Things have got a little busy and so much happening…LIFE eh:) While trying to handle the present I came across powerful memories…My last journey in India thought me a lot… so many memories, incredible friends and experiences to treasure and learn from:)
I have traveled so many places in that country, met incredible people and I had some great experiences…Of course, there have been traveling blues, unpleasant situations and all but it is part of the adventure:)
For me, this particular journey has been a real eye-opening going through ups and downs and the more the days passed by the more I was able to understand what others told me about India…Things like it is a unique place that you either love or hate…. The poverty you experience there is so overwhelming that can make you sick…. It is so strange as everything is going to hit you so hard there…The smells, the flavors, the contrasts all merge and keep coming back again and again…
It is amazing how every single time something is going terribly bad…like touching bottom, the very next moment few seconds away is uplifting and someone randomly comes your way and make things better…this kinda continuous cycle has been happening to me all the time…and you kind of learn to trust the process and let things unfold…
While at times things have been tough traveling as female solo..other times incredible people made me feel home in the middle of the desert, slums, strangers welcomed me within their families…
I have been completely absorbed into those moments that the typical timeline and worries about past and future vanished…Just being present trying to grasp everything around me and keep up with different reality took up all of me!!!Incredible learning curve!!!
I have been collecting so many memories and stories I cherish, not to mention the great people that truly touched my heart…I really feel like some pieces of my heart were left there with them…yet my heart and love are growing and connecting more with everything. It would take forever to tell a story about this journey…maybe at some point I will write about this adventure…
I just would like to thank you everyone…that crossed my path in this special journey no matter the impact, no matter the kind of energy and vibes….just going through the process has been the most important part…
A while back I joined an interesting creative adventure organised by board certified art therapist and certified trauma consultant Gretchen Miller. The project involves a special Random Acts of ART Pouch touching several destinations globally and connecting creatives…
It was such a surprise to receive it after it traveled such a long way…It reached so many art corners and within its content much art was/is and will be shared!!! Finally the Random Acts of Art Adventure touched based in my creative space last week….super exciting!!! It was incredible to find so much goodness in it…There is the pouch’s fascinating journal/passport and then every single item is so infused with creative spirit that is way too contagious…Is beyond amazing to think about how many artists, places this special art pouch has reached and inspired… Being able to connect to those vibes is incredible!!!
Discovering the content of the art pouch and going through its passport is so inspiring… every single bit comes from someone who has been creating before with its content and followed the philosophy of practicing random acts of art..
I received something special that Bernadette in Cambridgeshire did for me….beautiful!!!
I was so super-charged by this contagious energy that I created few things….
….A page in the pouch passport…
Then I made a sort of mandala/art mantra for Michela waiting for the pouch next:)
And while I was making something else…an unfolding love letter/note using cards and other material from the pouch…I came across someone who really needed it…so I took on this idea a little further and now I create some artsy notes to cheer up people who need it most and drop them randomly in community places I know …
And so the random acts of art continue!!!!
Thank you Gretchen and everyone on this great inspiring adventure of practicing random acts of art!
It has been a while since my last post….
I have been wanting to write updates from the incredible journey through India but life has been quite chaotic and filled with unexpected events and situations;)
Artevolutions is a space I created to connect and share anything about life, inspire and be inspired… Life itself is a form of art and what we make throughout every day we are able to create, share and connect amazing moments… I have decided to follow my latest journey adventures in India via writing in this blog…I hope that anyone who is interested in my experiences can find my posts useful and inspiring;)
A bit more than six weeks ago I embarked on an adventure of travels and projects with small NGOs operating in India….I first arrived in the north of the country and travelled a little to get a grasp of the culture, differences, people and traditions….As often described travelling to India is a full immersion into another world with a powerful experience through all senses….flavors, smells, colors, art and architecture, performances, music, dances, spices, food, local vendors, the noise, the super crowded spaces….then there are different realities codex insisting side to side and it can get quite difficult to cope….
