Family New Years

"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life."

- Richard Bach, author

Here is a picture of my family - names and faces have been changed to protect the innocent...


The bond that links my family is not blood - heck, we are not even the same species. I have spent most of the holidays as the bottom (or as I prefer to say - the foundation) of the family dog pile. For some reason, my dogs like to be close. They don't just curl up beside you. They need to be on top of you and the other dog, if possible; hence, I am the dog bed. It would be annoying, if it were not so darn cute.

Since we are planning to expand our family through adoption, I have been doing a lot of reading on the subject. One of the areas that is a focus in much of the literature on adoption is attachment. I've learned the things to watch for, the ways to promote attachment and I've learned that even children who are born to you can suffer from attachment disorder. One of the strategies for promoting attachment is physical contact. I think this is what my dogs are doing when they are piling on me. This is part of their attachment to our family. It is amazing how us humans have to read to learn about these things, when animals just do them naturally.

My family and I will be spending New Year's Eve and New Year's Day curled up together enjoying each other's company. Homer and I bought a couple good books and the dogs are more than happy to just hang out with us.

Happy New Year to all of you who read my blog!

May the New Year bring you your

Bright Star Dreams

Creativity

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."

-- Albert Einstein

Well here it is. The post on my creativity - or rather my lack thereof. It is all my edumacations' fault. I am well educated; therefore, I've had my creativity driven from me. Actually, I think I can be creative, or I guess I should say I am creative. I just need the right environment. For me that environment includes music. Some of my best ideas come to me when I am listening or making music. Music is my muse. Pardon the pun. For others it is physical motion, like dance or exercise. Still others the muse can be found in one of the other senses such as sight, touch or taste.

I am an auditory person. I learn best by listening. When I read and when I write, I hear the words and read or write as if I am speaking. Perhaps this is why I am a slow reader. As I write this, Mozart, Handel and Haydn have been playing in the background. Sometimes when I am at work, I will listen to my iPod. I have felt guilty for doing this, but no more. I am not blocking out my co-workers, I am going to my creative place. I am more productive and I enjoy my work more.

When I put together my Treasure Map, I sat at the kitchen table with no music and no other "distractions". I trimmed, setup the layout, and pasted for a couple hours in a sterile environment. I now realize that if I had done this with some background music and had been "speaking" to myself, the map may have turned out different - more creative, less orderly.

Here is a video clip that another blogger had posted on their blog. It is an entertaining explanation of how our current education system is geared to drive the creativity out of our children. I found it quite inspirational. The education system is designed to teach us that making mistakes is bad; therefore, we are trained to only do things we know we can do right. The right answers minus the wrong answers marking system only emphasizes this kind of thinking. It makes children afraid to try, in case they are wrong. The video is about 20 minutes long, so set aside some time to watch. I hope you find it as inspirational as I did and you find your creativity or can inspire your children to find theirs.



Seek your creativity.
Bright Star Dreams

Treasures from the Map

“A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience.”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

As promised here are some of the things I learned from making my "Treasure Map to Riches". I am sure there are more things here, but these are the things I noticed on first glance. I will be spending some time contemplating my map, so maybe there is another post in this in a month or two.

1. A lot of the images I chose feature water. I have a dream of moving to the west coast, but even the pictures that are not part of that dream feature water. I believe subconsciously I want to live by water, whether that be an ocean, a lake or a river.
2. The picture I chose to represent music was a french horn. I used to play french horn, but gave it up after injuries I received in a car accident caused my left arm and jaw to go numb whenever I played. I realize now how much I miss it. I may have to pick it up again and just not play for as long. Maybe just maybe, I will be able to play again if I start slow and build up the strength.
3. I also selected images that featured cycling. My bike has been hanging in our garage for 10 years and I believe I may have ridden it twice in that time. I used to love cycling. An associate at work just got back from cycling in Vietnam. I think I may have to dust off the bike in the spring (or better yet buy a new one)
4. My husband's family and our dogs are at the top and center - under "Moments that Matter". The ironic thing is that the picture of my husband's family was taken when my husband visited his family and I stayed home. I believe this is telling me I need to spend more time with his family.
5. Nowhere in the collage is there anything remotely close to what I do for a living. Hmmm, either I'm doing the wrong thing or maybe work is just not a priority. Truly my dream is to work less and enjoy life more.
6. Living in another country part time. Several of the phrases I selected indicate this.
7. African children. As those who know me are aware, my husband and I are waiting to adopt from Africa. But the words I chose indicate I have more to do in Africa than just adoption. I recently watched a story on CBC about sponsoring girls in Kenya to go to high school. The organization that is working there is known as CHES - Canadian Harambee Education Society. "Harambee" is Swahili for "pull together". It was started when a Canadian teaching abroad had to ask girls to leave her classroom, if they could not pay the school fees. It costs $450 per year for 4 years to sponsor a girl to go to high school. I've added a link on the left of my blog, if you want to know more.
8. Travel and the outdoors. This surprised me. I am a homebody. I don't travel well. My idea of a vacation is staying home and reading. Many of the images are of places that I want to visit and all of them are outdoors or nature related. This might be related to the fact I've been inside for several weeks due to the -20 C temperatures here, but more likely I believe I want to travel and experience nature. Images I selected were from Italy, France, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Northern Canada, and Africa. The interesting words that go with this are "Music can take you places" Music has taken me places in the past - but maybe there is more in store for my future.
9. I selected the words and the images independently from one another. I then arranged the images and words to go together - and it worked out. I used all of the words that I had found and most of the images. I definitely had a vision in mind even though I am not sure I knew what It was when I started.
10. I had fun doing this. It was a fairly time consuming exercise. I think I spent 12 - 16 hours cutting out of magazines and searching for images on the net and then organizing and pasting. The time was enjoyable and it was a challenge to find words that really inspired me in the magazines that we had. I also got to stop and read a bunch of articles in the magazines - so I learned some things along the way too.

