I started to run out of steam for keeping up with Week In The Life here on the blog  
But I did stay with the project and completed taking pictures and journaling last night.  
This was a large undertaking and the burning question for me today is 
Was it worth the effort and would I do it again?

Absolutely!


Wrapping up today, I am swimming in a pool of deep gratitude 
for Ali Edwards sharing this project on her blog in such a way that 
made it feel do able for me.

When I looked back at all the pictures I feel like I got the essence 
of what my days are filled with right now; a mixture of every day 
habits, reasons to celebrate, along with family and good friends 
to share it all with.   

Since we did have some of those special days (my birthday
and my neighbor's 21st wedding anniversary celebration) mixed in 
with our regular days, it was interesting to just observe the different 
feel between what was routine and what was 'special'.  

I noticed the difference in the energy around how I felt about the day as 
compared to the regular days.  I found it very comforting to know where 
those anchors during my week were Monday homemaking, Tuesday and 
Wednesday karate, Thursday knit night, etc. 

As I continued to record my days, my perception really did shift.
What was routine became special because I was looking 
at it all with new eyes.

Taking more pictures than I thought I would need, I ended up with a total of 375 photos 
and 4 videos (1-2 minutes each) of moments through out my week.  
The pictures I've shared publicly have become mosaics (thanks Liz Lamoreux
for the great idea!) and the others I plan to put together 
on DVD I'll keep in my kids' family boxes along with my journaling sheets.

I'll probably share the DVD with relatives so they can feel a part of our lives as well. 

And now back to Project Past Life...

Wednesday I decided to capture more pictures than words.
I gave myself a photo challenge with a list of 100 different
things to capture through out my regular day.  

Here are a few of the pictures from today:

I ended up with just over 50 pictures.  I really liked doing WITL this way 
as it gave me an opportunity to see things a little differently.

I'll be printing them out on an 8x10 photo paper, number them
and include the list of what each photo represents in a sleeve.

Tuesday I didn't take as many pictures but I still did a lot of journaling. 
I found I wanted to really capture what was happening in the hours
in more words than pictures. 

Tuesday is also the day I spend a lot of time driving
like 4-5 hours during the course of the day so it's
difficult catching much day.  Here's some of my pictures:

My plan for Wednesday and into the rest of this week
is a photo challenge.  I have a list of 100 things to capture
from my daily life. 

And for my Thursday, I've decided to take one picture
(maybe a self portrait of some sort) an hour from the time I wake
up until bedtime to capture the essence of my birthday.

As I looked through the creative resources for Project Life,
I stumbled across Ali Edwards and her project called A Week in the Life.
I thought it would be fun to look back and see what a week of my life looked
like on the days leading up to and just after my birthday which falls on
Thursday this week.

Since this is my first time, I decided to focus more on the journal with
the sheets I downloaded from Ali's website than pictures for today.
Though I have taken nearly 70 pictures today alone,
I expect I may end up with loads more as I go along.

I'm using my phone and my Canon Power Shot A590IS.
I've also got my daughter in on it so she can help me get
some pictures of 'me' when my focus is else where.

This morning I pulled up the blinds because I was trying to find out which window had slid down during the night. We're experiencing some icy weather today...such a disappointment after such a mild almost nonexistent winter.

Below is a shot of my desktop with today's date, the forecast and my calendar...did you notice I love Maleficent?

 

I went to make up my bed and found my poochie baby still under the covers. Warming the bed is pretty much her job so I don't mind. She is quite a spoiled rotten old thing though!  I had to snap the picture pretty quickly because she hates getting pictures taken.

Here are some of my favorite bits of what I captured today.

I'm sure everyone thinks of their ordinary days as nothing special
and truth be told it's easy to document the special days because
they are special.  But the special days are few and far between. 
What really makes up our lives are those ordinary mundane days.

My intention for doing this project is to shift my perception about
my days as a reminder that hey, these ordinary life days? 
They are just as special and sacred as any of those special days.

The mundane days are truly sacred and worthy of honor.

Last week in my neck of the woods we experienced some delicious April showers but this weekend has been filled with clear skies though it's been kind of cold.  It amazes me how quickly the weather can change...I went from getting out and playing in the rain with my little one to snuggling under a warm blanket while listening to the wind move through the exquisite trees.  As I celebrate Earth Day, I got to thinking about ways I connect with Mama Gaia in all her splendor through the trees.  Remembering how a tree's roots support it as it's doing it's work, I made this video to remind you how they can support you!

Happy Earth Day dear ones!  Get out in nature and celebrate this beautiful space we call home!

A few days ago through the Daily Goddess Oracle on Twitter,
Goddess spoke through me to say a multi-level attunement was
taking place and someone asked for more information on the concept of attunement. 
I share this information based upon what I have experienced, your mileage may vary.
May this be a guidepost to help you on your path.

A spiritual attunement, usually used in Reiki, is similar to energy healing in many respects as it can loosen energy blocks and harmonize one's mind, body, and spirit.

