af Adam | jan 16, 2015 | Collaborating, Creative workshops, Finding courage, From my life, Visionmap
Let it be no secret! I love doing this:
….Yes, I love it when we honor our sincere wish to make life count, and when we use creativity as a tool to make that happen.
That is why I, in the beginning of every year, work with my visions in words and pictures. That is why I create Vision boards. And that´s why I love teaching Workshops using that and other creative tools.
This year, however, it seemed like an uphill process. At least at first; no inspiration, no joy. No feelings of anticipation when trying to catch my visions for 2015.
That´s when a group of ladies asked me to make a workshop and help them create their vision boards for 2015. “Oh no”, I thought, “I haven´t even created my own yet, and I honestly feel a bit stuck”. But that is the trick with these or any process. They DO work, but only if we DO them! And I had been stalling in “no action land”, which is exactly what so easily happens when what we need the most is to simply begin. And keep going with small steps. We humans can help each other so much, and sometimes asking someone for help might be the very thing that will help that person too. Good to remember!
So, inspired by the request I gave it a go with my own visions. It helped. I found out several things that I had not seen, that explained the resistance I felt. I saw that I needed to give myself permission to search for new ways – with business and with other areas of life – to really ask again from scratch what route it I wanted to take, and to be willing to make some changes. To say more boldly NO to things that no longer fits, even if it looks like it will generate an immediate income. To insist on working from a core of joy and service, rather than pushing myself into areas that clearly steals my energy. To dare not meeting expectations, my own and others. To dare listen, every day, to my intuition, which has proven over and over again to be a most trustworthy tool.
Slowly but steadily the fog lifted, and I began feeling that childish anticipation again. If I can, I know you can too! You can read more about creating a vision board RIGHT HERE.
Or, if you live nearby (Sjælland, Danmark), you can join my New years Vision workshop on saturday the 24th of january. A FULL day of diving into you own visions, using some wonderful creative tools like writing, movement and “Vision Boarding”. Sounds good, right? So, if you live in Denmark, this might be for you, I would love to meet you there:
Till soon, love from Lise.
af Lise Meijer | jan 15, 2014 | Collaborating, Finding courage, Finding strength, From my life, Uncategorized
2013 was a year with lessons in store for me. And when I say lessons I mean: it was not always an easy ride. Yet I am left with a feeling of honest and deep gratitude. And some relief that I lived and learned, strengthened my soul-muscles and are ready to move on.
(Me, from my first photo shoot with a professional photographer = awesome experience)
A few things I encountered during the journey this year:
Trying out being my own sales person
I set out to learn how to sell the products I began producing back in 2012, knowing that if I wanted to make a full income as an artist, that was something I had to figure out. So I travelled the country, visiting many shops (at least 100). It was one thing I thought I would never be doing. It was a lot of foot-work. I was scared. I recalled the “feel the fear and do it anyway”-sentence a lot. It involved cheers whenever I made a sale and quite a bit of self-doubt when nothing happened, feeling I was completely nuts to believe I could ever make this work.
It was a journey of trying out different paths to see what worked. And finding the flexibility and willingness to correct my course whenever the resistance became so big that it had too high a price for me personally, finding a smoother way to keep myself intact during the journey.
Low point: sitting completely exhausted, miserable and crying in the car at the end of a sales day, alone and far away from home and with no sales at all after visiting 3 cities and over 15 shops in one day, feeling like I would never be able to pick myself/ my confidence up again.
High point: The feeling of utter joy and rush when I finally experienced one day with flow and lots of sales and openings. And being proud that this happened because I kept going and stayed open so I could see that it was not me or my products that failed, but simply a journey of learning how to find my own way with it.
I learned: That it is so, so important to be surrounded by caring and supporting people who “get” you and are able to remind you of your full potential even when all you can say is: “I am stuck”. For me, admitting that I was stuck and did not know how to proceed was very embarrassing. After all, the fear of failing was what kept me from pursuing this dream for many, many years. Daring to believe in it and ACTING on it was definitely new and scary. I also learned that self nurturing is vitally important when you set out to do something far outside your own comfort zone. Just like your body needs vitamins, your soul needs comfort to stay intact during testing times.
(Lise Meijer cards on the counter!)
Finding my way with social life and friends
2013 threw in some challenges to do with social connections and friendships. I learned that even though I love to work alone and work from home, I have to make sure I am connected to other people both personally and professionally, and to pursue collaboration in many different ways in order to not feel lonely and stuck.
Also, I had to go through some grief-processes to do with the changing nature of some of my existing friendships before accepting that connections between people somehow has their own life and transformations are taking place that we can´t be wise about before perhaps much later. Acceptance and forgiveness to myself and others has been part of my journey this year.
As a surprise, some new dear connections, both friendships and work collaborations, presented themselves during the year, adding much joy to my days. For that I am incredibly grateful.
Opportunities!!!
