Starting Where You Are

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SERENITY - the state or quality of being serene, calm, or tranquil; composure, peacefulness, peace. [Serenity week begins here. Click for this week's Bliss Initiatives.]

Welcome Magic Carpet Riders! Looking for my One World One Heart Giveaway? Click here to go to my open house post and the giveaway! 

What a delightful whirlwind this One  World One Heart  event is for me. Every time I check back 10 more people have visited my little corner of the internet and many have chosen to become followers and fans of the blog. It is truly exciting. And the places I have traveled on this magic carpet ride... incredible! There are types of creativity I could never have fathomed and at this point I've only made it to about 100 of the almost 700 (so far) participant's blogs. I now understand why the event lasts three weeks, I'll need every minute to get to everything! (If you don't know what the One World One Heart event is and/or you haven't stopped by yet, do click on over to Lisa's Whimsical Bohemian site and start your own tour today!)

As I have been playing during this unique frenzy of activity I thought, more then once, what a funny week  for serenity week. Then I happened upon Amusing Muses on my blog tour. In her giveaway I saw this print:

 (Click on the print to visit the delightful Amusing Muses site.)

Oh my goodness that is EXACTLY what I needed to see. It also affirms that I was on the right track with my Bliss Initiatives yesterday. I realize now that during the weeks I don't perform  well (meaning scoring high on my arbitrary 10 point scale) it is mostly because I haven't been starting where I am. I made the mistake several times of creating weekly initiatives that were VERY lofty and  were designed for where I want to be rather then where I am. This time I am actually starting where I am. Brilliant! And probably why I actually caught myself feeling some serenity in the most unlikely of places, like at the Children's Museum with Jessie where the bubble room occurred like a small oasis rather then the crazy soap pit of past visits! 

My initial intention for this post was to share some serene images (much like I did last serenity week) but where I am is not quite ready to do that. I've found a couple of delightful images I will be sharing but my "collection" isn't quite complete. In the past I would have tried to force it, conducting a frenetic search around the internet and possibly picking mediocre representations because time was running out. How crazy is that? 

Anyway, armed with this great advice I headed to the internet, loyal followers you know this feeds my bliss of INQUIRY, and poke around. I knew others must have had there own aha moments (thanks Oprah) about discovering this magical precept. I was not disappointed.

First up I found this:

Click on book cover for more information about the book

He's the real life guy the movie The Pursuit of Happiness (oh yeah they spelled it Happyness!) was about. I'm certain he probably has a lot to say on the topic!

I also found another book of the same title with an interesting review by feministing.com (I must get back there again sometime!) In the post called Not Oprah's Book Club: Start Where You Are Courtney reviews this book: 

Click on book cover for more information about the book

Written by Buddhist Nun Pema Chodron, the gist of the book is the notion that all of our experiences--both delightful and disastrous, all of our emotions--both joyful and wretched, are a lesson and a gift. The range of experiences we encounter are our tools for becoming more awake, more kind, and more present. Nice! I just may put both these books on my reading list!

What about you? How often do you force something rather then just starting where you are? How about joining me and begin where you are?

Next Post: Visual Serenity

My 13 bliss virtues: joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, surprise