Welcome 2009!

My intention for the year: Focus.
My vision for 2009 in words is here.
My vision for 2009 in pictures is here.

I'm so excited about so many and the year has just begun! This is one of the reasons I've set the intention to focus. I want to really embrace and experience life and my work fully in 2009. I want to love up my friends, family, clients, colleagues, home, projects, creations, life by giving them the attention they so truly deserve. Yum!

In that spirit, I'm going to be focusing some loving attention on this blog too. One of the things I'm going to experiment with is bringing Wishcasting here for a year. So, on Wednesdays you can expect to see a wish prompt and a Mr. Linky box so that you can add your wishes to the mix. What will happen if we each make 52 wishes this year? I look forward to finding out!

I am also honoured to share that Sacred Suzie has passed the Dreamboard Goddess Wand over to me. For any of you that participated in her monthly dreamboards, you know what magic can be created by taking time each month to imagine what you would love and to invite it into your life! With Suzie's new direction at Chez Sacred Suzie, I offered to make a home for monthly dreamboards. If you're new to dreamboards, Suzie wrote a great piece here. I'll be writing more later this week, but in the meantime, you might want to get started because the full moon is this Saturday!

I will be doing another Project 365. I just loved having that daily picture record of the year. And it was such a treat to watch it at the end of the year. I'm not going to create any formal structure for this project (other than that I will post on Saturdays), but you are absolutely welcome to join me in whatever way suits you best.

And of course, we're just about a week away from the beginning of Circe's Circle, a telecircle for creative bloggers. This is the only Circe's Circle I have planned for this year, so if you're ready to really step into your creative dreams in 2009, there's a spot waiting just for you. Jumpstart your project with the guidance of a professional coach and the support and encouragement of like-minded women!

This year will begin with the second session of The Next Chapter, this time with us working through 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women by Gail McMeekin. We've just hit 100 participants! The excitement is palpable. And I am absolutely thrilled to announce that as a part of this book blogging club, I will be interviewing 12 Highly Creative Bloggers. Each week a new interview will be posted to fire up your creative spirit big time! I can't wait to share that with you. You won't want to miss a one!

Whew. And that's only January!

Soul Coaching: Quest

As a final transition from the Soul Coaching circle, Denise invites us to go on a Quest to hear what the Universe has to share with our wide-open selves.

I feel like this entire month has been a Quest. I had my breakthrough on Day 18 and feel like I've been growing stronger in my vision every day since. Somehow it all came to here. This weekend I"ve been channeling it all into my Vision Cards for 2009. I hope you enjoy the preview of my year in the video.

Today I'm celebrating the spark of inspiration that led me to start The Next Chapter and move forward with Soul Coaching. I celebrate the magic that happens when people come together to share and to shine, and I invite more of that into my life and into yours.

Thank you, November. Thank you, merry band. Thank you, Denise. Thank you, Universe. And thank you to my spirit too for leading me every step of the way.

Soul Coaching Day 27: Creating a Fabulous Future

I always start these kind of explorations with intuition and trust. When I did the meditation with Denise this morning I was so surprised that in a year I saw my husband and I in a new home that we just loved. I also spent some time collaging and noticing what I saw. Here's my vision:

Creating 2009

This year my business has exponentially taken off and been a huge success. I'm reaching more people than I thought possible and am so excited by the work we're doing together. I feel passionately connected to my work and my purpose and am excited to wake up every day and get to it! My new website was launched early in the year, and I have been just ecstatic at the results. It combines beauty and function, and that's just one of my favourite things. Through the site, it's so easy for me to connect with others and share.

The Shy Kid Art Show was a phenomenal success. Who knew that it would get so much media attention? What I'm most thrilled about is that so many people shared their creations in a joyful, creative, supportive environment. Every day I'm still receiving letters and emails from people whose lives have been touched and changed by the experience. Now I'm working on a way of creatively pulling together all the amazing stories that people shared. Next year it's going to be even bigger!

With all of this, I'm thrilled that Justin and I have purchased another house. It was amazing how easy this was to make happen. The right opportunity showed up at the right time and we took it. It's so exciting that my income has grown to the point where making a move like that was so easy financially! And it's great we've been able to hold onto our first house as an investment. The nicest family has just moved in and I just know they are going to be so happy there and really great tenants!

We love our new home. It's beautiful and in a neighbourhood we feel just right in. I feel safe and happy and surrounded by beauty and ease. I can't wait to get started on the garden next year. In fact, I'm already planning. Now we're working on personalizing our home and I'm thrilled to say we have a team of people supporting us that we trust, like and can afford. What a treasure. It's thrilling to see everything take shape around us. This house is just so us!

