2013 Blueprint - how to make your dreams real in an instant

Happy 2013 to you.

As a new year dawns and unfolds, it's a time when people start making resolutions.  A new year is a natural new beginning, and a time to turn inward to look at our deepest dreams, hopes and desires.  And as we begin to feel excited about the future, we begin to make goals.  We begin to dream about what life will be like as we journey through our new year; how things that we have long yearned for will suddenly become a reality...except....except...

...except it very often doesn't.

The trouble that I've had with goals in the past is that they've always been so damn far away in that just out of reach future of mine.  And to be perfectly truthful, most of my goals were things that floated around in my head, I never put the energy into making them happen because they felt too huge, too far away and too impossible.

Hmmmm....does this resonate with any of you?

I had a wake up call recently, I realised that although I did what I loved for a living, had a nice home and a smashing family, I was mostly plodding on through my life without making conscious choices to improve it.  One year would meld itself into the next and nothing would change.  I started to feel stuck, bored, slightly depressed and experienced feelings of IS THIS IT???

Disillusioned with far off goals that never seemed to materialise I decided that I had to start working with the small stuff first, the day to day stuff.  I knew I could start to improve all areas of my life and make changes to things that didn't feel so good anymore.  We're forever growing and expanding as people, so it stands to reason that at some point we're going to outgrow certain habits, ways of doing things, ways of being.

I needed a way to get the ball rolling so that I could see instant results (for that feel good factor) and that meant working with smaller goals that I could make actionable immediately.  I decided that each day would be a blueprint of happy inducing things, and that instead of living with one foot in the past and one foot in the future I would try and remain poised in my present and enjoy the 24 hours that I'd been gifted with in the best ways possible.

I can apply my blueprint to all areas of my life ~ family, work, leisure, self study, diet and exercise; and I can choose the best of every option available to me, the options that make me feel good, that will make my day happy and fulfilled and become a blueprint for the future.  By choosing things that feel like the Best Choice for me, I am setting a pattern for the future - and if at any time my blueprint feels out of kilter with what makes me feel good, then I can just tweak it to suit.  My new habits will become a natural way of living in time and as I come to expect the best from each day, life seemingly gets bigger and better.  When we raise our expectations of what we want from life, life will deliver.

Creating a new blueprint for your life need not cost much money - you might decide that you want to just feel happier each day and start keeping a gratitude journal to write about all the stuff that lights you up.  A commitment to eating healthier one day at a time doesn't have to cost much more than what you spend on your groceries now and the pressure of a diet disappears when you're living consciously one day at a time.  You won't need to spend a fortune on a  fancy gym membership that costs the earth to commit to a bit of daily exercise - start walking, get yourself a workout DVD to do at home or find a local class that you can attend, and family time will become much more enriching when you become present and focus upon the time spent together, one day at a time.

Commit to it, and create your blueprint for 2013, one day at a time.

However, a word about Big Goals That Live in the Future...



I still have plenty of long term goals, they're sitting on my radar and they give me something to positively aim for alongside being happier and more fulfilled on a daily basis.  I'm going to be having my first solo exhibition this year, at the Studio 61 Gallery in Derbyshire this May.  This is a BIG dream of mine that I've had for eons and suddenly the opportunity was presented to me to make it come true.  However, to achieve this dream (because it ain't gonna manifest on it's own), I have to invest both energy and action - this comes from integrating the painting time into my daily blueprint, and then taking action to make it happen.

And I think that's the magic word - action.  Goals and dreams are wonderful things to have and to aim for, but we need to take action to make them real - they very rarely happen as if by magic, there's generally some input needed from us.  For some, these actions feel insurmountable or nigh on impossible, but by breaking it all down into small and achievable chunks, you can get there.

One day at a time.

Take your dream or your goal, and break it down into chunks.  Ask yourself what you need to do to achieve your goal and then write down how you best can do it.  And while you journey towards your big goal, start creating your daily blueprint and see how things instantly change for the better.

I hope your 2013 shines for you, and becomes your best yet.

When I Grow Up I'm Going to Be...

