ABOUT COFFEE BREWING AND LIFE PASSION

Slow down

This morning I asked my morning pages:

“What could I tell to explain how Vision boards and life visions work? What do people need to hear to know if it’s something they want to pursue?”

And then I went to make a cup of coffee. And as I stood there in my own thoughts, watching the espresso brewer (one of those Italian owns you put on a hotplate until the heat makes the water into steam which is forced up through the coffee) turn water and coffee beans to a wonderfully fragrant brew, this answer came to me:

“Tell them what you see here, in front of your eyes. Explain that it is possible to do the same with our lives. That just as it takes heat to make the water and beans into coffee, in the same way it takes passion, to make a person´s abilities and talents flourish in the world.

For you humans forget so easily that inspiration and passion are possible when you don´t have it, and you begin to think of life is an obstacle or a competition. And you continue until you become stressed or ill. So tell them, and yourself, that there is another way – so you will remember. ”

And that is true, and that is what I will do, I do know the other way. And I must regularly remind myself of it – and practice. For so much in this world makes me forget it.

ALL of us (yes, also YOU – I swear) has a unique combination of skills and talents. But to brew a wonderful life we need a sustained and steady amount of passion. Passion is like fire that burns and, like heat, it needs a good energy source.

And that energy source consists of several things, but a really important one is that we have visions. Clear, passionate, playful, thinking-out-of-the-box-and-the-lid-off-visions!

And then, it needs us to create actions from our visions, immediately! So the steam don´t go out. But not all at once – oh, no, just with small doable steps, so we don´t burn out.

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Our life requires – much like coffee – a good amount of heat & passion to become a wonderful brew.

If you live in Denmark, I have a course just about that, all info HERE – last signup this friday!

And if you live abroad, here are some links you may enjoy, about how to keep that daily passion burning.

Love to you + your day from Lise.

PS: If you want to know more about morning pages, you may enjoy to read THIS

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Would you like some Inspiration?


Pot of Inspiration

 Image: “Pot of Inspiration”  ON SALE right now. 20 % off everything in my webshop until coming sunday!!!

I write my morningpages most days. Some days it helps me be with the parts of me I would otherwise push under the carpet because it didn´t at first seem tempting to examine the feeling of fear, restlessness or sadness. Truth: they always hold a hidden gem, and morningpages is one way to uncover that. Other days it gives me a place and time to jump verbally with joy or count my blessings. In both cases, it´s like quietly stirring my inner pot of inspiration. It really is. I can almost feel the bubbles rising.

In my experience, Inspiration comes to visit when we make ourselves attractive to it. And, to Inspiration, attractive does not mean a perfect or always happy person. I find that what Inspiration seems to find most attractive is something I will call “Movement toward Joy”. When we dare to move – even with the smallest of steps – in the direction of our passion and joy and does so again and again, that´s when Inspiration decides to jump our train.

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(Me, writing morningpages – yes, lefthanded!)

And “plop”, you have an idea that seemed to come from out of the blue. Or you suddenly SEE the solution of a certain problem. Or perhaps you just know that you have to begin taking that dancing class, for no seemingly logical reason. And when you do, even more inspiration begins to flow, which leads you in the direction of a more passionate and fulfilling life.

For me, writing morning pages (more about morningpages HERE) is the greatest help for inviting Inspiration as a daily companion. It keeps my inner pot brewing keeping up the temperature of my life passion without making me burn out. I highly recommend this tool, created and introduced by the blessed creativity coach, Julia Cameron.

I don´t think of it as luxury to live a life nourished by Inspiration. I think of it as a respectful and most fitting way of administering this marvelous life we have been given. May Inspiration quietly and steadily be bubbling in our lives every day. Perhaps hidden under the surface and not very feelable to ourselves on testing days. But all the time nourished by our quiet steadily Movement toward Joy!

Dancing with life

“Dancing with Joy”, also part of the 20 % SALE this week!

