Rock Your Balance

Creative Nudge Fridays is here!

Welcome to nudge #17. We're rocking it.

Since ancient times hand-stacked stones have been used as landmarks and signs. Found all over the world stone stacks have also been built for ceremonial, astronomical and protective purposes. Known as a cairn, which comes from a Scottish Gaelic word, in Mongolia they are called an ovoo, in Hawaii they are called ahu, in Italy they are ometto and in Canada they are known as inuksuk.

Stone stacking or balancing stones is an active meditation. It focuses the mind and is calming, grounding and harmonising.

Here is a nudge to help calm your mind and create the space for greater balance from within. Balance a pile of stones. Use a handful of stones that you might already have or gather them from your local environment - or do this exercise while out on a nature walk, at the beach or in your local park. This experience can take as long as you like. Allow the stones to stack free-form without any bonding material such as glue. Once you build your stack, you can rearrange the stones in other ways too, to see how they hold up or to see which layer order feels the most harmonised to you.

A note, stones that are super shiny tend to slip off one another. Stones that appear matt, or have a rougher surface give more grip. River rocks and stones are brilliant for this!

To remind yourself that you can create greater balance in your life from within, take a photo of your stacked stones, then use the pic as your screen saver or wallpaper on your phone or computer.

I'd love to see your hand-stacked stones!

If you give the nudge a go, comment below or be a part of the conversation on my Facebook Page. If you share your stacked-stones via Twitter or Instagram use the tag #creativenudgefridays so we can find you.

Create on, Jelena x

© Copyright Jelena Mrkich 2013.

Permission is granted to share this post and images within it freely on the condition that the author is credited and this byline is included. Jelena Mrkich is an Artist, Art Therapist and Creative Catayst who is passionate about creativity as a tool for healing, transformation and self-awareness. For more info visit JelenaMrkich.com or for regular creative good things join her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Share

You are a Meaning-Maker

For those of you who know my blog you know I love to share with you soul-nourishing creative good things and deliver self-empowering invitations via creativity and the written word to help you be more of who you really are. This week I felt guided to do that in the form of a more personal story.

I was searching for a particular tiny notebook I had bought in Milan, Italy after spending a month printmaking in Florence in 2006. I looked all through my studio, in my craft boxes, on my shelves, in my drawers and in the cupboards. It was nowhere to be found. So I took to my art supplies storage space under my house yesterday. I still didn't find it. Instead I did come across a stack of blank watercolour papers that had belonged to my mum, Miki Mrkich (1951-2002) . She was an artist, amongst many brilliant things, who allowed me to find my own way as an artist too. In the ten and a half years since she transitioned, these precious papers were still blank, waiting to be used for something fabulous. As soon as I saw them again, I knew what they had been waiting for. My 365 Acts of Creativity project. I'm already two months into it, creating in a beautiful red art journal. Yet I kept sensing that my project wanted to be in another format. Holding the watercolour papers in my hand I knew their purpose, to be the canvas for all 365 pieces. This means quite a few already completed pieces are going to go through a rebirth and transform as new creations. Quite apt really, for the Year of the Snake. Shedding layers to reveal new layers.

This afternoon I placed the papers on the lawn and lay down amongst them. Grateful that creativity - be it through art, craft, photographs, videos, music, voice recordings, hand-written notes, letters, postcards, poems, hand-painted plates, hand-knitted socks, hand-quilted blankets, hand-beaded jewellery, family recipes, hand-planted mulberry trees or any other creative imprints and expressions - gives form to our essence and when shared with others, allows a part of us to be with them in the present and in the physical when we pass on.

Some may say, 'But it's just blank paper, there's nothing on it.'. True. There is nothing on these papers. But they hold a lot. They were my mum's and as such hold a deep meaning to me. They mean the world to me.

As with anything we own, create or do ~ what touches us and can immeasurably shift us the most is the meaning that it holds or the meaning we give it. Whenever we wish to make or create anything for ourselves or another, it is an opportunity to create greater meaning in our life right now. From my soul to yours I say, "Get your create on!".

Your view. If you like this post click LIKE, add your comments below or on my Facebook Page.

