what the hell happened these past couple of days? And I believe I got my answer. 

Or answers I should say....

First, I heard in my heard 'It's always darkest before dawn.' As I contemplated those words, it gave me a glimmer of hope to not despair or give up on all the hard work I have put in.

Second, I knew I had some choices to make. Give up the things that were not serving me. Identify areas that drained me. And so on. Things that weren't bad, but were bad for me.

Then Oprah's speech came out. I listened to those words and as soon as she said there's nothing more powerful than speaking 'Our truth', something I talk about and believe, I understood right there and then, that in order to live our truth, we would have to learn hard ones about ourselves.

In order for me to be able to move forward, I would have to change a few things. I had told myself a lie that certain things were okay in my life because I could handle them. Well, the truth is I can't.

That includes the simplest things such as indulging in negative pointless conversations. Recreational drinking. Excessive time on Facebook.

Each one of these is a massive drain on my life and opens doors to a whole lot of crap!

Evidence of the hold that these things have on me is the difficulty of giving them up. 

So, in order to LIVE our truth, we may need to discover some things about ourselves that we didn't know. Things we need to clear out of the way to make room for something better.

And that's the thing. In order to also receive our desires, we have to get rid of things that have a hold on us or drain us. But we won't always see what those things are. They may only be revealed in that darkest hour before the breaking of dawn.

We can mistake hardships as a 'no' to our dreams.

Well, I believe that's not the case. Our hardships are lessons in growth and preparations in making room for better things.

I didn't want to give up, but I didn't want to go on either, until I saw what it all meant. And It will only mean something if I became pro-active about it and apply what I learned. 

So now I have some new intentions. My schedule now changes. My decisions about certain things must change too. And as I do that, finally the light of dawn will shine! 

What Is Magic? Part One

You need to become aware of the magic that surrounds you: magic that is life, magic that is God, magic that is in the green trees and the red flowers, magic that is in people’s eyes. Magic is happening everywhere! All is miraculous...And then creativity will come to you, things will start happening on their own. Your heart will start pouring songs of joy, your hands will start transforming things. You will touch mud and it will become a lotus. You will be able to become an alchemist. But it is possible only through great awakening of intelligence, great awakening of the heart. - OSHO

Ever since I can remember I have had a fascination for all things magical, other-worldly, and spiritual. I've always believed there is more than what our eyes perceive. As a child we are encouraged in these things by way of using our imagination.

But somewhere, between childhood and adulthood, we are then told to stop with such nonsense. Ironically, the word nonsense basically means 'no sense' and therefore what our senses cannot perceive must then be attributed as false and therefore unbelievable. We are encouraged in one world then told that we can no longer remain there and must abide by the rules of the adult world. The story of Peter pan comes to mind here and I can understand why J.M.Barrie wrote that story.

For a long long time the child within held all things magical in her heart searching for ways to express it in the world of adulthood. The only ways I saw it being expressed though were in story, whether that of books or movies. But my desire was to see how magic, the very thing we were taught and encouraged in, could be lived out and transform not only our lives, but the world. 

Magic, the word itself, for centuries has been mostly ascribed to witches. Even mentioning that word today brings to mind, for some, witchcraft. But that's not the meaning I'm implying when I use that word. When I use it, I'm talking about the things that make no sense to the world we know today. Today, people are disillusioned. As a result, they are anxious, negative, pessimistic and expect the worst. For example, the phone rings and immediately they think its a cold call. Or a letter comes through the door and it must be a bill. 

Magic is about awe, wonder, excitement, anticipation, belief in something amazing happening, adventure and so on. Magic is making things happen. You may have heard the quote;

Make your own magic.

 That is something we learned as children but must be applied again as adults. Children always make the most out of a bad situation, especially with friends. Children forgive easily and quickly. Children's imagination knows no bounds. These are merely foundations to making your own magic but they are things we need to re-learn. And before we can even do that we must unlearn a bunch of crap we've been taught to believe to replace all that in order to survive in this world. 

I don't want to pretend to be someone I'm not in order to please others. I want embrace all of life and invite miracles into my life. As the quote at the start says;

All is miraculous...And then creativity will come to you, things will start happening on their own.

My goal is to come to that point where magic happens...'as you seek you will find'. Where things start to happen as if on their own. That is magic!