I am guessing we all love great opportunities? The kind where someone asks you to do something that you had (secretly or loudly) been wishing to do but not yet found your way into. Of course you still have to leap out and grab those opportunities, but the fact that they come is always a very good sign that you are on the right track….
In 2013 I was asked to:
– Talk about my creative journey and sing some of my own songs 3 times this year. And. I. Loved it!!!
– Create Blog banner and buttons for Amy who has this amazing and very popular blog. What a challenge! And so much fun to do!! And then she launched it with a sweet interview, such an honor.
– Make exhibitions with my paintings, these opportunities kept presenting themselves, meaning my paintings were almost always out partying this year.
– Contribute to a blog series and a project by two wonderful mothers, each with their own mission, with writing and images. I said yes and was part of this wonderful blog series about creative mamas and will be part of a very special new mama pack, a kind of gift for new mothers that will launch – well, soon! (I´ll share it when it´s ready)
– Teach a New Years Claring process in Copenhagen for the 4th. year in a row. Love that someone else is making the invitations and arranging the facilities with so much beauty and love and I am allowed to concentrate on the teaching and nothing else, yes!
(“Walking with Visions” – exercise during one of my workshops)
2013 was also the year where I finally created my very first Lise Meijer Wall Calendar. This was an opportunity I created for myself. And I am so grateful that so many of you jumped at the opportunity for some wall art for the whole year, so much that it sold out already middle december, yay!
Balancing life with my dear ones
As many people on this planet, I often struggle with finding a good balance between work life and family life. This year, a blessing in disguise presented itself and ended up giving me the long sought after uninterrupted work hours: one of our two cars broke down! And could not be fixed!!!
So, Rune and I sat down for a chat and decided that with me working at home we would try living with just one car for a while. The only problem was that then I wouldn´t be able to pick up the children every day from school. That´s a 15 kilometers drive back and forth.
(pic of my workspace….)
It turned out to be no problem: Celeste and Vincent (10 and 7) was ready to take the bus home on their own. Celeste picks Vincent up from after school care and they appear home about 1,5 hours later than I normally would have to go to pick them up. It has worked so well. We enjoy a cosy tea-time together when they arrive. I am more at easy because I feel I already had an honorable work day. Oh, and we are saving money and making less pollution, good deal!
Celeste, painting, dressed in her kitty-ears.
Thank you 2013, you came with testings and were rich in sweet surprises. You taught me a lot!
(Me, on Bornholm)
af Lise Meijer | jan 9, 2014 | Collaborating, Creative workshops, Finding courage, Finding strength, From my life, Uncategorized, Visionmap
Dear you.
If you are in any way like me, you had a hard time learning how to make things happen in this world. I know some people are born as “action-people”. (If you are one of them, know that I admire you deeply!) I never understood how they made things happen so easily. With “things”, I mean everything in life, from creating a beaming home or a fulfilling work life to a blossoming social life or any other thing you want that takes ongoing action. I did all those things, but not really with full boost. I knew how to feel my way ahead and find my own inspiration which is also incredibly important qualities in life. I just didn´t get the concept of how ideas became reality on a bigger scale.
But over the last 10 years I began, very slowly at first and later with more juice and speed, to understand the concept of how to create something that I really wanted in this world. I am still learning, and I still have days where I feel like an elephant aiming to learn to dance ballet = it seems heavy and impossible. But I now know that it isn´t. And that makes a BIG difference. And one of the secrets is this:
Creativity + focus + actions (even the smallest tiniest ones) = making things happen. Quite simple actually, but only if you DO it.
I know that first we must set our heart´s compass for things that bring us joy and begin pursuing some of them with our creativity. And then add focus, over and over again. And when we have done that even just a bit, begin to take some of the many tiny actions steps that automatically will reveal themselves as possibilities when we work with our joy and creativity. Then things begin to happen.
Yes! Here it is: Creativity and focus. Added tiny actions. And things begin to happen.
They WILL happen. Not always as we imagined, but things happen when we make such an attractive cocktail. It is as if life itself supports it when we’re working that way. I know it because I’ve tried it myself. And I’ve also tried what doesn´t work, but I can tell you more about another day …
This spring I will begin teaching a course here in Denmark together with a wonderful coach and storyteller, Marianne, about how to find your vision, stay focused and begin making actions in that direction. And it´s all evolving around a…..wonderful creative scrapbook! So, danish people or adventurers from around the globe, the invite is here and it begins 18th january. Are you in? Would love to journey with you! And if you live too far away and still would love to work with these things, I am very open for international invitations, just saying! So, you are warmly invited and there are still open spots!
Invite for Vision 2014 course taking place 4 saturdays and a friday evening in Denmark, 2014
Creating Vision maps during a workshop
PS: if you are interested, here are some posts about my journey into doing more, with more passion in life: https://lisemeijer.dk/treats/my-creative-journey/
af Lise Meijer | dec 28, 2013 | Collaborating, Creative workshops, Finding courage, Uncategorized, Visionmap
In good and wild news:
I am going to collaborate with a blessed storyteller and coach!!! Marianne Christensen and I will be teaching a brand new course about taking responsibility for our dreams. “Vision 2014” involves scrapbooking, storytelling and the power of finding your passion and creating a vision of it in your own book. A powerful combination of creativity and determination. I know how working with our visions can cause true transformation in our desired life direction. And I can hardly wait, it is going to be good!
