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Monday, April 12, 2010

my 4 15


i only blogged once last week - friday's guest star post. i chose to not blog the other days because i was too busy and too into my work to find any extra time. i had to make a lot last week, get my studio ready for the first resident open house of the year, and prepare my resident artist slide presentation. i have been writing, though, just someplace else. every morning i get up early and spend one hour doing a mix of reading, writing, and thinking. i've been doing it for months now and it finally feels like a habit. i hate to let a day go by without doing it. i break up the hour into 4 sections of 15 minutes each. for the first 15 i read from various books on mindfulness, next i mediate, followed by some automatic writing about my work or studio practice, and then i finish by reading a book about jewelry. i feel incredibly good when i do this. it's a rich hour of my morning and helps set the tone for the day. the writing portion has enabled me to consider my work in ways i never imagined - sometimes i respond to something i made the day before or i write about why a particular day was so productive; other times i write about something i'm stuck on or where i want my work to go. i have never taken the time to process my work like this before. this daily practice helps me to learn about my work and myself as an artist. i feel i am honoring my work, too, and i am grateful for this special hour each day.

all this week i'll be posting about what i've been up to in the studio - new work, sample making, and projects.

thanks for reading.

5 comments:

Margaux Lange said...

I love the idea of making this a daily habit… so inspiring!

klineola said...

Great idea!

I'm always looking for methods like this to keep focus. Taking walks with our puppy Jack do this for me, but I'm afraid I don't make time everyday.

Lora Hart said...

I was so intrigued with this idea that I wrote a post about it on my own blog. http://lorahartjewels.blogspot.com/2010/04/aspire-to-inspire.html

Would you mind sharing some of your favorite books on Mindfulness? Thanks.

Amy Tavern said...

thanks for the great comments margaux, michael, and lora! and lora, thanks for posting about this on your blog. my two favorite books on mindfulness are "Wherever You Go There You Are" by Jon Kabat-Zinn and "Peace is Every Step" by Thich Nhat Hanh

Courtney Dirks said...

Gosh, I wish I had your discipline. I'm too much of a scatterbrain, but I love the concept of setting aside specific increments of time to ensure you are actually MAKING time to get things done.