100 Books Project :: Peru
[Book #74 went all over Peru and back to LA! Book #74 is in one of those bundles...]
A lovely Book Fairy named Patricia took Book #74 to Peru. I’ll let her tell the rest…
“So, Swirly, I remembered your pretty book in its plain brown paper wrapper every single day of our journey, that’s the truth. The idea was to take the book to Machu Picchu and leave it there, perhaps for some Peruvian/German/Dutch/French/ Japanese/American tourist to find/enjoy. Instead it made every leg of the journey with us – by aeroplane and taxicab to Mexico City and Cusco, on mule back across the pampas and through the Salkantay Pass (15,000 feet!), and then by train to Aguas Calientes at the foot of the mystical Inca hideaway. Every leg the book made except, alas, the final one.
All I can say in my defense is that we had to climb out of bed at an ungodly hour that last day to catch the bus in an (unsuccessful) effort to beat the Peruvian/German/Dutch/French/Japanese/American crowds. It didn’t help that it was winter in Peru and cold and dark outside at 4 a.m., or that we’d been up too late drinking one or two last Pisco Sours with our trekking buddies the night before. Long story short, the book came to mind some time after the mist shrouding the ruins gave way to the sun and that view, that beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime view materialized. The rest of the day was a whirlwind, and ultimately the book was checked in with our luggage, headed back to LA. So, I’m sitting here right now looking at your still-wrapped book, Swirly, wishing for a different ending.”
Dear Patricia ~ There is no need for a different ending. This one is PERFECT!
100 Books Project :: Namibia
[Book #73, left in Namibia, Africa by Book Fairy Renee Binkowski]
I met Renee last spring when we had the incredibly wonderful fortune to travel together throughout Jordan. She headed to Namibia to work with elephants soon after that trip; she took Book #73 with her and came back with this story:
“I arrived in Windhoek on a Thursday afternoon after traveling for almost 48 hours. As soon as I settled into the apartment, I ventured to downtown looking for a special place to plant the book. I found a neat park area in front of a government building, I thought to leave it there, but it didn’t feel right. The loss of my iphone in the Johannesburg airport consumed all my brain energy the next few days. Before I could blink we were off to Etosha National Park where I was hoping to find a place among the animals. It didn’t feel right to leave it at the tourist lodges. I thought about the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy and how silly it would be for a bushman to find it, but as funny as that seems, it still didn’t feel right.. I carried it with me the entire trip, when eventually I started to worry if I would ever find the right place. I didn’t want to set it just anywhere, it needed to find a good home and eventually a caring owner.
The book took on a life of it’s own, like a very sacred pet of mine. It was only a few hours before
we had to catch a long flight back to the states, I found the best place. My friend Tim brought us to a craft center where a large group of artists in Namibia sell their art. This was beyond a doubt the best home for the little book. I don’t know who ended up with it. I left my new two week old friends standing guard, perhaps they took it? I’d like to think it ended up with a local artist who was inspired by it. I’ll have to go back there some day and find out!”
Thank you Renee!!
Magic
[Photo taken just before the doors opened for Messy and Brave.]
I have organized so many shows, events, and gatherings in my day that I can do them blindfolded, and part of the ease with which I feel I can pull things like this off without so much as a hiccup is that I’ve learned the value of detachment. I know that sounds odd ~ how can I hang my work alongside four amazing, astounding artists and attend to all the details that need attending to and be detached?
It is like this: Being detached is about not worrying over details I cannot control. It is about giving everyone involved all of the information they need and letting each of them handle their own end of things. It is about doing what needs to be done to the best of my abilities and letting that be enough. It is about designing the postcards, promoting the show, hanging the work, setting out food, taking pictures, opening the doors, and then releasing all expectations. It is about allowing everyone to have their own experience, and not trying to control how much or how little everyone has fun and likes the work. It is about taking tiny slivers of time to myself when I need them and saying thank you to everyone who took the time to attend.
