Category Archives: motivational

Discovering the epic.

Dear reader,

It is about discovering the epic, the truth of who we are and what we can share with the world, not just the small stuff, but that which is truly grand.

I was asking myself that question this morning. I have no problem producing artsy things to share or sell, but I thought about the perspective of my sphere of knowledge. I have lots of experience, but in the big scheme of things, what I know is small, not anything epic by a long shot.

I share where I’m at now. It’s like walking down a dark road with a weak flashlight that also flickers. Stuff out of scary movies, right?

But I take one step forward, and that’s as far as I can see.

I guess that’s living in the now.

And that’s all there is.

My fearful little self doesn’t like it, not by a long shot. Maybe the only epic action in life is to step off the proverbial cliff and see what happens. (I’m afraid of heights.) Epic is to do “it” no matter what. Maybe you have to risk is all to have it all?

I look at people who have epic concepts and I wonder how they came across such knowledge. I believe we’re all made to be epic in the best possible way.

What is the divinely inspired “thing” that sets me apart from others and allows me to create epic shit that only I can create.

I honestly don’t know.

I want to know. I go within and ask in meditation, but the Universe is strangely quiet lately. To my ears at least, or maybe I’m not really listening. I’m multi-tasking writing this blog post in my head and planning out my day. I’m just thinking of the few paces I can see ahead, and they are mighty small from an epic perspective.

So I miss the point of stepping into epic. However, I can only act from where I am right now.

What is epic anyway? I don’t know. It’s a concept. Frodo’s struggle to bring the ring to the Mount of Doom was epic. In that sense epic is something that is greater than us. Frodo could not do it alone. He got help along the way.

To create something massively awesome that affects a lot of people in a good way is beyond one person alone, but it can be done with a little help from your friends.

To dare to create something, however small is an epic action since most people never create anything, just live day by day in zombie land.

Say you get an epic inspiration for something so big it scares the pants off of you. It’s not like you can turn your back on that. It’s like a “knowing” and once you know, you can’t un-know it. But you have no idea how to implement it into 3D living.

All you can do is take one step forward and as the whole plan is slowly revealed people will show up along the path to help because it’s epic. They can see the value of your inspiration.

Or maybe it will hit you in a flash!

Truth is you’re the driver; you’re the one who takes action every day.

I’m good at taking action.

Until epic strikes I can take one step forward, and then another one until I’m ready. Yeah, I guess that’s it. It’s very likely the steps actually lead to epic but I can never be certain.

 One step at a time, and I’m golden.

What are you doing that is worthwhile today?

xo

Maria

P.S. Check out some of my non-epic stuff, but still good, lol. HERE

For an epic gift (only kidding, but great,) sign up for my newsletter! HERE.

When life sucks donkey balls.

When life sucks donkey balls don’t jump from the nearest bridge or do something stupid.  If the world has thrown so much crap at you that you can’t see a way out, just say “I’ve had enough of this shit,” and do something about it.

You are not powerless!

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(google images)

You don’t have to live in awfulness. I’m sure the Powers That Be never intended for us to be unhappy.  We live in a very complicated society and we’re brain-washed to the enth degree to start with.  We are smart; we can say enough is enough.

First you have to realize you’re brainwashed.  That is why it’s so difficult to see a way out.  You have to forge new pathways for the new to imprint on the brain.  Living the life like it used to be does not work in the new you /world.

There is a superwoman and superman living under the mundane suit of armor.  Rip the suit off and claim the superpower within!

How do you do that?  It’s hard to shift immediately from mediocre to superhuman, but everyone can take ONE step toward something more fulfilling in life, like an interest, or caring for something or someone other than oneself.  Helping others brings you out of the bullshit.

Figure out where you want to be in, say, a year.  What is gnawing to be heard inside?  Listen to that and take one step today toward the new you.  Within a year, you will have shifted completely, or maybe even faster than that.

Learn everything that needs to be learned to attain the goal. Sometimes we have to become nerd-like, sitting in a corner learning all kinds of computer BS to get somewhere.

But it feels good when mastered!

Set ONE goal.

Do something today toward it.

Do something tomorrow and the next day. Write down some doable steps and DO them.  Before you know it, you have created a new neuro pathway for the new you to form.   The old crutches you held on to so strongly will be gone and you wonder why you held on for so long.  You might doubt you’ll ever succeed, but YOU WILL.