Pass it on. Here is a ready-to-go prod for you to share on Facebook, Twitter + elsewhere on the web; You are a meaning-maker, http://ow.ly/i5SV9 via @jelenamrkich

Shine on, Jelena x

p.s. Kalvin dove straight into the papers and hopped from one to the next imagining they were stepping stones. Kalvin says life is a journey of stepping stones. Some stones are more challenging than others to travel across. Each one carries its own experience, which can include; joy, sadness, laughter, tears, easeful~ness, frustration, clarity, confusion, expression, suppression, stillness, movement, wounds, healing, anxiety, liberation, grief, peace or gratitude. Each step holds value, purpose and meaning. Each step is what leads us to where we are. And when we acknowledge where we are at, we allow ourselves to be more of who we are. Kalvin says wherever you are at, express your brilliant self. It's beneficial for your whole self and your sense of wellness. And as a bonus, one day someone who loves you just might one say thank you for it too.

p.p.s. For details on my 365 Acts of Creativity project, see the postscript here.

© Copyright Jelena Mrkich 2013.

Permission is granted to share this post and images within it freely on the condition that the author is credited and this byline is included. Jelena Mrkich is an Artist, Art Therapist and Creative Catayst who is passionate about creativity as a tool for healing, transformation and self-awareness. For more info visit JelenaMrkich.com or for regular creative good things join her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Share

Peace by Piece

When our soul desires for us to receive a message, sometimes it shares the message with us piece by piece. Not to make life more difficult, rather to create opportunities for us to encounter the divine. Our soul is speaking with us always, all-ways. Developing a conscious connection invites us to open our eyes, hearts and minds that much wider to the sacred signs delivered daily on our path.

To tune in to your soulful morsels from the higher realms, ask yourself;
- What have I noticed on my path today?
- What is its message for me?
- What else have I been noticing on my path?
- What message is in this experience for me?
- What have I not been ready or wanting to notice?

Think about what signs seem to be a theme for you at the moment, whether numbers, words, colours, objects, places, people, animals or other things. When the same or similar signs keep showing up, and we are paying attention, often they are messages of confirmation and arrive for support along our journey. When signs repeat, and we miss their message for whatever reason, the signs can become louder and larger, until we pause to pay attention.

Every message from our soul finds its way to us. And everything that finds its way to us is a message from our soul.

When we greet everything that shows up on our path from a higher perspective we open to the gift in each experience. When we love what shows up, oh happy days. When we might not like what shows up, ask yourself 'What is my gift in this?'. Seeing the gift creates the space for deeper inner peace.

The Universe is the original postmaster, meticulously aware of each and every impulse vibrating through us and our life. Each message for you is delivered either when you are consciously or subconsciously ready, when you ask for it on some level or when your soul is needing the experience. Trust that the Universe knows where you live. Open to the peace in the pieces from your soul.

Each message and every sign is a gift from you, to you.

Your view. If you like this post click LIKE, add your comments below or on my Facebook Page.

Pass it on. Here is a ready-to-go prod for you to share on Facebook, Twitter + elsewhere on the web; Open to the peace in the pieces from your soul, http://ow.ly/hT0vU via @jelenamrkich

Shine on, Jelena x

p.s. Kalvin loves that the more we are aware of the sacred signs and messages on our path, the more we become aware of the bigger picture of our life. Noticing the little things allows us to see the interconnectedness in all things. Paying attention to what lands on our path and what is unfolding in our life helps us develop greater clarity, understanding and peace. Kalvin says this is super beneficial during such times when we feel like everything is falling to pieces. Sure, expanding our awareness might be like the last thing we feel like doing when in a state of anxiety, doubt and worry. Kalvin says when we are turning in on ourselves, physical triggers can help flip the switch such as; tilting our face up, lifting our eyes to focus on something else or taking a conscious deep breath in to expand our diaphragm. It's in the moments when we lift our perspective that shifts our experience - and opens us up to its gifts.

© Copyright Jelena Mrkich 2013.

Permission is granted to share this post and images within it freely on the condition that the author is credited and this byline is included. Jelena Mrkich is an Artist, Art Therapist and Creative Catayst who is passionate about creativity as a tool for healing, transformation and self-awareness. For more info visit JelenaMrkich.com or for regular creative good things join her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Share

Rest Your Head, Enter Your Heart

Here we are. In the eye of the storm. 

As I sat down to write this post, that is the image that came to mind. Of being in the centre of shifting weather. The kind of weather that cleanses the old, throws things up to the Universe and washes things anew. No matter if your regular happenings have shifted a little or a lot during this time of year, the festive season