VINTAGE GYPSIES COLORING BOOK (For Grown-ups)

It’s finally here – the second volume from the Come Color with Me Series:VINTAGE GYPSIES Coloring Book (for Grown-ups)

And here’s a sneak preview of a few of my favorite images inside – can’t you feel the freedom and adventure that your Wild Heart yearns for?

Where Have You Left our Heart?

A Party Full of Gypsy Spirits

I Can Smell the Suntan lotion ~ and I Think I Hear the Blender Whirling!

And this is what can happen when you add your own burst of color:

Can you hear your Wild Heart singing yet?

Brought to you by a Moment of Gypsy Heaven....

YOU HAVE WINGS...USE THEM

Don’t fall prey to good enough in your life. If your thoughts and behaviors do not make your heart soar, then they are not good enough to keep. Life is precious and so are you – let go of what isn’t working for you. You have wings – use them.

EXPECTATIONS - FRIEND OR FOE?

Dear Adventurous Hearts,

I’m at the end of a major project (Yes, my new coloring book is just days from being available!!!). And as happens soooo often, I am in a period of adjustment – a lull of sorts: The calm before the storm. Quite frankly the first week, I didn’t know what to do with myself. Now I’m in a period of deep reflection….What to do next? Where to begin? What to continue to invite into my life – what to consciously let go?

It's a period of unrest - not unhappiness, per se, but just a period where I look around and see how my life is arranged. Am I still going in the right direction? I find myself evaluating everything....and then there's that fuzzy area of what is not good enough to keep, yet not bad enough to throw away. 

The concept of “Expectations” had been with me on my mental journey this last week. I find that they can be a killer of creativity and joy.

I decided to try and figure this out more deeply and I came up with this activity. I’ve created it specifically for EXPECTATIONS, but now that I’m done, I realize that I can use this for many, many things in my belief system that just might need some adjusting. So I created an activity that helped me shed some light on my thoughts and beliefs...hmmm, now that's always an interesting adventure, right?

For the complete step-by-step activity (mine as well as worksheets for you to do your own) go to zanpackard.com

Happy Journaling - it's always and adventure into to Journey Within

JOURNALING PROMPT: FALL

Fall is the season that I wait for, I live for, I love for. This is my time of year . . .  and I’ll tell you why: fall brings with it my favorite feelings – excitement, anticipation, energy, comfort, letting-go, and just plain joy.

It doesn't matter much why I feel this way about Fall or why I feel differently about other seasons. To me what matters most is that I know ahead of time when my optimum time of year is (and conversely when my most challenging time of year is). Armed with this information I can plan accordingly.

Last year, I forgot, and planned the final stages of my first coloring book during a time of year when I am my most vulnerable. Silly me, what a struggle that turned out to me. I still got my work done – albeit a week late -  but I was a basket case every single step of the way. NEVER AGAIN. This year my next book is scheduled to print by November 1^st and joy of all joys, it came in 1 week ahead of schedule….and even more importantly, I really enjoyed the process.

If you are not aware of the natural rhythms of your inner workings, I would suggest that you begin to keep a calendar of general feelings. Begin now, using a simple month-at-a-glance calendar and write a ONE WORD feeling on each day – at the end of the year you will have a fairly graphic representation of your rhythms.

We all have natural ebbs and flows of our energy and emotions – knowing when they are is the first step to setting yourself up for success - the first step of taking control of your life.

For me, I know I can pack a lot into the Fall season. My energy and emotions can handle the most at this time of year. And that is exactly what I’m planning to do this year – my next book is due to be in print by November 1^st and I’m heading out on adventure…

“Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today (not), I want to be a part of it, New York, New York…”

New York and Pennsylvania are on my itinerary this year….I’m planning and preparing for a glorious time – cuz it’s my time of year.

I'm Feeling the Urge to List

Dear Wild Hearts,

Every year about this time I begin to plot out the remaining months with to-do lists, and this year will be no different, but I also feel the urge to begin to think of how I want next year to unfold.

I am happiest when I am working toward a goal, which I admit makes living in the ‘now’ a challenge…but not undoable. I have discovered little ways to take a Here-and-Now Break in each and every day. (Theoretically . . . I’m still working on that when I am on deadline).

Lately, my Here-and-Now Breaks are more about taking a moment and offering up gratitude for the abundance that is currently in my life. I do this because it’s so easy to lose sight of what you have while your focus is on where you’re going….but I’m learning more and more about the unique ways that my mind works with these issues.

But back to my lists….

I begin this morning with a focus of how I want to feel in 2013. I start with feelings rather than actions because that way I am not locked into any one particular way to accomplish it.

Happy - Sounds like a no-brainer, but I need constant reminding. You see I am happy most of the time, I just forget to acknowledge it, so I don’t feel it as much as I’d like to.

Emotional freedom - Which most of the time plays out as not letting fear define me: a ‘Let Go, Let God’ process.

Creative

Adventurous

Loving

Thoughtful - I could do so, so much better at this – and I will place this forefront just to get in the practice of it.

Flexible - I put this one on my list with a bit of trepidation….be careful what you wish for because the Universe will find a way to give it to you…and how do you practice being flexible except with opportunities that call for flexibility – oh my.

So for now,  this is a good place to start….in a few days I will make a few other lists – maybe a things I’ve always want to try….Oooh, that could be very fun, because you know what happens when you put something down in writing don’t you? It usually finds a way to happen. (fist pump ‘Yessss’).