Tag: Possibility

2011 Goal~Project365/2011 The creative me is taking priority over practical me

Inspiration, Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse, Postaday / Postaweek 2011

This week has been a week of reflection. It is the first week of the New year of the New decade. This is a time when most people look behind them at the past and resolve to make things better and newer in the New Year. I am one of those millions of people who have been going through New Year reflections. I have had a few A-Ha moments that I would like to share with you in this post.

A few months ago I wrote a post called: Joy is a Choice. It was an A-Ha moment that I had during one of my early morning Soul Photographs (Morning Pages). Joy is not a state of being and it is not a given. But Joy is a Choice. There is not much in life that we can choose to avoid or choose to manifest, most of life happens by happenstance or circumstance and how we react to those times.

But Joy is more than an emotion.

Happiness is an emotion.

Joy is an attitude.

The French have the best phrase for this:

Joie de Vivre

The Italian phrase that corresponds to this is:

La Bella Vita

This year my 2011 Word of the year is Possibility. I have also decided to focus more on the creative me and less time on the practical me. I have decided that life should not be a case of “Live to work” but rather a case of “Work to live”. I am going to make this a year of  Joie de Vivre and Life is going to be La Bella Vita.

How?

I am going to be branching out more creatively speaking and better my current creative crafts (whether that be in writing, photography) and opening myself out to the Possibility of other creative pathways. I am signing up for classes at a local Arts Centre from February. The classes that I have my eye on now are Painting (with a specialization of Surrealism) and Glass-Blowing.

I am also going to take part in something called Project 365. This is a project run by an extraordinary group of women who call themselves The Shutter Sisters. This is a project where you take a picture a day and then post it to the Website’s Flickr page called Shutter Sisters 365. The idea behind the project is exactly the same idea to what I had when I wrote Joy is a Choice. It is to capture a moment that inspires Joy in you through the lens of a camera. The ladies on Shutter Sisters put it in a sentence that really resonates with me this year:

“This was all about moment, right? Staying in the moment has a way of dissipating negativities even though we catch them in freeze frame with our cameras. When you sit with sadness or anger you are in control of ushering it out. When you sit with joy and love you are empowered and radiate it back to others. Photography has this magic to it as well. No one else has your eyes. No one sees the world exactly as you do. That is a beautiful thing!”

– Meredith Winn (04/01/11)

So I have signed up to be a part of this Vision. I have always loved photography even before I studied it both in School and afterwards. I remember my first two photographs that really made me fall in love with viewing the world through the eye of a camera lens. I was about 11 years old and I was on holiday at the beach staying with my great-aunt. One day we went down to the pier. It was a stormy grey day and because of the impending storm, the beach and pier was empty. I took a couple of photographs on a simple 35mm point and shoot (this was in the days before digital) of the ocean being sheltered by a stormy sky. When I got home from my holiday I was excited to have my 35mm roll of film developed. The photos that I had taken that day on the beach were exquisite. They showed the impending power of the storm and gave a real emotion to the shots. I realised then that photography is a powerful tool in life. From that moment I was in love with shooting the world. Nature scenes are my favourite in particular beach shots and sky / storm shots are still my favourite. So this year I am going to post a picture a day that inspires me. I will post it on the Flickr site but will also be posting it via my new Tumblr account.

This year is going to be a year where I saturate my soul in creative pursuits. I am truly Joyful when I am doing something creative. That is my joy: Creativity,Passion, Travel and Change. It is going to be a year of POSSIBILITY and a year where I make the Choice to be Joyful and to have JOY.

What are you going to do that inspires you this year?

What new creative pathways will you pursue this year?

Share your creative aspirations here in the comments so that we can support and encourage each other.

Make this your year when the Creative You takes priority over the Practical You. Do what you love to do and what gives you joy.

I leave you with this quote which is on my 2011 vision board:

today is your day

to dance lightly with life,

sing wild songs of adventure,

soar your spirit,

unfurl your joy.

