Mix It Up!

Mix It Up: Take Circus Classes

 

When you were a kid, did you ever threaten to run away and join the circus?  It's a staple of childhood threats and wishes -- the dream of freedom that comes with dressing up in a fantastic costume and performing amazing feats.

Now that you're an adult it may seem a little less feasible to run off with the big top.  But there's no reason to give up on that dream!  There are many troupes around the world who offer classes in everything from trick horseback riding to trapezery.  (I'm not sure that's a word, but whatever…)

In Seattle there are several such as the Anunnaki Project which teaches dance trapeze, fabric, aerial sling, and hoop.  It's as easy as figuring out what you want to do -- become a clown, perhaps? -- and googling [Your City] Clown Classes.  Not only can you have a lot of fun, but you can get a great workout, meet some fantastic new people, and maybe even pick up a side job doing parties or performing with your teachers!  Give yourself the gift of realizing a bit of that childhood dream -- mix it up and take circus classes today!

(Photo taken at the Brazilian Academy of Circus in Sao Paulo by jacsonquerubin from flickr.com's Creative Commons photostream.)

Mix It Up Musing: Do I Really Need This?

 

A couple days ago I talked about questioning the stories you tell yourself.  It made me think about a more comprehensive question that has served me very well over the last ten years.

"Do I really need this?"

You can apply it to everything.  Your job, your relationships, the clutter in your house, another bite of pie.  Do you really need what you have?  If you do, how can you make it even more precious and meaningful?  If you don't, can you give it away, sell it, let it go, or move to something new?

It isn't a negative phrase at all.  When a friend brings stress into my life and I ask this question of myself, the answer is usually yes!  I need them in my life, so that makes this fight or this stress so much less important.  I can let it go because the relationship is more important than my anger or self-righteousness.  (Which I definitely don't need!)

Mix it up, and ask yourself today of just one thing: "Do I really need this?"  Sit with the answer; it may just surprise you!

Mix It Up Musing: Don't Sell Yourself Short

 

Mixing it up is even more about inward change than it is outward.  Just as you examine what foods you eat, what music you listen to, and where you shop; it is a good idea to examine what you believe -- especially what you believe about yourself.

I have never thought of myself as a jogger.  "I'm not built for it" has been my common refrain.  "I prefer to walk."  "Running can be bad for you."  So many stories I kept telling myself about why I couldn't do it.

Last night, I was feeling anxious and shut in.  Even though it was after 9pm, I went out for a walk around beautiful Greenlake.  Listening to The Streets, I found myself wanting to move faster.  Just like, that I was jogging.  I jogged on and off for at least half of the 2.8 mile inner circuit.  It felt great, but better than the physical rush was the empowering mental rush of realizing that I am a jogger.  

Maybe you're secretly a jogger like me.  Maybe you're a writer.  Maybe you're a social activist, or maybe you're someone who actually likes brussels sprouts.  You will never know until you challenge your assumptions.  Don't sell yourself short by continuing to listen to the same stories.  Mix it up, and examine the stories you tell yourself about yourself!

Inspirations

  

I love scrapbooking artist Ali Edwards, and I loved this great post on her blog so much that I wanted to do the same thing on mine.

What is inspiring me right now:

Green -- green plants in my house, green flourishing everywhere outside, green blankets and sheets on my bed.  I am into green!

Community -- I am very inspired by communities both online and offline, and am getting out into them and participating more.

Fantasy -- I just finished Elizabeth Bear's Blood and Iron and I am very inspired to write and live more fantasy.

Creating -- along with writing, I have been sewing, building models, cooking, and scrapbooking.  I am into making things right now.  

What is inspiring you?  Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Mix It Up: Balancing Your Chakras

 

Many people have at least heard of the chakras; said to be points of energy on your body with relationships to differing levels of consciousness or spiritual awareness.  However, they can also be thought of as different areas of your life that need to be in balance.  Sonia Choquette's book True Balance talks a lot about this, and I found it to be a very refreshing way of looking at the chakras.

Instead of imagining wheels or points of light and color on your body; consider the chakras as these aspects of your life.  

★Foundation (your home, how grounded you are, your safety)

★Passion (for others, for self, for life)

★Sovereignty (your personal power and the strength of your word)

★Love (your ability to care for others and yourself)

★Expression/Communication (both the written and spoken word, as well as artistic)

★Vision (seeing to the heart of issues and planning ahead in your life)

★Faith (in a higher power or even just yourself)

Can you think of any of these that are out of balance?  What is your strongest?  Your weakest aspect?  Now think about what you could do to strengthen a weak area in your life.  (I really enjoyed journaling this, myself.)  Maybe take a class in nonviolent communication or take the time to create a safe space that is truly yours.  