Freaking one goal.  Just do it already.  Stop the blaming and the excuses.  If you want to live a new life, you have to take consistent action.

Even if you don’t feel like it.

…because life happens NOW!

Or stay the same and be miserable.  It’s your choice.

I’m for sure taking steps every day.

xo

Maria

P.S.  If you’re interested in art check out my YouTube channel for some free tutorials.  CLICK HERE.  Sign up for my newsletter for more freebies, CLICK HERE.

Get unstuck!

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Get unstuck!   I can help you move from limbo to purpose. When the kids are gone, your job is gone, and life feels empty, it’s time to take some good action!

I’ve been going nuts playing at being a techie and getting WordPress plugins to work.  It’s a nightmare, but I’m learning something new every time I tackle the never-ending computer tasks.  The secret is to never give up or work until your eyes can’t focus any longer or you drop from sheer exhaustion.   Yeah, that’s how I roll sometimes when I’m on a mission.  Life is short.

I’m really excited about my freebie e-course coming up. I put up a video today to introduce the program, and I think it will be well received.  It going to happen in email so if you’re not on my email list for this event, go over and read all about it  HERE. 

It is going to involve some art, but nothing that will be super challenging.  Anyone can do it.

I use art as a transformational tool. As I transform myself I can also inspire others to get going and never look back at the life that didn’t work very well.  I created a Facebook page for people who sign up, but if you’re interested in art and learning more about it, you can join.  Click here.  The more the merrier I say.

It is going to be fun!

I’m signing off now…

xo

Maria

P.S.  If you want a good challenge, you can sign up for my e-course Visionary Art Journaling.  I went in deep on that one, and so will you. GO HERE!  Art can truly transform your life.

….because life happens NOW!

 

 

Discover your inner fire.

Discover your inner fire.  It’s not that hard, but we tend to live in the lies we tell ourselves.  We all have Ph.Ds. in excuses, like family and other things we have to attend to in this 3D-existence.  But there is always time if we make it.  We also tend to not listen to the inner urges, labeling them as woo-woo or generally uncomfortable or ridiculous, like dreams at night.  Ninety percent of all the women I meet live for and through their families, but what about THEM?  What is their own outlet of happiness?  Nothing wrong with being focused on family, but not to a point where that’s all there is.

I feel kind of blah today, not very fired up, but I know what makes me happy.  Every day I sit down to listen within and every time I find my true north.  Then it’s all about will to make stuff happen in accordance to my inner direction.

How do you tame your will?  You don’t.  Will is like a cat, contrary at best, or outright belligerent at worst. Cats know how to be motivated, especially at meal times, lol.  Cats are also super lazy and they don’t give a sh*t.  Sometimes I wish I was more like them because they truly act from supreme indifference and detachment.  That doesn’t mean they have no feelings, but everything is on their terms.  You know immediately about your transgression  when you take a wrong step, like taking them to the vet.

So basically, you have a cat in your head.

There is a way to tame cats, sort of.  You have to coax them along with something alluring, like tuna treats.  When you love something, it has a kind of golden allure.  Your passion is like that; that thing you keep putting off.   Throw some treats at it!

Once you allow yourself (with some coaxing) to attend to that passion, you feel great.  That feeling is the tuna treat.  Basically, the more you allow yourself to experience that special feeling, the easier it gets to choose to be a participant, not a sideline observer.

Step away from the sideline.  When you don’t feel like it, apply some discipline (which is also an acquired skill) to push yourself forward.  One whiff of that tuna will get your right in the mood to pursue.  I know it works for me.

For me the tuna is the joy of creativity.  Writing this fires me up, and seeing a pile of painting brushes in my studio gives me an inner smile.  If you don’t know what yours is, do some digging for gold inside that murky mine of yours.  “I can’t find it,” you say??  Frigging BS.  Don’t be lazy, dig deeper.

Just accept that there is a special path waiting for you; the one only you can find.  Don’t you want to go on adventure?  Don’t you want to find out?  Live your life as an adventurer, not like a predictable hamster running on its wheel.  I have to say I prefer cats to hamsters.

Don’t you want to have your tombstone say you lived with passion, that you inspired others?

The habits can get so ingrained it can be hard to break out of them, and most people don’t even try.  I speak to YOU who wants to find out, who knows there is no other way to live.

That the same ole, same ole is not good enough.

My inspiration today: take positive action, no matter how much the resistance says no.  Engage will and discipline and get into your life.  You won’t look back because you know it’s true.