 

True joy under the tree


Joy under the tree

“Joy under the tree”. New painting. Available for purchase HERE, as the very first of a series of small and affordable paintings on Etsy, yay!

Strange how we humans create traditions and then keep them up long after no one can remember or manifest their true meaning. Strange how just a little awareness can shift that.

One day a most wonderful Christmas tree presented itself to me. A tree standing alone in a winter landscape. And yet not alone.  It was part of a beautiful world of life, not visible to the eye unless you were able to see through the cold winter earth beneath its roots. There were presents under the tree! But a very special kind. The kind that makes you still with wonder and joy. They were pure life energy and juices from trees and plants withdrawn into the ground to be stored and renewed during the cold season. And they were wrapped in a deep understanding of the cycle of life and death.

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I saw a world of promise and new life. Forces making ready for the year to come. And I noticed how the tree was settled, knowing that what the eyes can´t see is still there, as pure joy under the surface. That this is another kind of spring, felt by those who are able to be so still that they can hear what goes on under the surface.

Detail from York Minster

Detail from York Minster

This December I will try once again. To do what I can and leave the rest. And not be driven by traditions. But rather use them as an opener and guide to what may be a hidden truth. Remembering that true presents has joy and connection and don´t come with a demand. I know it´s not easy in this world. But I firmly believe we can create our own new traditions, little by little. Traditions connected to something true. Something real. Even if it´s something we can´t see it with the eyes.

Here´s to lots of  true joy under the trees this year!!!

Xx Lise.

PS: part of my sanity in times like this comes from the small (or sometimes big, yay!) moments of reconnecting with myself through writing morning pages. Lifesaving. Really. 

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Julia Cameron + morning pages rock!

I recently posted a photo of my morning-pages-journal on FB, and a creative soul wrote “morning pages rock!” in the comments. Another wrote “Morning pages are fabulous! And I thought: yes and yes and YES!!!


(The latest morning-pages-journal got a cover-make-over, which makes it even more tempting for me!)

The author and creativity coach Julia Cameron has managed to create such a popular and almost embarrassingly simple tradition amongst creatives over the world. The fact that I can write the words “morning pages” and someone from another country know exactly what I am talking about made me so happy. A truly good thing that heals the creative soul has spread around the globe for good….YES!

(Me, my beloved morning-pages- journal and coffee!)

Why are morning pages so special?

They work like a shower for the soul and mind, cleaning the systems before a creative working day. They leave you more at ease with what is, and therefore more open to what else is there that want to play that day. Like inspiration, visions and passion. And that is a BIG thing for a creative person, that makes the difference from misery to magic!

And what are they, how do you do them?

1. Get a journal, preferably biggish.

2. Set aside about 20 min´s in the morning for writing.

I prefere the time just before starting my working day, with coffee by my side. Some do them in bed when they awake. They work best if you do them every morning, but some is also good and will surely make a differece.

3. Now write 3 pages, longhand.

Start anywhere, ex: “I am tired today, must try to go earlier to bed tonight. I hate to have to wake the children in the morning. Maybe it´s time to look at our family´s timings again…..I am keen to paint but actually wished I had more time, worried it will affect me…..Amazing how that scene from the movie still sits in my system…..bla-bla-bla….” sweet nothings will get you going. It´s not important WHAT you write. What matters is that you WRITE, and without judgement, 3 pages at a reasonable pace. Don´t be surprised if some of your best ideas show up some days on the pages. And don´t worry when they don´t. Just DO them.

(Often it is during the morning-pages I get ideas for images or words to my paintings like in the one above)

That´s it. And maybe remember that it is ok to make notes for your do-do-list, but be careful, only notes. To do-lists are not Morning pages. The pages are you listening to the sound of you, right there in the moment.

(From a café-visit in the company of another of Julia´s books, “The sound of paper”)

Try it out, or even better, get Julia´s book “The artists way“. It totally rocks too!!! So does her other books, but I recommend starting with this one.

If you already write morning pages, please share how it is in the comments below, I would love to hear!!

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