On Sunday I wrote a post about envy.
I came to the conclusion that the reason I envy other people’s Play Projects is because they contain some vital element that’s missing in my life.
That vital element turned out to be ‘little illustrations’ and ‘combining words with pictures’.
Hmm…So what did I do about this revelation?
Last week we were asked what our ‘core message’ was. ‘Could it be that you are exploring and expressing a core message that matters deeply to you?’…
Well yes, actually. This is mine:
Be 100% YOU.
More specifically:
‘You have an amazing spark inside of you and it wants to come out! That’s why you feel so restless – your subconscious knows you’re hiding a massive part of yourself away. Life’s too short to walk around pretending to be someone else (it’s knackering and frankly depressing). The solution? Show your spark to the world and be 100% YOU!’
As I pondered this message, an idea popped into my head. It involved a simple design, some words, and a postcard.
In the past I would have immediately thought ‘That’s nice, I’ll do that one day’ or, worse, ‘I wish I could do that but it’s silly…’…However, I am in playing mode now, so I plomped myself down at my computer and created a simple design to sum up my core message.
Here is my postcard (sorry if it’s a bit fuzzy):
I enjoyed it so much, the next day I did another:
(‘Muchos love’ is how I end my text messages to one particular friend when I’m in a silly or affectionate mood, which happens to be quite often.)
So…here are four marvellous facts:
- When I was creating these postcards I felt happy. (I mean really happy.)
- Creating these postcards made me smile (something I haven’t done much recently).
- For the rest of the day my insides knew I had honoured them. Something fundamental had shifted. And that made everything else in my world seem OK.
- My next Play Project is now sorted. My insides have spoken: I’m going to illustrate and design a range of postcards and post them on this blog.
Conclusion: If you envy someone, there’s a reason why. If you can find that reason, extract the essence of it and weave this into your life in some small way, your insides will do little cartwheels of joy!
Katherine Bassford 
Note to self: if committing a crime, buy sparky postcard for fingerprints.
Oops … never mind that.
If envy has lessons, it sounds like you’ve learned it. That’s really cool!
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Yup, not sure where this will end up but I’m going to follow my heart, keep writing and designing and see what happens! Yours, Sparky. (P.S. Scary videos also coming soon on the blog)…
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If the ‘work’ I’m doing feels like play, then I know I’ve nailed it!
Congrats on these beautiful cards – :)
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Totally! This is something I am only just learning (duh!). Thank you for commenting :-)
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I learned this early (from my Dad) forgot it for awhile and got back on path a few years ago – Trust me, once you learn to do this always – life is never the same!
Unfortunately, although this is supposedly common knowledge and lauded by all the gurus and experts, there are many folks around who will tell you it’s an unrealistic goal to make all work ‘playtime’ –
There are enough of them, that you may one day start to doubt what it is you think you know – Don’t Be Tempted!
(She says, from hindsight!) LOL
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I was definitely taught that it was an unrealistic goal – so much so that part of me still cringes when I say that I want to do work that feels like play (old habits die hard)! It’s really good to connect with other people, like you, who actively live by this rule :-)
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Feel free to contact me for a reminder any time someone fools you into thinking that in order to be productive, you must work hard…
:)
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Brilliant, will do! I feel a blog post on this topic coming on :-)
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Um yeah – me too – – shall we both wax eloquent and share links?
LOL
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Yup, up for that (I was planning on quoting what you said in your comment!)
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Mines about done – will add your link to it when yours is done!
Will be awesome to see our different thoughts on the same subject!
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Here’s mine – I’ll keep an eye out for yours, so I can link to it!
It’s Been Fun – Real Fun!
:)
http://ballybin.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/men-at-work/
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Great, thanks for that. I probably won’t get round to writing the post until next week cos I have 30DC posts to write before the end of the course this weekend, but I will do it ASAP I promise. Thanks for the link!
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Hope you have fun doing that….
(anything that has ‘deadline’ in it takes all the fun out for me, but sounds like you’re rarin’ to go – )
Have fun playing!
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Oh, how your blog speaks to me!!! Love it!
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Christine, it means a lot that you said that. Since I published this post I have had an uneasy feeling, like I have done something silly or stupid or ‘exposed’ myself in some way…Your comment has made me breathe a sigh of relief. If just one person feels that way, it’s worth it x
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Loving the postcards, and a good life lesson which i’ll put to good use, so thank you! I remember saying when I was in my teens starting work “I’m only going to do jobs I enjoy” I remember someone at the time saying that I was being unrealistic. So I happily ignored them and was doing ok for a short time, then it all became about the money and more responsibility, and then the spark slowly diminished over the years. However, all is not lost as I’m working on turning that corner, and so therefore blogs like this really help
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That is so good to hear. Someone said to me recently, ‘Life’s better with sparks’. Go get yours back!!
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It’s wonderful that you’ve turned your envy into something so creative! I know exactly what you mean, when you say your “insides knew I had honoured them”. That’s a really useful way of knowing when we’re on track. Mine do a little happy dance!!
I can’t wait to see more of your postcards. :-)
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How about selling your postcard on http://www.etsy.com/…
I will get one or more:)
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Great minds think alike – I have been pondering etsy! Will look into it (good to know I would at least have one customer :-))
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