Living and loving my simple summer manifesto

It feels odd to not have shared the beautiful summer season with you here but taking time to focus on personal projects was something I really wanted to do. I needed space to get creative offline for wedding projects and time to focus on my studies, which I'm very delighted to let you know I have passed both qualifications I have taken! I really wanted to continue my manifesto project through the year, however full life became.

For me each season brings with it something new, a new chapter. I take real pleasure from noticing the changes and love the blurry edges to the seasons as they move to the next. My word of the year is Awaken and with this in mind I decided that I wanted to awaken more of a connection to the seasons than I have done before. I want to awaken more awareness and I want to awaken my senses.

To help me achieve this I've been writing a manifesto for each season of the year. A manifesto for me is a statement that pulls together my thoughts and the key things that what I want to get out of the season ahead and to help act as a guide. For me it's about thinking of the simple pleasures I love during the season, celebrating what the season brings, creating direction, actions, and practical and achievable intentions, with the outcome of connecting more to each season in an intentional and focused way. Life is full and creating a practice to allow myself to intentionally become more mindful is a such a good thing. Living with and observing the seasons is something that I do unconsciously, I adore it, but I want to awaken more of an awareness.

Over the past few months I've been connecting with my summer manifesto. With the signs of autumn making a real appearance this week and the time flying by (I'm now just 18 days away from getting married). I wanted to share with you what I have brought into my life recently during the summer months.

My summer manifesto was very simple and purposefully so. To help me navigate an incredibly full  summer I decided to keep it so true to me and what I believed I may have needed to bring into my life. You'll notice that it can probably apply to any season, there's no connecting to nature as such, it has all been about keeping a gentle focus on myself. I knew that this really was what I needed. Taking time away at the Sisterhood Camp in May enabled me to breathe, think and plan. I knew that bringing this into the summer season, that would be full of making and creating, would help me to really be able to take the right decisions and best path through the months ahead.

These three phrases, 'breathe', 'plan ahead' and 'listen to my body' have been a focus and as much as possible I have tried to live these three elements of my manifesto...

Breathe

Breathing during yoga, breathing through the tricky moments, breathing in the scents of the season for me were all part of Breathe. Breathing delicious scents of summer food, plants and the materials I was working with will solidify my experience of this summer. Taking a moment to just breathe through it would help me calm any feelings and thoughts I felt and would help me relax. When doing yoga really breathing and listening to the breath helped take my mind off thoughts I had.

Plan ahead

Plan ahead was all about how I wanted myself to be and act during the summer. Planning small steps to the final outcome and setting personal deadlines helped me complete large projects that I wanted to achieve. As a lover of lists and plans I created detailed lists and spreadsheet plans for each element of the wedding planning. I tracked what I could in my Get to Workbook, putting pen to paper was sometimes all I needed to feel calm.

Listen to my body

I knew that with so much going on that I had decided to do for both the wedding planning and the two qualifications, that I would potentially be pushing myself hard and not looking after myself as much as I could have done. I knew that listening to my body would be a solution and enable me to tap into my intuition.

During the time of studying I took time away to reflect and gave myself regular breaks. I stopped if I felt tired, knowing it could be done with the help of the plans I had made. I listened to my body and ate salads and drank smoothies to ensure that I was having plenty of fruit and vegetables but I treated myself to chocolate or sweet snacks when I wanted to.  

Having this simple seasonal manifesto became really powerful for me. For this season it wasn't about listing everything I wanted out of the summer, in terms of capturing the season and everything I wanted to do. Instead I've sculpted a season of my life and have given myself the freedom of choice in how I continue to want to feel during a season, how I want to play and grow with the manifesto idea, and the simple element of awakening something new in me. This summer I've awakened a sense of resourcefulness through the three elements of the manifesto, I've awakened an inner confidence of my skills, and I've awakened my creativity. It's been truly wonderful!

A moment in bloom :: my summer

I look back at my last blog post from June, my manifesto, and where I was at that point in the year. It feels like such a long time ago and an extended summer break from this space that I love. I'm gradually heading back as I come out of a full few months of completing once in a lifetime experiences that I will treasure...