Invite for Vision 2014 course taking place 4 saturdays and a friday evening in Denmark, 2014
You may not speak a word danish or live anywhere nearby. But I simply can´t help sharing this visual invite with you anyway. To make up for the language/placement issue, I promise to give you a few tips and hands on inspiration of how to make your own new years process at the end of this post. And if 2014 is going to be the year where you commit yourself to reach your goals, and you DO live nearby, I recommend you sign up NOW!
For years I had a special affair with New Years processes. I recall celebrating new years evenings as a teenager with my best friend, my notebook and candle lights whilst everyone else was out partying wildly. I loved it. And continued to love it to this day (even though I caught up on the wild party-thing when I got a little older, happy about that too!) Love the opportunity to cap one year and welcome a new by making conscious what was, and envisioning what lies ahead.
Later I learned more about the power of visualisation and cloaking our dreams with actual visible pictures, and began to incorporate it in my own process. And later in workshops for others. Vision-board-workshops as new years preparation is a very powerful and a truly helpful process. Like telling ourselves the story of our possibilities in a way that we can see them even when we thought we forgot. Because they are visible on a map right there on our own wall. And that opens the door to actually believing it.
Creating Vision maps during a workshop
Finding images for Visionmaps
Like promised, here´s some tips for making your own new years process. And if you do live nearby, I highly recommend joining our workshop. It could just be the extra assistance you need in meeting your own dreams in 2014. Contact me and I´ll send you the details!
Tips for making your own new years process:
Create your own Visionmap step by step (featuring my 2013 map oh yes!)
A free printable New Years Kit from “Do What You Love” that I found very helpful to keep focus.
And a soulful new years Blessing
Important to not stress about this. It´s not about getting it perfect. It´s about taking a conscious glance at a year gone by and sending out your wishes for what you would love to see in the year that is knocking on our door.
Love from Lise.
af Lise Meijer | nov 26, 2013 | Calendars, Cards, Collaborating, Exhibitions, From my life, Lise Meijer Web Shop, Prints, Sale
It´s time to celebrate! Many of you have been supporting my webshop by buying Calendars (almost sold out!), cards and signed posters and it´s blooming in there. I decided to celebrate with a POSTER-PARTY: Buy one get 1 of any of my 4 BIG 50 x 70 posters!!! Yes, truly. Only today and tomorrow!
Here´s how it works: You order one of the BIG posters in the shop (or 2, 3, 4… and I will double the amount!!!) When paying you write in notes which one you would like in addition (can also be the same one(s)). Use this chance if you want, and THANK YOU!!! To buy go HERE!
The posters look amazing put in a frame, a real vitamin-boost of color and soul-frequency to your walls!
Also, I had my first ever stand at a small Christmas-market this weekend. I have sort of been avoiding markets the last years, thinking it was too much work for just a couple of days. And it was a LOT of work! (Like moving in with an entire small shop for just 2 days and then packing it all up again). But it was also heartwarming, fun and rewarding in so many ways. I will never again underestimate the impact of actually meeting customers face to face. Or have people come up to me who knew my products but never saw the face behind them.
And, I got to have collegues for 2 days, picking up coffee for each other, helping out with small practical details and so on. I am not going to promise anything, but I am thinking I will do this again. Perhaps even go to another part of the country, could be fun!
af Lise Meijer | sep 27, 2013 | Collaborating, Finding courage, Finding strength, Paintings, Uncategorized
“And I know I am naive, but if anything
That’s what’s going to save me
That’s what’s going to save me”
From the song “New years eve” by First Aid Kit
Recently a lady told me that until she heard me talk about the background for my paintings she thought they were all very naive. Hearing the background changed her mind, and she saw many levels in one painting.
“Journey together/ Rejse sammen” Acrylic and paper on canvas, 24 x 30 cm (sold/solgt)
(To purchase Journey together as print, head over HERE)
To me, the right kind of naivety is precious. And I believe it can save us. Keep us refreshed in a child-like, yet mature belief that goodness always wins. Believing in the goodness in our own heart and in others. And knowing that such a belief is contagious. Just like cruelty is contageous, or anything else we decide to occupy our minds with, so is goodness. And since goodness feels so much more right to the healthy human, so much more joyful, I do believe it will be the strongest force as long as there is one sane human on this earth. So much inspiration, care and joy can live inside this just one human, housed by one body. This house that each single one of us is gifted on the day of arrival her on earth.
And I believe that together we can create wonders. Still, like many of us, I struggle some days to remember that. Then comes along a video like this, and any doubt is washed away; we were born to work together, and to have enough naivety to keep believing in goodness and joy:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz63M3v11nE&w=560&h=315]