Keeping your mouth shut

There are times when silence is better than speaking.

There are times when whatever you say will be the wrong thing.

There are times when not speaking will make you appear wise, even if you haven't a clue.

There are times when there are no words that will take away the pain and silent hand-holding is what is needed.

There are times when you will want to speak out in your own defence, but the wiser thing to do is to keep silence.

There are times when speaking is the worst thing you can do.

Learn to know when those times are.

Just breathe

There are days when I don't feel as if I've achieved as much as I'd like. Maybe, like me, you tend to be a little hard on yourself.

But there are days where just getting through the day is enough.

Just breathing is enough.

Just being is enough.

29 Faces - #14

Thought I'd try my hand at graffiti-style today. A dude with attitude.

And for AJED, here's a journal page from this busy week:

Thresholds and making a mess

My husband and daughter visited a chocolateria on Saturday while I was taking a class. They came back with napkins with a great sentiment on them:

It is perfect for an artist, though my hands don't become so artistically messy as this. Though the time when I was dyeing a T-shirt and developed a hole in my glove left me with a beautiful turquoise hand up to the wrist…

And this one just slips in to the Art Journal Journey challenge of 'doors' before December and the change of theme.

A challenge...

Have you ever delved into something and then wondered why you ever did it? And how you might possibly put it all back in the box and forget about it? It's like when you buy a new duvet. As soon as you pull it out of the bag you know for sure that it's never going back in there. It just expands as if it has a life of its own.

Sometimes we step out and take a risk... and it runs away with us. You take one little step in faith and the whole thing snowballs. And sometimes it's scary.

Well, I'd like to take one of those little steps and ask if there is anybody out there who would like to join in a circle journal? It's something I've wanted to do for a long time but you know how it is - who will I ask? What if no-one wants to join in? If you're wondering what I mean by circle journal, you might also know it as a round robin. Each person provides a journal and they all travel around the group, each person adding their own page/s until it arrives back at the originator full of wonderful creativity. It will be a long term project because I would want everyone to have plenty of time to complete their pages. Plus there will be postal charges. If none of that has put you off and you're interested, email me at tracywoodsford@gmail.com

Let's see if we can have an adventure...

As I actually painted something, I think I'll link up with Paint Party Friday as well as Art Journal Every Day, Creative Every Day, and Art Journal Journey (see the links in the side-bar).

Fall Fearless and Fly - No. 2

So, the second challenge from Fall Fearless and Fly. Here are the prompts:

Headline: Taking a chance. When did you take a chance or a leap of faith? What did you learn?
Colour: The one you like least
Quote: Don't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase - that's what wild geese are for. Anonymous

Well, there aren't really any colours I don't like.  This isn't a combo I would usually use, though.

The quote didn't really speak to me. For me a wild goose chase is something that doesn't profit you because it is a waste of time. Taking a chance is not a waste of time because there is always something to learn. So I substituted another:

...there are times you need the courage to take a great leap; you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.     David Lloyd George

As for taking a leap of faith, I have done that several times. One was when my husband went forward for  ordination and he had to give notice at his job and we put our house on the market before we knew he definitely had a place at theological college. (This was four weeks before term was due to start.)

The latest would be coming to Australia and leaving everything behind. I came not having been here before at all, not knowing what our housing would be like or anything.

What did I learn? Well, I learned that God is faithful and trustworthy. That is why there is a hand in the gap, ready to catch me if I falter.

(Also linking with Art Journal Every Day )

change

Recently I led a retreat at our church where one of the options was to walk a labyrinth. I made some notes after I had walked it myself and came across them again a couple of days ago.

A labyrinth is not a maze, but a single path that leads to the centre. If you follow the path you cannot get lost. You will eventually get to the centre if you persist along the path, but there are lots of changes of direction along the way, and sometimes you seem to be heading directly away from where you want to go.

After walking the labyrinth I noted that there are stretches of straight road that we travel for a while. At other times the road twists and turns and it feels difficult to keep up with all the changes in direction and to keep our balance. Sometimes the change seems to come more quickly than we can cope with.

What changes are you facing at the moment?

Whether they are large or small, they can still make you feel off-balance. Hang on in there - you'll get there in the end.

I shall be linking this with art journal every day. Hope to see you there.