Mindfulness Wall Art

Still 8x10 watercolor print by WindGullDesignCo on Etsy

I ran across this lovely watercolor print today on Etsy.  It is always interesting to me how saying the same thing in a different way can help us understand and connect with its meaning.

Just Float

Soft Tranquil Blue Glass Mindfulness Reminder

It is another day of listing a new necklace to my Center Rings Etsy shop.  That is when I have to study the particular necklace I am listing and try to describe it with tags that someone might search.  Trying to read peoples minds has never been something I clam to be able to do.  So, instead I decided to describe what comes to mind when I look at the necklace.

How do I describe the color of blue in the glass?  Light blue?  Light turquoise blue?  Then, I thought of the color of a clean swimming pool.  Yes, that is what it reminds me of.

Then, that reminded me of an example I heard once in therapy of what not do do if you are having a panic attack in quicksand.  If you thrash around trying to get out, you will sink deeper.  But, if you lay on your back and float, you will not sink.  It is strange how our mind can so often fool us into thinking something is true.  I know my mind would say "get out of there" if I found myself sinking in quicksand.  The knowledge to lay back and float would not come to mind.  Yet, it is a perfect example of realizing that what we think might not be the truth.  Our instincts are not always right.

So, when I am feeling a bit anxious or panicky, I am going to think about just laying back and floating.  It is quite a remarkable feat of our natural world that water can hold us up if we let it.

Wishing you a wonderful little float today--even if it is just in your imagination.

Inspired by the Little Bird Tracks

 

Mindfulness Reminder Necklace with Little Bird Tracks by CenterRings on Etsy

Yesterday was a snow day in Minnesota.  (Yes, many of us here were groaning a bit that is was April and we still had snow.)  At our house, we also had an abundance of little Juncos in and out and all around our bird feeder.  I just love the little prints they made in the snow--so much so that it was my inspiration for the pattern on these new hammered brass rings.

Slow down

Take a breath

Be in the Moment

Hold your thoughts and feelings as gently as you would a baby bird

Let them go

Just be

Mindfulness Like Celadon Must Be Experienced to Be Understood

When creating a listing on Etsy, one of the things you do is add tags that describe your piece, such as  color, shape, usage, etc. so people can find it more easily in a search.  It is often difficult to decide what colors to use.  Do you just use the word "green" when it is really a lime green?  If someone is searching for a green necklace are they that specific?  Needless to say, the answers are quite illusive, and you just use words that seem to be the most direct.

Describing the color of the little green-blue bird on this necklace yesterday I had to stop and really think what words to use.  One issue is that describing color can be very personal.  What looks like blue to one person might look like purple to another.  It is actually quite difficult to find true colors.

 

Mindfulness Reminder Necklace with Little Celadon Bird

Then the color "celadon" popped into my head. Yes, the little glass bird was celadon in color.  I typed it in with the other tags and posted the listing.  But I could not help wonder if what I thought the color celadon looked like was really the same color in the little bird charm, so I googled "celadon" in Google images.  Above is a picture of the necklace with what showed up in Google images, which confirmed I had found the right descriptive color.

It was interesting to read a bit more about celadon.  It is actually used most to describe a certain Asian glaze in pottery.  (I know the little bird charm is actually glass, but it is the same color as many of the celadon glazed.)

I was quite struck by this description I found for celadon green in Wikipedia:

These pots have blue-green glazes and are made in elegant shapes and were produced in kilns from all over China. Korean celadon pottery has been described by ancient Chinese artisans as having a quiet elegance whose color is "beyond description", in that it must be experienced to be understood, and its simplicity of form and style has been compared to the spirit of Zen Buddhism.^[49]

I really like how they describe celadon as:

"having a quiet elegance whose color is beyond description"... "that must be experienced to be understood..."

That really is another description for mindfulness, and it is really not as illusive as it seems at first.

CenterRings Little Etsy Shop is filling up!

CenterRings on Etsy

Slowly but surely,

I have been listing the Mindfulness Reminder Necklaces in my Etsy shop!

Come take a visit! 

Other Mindfulness Reminders on Etsy

The other day I ran across one of these leather bracelets with a ring on Etsy, and I thought how many things could be used as mindfulness reminders if that is our intent.

Etsy no longer has a Treasury, which allowed you to make picture boards of your favorites with direct links to the items.  But this is a screen shot of leather circle bracelets I put in my favorites.  I think I want one of these!

Here are the links to the Etsy shops for the bracelets above:

Aquila Leather

Asenath Designs

A Viking Princess

Thumbprints Leather

hender sweet

Key to Style

Recovery Works Co

Bella Blue Art Studio

Lenssen Way

The Great Dismal

What You Think Might Not Be the Truth

I ran across this article from Psychology Today that reminded me of a very profound statement my therapist said to me when I was first trying to figure out to cope with my panic attacks.  I was describing some of the thoughts that spun around in my head at high speed when I was having a panic attack.  She said to me, "What you think might not necessarily be the truth."  Well, that got my attention!  When I looked at my thoughts like that, it made me sound like some kind of ego maniac with all the answers.  Whoa!