When I experience an attunement, it is a time when anything
that is not in alignment or "attuned to" the next level of teaching coming to me or through me.   This happens so as to widen and deepen my ability to be a scared container for these teachings. It can happen on it's own, but I've most often experienced attuenments after participating in a particularly deep spiritual training.

My first recognized attunement happened during my Priestess training course when
for several hours afterwards, I become invisible. My husband
came looking for me but didn't see me even though he was looking straight at me.
Since this initial attunement, I had several that coincide with pivotal timings in my life; during the month prior to my birthday, several days after the anniversary
of my ordination to name a couple. I use these two times as a general guideline for awareness as the length and timing of the attunement cycle (for me) has varied.

While the experience can be different for everyone,
some of the things I experience that let me know
I'm going through an attunement include:

1. Things that wouldn't normal bug me start to annoy me
for no concrete reason.

2. Certain foods become distasteful or I can't get enough of them
(during an attunement with my matron Isis, I couldn't get enough
milk and honey but I found animal flesh distasteful)

3. I start getting major spiritual downloads
in the form of visions, deeply significant dreams I remember in vivid detail,
visits from my matron Goddesses, spiritual guides, and or my ancestors.

4. Clumsiness~especially after I've used grounding techniques to
become more aware and in my body.

5. Seeing myself with the eyes of Goddess; it feels as
if I'm experiencing my day as though I'm on the outside
of myself looking in at what I'm doing.


Once I recognize being in an attunement cycle, I do my best to take extra good care of myself as I am prone to be much more sensitive to external stimuli. 

I hope from this description you can recognize the times when you've experienced
attunements.

As I've been sorting through pictures for the last
few weeks in my Project Past Life album, today's wishcasting is right where my heart and mind have
been with that project. 

Jamie asks Where do you wish to go?


It's been 10 years since I was last outside the US. 
Last summer we sent our daughter on a trip to Japan
with a student group for her high school graduation
present and I have to admit even though I was glad
we were able to give her that experience, I had a deep
longing for some out of country travel myself. 

I've also lamented not giving my son the experience
of living in another country since he was born after
our return.

I wish with all my heart to go back to Europe.
We lived there for 5 1/2 years some of it in
Italy and the rest in Germany.  We visited
London and Paris but I'd also love to hit up
Belgium, Switzerland, Austria.  I absolutely
adored my European lifestyle and would
pack up in a heartbeat if given the chance.
There were so many things I didn't get to
do and many more places I'd like to revisit
specifically in Italy. 

I also wish to go to New Zealand.
After seeing The Lord of the Rings (the Fellowship)
I fell in love with the sweeping landscapes
that were filmed.  I'd love to take a tour of
where Peter Jackson filmed, though I know
the hobbit hole that made my heart sing is
no longer there. 

Next week, since Wishcasting will be on hiatus
I'll revisit some of the wishes I've made over the
last few months and see which ones have come
true and which ones I'd lie to revisit.

Being such an earthy person, I've had to do a lot of inner work with my anxiety around being uprooted.  I've done this mostly with the help of various counselors, but I found having body work done complementary to the 'mental' inner work helped me process things much quicker.

And so here we are at Wishcasting Wednesday and
Jamie asks "What do you wish to jump into?"

The question felt like musical trivia to me
How many songs can you think of that have
'jump' in them?  I thought of three right off
the bat:

"Jump" by Van Halen
"Jump" by Cris Cross
"Jump for my love" by The Pointer Sisters

So yea...March was such a spiritually cleansing time
for me this year and lately, I've been feeling a bit sluggish
as though I've been dragging my feet.

Not at all feeling the lightness of being that would
elevate me off the ground.

I'm on the move quite a bit throughout my day,
and creatively I'm doing lots of things like knitting all the time,
finding fun ways to make home school
a part of every day life, having a blast running
The Way of Tea, taxi driving my kids to their various activities
and creating a sanctuary for a home.  I'm also knee deep in planning a
birthday celebration for myself and my blog which is no small feat either.

Despite my best efforts, I still feel stuck in old energy.

Several definitions of jump came to mind as I thought
about my wish; 'to move energetically, to start out, to bustle with activity'.
These speak to me deeply as I know my body, mind and
spirit functions better when I'm on the move. 

With that in mind, I wish to JUMP into a new form of movement!
I've been doing the same form of movement for several months
and quite frankly I'm bored.  For the love of my body, mind and
spirit, it's time to shake things up! 

Oh the possibilities!  Goddess has already showed me the means
to make this wish come true!  There are new classes at my local
parks and recs; yoga, zumba, water aerobics, aqua zumba...it all sounds
so delicious I can't make up my mind!  But I will sign up for a new
class and report back next week on what I chose!

I have been out in my garden getting my boxes
ready for the plants to be put in as well as processing
the lessons this Mercury in Retrograde taught me. 

For the month of April, I'm exploring the theme of rooting. 
Merriam Webster defines 'root' as to remove something,
to fix, implant, or enable to develop. 

In this video, I'll share how my garden reminded me of the need
for a protective layer to keep out things I didn't want to grow.