As you are looking at your life and finding ways to mix it up, take the time to use this vision of the chakras to find out where you need to bring things back into balance.  Then mix it up, get out there, and do it!

(Photo by BlueRidgeKitties from Flickr.com's Creative Commons photostream.  As usual, I have no affiliation with any products or companies mentioned!)

Mix It Up Musing: Having a Learning Mind

What if we gave up needing to be the experts, and embraced being novices?

What if we loved knowledge for its own sake, and shared it freely with everyone?

What if we saw ourselves as both teachers and students?

Cultivating what my dad calls "a learning mind" seems to me to be one of the finest ways to promote peaceful interaction between people.  So many individuals cling to the need to be the acknowledged expert in their niche; even falsifying data or results to get the accolades they crave.  (Internet forums are unfortunately full of this behavior…)  I love the idea of giving that up, and instead embracing the paradigm of "there's always more to learn."  Instead of "I'm always right" we would get to say "Well I don't know, maybe there's more than one way to go about this."

I think we would learn more because we wouldn't be closing ourselves off to new sources of information.  I think we would have more peace because we wouldn't feel threatened when someone had more information than we did.  I think we would become more flexible, more open to positive change, and more international.

What do you think? 

Mix It Up Musing: How Are You Being Breathed?

 

In June of 2009 I was fortunate enough to attend Vinn Martí's Soul Motion workshop at Esalen in Big Sur, California.  Soul Motion is a way of consciously exploring dance with relation to community, energy, and the world around and inside of us.  One of the things that Vinn was constantly asking during the workshop was "How are you being breathed?"

Fast forward to last week, and I was experiencing some severe back pain.  I have a tendency to hunch in weird positions as I paint or write, and only when I get up after several hours do I realize I've strained a muscle.  My lower back was hurting so much that I couldn't sit in any position for more than thirty minutes or so.  Then one day I was answering email on my laptop and accidentally clicked on my archives which contained an email from Vinn sent after the conclusion of the Soul Motion workshop.  I thought to myself "How are you being breathed?" and realized I was tensing so strongly against the pain that I was making it much worse.  The moment I relaxed into my back instead of steeling myself against it the pain lessened.  I continued to remind myself to breathe and relax throughout the day, and by the end of the week my back was up to snuff again.

Mixing it up is not just about challenging the big questions in our lives, or about making huge changes.  It's also about recognizing the small, day to day ways in which our thinking gets stuck.  I was deeply stuck in the thought of "My back hurts.  When will it get better?  What if I really hurt myself?"  When I took a moment to think something different the pain began to subside.  I was hurting myself more than the initial strain ever could have with my stuck and fearful internal monologue.  By breathing consciously and noticing what I was doing to myself, I made it possibly for my body to heal.

So today, mix it up, and ask yourself: "How am I being breathed?"  There is no judgement involved, only a chance to notice what you are doing, and an opportunity to change it!

Mix It Up Adventure: Minimalism

Yesterday's post about money got me thinking about frugal living and the concept of minimalism.  Minimalism is a scary concept to many people; conjuring visions of living in a very constrained fashion.  However, instead of thinking of minimalism as privation, what if we considered it to be freedom?

Some frequently asked questions (FAQs) about minimalism and living the minimalist life, for those new to the concept, from Leo Babauta's excellent blog mnmlist (reprinted with permission!):

Q: Why be a minimalist?

A: It’s a way to escape the excesses of the world around us — the excesses of consumerism, material possessions, clutter, having too much to do, too much debt, too many distractions, too much noise.  But too little meaning.  Minimalism is a way of eschewing the non-essential in order to focus on what’s truly important, what gives our lives meaning, what gives us joy and value.

Q: Isn’t minimalism boring or too sparse, with nothing in your life?

A: This is a misconception about minimalism — that it’s necessarily monk-like, empty, boring, sterile.  Not at all.  Well, it can be, if you go in that direction, but I don’t advocate that flavor of minimalism.  Instead, we are clearing away all but the most essential things — to make room for that which gives us the most joy.  Clear away the distractions so we can create something incredible.  Clear away all the obligations so we can spend time with loved ones.  Clear away the noise so we can concentrate on inner peace, on spirituality (if we wish), on our thinking.  As a result, there is more happiness, peace, and joy, because we’ve made room for these things.

