Family – Page 9 – Joni Beach

January 16, 2012January 21, 2012

A Blog Break~Organizing and Re-evaluating

This past week I have taken a Blog Break…It was not actually planned but just happened that way. The beginning of the new year has found me organizing, re-evaluating, and even playing catch-up outside with yard work on a rare warm, sunny day. The mild winter here in the mountains has made it difficult to believe that it is January! And, I am still having trouble remembering to write 2012, instead of 2011! (I wonder how long that will continue to happen?)

Working in the office, I have been reviewing some print-outs and planning sheets from last year. Last spring in reading the book, Make Your Creative Dreams Real by SARK , I discovered the website of author and life coach, Jennifer Lee. Lee conducts The Right Brainers in Business Video Summit and is the author of the book, The Right Brain Business Plan: A Creative Visual Map for Success, which emphasizes visual mapping vs making linear lists to plan, organize, and conduct one’s work. These creative resources have been valuable to me and may be helpful to you in some way, as you create your own Lifeweaving…

In the studio, along with art work to be done, there are also several writing projects to be finished. Regular writing time is needed to continue these projects. I plan to write more on family and parenting issues. So, while making a work schedule, I am considering what time of day is the best for each task–writing, designing, and creating…

As the process of organizing and re-evaluating is being done, here’s looking to a productive and creative year–and a break in the Blog Break!

New Beginnings, Renewed Hope (jonibeach.com)

December 15, 2011December 19, 2011

Learn Something New Everyday…

*Wisdom [Learning] is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it. * (Albert Einstein)

Martha Stewart, being interviewed by Google Talks with Marissa Mayer, was asked what ideas she lived by. She answered that one idea guiding her was the saying,

Learn something new everyday.

This reminded me of a teaching concept--nurture a desire for lifelong learning. With an openness to continued learning, we take in new information and knowledge, which then impacts how we problem-solve, create, and behave. As an artist, we take in sensory experiences that impact our design process…whether through the music we compose, a wall-hanging we create, or a story that we write.

Boston - Boston Common: Parkman Plaza - Learning — Learning, Image by wallyg via Flickr

With a world that is changing quickly everyday, the changes and the speed at which they occur challenges each of us and our families continually. While it can create stress, it can also be a catalyst for growth. It is exciting to consider the new possibilities for the future.

It can be a stimulus for creativity, whether in our work or in our personal lives.

Change, while not always welcome, can force us to consider alternate ways of doing things, encourage us to try new experiences, and to consider the world around us with new eyes. In our families, we can use the latest technology as an aid to communicate with each other, provide up-dated information, and as tools for learning, while not allowing it to become a negative focus that erodes our time together and relationships.

As in most things, our changing world has the potential for positive or negative influences. So, perhaps the biggest challenge is to use the new things that we learn everyday…

…in ways that are good,

valuable,

and add quality and well-being to our work, families, and lives.