This is true for art shows, retreats, workshops, classes, and even birthday parties. It isn’t about being so emotionally detached that my heart isn’t in it; it is about being detached from judgment and expectations. It is about letting the entire experience unfold in its own magical way, and appreciating the beauty in all of it.
It is about saying thank you to Gus Harper, Trevor Meeker, Lisa Occhipinti, and Sabrina Ward Harrison, whose magic, light, and extraordinary creations brought the house down. I have to say, I don’t believe anyone walked out of that studio Saturday night not feeling moved or inspired in some way. I don’t believe that one bit.
For more photos, click here.
Tonight
Messy and Brave is TONIGHT…
6:00 – 11:00pm
Gus Harper Studio
11306 Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90066
Five Things
Today I’m inspired to post two Five Things lists. The second will come either later this afternoon or tomorrow morning with sneak preview photos of Messy and Brave, which is going to be hung today. Until then, this post of Five Things is brought to you entirely by the amazing Mary Anne Radmacher.
1. Visit Mary Anne’s site to see what she is doing right now ~ she is the embodiment of HERO.
2. Read an article about her S.T.A.N.D. project.
3. You can pre-order her beautiful new book ~ Live With Intention (I got a sneak preview and it is oh-so inspiring) ~ right here.
4. Mary Anne also has a beautiful collection with Quotable Cards.
5. The first 35 people that donate to The Trevor Project will receive a free original creation from Mary Anne. More details are on her homepage.
Mary Anne Radmacher is an inspiring figure to so many people ~ myself included ~ and has been for many years. She is an extraordinary spirit who truly and sincerely ~ day by day ~ walks the walk and lives in accordance with the values she expresses so beautifully with her writing and artwork. I am honored to know her and call her my friend.
“Living up to ideals is like doing everyday work with your Sunday clothes on.” ~Edgar Watson Howe
Wide Open
[The Tilda Bear ~ growing by the minute.]
This is going to be another one of those posts that does not end up anything like I thought it would, although due to the fact that I actually have no idea what to write about at the moment I can’t say that is a prediction worth marveling over. But this is how it has been lately when I sit down to write a blog entry. I’m not sure what to write, share, reveal, or ponder. I’m in a weird space.
What happens when you spend most of your life feeling like you have to earn things like love, approval, and affection and then it finally hits you ~ really hits you ~ that this self-imposed pressure to “earn” these things is actually a big waste of time? What happens when you begin to wonder who you really are after realizing so much of your identity has been wrapped around the belief that nothing you ever did, offered, said, or gave was enough?
What happens then?
In this entry, I wrote of “feeling (like) an astronaut whose connection to the space station was severed, floating off into space…” and that feeling is still with me. I am still floating, feeling disconnected to so much of what I once held dear, what I once thought I needed and could count on (as well as things I knew I could not count on, but was still attached to.) This is not necessarily a bad feeling; I do not feel anxiety over these shifts and losses as much as I feel a new kind of freedom from the need to try to hold on to them in order to prove I really value them. Just because something fed me and served me in one moment does not mean that will stay constant in all ensuing moments. My love for something or someone is not necessarily diminished just because I acknowledge and honor when my intuition tells me it is time to let go, step back, and release.
Instead of grasping and trying to hold on to something that has run its course (whether I expected it to go that way or not), I feel a deep peace with what is and have no compulsion to try to prevent any kind of ending, closure, evolution, silence, opening, beginning, or stillness. The performance is over, and I did my best, but the audience is leaving now and it is OK for me to let the curtain remain closed. I did all I could do, and I can go home.
That is the kind of pressure I have put on myself in so many situations ~ to not only show up, but to perform to the very best of my abilities and beyond, all to try to prove that I was a hard worker, a person deserving of love, a loyal friend, a good person. I have justified all of this in numerous situations like this: ”I need to push myself to whatever limits I have in this situation, to prove to myself that I did everything I possibly could to save this relationship, be a good friend, a supportive member of my community, etc.” But really, I was always trying to prove something to someone else, and once I handed that power over to another person, I was doomed. If I’m put in a situation where I feel like I have to prove something like this, then that person or situation isn’t worth such intense pushing of my boundaries in the first place.
