Category: TinyLiving

Downsizing The Mind, Finding Focus

Living Tiny goes hand in hand with downsizing and downsizing is not just about material things but ultimately about the mind. How do we spend our time? What do we put our energy and thoughts toward? The whole purpose of downsizing material things is to lead us to having more focused intentional purposeful thoughts.

Do you ever find yourself spinning in your mind with way too many thoughts? I find managing my mind a lot harder than getting rid of old shoes and too many outfits. I guess that will be my excuse for not writing in awhile this time. Writing a blog is really putting yourself out there for folks to see into you and your thoughts, and maybe I didn’t want you to see the messy parts. This painting represents embracing the blues, sitting still with the ordinary of a Monday, being there for oneself as one travels through the mundane to figure out what’s next.

Loss, Connection, Choices Moving Forward and Art

This painting was pure feeling. The feeling was deep. My dad had been such a big personality in our family. Losing him left us not just with the loss of him, but also the loss of our identity as a family, our identity in our various roles in that family, our sense of purpose and direction. Losing him meant losing our mother too. We had to give her the space to figure out who she was after somewhere near sixty five years of marriage and seventy three years of knowing each other. Our mother couldn’t be who she had always been. As I said to her, “Women in your family live long lives, you’ve got a lot of years left? What’s your next gig?!” Everytime I hoped my mother would find happiness and joy in this new space, I realized I was hoping I would too.

Have you ever noticed yourself wishing things for others that really you want for yourself? I highly encourage getting paint and just putting it on canvas in whatever way is calling to you! Choosing the next color that makes you smile, paint with your hands, or something you think your not supposed to paint with. Have fun. Play. As for travel, travel the same way.

All of a sudden I felt like I was finally a grown up. It’s kind of silly, but it’s what I felt. Each layer of paint in this piece represents a feeling I allowed myself to feel in the moment, layering on the complexities of how we redefine ourselves after we have a great loss in our lives. Someone said it looked like the city. I’m a believer the viewer sees what they are supposed to see for themselves, so I said, sure it could be. I was already slipping away from a nomad existance to one connecting to a community here in Portland. The wealth of beautiful people to make friends with has been overwhelming, although nobody replaces the time tested friendships from past lives long before travel trailer life. So I now found myself looking at my own immortality along with everything else. After all it will come one day. So many questions have been swirling in my head. Should I live closer to mom and family again? Our time is limited and precious. Should I live closer to old friends who have traveled through time with me? I value and miss those types of friendships and know how long it takes to make new ones like that. Do I want to live in some swanky downtown condo where life is bubbling and busy? Or will I miss my little bubbly creek in my back yard? What about my art life? It has been such a gift, overflowing with opportunities that just don’t stop. I’ve become very clear on what aspects of the art business world I like and what I have no patience for. Yet will I have to compromise in order to paint. When paintings don’t move there is a point where I can’t keep stacking up paintings. I’m not sure exactly why I even think that way, knowing my intentions in my vision boards, and my journaling have all manifested themselves in real life, and my work keeps moving. I know how I choose to think about myself is exactly what I will attract into my life. As you can see, there has been a lot of buzzing about in my mind and downsizing the noise that whirls about in there is my next focus so I can get clear on next steps.

Manifesting Your Dreams Starts With Intentions

In case you don’t follow me on all of those other social sites, which I wouldn’t blame you if you tried to stay clear of all of that noise, here are some updates. This last year I put intentions into the universe via a vision board that had me meeting curators, getting to know galleries, and entering shows and answering calls for artists. Guess what happened? All of the above! For me personally the two most exciting things that happened in 2023 were getting to know The Ford Gallery PDX and how shows run there, as there are several opportunities throughout the year to interact with them and the style of art there is a match with mine. Also, selling Sandy And Friends to the City Of Portland for their art collection through the Regional Arts and Culture Council. If I could continue doing things like that making room for and allowing myself to continue to paint, that would be amazing. Also, it has been fun to get some workshops going in The Troutdale Art Center. The Artist’s Way group has been a wonderful opportunity to share gems from Julia Cameron that made such a difference in my journey and Open Studio created a small community of like minded creatives to connect with. Currently we are all trying out her “Word Deprevation” activity where we get real quiet, shutting out tv, social media, even books so that we can hear our own voice and words in our hearts and figure out what direction we want to go.

Listen For Your Story, Hear Your Unique Voice And Journey With The Ebb And Flow

When The Stories Get Told depicts a common scene of the elders sitting around sharing the stories. Anyone who has ever had the opportunity to be a mouse in the corner and witness the stories being told, know there is so much to treasure in hearing and holding the stories for future generations. The stories tell how we became who we are, how things changed over time and also give hints at where we might be headed, all things I contemplate as I look at possible choices and whirl around contemplating what the consequences might be of any one given choice. Will I actually make it to the real Tiny House I desired when I started out? Will I continue on in my trailer content with things as they are? Will I end up in condo in the Pacific Northwest? Or will I end up in a 1900’s condo with built ins that uses space wisely, like a tiny house, but in another city closer to family? Time will tell. I do know if I include my truck trips, which I wouldn’t have done if I weren’t living trailer life, I can add North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho to my map. Montana, Oklahoma and Texas are all I need to complete my Western Adventures. Of course that’s not counting Hawaii and Alaska, both of which I have no interest in hauling a traielr but do plan to visit. And I do know it would be fun to have a base and travel Van Life style going forward. There is an ebb and flow to this travel thing, as there is an ebb and flow to life. I’ve witnessed other Airstream friends in it, and see myself in it too. I gues the trick is to enjoy the journey. For now, Troutdale, Oregon is still home sweet home.

Thank You!

As always… thanks for the follow and sticking with this forever transitioning blog. 😉😘