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| Chicago Public Library I don't know what the cornice is supposed to be, nor do I quite "get" the button-like things. However, it's a LIBRARY, therefore, it is AWESOME. |
So, in between things I had to do - like, oh, paying work, washing a load of undies - I've been planning my vision board. I looked up and cut out headers from the Los Angeles Times Book Section, and the New York Times Book Section, in that special Gothic font they use, since I hope to be listed there someday. I printed out a picture I'd taken of the Chicago Public Library with its cool cornices.
I printed out pictures of great places I've been to which I'd like to return someday like Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon, the Library of Congress (stunning, beautiful, breathtaking) in Washington, DC, the Sierra Mountains of California and the Milwaukee Lakeside Art Museum and south-central Pennsylvania where I spent my teen years. I printed out pictures from my visit to Queen Califia's Magic Circle in Escondido, where, if you're not already high (I wasn't), you'll feel like you're tripping on psychotropic drugs.
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| Queen Califia's Magic Circle Garden Escondido, California |
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| La Sagrada Familia via Wikimedia Commons Under construction since 1862 |
I printed out pictures of places I haven't yet been but really want to go, The Tower of London and Hever Castle (where Anne Boleyn grew up) and The Alhambra and Stonehenge and Versailles. I printed out a picture of La Sagrada Familia for my vision board, because if ever there's an emblem of "Dream Big," it's La Sagrada Familia, still under under construction after more than 100 years, like a medieval church.)
I printed out pictures about mindfulness and body image, including one of ME and this wonderful set of sculptures from the Getty.
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| This is NOT me - just one of a billion other skinny girls. I put the picture of ME and these sculptures at the middle of my vision board. Around them I wrote, "Changing Woman" (from the Native American tradition) Learn to Love.... the Skin I'm in Every Size has its beauty... Every shape has a function Right now I am beautiful |
And I printed a jillion pictures of BABIES. I dream of babies, a lot. A Witch's Book of Dreams, which I bought following a recommendation from my as-yet-unmet friend Thalia, says that "Baby" represents "giving birth to an infant can represent a new aspect of oneself, a brand new idea, or a creative project. A Divine Child or Wonder Baby, one who walks and talks, is an archetypal image signifying the birth of the divine within us, the new son/sun of hope emerging. Very positive."
So, I printed pictures of babies for my vision board. I printed pictures of babies crawling, up stairs and hills. Of toddlers hugging each other, giggling, chortling with glee. I printed pictures of a toddler leading on his younger sister, thinking "Original Release + Sequel." I printed a picture of myself, about 3-4 years old, sticking out my tongue for the camera. Of a young girl in a skirt made of rainbow colored scarves. Of babies white, African, Asian. Of identical twins (one of my favs) in t-shirts bearing the legends "Copy" (on one shirt) and "Paste" (on the other.)
And I had a lot of fun doing this, but, if you haven't done the math yet, totally ran out of space on my vision board. When I stopped at the store after work on Friday in the pouring rain, to buy (what seemed then) a huge piece of foam board, I was naively thinking, "Well, I guess I can cut this in half."
I didn't need to cut it in half. I could have done 20 vision boards, and not had enough space for all the picture I had printed, for all the things I still want to write down and print on it.
I did the cutting and pasting all day yesterday, putting aside an uncountable number of pictures that there was simply no room for, and then, last night, I did dream about babies. About needing to feed my babies. About trying to keep track of all my babies (a hint, perhaps, that I'm becoming overextended?)
And I dreamed about bowling.
I dreamt about trying to bowl, and that I kept getting stopped by.. something. I would get ready to bowl and I was interfering with somebody else. I got placed into my own lane and the power was off, or the pin-setter didn't work. Everybody that I had been trying to bowl with was long since finished, and it would have been real easy to say, "Okay, I quit, this isn't happening for me today," yet for some unknown reason, I was determined to battle on. I went to bowl and the holes in my ball were too small - it wasn't my ball at all - or the finger holes were too big. I went to the service window to try to get my ball and they were still working on cleaning it.
I checked a Witch's Book of Dreams, but there were no answers there. Apparently, either witches don't bowl (and here I was, about to send in my check and membership application!) Or, at least, they don't generally dream of bowling. My Dreamer's Dictionary for the 21st Century did offer a clue:
Dreams of bowling symbolize focus and concentration on a goal. <aha! like, perhaps, my much-neglected novel?!> They may suggest that you will strike it rich if you engage in life and get out of your rut.Well, I am not sure I want to "strike it rich." I would like to be able to earn enough from my writing to quit my day job, and buy a nice house (although my solo apartment is ten times better than living with nitpicking OCPD ex-b-f.)
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| So, there! to life, expectations, and dirty undies! |
But obviously, my subconscious was trying to send me a message, so, for the first part of the day (after yoga and breakfast, of course) I worked on my much-neglected novel. I rewrote the first chapter to add more Heart, per The Editor Devil. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th.
I feel good about the work I did on the novel. And on the vision board. And on my dirty undies.
Even if I have left much undone, I have also made much progress. How about you?