It has been incredible to meet so many people on my path and connect….in particular I have managed to learn and share experiences with local communities in the Thar desert where a there is a fabulous project of some village tribes to become eco-friendly, self sufficient and bring education in the desert….Amazing minds and ideas coming from people that cannot read or write and yet have such a beautiful vision for the next generations is so touching and inspiring….So far I have done surveys and research and we are building a team of people interested in making rural communities self sustainable and educated…so anyone interested or having particular skills please get in touch!
Then I got to meet an incredible teacher and social worker Mr. Hari who is bringing education, with very poor or inexistent schooling structure, to the most remote villages in the countryside and hills in the areas around Khajuraho….Embarking on those long bicycle journeys to get to villages and seen students so excited to learn and gain a better future goes beyond words…Children and older students understand the importance of changing the lives of the new generations and how education is the key to change.
So far my journey in India has been an incredible country where I made incredible encounters;) I got to experience life from a very special standpoint and even though at times things seem hard as dealing with different realities the kindness and welcome of amazing people enabled me to continue through my journey… Feeling that my efforts and time within local communities is so appreciated that everything feels so light and these experiences are contributing my personal development and getting a wider perspective on life….
So while my research, contribution and connection to spread awareness and implement these project continues ( they are projects at very initial states, so anyone who wants to contribute with knowledge, skills or interest is more than welcome) my journey continues adventuring with a small NGO: PETE Providing Education To Everyone in New Delhi Slums….next post will be focusing on that experience and the fundraising campaign I am preparing;)
Please connect to my social media links on this page ( twitter and artevolutions on Facebook to get updates on developments of the projects) and if you are interested in seeing India through my eyes you can see pictures on my Facebook page (Lizzie Bellotto) or Instagram (@lizzieartnsurf)
I have started a journal following this practice following my personal evolution… my reflections and notes are accompanied with sketches inspired by daily practice and topics…I am sharing here a few 😉
For me, this mantra meditation is quite special and very different because it reaches the level of the mindful mind through pure sound connecting our own energy and vibration with those of amazing Deva Premal and Miten …
It’s so beautiful to experience our inner tuning coming from our own sound through chanting echoing our own vibration…
Feel the magic I am talking about in this short clip about a powerful chanting meditation with Deva and Miten:)
I find that chanting brings a further nuance to the mindful mind…
I like all sorts of meditation as I see them as different ways to reach a state of mind that in the modern world gets too separated from daily life….through meditation we get re-acquainted with accessing that part of the self that grant access to a deeper and holistic view of being…it reconnects to the absence of life beyond separation at some many levels… body mind and soul are reconnected and can allow to perceive things differently, a precious reminder that we are not so separate from others and surroundings, that energy flows and we are part of hat flow and that awareness brings responsibility about what we carry and promote within the world…
It s such a beautiful way to re-connect to the awesomeness we have within that sometimes gets suffocated by external layers of modern life!
This week Fun monday Challenge #15 over at 14 Secrets is based on art journaling and prompts our super creative self to adventure through layers!
Funny enough I started a similar process yesterday as I just needed to create and create and create….so after experimenting on my daily journal I have been working on scattered pieces throughout moments I could find a lil moment…. I wan’ t quite sure what I was up to…but I kept going trusting the process…later when I read Lani’ s post and about the challenge it all came together and my intuition lead me to create this piece….
Thank you Lani for great inspiration and happy information!!!
What is it inspiring you o do?
Share it with us if you like on Instagram by adding #14SecretsChallenge to your entry, or by adding your photo to our Flickr pool.
” Appreciate your art even before you get started…”
This is so special and definitely brings the great perspective of making truly for the process of following our creative flow and not activating the inner critic and responses to the end product…
Furthermore, Inner Canvas suggestion to extend this process to other environments such as work, just considering them as our art making process and thus we can appreciate things/event and people before our interaction!!!