Overall, I have found this exercise useful and worth the time. People spend more time deciding what they want to wear than they do thinking about where they want to go. I highly recommend this exercise to anyone reading this.

Visualize your

Bright Star Dreams

My Treasure Map

“All you have to do is know where you're going. The answers will come to you of their own accord.”

- Earl Nightingale - (US motivational writer and author, 1921-1989)

For the past few weeks, I have been searching magazines and the web for phrases, words and pictures that inspire me or just make me feel happy. This was part of an exercise to create my "Treasure Map to Riches". I got the idea from one of the blogs I read and decided to give it a try.

My holiday gift to myself was to take the images and words I had found and create a collage. The idea is that this will help me to visualize my goals. As a wise person once said: "If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?" Lewis Carroll said something similar: "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there" I feel sometimes I am wandering aimlessly, so this exercise helped me to see where it is I want to go.

I read about one person who did this exercise and had cut out a picture of their dream home from a magazine. Several years later, when looking for a home, the writer ended up buying the exact home that they had identified years earlier. It wasn't until they had moved in and were unpacking that they realized what had happened.

Here is the picture of my treasure map. I must say it is not the piece of art that I had imagined - but it is very me - an orderly presentation of ideas. I really need to let go of that structure and learn to be more creative - but that is for another post. There were some surprises for me in this exercise. In my next post, I will let you know some of the insights that I got from this exercise.

If you want to do this exercise yourself - here is a link to the blog post that I read that inspired me to give the exercise a try. This wasn't the first time I had read about the exercise. This was just the catalyst to get me to actually try it. The post has the detailed instructions, more information on the purpose of the exercise and what to do once you are finished. Treasure Map Instructions

The blogger has since moved her blog to http://millionairemommynextdoor.com/ after her original blog was hacked. You can still get to some of the posts, but the pictures are all gone. Hopefully she will post something similar on her new blog in the near future.

Treasure your

Bright Star Dreams

Christmas Cheer

"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music."

- Albert Einstein


If I thought I could have made a living at it without having to give up all my other interests, I would definitely have been a musician. Music brings joy to my life.

Here is some Christmas Cheer for you. This is one of my favorites - I was sent this last Christmas. I wish I had half the talent this group does. Here's Straight No Chaser's version of the 12 days of Christmas.






Music in my life brings me closer to my
Bright Star Dreams

A full life

Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.

- John Dewey, philosopher


This is cool, I saw it on several of the blogs that I read. You basically copy this list to your blog, and then highlight the stuff you've done thus far. I'm not tagging anyone, I was surprised how much I have actually done! It also tells you a bit about me, that I have not really revealed on this blog.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band - (several – including ceremonial guard in Ottawa and as a member of the professional musicians’ association)
4. Visited Hawaii - twice
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland /world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo - in grade 2
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea – I think I did – I can picture it, but my husband says we hid in our cabin due to sea sickness
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (copper tooling)
15. Adopted a child – working on it
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty – I have seen it from the Staten Island Ferry
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa – I plan to
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a cheque
68. Flown in a helicopter – I was supposed to but the trip was cancelled due to lightning storms
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job - does a layoff count?
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - several
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle/moped
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating – chicken, ducks, geese, fish…
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someones life
90. Sat on a jury - I was requested to attend jury selection, but had a medical reason for not attending
91. Met someone famous - Kevin Lowe of the Edmonton Oilers was the most memorable
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day


Fill you life,
With Bright Star Dreams

You Raise Me Up

"We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection."

- HH the Dalai Lama



What can I say - I like Josh Groban.

Raise up your
Bright Star Dreams

Keep on, Keepin' On

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."

- Dale Carnegie

All I can say is that I have important things to do...

Keep your eye on
Your Bright Star Dreams