This is the release I am experiencing, this is the journey I’ve been on. And the circumstances of my life are very quickly becoming a perfect mirror image of what I am going through inside ~ as of right now, my 2011 calendar is utterly, totally, completely wide open aside from one family wedding and the completion and publication of my next book. OPEN. EMPTY. CLEAR. This fall my intention has been very focused: To clear as much as possible off of my plate o’ projects in order to open myself up to not-yet-revealed possibilities, opportunities, and adventures.
As intense as this entry feels ~ as much as I’ve shared about some of my deepest internal struggles ~ what I want you to know more than anything is that this is all nothing but magnificently brilliant as far as I’m concerned. Everything that has happened this year ~ as difficult as some of these moments have been ~ has been a gift. Everything. These awakenings, this deep sinking in of the truth of my worth that has so far eluded me (in direct proportion to how hard I was trying to get that approval from someone else) has finally dropped deep into my gut, and I’m ready to hang up my suit of armor, lay down my sword, and put up my feet. I don’t need to keep pushing against these arbitrary ideals I set for myself, ideals I think will create a certain kind of attention or reaction. I can simply wake up each day, do my best, and be content with whatever that looks like, for it will change each day, each moment, and in each breath.
“Trying to change ourselves doesn’t work in the long run because we’re resisting our own energy…lasting transformation occurs only when we honor ourselves as the source of wisdom and compassion. Only when we relate with ourselves without moralizing, without harshness, without deception, can we let go of harmful patterns.” ~Pema Chodron
November 2010 ~ Somerset Studio
The upcoming November/December 2010 issue of Somerset Studio has not one but two of my latest features. My work is showcased in their One Palette section and there’s also an inspiring, thought-provoking interview with Andrea Kreuzhage, Director of 1000 Journals.
Messy and Brave
Messy and Brave is this Saturday!
Every single juicy detail is right here.
Quick Question
I am taking an impromptu survey for my book, and I need your help!
Please leave your answer in the comments.
Name one person who has been a beacon of light for you throughout your life. If you feel inspired to share a little bit about how or why this person was such a positive influence, I would love to know more!
My answer: My grandma.
Thank you!!
100 Books Project :: Vienna, Austria
[Book #84, left in Vienna, Austria by Book Fairy Sonal Nathwani.]
The lovely Sonal Nathwani took care of Book #84 in Vienna, Austria in late July 2010 and here’s her story:
“Dear Christine,
I’ve had so many thoughts about where to leave your book. Should I leave it at a famous landmark? Somewhere old and traditional? Somewhere new and funky? Somewhere busy or quiet? I really wanted to make sure it was somewhere special…..
So I had planned that today was the day for the drop, but was still undecided as to where exactly. So I strolled aimlessly through this beautiful city where I have lived for the past 13 years and I happily found tiny little streets I’d never seen before….and then I turned a corner and I recognized where I was. I had ended up in a beautiful old square (Franziskanerplatz) where I decided to have a coffee break. In this square is a tiny, tiny café called Kleines Café (which means small café). I have often wanted to have a coffee here, but it had always been full (it is really very small) or closed when I had passed by. Today there was a perfect table free and I rested there.
I’ll let the photos take over now…..isn’t it just gorgeous? As soon as I sat down and noticed THOSE floor tiles, the worn out leather seats, the well used dark wood chairs, THAT green door and the light coming through it, I just knew that THIS was where the book had to be found.
I so hope that whoever picked up the book writes to you….it would be so wonderful and exciting.
Thanks again for the opportunity to be a Book Fairy. Love, Sonal
P.S. In case you’d like to know a little more about the café culture here in Vienna, click here.”
Thank you for such a beautiful story and gorgeous photos to go with it Sonal!