So I tried first in my journal sketching and then while working on a special project with amazing people …
A life changing perception of a very beautiful world 🙂
Thank you Lani and Lisa !!!!
So what was your experience like? Have a go and if you want share it on Instagram by adding #14SecretsChallenge to your description, or by adding your photo to our Flickr pool.
Life got extremely hectic this summer luckily we get more sunshine and incredible energy to be super active:)
Recently I have been experiencing another amazing creative journey with Joy Hellman and her inspiring creative pilot courseKiss of the Muse…
In this creative journey once the seed is planted things just start blooming and connect through different parts of life and with the life of others.
A nice mantra I came across while traveling through East Asia came to mind so I revisited and altered my original shot….
The more I ponder on my creative concos, I experience and share creative moments and appreciate wonderful creations by others I feel that the special link that in many ways encompasses us all..we are all one through our subjective unique way of being and creating….
This painting was inspired by my progress through this new exciting adventure with Joy and the group Kiss of the Muse…
Another interesting idea that came up was that of photojournaling…well I have been kinda addicted to that for a long while now 🙂 and while before I was digitizing and archiving everything these days I find that some social media like Instagramcan be used as tools to create and share a piece of our world… Or Pinterest where one can make, share and partecipate in collective visual boards …
If you want to see the world from my perspective you can find me @lizzieartnsurf on Instagram and Lizzie Bellotto on Pinterest, what does your world look like?
As she beautifully says… “Mindfulness and self-compassion are my areas of growth for the present moment and the present moment is the only one we’ve got. Whether or not you believe in reincarnation, this life in which you find yourself incarnated, is all you have; this present moment is yours to savour and to learn from.”
Thank you Susanna for the most wonderful assignment ever: “Just for today try to be more in the present moment, not letting goals – yours or someone else’s – get in the way of the wonder that resides in that unique and fleeting space in your life. Tonight, write or sketch about that in your journal and smile, enjoying that presence and that moment twice in your life.”
Here is my reminder of that moment….
Well I think that what Susanna says is so true and precious…Each of us is blessed with the gift of mindfulness and self-compassion….By practicing mindfulness we get to really appreciate the moment of now, escaping time and space and everything in life as we know it….In that moment everything becomes still, even time escapes the boundaries we usually attribute to it…No matter how long that moment really is, it assumes a very different essence in which we are able to focus and be completely who we are as we are and apply full self-compassion…
Just sharing some of my special moments today….
I believe that mindfulness and self-compassion are something that we can cultivate and slowly it becomes a constant in the life we live… In a way through mindfulness and self-compassion is what allows us to understand and appreciate who we are in this life at the present moment of being, becoming and evolving…
Thank you for the links and inspiration Susanna! I first discovered mindfulness in early mediation practices of different kinds and I got so interested as it connects deeply with our way of being in the world and truly open our view and reminds us of human life as part of the world we are in. In particular I found Thich Nhat Hanh works, writing and practice very interesting and so many others like Sharon Salzberg “Loving-kindness The Revolutionary Art of Happiness”.
I particularly connect with what she says : ” and then think about times in your life when things were not “going well” and that some how grabbing the art materials at hand was a huge help. You made good art, maybe not art that others would look at as good, (that doesn’t matter) but art that you look at and feel satisfied. There’s an inner dialogue with your inner artist, and there’s a feeling of understanding and being understood.”
So in essence WE ALL MAKE GOOD ART ALWAYS and at any time in our life is time to make art!!! It’s like claiming back your right to follow your intuition and create…Take a moment, drop whatever you are up to in life, and make art…Allow yourself to create something…
I also think that creativity can take so many interesting paths and forms…so for some it flows through words, ideas, notes and even numbers:) Just claim a minute-corner for yourself and let your flow to take the lead…be adventurous!!
So my journal page about a new story, a special queen… inspired by this creativity flow:)
So what is your response, if you feel like sharing via blogs or on Instagram by adding #14SecretsChallenge
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