Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction & 30 Days of Getting Shit Done

First a quick art catch up...
I entered two paintings for the July gallery show at San Diego Watercolor Society and one was accepted-yay!!  The painting in my last post "Wanting" was accepted-hooray!!  I also entered a small painting of a pink peacock, pictured below,  (5x7, mixed media) which was not accepted.  For me the "trying" equals "success", so I don't mind if my artwork is not accepted-so long as I try I feel like a "winner". Though...it's definitely more fun if it is accepted and I am grateful to have a piece in the next show!! We walked around looking at all the entries for the show...Oh man!! This is going to be a really incredible show! There was some really amazing stuff entered-very creative, beautiful work. I always enjoy the shows, but this one has me REALLY excited!  In other art "news"...Today I finished a portrait of Frida Kahlo which I started ages ago.  It's 8x10 mixed media on cardboard.  It was interesting doing a painting on cardboard-it is a fun surface to work with but also challenging. Happy with how it turned out!  She is staying on my desk for now-keeping me company.  This painting is much prettier in person and I am really enjoying looking at it.

And now MBSR...
Today I started a meditation course.  It's a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course that I found online for FREE!!  Here you can check out the  FREE COURSE. UCSD has some additional resources HERE if anyone is interested.  For anyone who hasn't heard of MBSR  Jon Kabat-Zinn is a physician who started MBSR  (in 1979 I think).  It's a scientific, non-religious meditation program for health and well being with proven results. Just what the doctor ordered! ( lol-ing at my own terrible joke)!  I meditated for years, but have been struggling to get back into the habit since getting ill.  I sat in silent meditation daily for years and even went on a number of meditation retreats (3-5 days of solid meditation).  I know I am capable of meditation, but for various reasons I've been really resistant to it for the past couple/few years.  I've managed to meditate a little here and there, but haven't made a practice of it since getting sick. My stress level has been out of control for about the last year and I know that meditation will do me a lot of good. I am excited about the course, because I think it has the structure and support (via the guided meditations, videos, and articles) that will help me get back to my meditation/mindfulness practice.  I desperately need it.  It's not fun feeling like I'm on the edge of a nervous breakdown-constantly.  Fortunately that feeling has been (slowly) shifting over the past couple of months, but still-my stress level is WAY too high.

And finally-30 Days of Getting Shit Done...
Feeling constantly on the edge of a nervous breakdown for most of the past year has meant that I have not done a good job at keeping up with much.  So, I've got what feels like a billion nagging tasks which I've been avoiding.  Time to deal with them.  I know that not having all that stuff hanging over my head will help my stress level a lot. So, I typed up a big 'ol list of stuff that's been needing dealt with (I think there's about 20 things on it-some will need more than one day to complete and some are re-curring chores) and have decided that every day for the next 30 days I will do one thing on the list (health permitting).  Today I put away the sculpture stuff that's been on the floor.  I've had two paper shopping bags full of sculpture supplies sitting on the floor for over a month.  I live in a tiny and very FULL studio apartment.  Two bags takes up a lot of space when you haven't got space to spare.  I had to do a bit of re-arranging to get it all put away, but it's done now. And now I'm not tripping over bags of art supplies on the floor.  You can imagine how good I'll feel after 30 days of getting that type of thing off the "to do" list.  Other things on my list...catch up on emails, organize paperwork, clean off  my art table, clean out and organize my pantry, replace the dead twinkle lights in my bathroom, organize bathroom cupboard, and more.  I can't say I'm excited to be tackling all these chores, but I am definitely happy to be freeing up my physical and mental space by doing them.