I’m doing the action right beside you, so let’s go!

Because life happens NOW!

xo

Maria

fireinthebelly2

Google images captainkyso.com

P.S.  My e-course Visionary Art Journaling offers many exercises to go within to discover your inner truth.  We will be working with art and the six senses.  It’s a self paced e-course.  The link is HERE.

If you’d like to receive my newsletter, sign up HERE.

Everyone wants an easy win.

Everyone wants an easy win.  Play the lottery and get a sh*tload of money, yet those who do, rarely hold on to the funds.  After a couple of years they are back to where they were before the win.

stackofmoneyIt’s definitely better to win in the game of life than to win a pile of dough.  Not that I wouldn’t be grateful–I would!  I like an easy win just as much as the next person.

Creating something from the core of your being is winning in the game of life.  What does that mean?  If everything was perfect, what would you love to do?  I’m sure you’ve heard that question many times in this age of law of attraction.

Have you ever truly sat down and tuned in how you really feel?  We forget to do that in the hustle and bustle of busy-ness.  The mindless clutter of life; it’s so seductive.

What would you love to do?

Aren’t you tired of the same ole, same ole?   I know I am. It takes great effort to move away from the status quo and explore new territories.  My little ego does not want to get out of the frigging box, but it’s the only way to grow.

And going inside to listen to the truth spoken there… Admitting you are lost.  The facade must come down.

What would you love to do?

And don’t say you don’t know.  Think back to your youth.  What really fired you up?  What lit up you before the dream was squashed by the system?

You know, THAT one.

Just sayin’.   Nothing changes unless we change, and it’s time when you’re so desperate and there is no other choice.  But why wait until then?   It’s not easy to change since we have to do the work.  No freebies raining from the sky.  Work is work, but the difference is that you feel great doing the work that you’re meant to do!

I will wait for no one.  I’ve got a fire in my belly again, and it feels great.  I even went and got a haircut today.  My hair  was long, and now it is short, and it feels liberating.

I’m liberated from old limitations, so the options are as wide as the sea, endless.  I will meet resistance head on, bust through it even if I’m not sure where I will end up.  I don’t have to see the entire road.

Once you hit upon that one thing, there’s no going back, and it’s never too late to live fully.   Now go do the work!  At least give it a fair shake.  It’s the honest thing to do.

Take a risk or two.

fireinthebelly

Because life happens NOW!

xo

Maria

P.S. If you’re inclined toward art, you can find out more about art journaling in my fab freebie ebook and mixed media tutorial.  Check it out HERE.

Never say die.

Never say die, said the little palm tree my neighbor carted home the other day.  She picked up a bunch of free plants and one of them was a small palm tree that grew in an ugly little container.

I wanted the palm tree, and we decided to plant it on the property line.   Someone had planted it in a cut off water drinking bottle, left it there until it was choked with roots, and then set it on top of the soil in the tiny planter.  When we got it, it was so choked in the bottle I had a really hard time cutting open the plastic.  I got a slit cut and then I had to use a pair of pliers to “roll” the plastic away from the roots.

Then came the effort of pulling it out of the pot.  It had somehow busted through the bottom of the plastic and sent roots into the pot.  I had to use all of my strength to pull it out (not kidding!)  The roots had been curled around the bottom, all thirty-six inches of them.  They were hanging on for dear life.  It took me another fifteen minutes to release the roots from the rest of the plastic.

I wonder if it would have busted through the plastic in the end.  It had been trying real hard.

This is a puny palm with two leaves.  To get it to stand straight in the ground I had to plant the root ball  sideways since it had been growing sideways out of the plastic.

The point of the story?  Never say die, no matter how difficult and constricted your situation may be.  Nature is a great example of resilience and purpose.  There is always that dandelion growing in the crack of the concrete sidewalk.   Where there is a path to light and rain, some greenery will always sprout.  People thrive when they pursue their heart’s desire.  What is YOUR heart’s desire?

I was amazed when I planted that palm  It has been a week, and it already has a new leaf coming up.

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I have a feeling this palm tree will do great from now on.

Are you going to bust through your plastic bottle constraint?   I hope so; there’s a whole world out there to explore.

xo

Maria

P.S.  If you want some art inspiration, check out my e-courses at http://ecourses-mariagreene.org  Try something new today. 🙂

…because life is happening NOW!