As I sit here writing this in our attic room I can see evidence of what the summer has been for me this year. There are beautiful origami cranes, delicately strung on fishing line waiting to be packaged up ready to be hung in our marquee. I see a pile of bunting triangles ready to be packed up into the box in an array of colours. I see a list of ideas and tasks that I thought would barely be touched and see it getting shorter every week. I see my planner documenting all that I am doing as my way of motivating myself and keeping myself on track. I see a copy of our wedding invitation that took time to make and concept. I see other small handmade projects and the supplies waiting to be assembled and their final visions accomplished. I see a pile of books on my shelf that helped me learn all that I needed for the courses I've taken, enabling me to complete and pass both elements...It's been a wonderful ride through creativity, thought and personal growth...

This summer I know that I have really pushed myself beyond my comfort zone, with volumes of challenging tasks and projects accomplished. It has taken a level of determination and drive that I haven't tapped into for very many years, but this time I have paced myself and savoured them. I've tried out new crafts, aimed high with the assignments I have written for the courses taken, and spent time really thinking deeply about our upcoming wedding day and how we would like it to be.

Today is the last day of August, and I am close to the stage that I had envisaged I'd be with our wedding plans, having completed the 'big' projects and having time now to focus on the small details and touches for the day. It's now also a time I was hoping to savour, remembering the moments on the run up to our day, listening to my body and having time to relax...there are just over five weeks left before our wedding day, the countdown really has begun!

I feel quite emotional as I write this and take a moment to look back at the summer and all that it has been. This time last year I wouldn't have thought I'd have been through so many positive life changing moments, made the changes in my life and mindset that I have done, and achieved all that I have. For me the biggest of those are the many personal achievements and my mindset change for the next stage of my life, it really is starting to shape itself into something that I really want and that I am excited by. I'm so pleased to have awakened an unknown level of resourcefulness in me and I'm so proud of the personal challenges I've set myself and worked through in the way that I have done.

...Today I walked past these scented roses, wafting their beautiful scent, looking so delicate and pretty. I brush past them twice a day on my walk to work as they hang over a path. My walk is my thinking time, a time to reflect, to listen to podcasts, to catch up regularly with my family on phone calls, and a time to soak in the sounds and sights of the city I live in. It's a journey and a transition from one space to another, from a wedding planning and personal space, to the work place and all that it brings...Over the summer months I have enjoyed watching this rose bush bloom again and again, taking a moment to stop and smell it from time to time. Much like the projects I've been working on, they have kept blooming, awakening a feeling in me, and making me smile. I've been breathing in all that they are, all that they are bring, and watching them grow.

Living my Spring Manifesto

With each season comes with it something new, a new chapter. My word this year is Awaken. I decided that I wanted to awaken more of a connection to the seasons than I have done before, awaken more awareness and awaken my senses. In January I started a new seasonal practice of creating and sharing my seasonal manifesto. Over the past few months I've been connecting with my spring manifesto. With the signs of summer appearing around me I wanted to share with you what I have brought into my life recently during the spring months.

Make time to step away from digital habits

Over the past few months I've stepped away from daily blog reading, spent less time on Instagram and taken time away from the screen. I work in an office so I spend everyday in front of a computer screen. Coming home from work and at weekends I've added in more opportunities for being away from a screen. For me it has meant that I've managed to make a start on my handmade wedding craft projects, I've spent time in the garden, tended and watered plants, weeded our raised beds and had some headspace away to think.

Reconnect to a handmade craft

I have a passion for handmade and even more so recently with our wedding just a few months away. I've been planning and starting to make the handmade elements of our wedding day. Over the past two months I've been creating origami cranes for our wedding to help decorate our marquee.  I love using paper to create things and for me I wanted to get back to using it as a material. I remember trying origami many years ago but I think that this time it has felt different. I'm taking time to hand make each origami crane and feel the satisfaction of shaping something from paper. Having this project has meant that I've taken time away from my digital habits and to have a more mindful activity to enjoy. Whilst I making each origami crane I'm thinking about the present moment and also reflecting on the day that has been.

Shape and grow something new in my life

Over the past few months I've found myself shaping and growing a feeling of resourcefulness and an ability to relax and go with the flow even more so than I have ever done. As mentioned over the past few months, life for me is currently very full. I'm not sure that I'll ever again have the busiest part of the year in my day job coincide with finishing two qualifications, taking exams, practicing coaching, and planning a handmade wedding. What I am learning is about having the right mindset, state and confidence in myself to just do it. I feel for the first time that I'm experiencing a flow that means I just take things as they come and let them be.