It's been a busy year but I am healthier, feel more at ease and am more energetic than ever! I think a variety of things have contributed to that, including regular spa visits, joyfully participating in Nia, taking the time to experience great dinners, movies, plays, art, special events throughout the year. Taking time for my own creative endeavours has also been so fulfilling. I'm excited about my creative projects and will be announcing the dates for my next show in the new year. It's going to be a blast.

One of the best parts of this year is just how many joyful, prosperous surprises came up. Every day was an affirmation from the Universe that I am on the right path! It was amazing how often someone would approach me with an opportunity that was exciting, fun and profitable! I trusted my instincts and found myself saying yes to just the right ones and taking on just the right amount of work. I've learned so much. My purpose has deepened and my vision has expanded. I feel grounded in my abilities and trust that I can take on the new and exciting challenges that are ahead. I feel supported.

One of the great joys of this year is that I am really connected to people I love, some that I've known forever and some that are new in my life. I have friendships I value and that are getting deeper all the time. My family is healthy and happy and we see each other regularly, enjoying each other's company so much! Justin and I are so happy together. We love each other deeply and support each other fully in making our dreams come true. Right now we are having so much fun planning our European vacation for next year. Paris here we come! It was great to relax on the beach this year but next year it's all about art and architecture!

If 2010 is anywhere near as good as 2009, we're in for a good time.

I'm going to make vision cards for the different components of this vision to keep me connected and inspired. What's your vision for 2009?

Dreamboard

I was inspired by Suzie to make a Dreamboard for this month. She's encouraging everyone to manifest their dreams through images, so you know I had to be in on this one.

This is my dreamboard. It represents my goals for the next months or so. I was a bit intuitive in how I approached the collecting of images but they did come to represent goals in each of the significant areas of my life: home, business, self and relationships.

It's not too late to make your own dreamboard. Why not participate?

Visioning for 2008

The time between Christmas and New Years is one of my very favourite times of year. It combines two special energies - the ease of unscheduled holiday time and the anticipation of the year to come. For me, this is always vision time. This year, inspired by Jenn's right-brain business plan (which is sheer genius) and the goal book at Life is the Art, I turned my 2008 goals for Jamie Ridler Studios into Vision Cards.

The Process

• I started by brainstorming on a big piece of newsprint. I wrote down things I'm committed to and things that I'd like to make happen. I finished with 16 goals and one over-riding vision statement (which turned into the picture you see above).
• Taping together index cards, I made 16 squares ready to become Vision Cards. I wrote the goal on the back of the card.
• Next I let my intuition guide me in collecting pictures for each of the goals. If my spirit said the image belonged with that goal, I put it there, even if my rational brain didn't understand why.
• Finally I created collages with the found images.

One of the great gifts of this process is that I absolutely deepend my understanding of and commitment to these goals. When I look at them, I immediately plug into not just what my goals are but also why they are important to me, what passion drives them.

Many success gurus suggest that you create a list of your goals and review them every morning and every night. For me, going through these 16 cards is a delightful and meaningful way to accomplish connecting to my 2008 dreams for my work. And to make it even easier, I created this video. I'm loving it, and I still can't believe these are my professional goals. I can't wait to get to my personal goals too! Enjoy.

If you decide to create your own Vision Cards or Vision Video, let me know. I'd absolutely love to see it. May dreams come true in 2008!

Visioning

I want to thank everyone for your comments to this week's Success Principle post, both online and off. Your responses were really inspiring and set me to thinking and exploring.

I loved Star's thoughts on exploring different sizes and formats and Melba's comment that she's interested in capturing her everyday visually but not with photographs and that Shannon likes the idea of collaging but not visualization. This really reinforces for me that we are all different and there must be so many unique ways of connecting each of us with our dreams. This is really inviting my imagination to play!

How creative can we get? How can you envisage your dream?

• Write and then present a monologue expressing your reaction to the achievement of your dreams.
  
• Cook a celebratory meal with each course representing one thing you want to accomplish.
  
• Dance your deepest desire.
  
• Sculpt clay figures of you achieving your goals.
  
• Create a nursery rhyme that serves as a mantra for your dreams ("Jamie bought her dream house, her kitchen was white as snow. And everywhere that Jamie went, success was sure to go.")
  
• Design the outfit that says "I am (insert who/what you want to be)" and wear it. (Definitely wear it to your soul-sucking, energy-draining job if you have one!)
  

Any other ideas?

And speaking of taking a novel approach, have you seen Keri Smith's new project, Wreck This Journal. I know that I can get very caught up in wanting a journal to be "just so," especially when it's a pretty one. This concept seems so liberating and fun! Check it out.