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/some-assembly-required/201309/mind-full-or-mindful

Was that what I was doing with my thoughts?  Ya, I kinda was!  Granted, in the midst of a panic attack shutting down my thoughts seemed impossible to do.  In fact, I found that trying to get rid of anything just so I would not panic actually fueled the panic even more.  Still, realizing that I was believing what I was thinking was a significant turning point in my journey.

First Etsy Listing!

I started working on this idea of CenterRings over two years ago, and I finally made my first listing and opened my Etsy shop.  That may seem like no big deal to many of you, but I was reminded how much work goes into getting an item ready to sell.  If only I could just make these necklaces and they would magically be photographed, described in writing, priced, weighed, measured...  I went through all this before when I opened my Etsy shop prayer bedes (which I hope to get active again soon.  And I am telling myself that "soon" does not mean 2 years, like it did for the first post on this website!)

The pricing and shipping parts of selling my work are my least favorite.  In order to just get this off the ground, I decided to simply charge $18 and include complementary shipping in the US.

So, here it is--my first listing in my new Etsy CenterRings shop.  There will be more to come, today!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/600878667/center-rings-mindfulness-reminder?ref=shop_home_active_1

Slowing Down and Yielding to the Beauty

I noticed the daylilies were in bloom this morning.  While googling "daylilies" because it is highlighted as misspelled in this post, I realized that they are edible.  That means that all three of these yellow flowers in my gardens are edible.  Kinda cool.

The Elizabeth Gilbert quote I included in the graphic I just found, and I love it!  It seemed to fit perfectly with my thoughts, as I yielded to absorb the beauty of the blooming yellows I found.

Mindfulness and the Present Moment

One of the key aspects of Mindfulness is being in the present moment.  But what does that mean?  One of the signs for me that I am there, or at least, getting there is when I hear a bird sing.  This does not mean remembering hearing the bird sing or waiting to hear the bird sing.  However, listening for the bird's song and remembering I heard it can be reminders to me to "just be there."

Going through therapy for panic attacks, one of the phrases that stood out to me was "Just let it be there."  Just letting it--the racing heart, shortness of breath, spinning thoughts--be there is really a challenge.  When I am having a panic attack, my body and mind seem to instinctively do the exact opposite of what I know will help.

As I have a wonderful imagination, the "What if?" question can come up with many not so wonderful answers when I am having a panic attack.  Granted, there are times when my great imagination is a positive thing, but when I am having a panic attack, it is not helpful.

But, not everyone has panic attacks, so how is being in the present moment even something to pursue for "normal" people?

I think that the most beneficial answer to that question is awareness.  This type of awareness is when you see how your response to a situation is really based on preconceived ideas influenced by your own experiences.  If we are in the present moment, not the past or the future, we let go of our preconceived ideas and judgements.

From a Christian perspective, I have seen how this can be so beneficial in my prayer life.  Instead of coming to God with my own agenda, I am able to let go and simply sit awhile in the presence of God.   Spiritual practices like prayer are called "practices" for a reason.  Like Mindfulness, they are something intentional that you need to practice in order to learn.

There is so much good information out there on Mindfulness, that I hesitate trying to express all my own struggling thoughts on the matter.  Yet, I have also seen how certain words find resonance with me, and help me understand it better.  Maybe the present moment is not so much a destination to something or somewhere as it is a journey with something.

Mindfulness and Slowing Down

Creating this new venture--CenterRings--I wanted to include a few words that might help explain the intended purpose of these necklaces.  As I am no expert on Mindfulness, I decided the best thing to do was somehow describe how I try to practice Mindfulness.

The following is what I came up with, along with a bit of further explanation from my own experiences.  In this post I will describe a bit about what I mean by "Slow down."

My introduction to Mindfulness was quite a few years ago.  I was forced, you might say, to deal with my thoughts and feelings because of recurrent panic attacks.  If I did not get some help, I felt I was going to end up institutionalized or confined to my bed.

For most people, learning to practice Mindfulness is not as critical as it has been for me, but over the years I have seen how the practice can be beneficial for all of us.  Even when I am not in the midst of an overwhelming panic attack, I have seen how becoming more aware of my thoughts and feelings can affect the way I function day to day in a positive way.

So, slow down.  What does that mean for me?  One of the things my mind does when I am having a panic attack can be described as "spinning."  Yet, I have become aware of how my mind has a tendency to do that even when I am not having an acute panic attack.  When I notice this spinning, it is a little red flag that I need to slow down.  Being aware of my thoughts and feelings might be the first step, but slowing down helps me do that.  Awareness and slowing down tend to go hand-in-hand for me.