-Jonathan Lockwood Huie –



© All Rights Reserved Kim Koning.

My 2011 Word of Resolve

Kim Koning, Notes on Wrestling The Muse
Big Possibilities

A few days ago I wrote about the idea of choosing a word for the New Year instead of making resolutions. I also put through a link to Christine Kane’s Word of the Year Discovery worksheet and gave you all the questions on the worksheet. As promised, I have chosen my word for 2011 and as it is 1/1/11 I am telling you about it.

So this year I am not making any New Year’s Resolutions, instead I am choosing a Word of Resolve.

My 2011 Word of Resolve is:

POSSIBILITY

along with the phrase, Live.Laugh.Love.

  • This is the perfect word for me this year because sometimes I allow my realistic nature to limit my own possibilities whether it be in my life, love or my writing.
  • I believe that if I embrace and live this word daily in 2011, I will be kinder to myself. I will send the internal editor into retirement and I will resolve to open myself to Possibility .. to it’s magic and to it’s serendipity. I will not be my own critic but instead become my own fan.
  • I already live this word in my optimism and energy but I do need to allow myself to dream more … to wonder what could be and to be open to all possibilities forgetting the improbablities my analytical nature wants to list.
  • I believe that if I were to live this word daily, I would infuse my life with joy and confidence. This will come through in stronger,free writing. If I live this word daily I will be living from the heart instead of the brain. The possibilities are endless for what I will attract and what I can create.
  • My default settings that I need to let go of is the constant striving for perfection. Instead I will open myself to my inhibitions and allow myself both the possibility that I might fail but I might just as likely succeed.
  • Three things that could trigger me to run from my Word of Resolve are: self-criticism, perfectionism, hating to lose or be second best.
  • The ways I resolve to stop these triggers are: talking to my friends who believe in me, taking a look at my vision board to refocus POSSIBILITY which is the key theme, getting up and going out for walk along the beach.
  • Five goals I would like to achieve based on POSSIBILITY are:
  • 1. Allow the possibility of happiness and fulfillment in all areas of my life because I deserve happiness.
  • 2. Submit an anthology of my poetry for publication.
  • 3. Submit my WIP to an agent.
  • 4. Explore new places and new adventures.
  • 5. Open myself to creative expression, not just related to writing.
  • I have 2 major homerun goals in mind but I am keeping them to myself for now.

So that is my Word of Resolve for 2011.

POSSIBILITY

These are some of the affirmations I will use to keep focused this year:

“Dwell in Possibility” ~ Emily Dickonson

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” – Phillipians 4vs13

“With people this is impossible, but with God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.” ~ Matthew 19vs26

“The POSSIBILITIES are endless once we decide to act and not react.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

“Stop thinking in limitations and start thinking in POSSIBILITIES.”   ~ Terry Josephson

“We have more POSSIBILITIES available in each moment than we realise.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

“In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities.” ~ Janos Arany

“Our aspirations are our POSSIBILITIES.” ~ Samuel Johnson

“Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.” ~ Jean de La Fontaine

“Dreams come true, without that POSSIBILITY, nature would not incite us to have them.” ~ John Updike

“Everyday holds the POSSIBILITY of a miracle.” ~ Elizabeth David

“Aim for the moon….if you miss you are only going to fall amongst the stars.” – Jason Napier (my friend and inspiration)


So that is my Word of Resolve for this new year, the first of a new decade. What is your word of resolve? How are you going to let it infuse your intentions and increase your awareness?

Choose your word and really LIVE it, BE it, ACT it…

The year ahead is just beginning and there is a wealth of New Beginnings. The old has faded away and with it put away any regrets.

It is never to late to start anew. Live your year Being You.

I wish you success and happiness in this coming year and strive for the moon….if you miss you will still end up amongst the stars…

Felicitations and Celebrations for New Year 2011!

(Published in She Writes Editors’ Picks 05/01/11)

© All rights reserved Kim Koning.

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