In amongst the flow I'm starting to shape my ideas of my coaching practice and I'm working with clients who are giving me fantastic practice experience. I gifted them a number of hours of coaching to help me complete the hours I need for my qualification. It is something new that I am growing in my life, it's exciting, a little daunting but I'm really enjoying having the opportunity to start planning the next phase in my portfolio career.

Start a gratitude practice

Making the time to be mindful and appreciate what I have is something I enjoy doing. I tend to use the time on my walk to and from work to think about what I'm grateful for. I'm grateful of my ability to be flexible, to take on challenges, to juggle all the things I have in my life, for all the moments that I have experienced over the past few months and the people I have met. I haven't been writing my thoughts down in a journal but I have each week taken a little time think about what I am grateful for.

Plant and cultivate seeds

I have been planting, growing and cultivating seeds. Many of these seeds have been planted in our garden. I'm growing a few small plants including peppers, basil, tomatoes, and stocks. Taking time to water the seeds, watch them grow has been satisfying.

I've planted and am starting to cultivate seeds in my life in other ways. I've made new friends through coach training and connected with a number of inspiring women at Sisterhood Camp that I attended in May.

I'm really enjoying having a manifesto for each season, it brings with it a chance to focus and do something for me.

My Spring Manifesto

Each season brings with it something new, a new chapter. I take real pleasure from noticing the changes and love the blurry edges to the seasons as they move to the next. My word this year is Awaken and with this in mind I have decided that I want to awaken more of a connection to the seasons than I have done before. I want to awaken more awareness and I want to awaken my senses.

To help me achieve this I'm writing a manifesto for each season of the year. A manifesto for me is a statement that pulls together my thoughts and the key things that what I want to get out of the season ahead and to help act as a guide. For me it's about thinking of the simple pleasures I love during the season, celebrating what the season brings, creating direction, actions, and practical and achievable intentions, with the outcome of connecting more to each season in an intentional and focused way. Life is full and creating a practice to allow myself to intentionally become more mindful is a such a good thing. Living with and observing the seasons is something that I do unconsciously, I adore it, but I want to awaken more of an awareness.

Over the past month or so I have been living with my Spring manifesto and wanted to share it with you today.  I'm putting my focus on a few key things this season...

My Spring Manifesto 2016

Make time to step away from digital habits

Reconnect to a handmade craft

Shape and grow something new in my life

Start a gratitude practice

Plant and cultivate seeds

This Spring I wanted to focus on growing, shaping, starting and reconnecting. As the plants bloom and new growth appears, I wanted to feel a connection in my own way and feel growth in my own life. Taking small steps to grow is something I'm really cultivating in my life at the moment and I'm really enjoying it. In the next month, as summer begins, I'll let you know how I've been living my Spring manifesto and what it has added to my life.

Inspired by... A Playful Day podcast

I've been listening to A Playful Day podcast for just over a year, I adore my weekly date with this podcast and it has become one of my favourite things to listen to. There are very few British podcasts that I listen to that I love so much and that I am really inspired by. With season one of the new-look podcast recently completed, I thought it would be a great time to share it with you so that you can catch up on the wonderful content over this rainy May bank holiday weekend.

A Playful Day is created by Kate, a talented blogger and podcaster who has recently moved from London to Dorset. Until the end of last year the podcast was focused mainly around knitting and yarn based chats, with monthly themes around making and creative process. Kate decided to take a short break away at the end of last year to rethink her podcast and change things a little. Relaunching her podcast in March, with a fresh new look and feel, the focus of A Playful Day podcast has now widened and contains some of the most brilliant content that I've listened to for a long time, they are subjects that are close to my heart too.

During season one Kate has been interviewing creative people, finding out about their process, the projects they are making, their small businesses, and discovering how they got to where they are. It's fascinating to hear about how people have started their creative businesses and what they are inspired by. There's still the occasional knitting and handmade chat which I adore, with the addition of wonderful recipes and updates on Kate's life. It's a podcast that I listen to on my walk to work, and also one that I will snuggle down with a mug of tea and a blanket and soak up over a weekend.

Kate is very much in touch with living a creative and sustainable lifestyle and her podcast now reflects even more of her story. By covering these different subjects Kate has really carved her own niche podcast, and having met her in person at Blogtacular last year, is as wonderful, honest and genuine in person as she sounds on her podcast. Kate has a fantastic voice to listen to and someone who loves her life and what she does. Kate bravely started a wonderful new creative adventure with her business and I feel very inspired by her. I would love it if you could take a listen to A Playful Day podcast, it will bring warmth, inspiration and brightness to your day.