(WIP ~ Circus illustration, as yet untitled) 
 
I was one of those people who, when asked as a child what they wanted to be when they grew up, had no idea.  Well, what I mean to say is that I knew deep down what I wanted to do, but I never dared to admit it out loud.  I wanted to be an artist, I wanted to draw pictures for books.

I have to admit that I didn't have the courage to follow my heart back then and I wandered aimlessly through my teens without a clue of which career would substitute what I really wanted to do, and one which would please my family.  There was a very strong feeling back then of having to make one single career choice that would span a lifetime.  Somehow inside, I knew that this was not only an impossible decison to make at the age of 16, but also a  ridiculous one.
 
All of my friends seemed to have Plans.  They knew they wanted to be in Catering, or Beauty Therapy.  They wanted to be Social Workers, Nurses, Engineers and Mechanics and they all enrolled on the appropriate courses whilst I took on three A-levels, two in subjects I didn't even really like.  

And so I began to pretend.  I pretended I wanted to have a career in art history and I applied to Sheffield Polytechnic for a course in the History of Art, Film and Theatre.  I wasn't very excited by it, I just felt that I was pleasing a whole heap of people by doing this.  Needless to say, when my grades weren't high enough to be accepted for the course, I wasn't too disappointed.  

It seemed the next stage was to find some form of employment, and so continuing to ignore my deepest desires, I pretended I wanted to be a receptionist and I went out and got a job being a receptionist.  It didn't fulfill me - and I hated wearing a suit (I'm absolutely not a suit person).  The people who I worked with were great, but the job itself was dull and I turned into one of those people who become an automaton 5 days of the week and only came alive on a friday evening when it was time to go to the pub with my friends.  I would get a tight knot in my belly on Sunday evening too - the party was over for another weekend; it was time to go back to work.
 
I knew I couldn't go on like that.  I couldn't slumber away week in, week out, counting down the days of this precious life waiting for my retirement where I'd finally have the time to do what I wanted to do.

Following the path of convention and pleasing other people had led me right off track.  I was in my mid thirties before I began to live the life I had always dreamed of living, and it's all happened with a million little baby steps too.  My careers advisor would have had a fit because I had heaps of jobs before I got to this point ~ I was a chambermaid, waitress, shop assistant, tele-sales assistant (that one lasted half a day), payroll officer, sign maker...but they all helped to shape me in some way, and they all helped me identify the things that I didn't want to do in my life.



I wonder how many people in the world gave up on their dreams and desires because they weren't encouraged, they were scared, they didn't know how to begin or they were worried that their folks might not approve?

I wanted to write this post because I sometimes receive emails from people who tell me that they wish they had done with their lives what I am doing with mine; but that they've left it too late, that it's easy for people like me.
I wanted to write that age doesn't have to be an obstruction for following your desires.  Even if you have spent your life doing Something Else, it's not too late and it can be easy for you too, you just have to take the first tiny step and give it a try.

As well as these kind of emails, I've also had some from people who are in their sixties and seventies and have just started taking dancing classes and painting lessons.  I've had one from someone who has been too busy parenting for twenty years to create, and has just done their first drawing again after all that time. 
I absolutely love to hear stories like these, of people taking a chance to rediscover their creative spirit and do what they love.  You can start living the life you've always dreamed of, right now in tiny chunks wherever you are in life.  Just think of one little thing that you could do today that would begin to make this real for you.  I'm not telling you to hand in your notice at work, or turn your life upside down, but I am inviting you infuse a little bit of what you dream of doing into your life now.  What about it?  What are you waiting for?

If you'd like to start, a great place to begin is the Being Creative Project.  It's a group where me and a whole heap of other people share art and support one another during the process.  You can find out more by clicking the link above, and don't forget when you sign up to the mailing list, you receive a free copy of my mini e-book!

I'll be back, hopefully very soon with a bit of a CROCHET REVEAL...not wanting to give the game away too much, I am referring to a BLANKET that looks a bit like this...

Oh the excitement...it's only needing a couple of rows and it's done!! Oh, and lots of ends to be weaved in, but hey-ho it shall be completely worth it methinks!

I'll see you soon - have a gorgeous, sun~filled weekend!

Much love, and thank you for visiting and reading,
Julia x