Q: What is minimalist living?

A: It’s simply getting rid of things you do not use or need, leaving an uncluttered, simple environment and an uncluttered, simple life.  It’s living without an obsession with material things or an obsession with doing everything and doing too much.  It’s using simple tools, having a simple wardrobe, carrying little and living lightly.

Q: What are the benefits of minimalism?

A: There are many.  It’s lower in stress.  It’s less expensive and less debt.  It’s less cleaning and maintaining.  It’s more enjoyable.  There’s more room for creating, for loved ones, for peace, for doing the things that give you joy.  There’s more time for getting healthy.  It’s more sustainable.  It’s easier to organize.  These are only the start.

Interested in pursuing minimalism?  Leo's blog is a great place to start.  If you're interested in a challenge, try his 100 Things Challenge (now become the 50 Things Challenge) to list all of your belongings, and then reduce them to only 100 (or 50!) things.  I personally find it easy to get rid of tchotchkes, clothes, and furniture.  I find it exceptionally difficult to stop hoarding books, though…

If you're looking for an adventure that will definitely change your life, mix it up, and try minimalism!

(I am a huge fan of Leo's work, but am not affiliated with his sites or publishers!)

Mix It Up Month Starts Tomorrow!

Tomorrow begins our collective adventure in mixing it up every day for an entire month!  I hope you're anticipating this as much as I am.  To help get the juices flowing, here is a partial list of the many things I'll be doing in April:

West African Dance (at Velocity Dance Studio)

Visiting the Frye and Wing Luke Asian Museums

Going to several new restaurants

Taking a sewing class

Attending a poetry reading

Visiting the Olympic Sculpture Park

Getting my ears pierced (really!)

Cooking anything from Smitten Kitchen

Trying a couple of local hikes

…and much, much more!  I can't wait to share my month of new endeavors, and I'm even more looking forward to hearing about all of yours!  If you have any great ideas, please post them in the comments section for everyone to share.  Tomorrow, we mix it up!

(Speaking of new endeavors, congratulations to my dear cousin Sophia, who just got accepted to graduate school in Colorado!  She is one of the most fearless and dedicated people I know, and now she gets to continue her education in diversity advocacy and community integration at a wonderful university.  Congrats!)

Mix It Up: Creative Therapy

 

There is no doubt that one of the most admired and wished-for talents is that elusive one of "creativity."  I myself am prone to looking wistfully at my friend Sylvia's artistic endeavors and wishing I were "creative like her."  It's a silly trap to fall into because everyone is creative.  I certainly cannot paint like Monet, but I love to write!  Allowing yourself the freedom to create without judgement can produce surprising results.  

This is because creativity, aside from producing things of beauty, is also of great use on a psychological level.  From Cathy Malchiodi's Art Therapy Sourcebook:

    "Art therapists have generated many specific definitions of art therapy, but most of them fall into one of two general categories.  The first involves a belief in the inherent healing power of the creative process of art making.  This view embraces the idea that the process of making art is therapeutic; this process is sometimes referred to as art as therapy.  Art making is seen as an opportunity to express one's self imaginatively, authentically, and spontaneously, an experience that, over time, can lead to personal fulfillment, emotional reparation, and recovery.

    "The second definition of art therapy is based on the idea that art is a means of symbolic communication.  This approach, often referred to as art psychotherapy, emphasizes the products—drawings, paintings, and other art expressions—as helpful in communicating issues, emotions, and conflicts.  The art image becomes significant in enhancing verbal exchange between the person and the therapist and in achieving insight; resolving conflicts; solving problems; and formulating new perceptions that in turn lead to positive changes, growth, and healing.  In reality, art as therapy and art psychotherapy are used together in varying degrees.  In other words, art therapists feel that both the idea that art making can be a healing process and that art products communicate information relevant to therapy are important."  (Quoted by permission from "What Is Art Therapy" by Cathy Malchiodi.)

I think we all want "positive changes, growth, and healing" in our lives!  So today, mix it up by creating something from your soul.  It could be five minutes of journaling about your day, or pulling out the finger paints and getting messy, or cooking dinner with attention and care to the process.  If, like me, you prefer a prompt, you can do no better than the amazing website Creative Therapy -- each week the artists and visionaries pick a catalyst for art creation, and show you the results of their creativity while inviting you to do the same.  Mix it up, and create!

(Picture: Water Lilies, by Claude Monet.)