Learn + Explore + Share

Explore: ABCs of Appreciation, 2011

The Reverb11* prompt I'm using today is Sunday's from Yoga Freedom: Gracias (Thanks). Appreciation and acknowledgement are corner stones to building trust and deepening relationships. Write a thank you note or poem to someone who impacted your life in 2011.

With my own spin on this instruction, here's an ABC list of what I appreciate from the past year:

Allison makes our family more interesting; I appreciate my 8-year-old's fun and complex personality.  

Blogging: With a few months of blogging under my belt now, I better appreciate the time and energy my favorite bloggers put into this medium.

Carol, to whom I'm deeply appreciative for her dedication in caring for my grandparents. She's going through her own grief journey following the death of my Gramps in late March. See also Grandpa.

Dollars: Though I could always use more cash in my pocket, I appreciate that I have enough for life's necessities. This 99-percent calculator helps put things into perspective, too.  

Eighty-nine three, the Current has filled my days in 2011 with great music and interactive fun like the weekday Coffee Break and Nigel Tufnel Day.

Family & friends, as usual, have played a valuable role in my life in this past year. 

Grandpa: Aside from years of memories we shared, I appreciate the many "I love yous" Gramps and I were able to exchange before he died on March 28.

Health: I have to appreciate my general good health, without which much of this list would not be possible.

Ice cream, zanzibar chocolate: During an October bicycle ride, we cyclists stopped to refuel and enjoy an ice cream treat. Zanzibar chocolate ice cream is The Absolute Best Ice Cream Flavor, rich and chocolaty and uncontaminated by marshmallows, nuts or fruity add-ins.

Joel: my husband of 16+ years, who supports and encourages my creative ventures. (As a coincidental example, this morning, Joel sent me a link to Seth's blog post for today.)

Koshiols: my clan, who said goodbye to our patriarch in March. See also, Grandpa.

Lauren, adjusting comfortably to the middle school experience, constantly impresses me with her self-motivation, confidence and smarts.

Minnesota State Parks that we were able to visit in July following the 15-day state government shutdown.

Neighbors who do what we can to help one another.

Online communities including facebook, twitter, Path Finder and #Reverb11/#WEverb11/#Resound11  

Path Finder: Participating in this 5-week guided self study course introduced me to some new habits that help enrich my daily life.  

Quilter, long-arm: I appreciate that B&J Quilting finished the job on my quilt project in time for me (hopefully) to complete the final touches in time for Christmas.

Readers of Learn+Explore+Share: Thank you for reading and engaging in my little corner of the Web!

Sailing in the Apostle Islands with Captain John of Dreamcatcher Sailing was a pleasure-packed excursion.

TEDxTC, which I had the privilege of attending last month.

Ukuleles seem to be everywhere this year, like here and here and here and even here.

Vikings: Yes, the Minnesota Vikings have lost all but two of their games this season, but I appreciate coach Leslie Frazier's investment in rookie quarterback Christian Ponder and in the team's future.

Working out three or four times a week is (usually) etched in my schedule, and I'm fortunate to be able to do what I want (cycle, zumba, yoga, run) when I want. See also Yoga, Zumba.  

X-ACTO knife: With my dive into creating art collages this past year, my shiny X-ACTO knife got a lot of use. I recently bought an off-brand replacement blade that's just plain junk. I'll stick with X-ACTO brand from now on.

Yoga: At the fitness center where I work out, the yoga instructors are top-notch and focused on centering yoga principles in addition to the fitness aspects of the poses.

Zumba: Sometimes Zumba is a cardio workout, but primarily it's just fun. There's something rejuvenating about Zumba that helps motivate me to leave my warm house to spend an hour dancing to salsa music in the middle of the winter.

Thanks for spending time browsing my ABCs of Appreciation, 2011. I invite you to make a list of what you appreciate from the past year, too. Share your list with me in the comments here or connect with me on twitter. 

 

* Gwen Bell started the Reverb initiative in 2009 as a daily reflective prompt through the month of December to guide participants in reflecting on the past year and imagining what's to come in the new year ahead. With friends, Gwen repeated Reverb in 2010; for 2011, Gwen has invited individuals to host their own Reverb initiatives. You can find prompts along with lists of 2011 participants at #Resound11 and #WEverb11. Another source for prompts is Yoga Freedom. (There are probably hundreds of other blogs offering prompts!)

Share: #Resound11, Best Photo

Today's Reverb11* prompt comes from #Resound11: #Resound11 Prompt09 Best Photo: Today, please post your best photo of the year. It doesn't have to be the best technically, it doesn't have to be the best visually, but it should be a photo that you consider the best. Does it have special meaning? Is it of a significant event or moment? Share it with us!

Images, from top center: gazing at a northern Minnesota dam, resting on Stockton Island, waiting for the water park to open, at Lake Bronson State Park, aboard the Dragonfly on Lake Superior, during a visit before great grandpa died in March, ready for the first day of school.   

 

Throughout 2011, I have tried to pay special attention to where my daughters are in their young lives; they're changing and growing and maturing so quickly. With mindfulness, I want to appreciate their personalities and their experiences along the way.

This collection of photos represents some of my daughters' most significant moments through the middle of 2011: being with family, exploring the outdoors and beginning a new school year. While my two girls do have their moments of disagreement when they retreat to their separate rooms and post "do not enter" signs, most of the time, they get along well. I hope years from now their own reflections of their adventures together bring them back to fun and happy memories.   

Tell me about your best photo from 2011. Leave a comment here, or connect with me on twitter.

* Gwen Bell started the Reverb initiative in 2009 as a daily reflective prompt through the month of December to guide participants in reflecting on the past year and imagining what's to come in the new year ahead. With friends, Gwen repeated Reverb in 2010; for 2011, Gwen has invited individuals to host their own Reverb initiatives. You can find prompts along with lists of 2011 participants at #Resound11 and #WEverb11. Another source for prompts is Yoga Freedom. (There are probably hundreds of other blogs offering prompts!)

Share: Tranquility

Today's Reverb11* prompt comes from Yoga Freedom's list: Tranquilo (Calm). Sometimes the most beautiful, memorable moments are also the quietest. What quiet, beautiful moment do you recall?

Rewind to a sunny day in July. My family and I are in northern Minnesota, meandering from east to west along Minnesota's border with Ontario, Canada, as we visit a handful of state parks scattered there. On this particular afternoon, at this particular moment, we have just abandoned the idea of hiking around a remote picturesque lake. I am sitting cross-legged at the end of a fishing pier, mesmerized by the sprinkles of sunlight dancing on the lake's surface and decide to record a minute of the scene with my iPhone.

 

Tell me about a quiet, beautiful moment you experienced in 2011. Leave a comment here, or connect with me on twitter.

* Gwen Bell started the Reverb initiative in 2009 as a daily reflective prompt through the month of December to guide participants in reflecting on the past year and imagining what's to come in the new year ahead. With friends, Gwen repeated Reverb in 2010; for 2011, Gwen has invited individuals to host their own Reverb initiatives. You can find prompts along with lists of 2011 participants at #Resound11 and #WEverb11. Another source for prompts is Yoga Freedom. (There are probably hundreds of other blogs offering prompts!)

 

Learn: Risk

With the start of 2011's final month, I've decided to join others participating in various Reverb* spin-offs and publish some reflections of my past year. Last week I described how 2011 has been a year of change for me. In today's post, I explore Prompt #3 from #WEverb11: Learn. What lesson did you learn in 2011 from "The School of Life" rather than a classroom?

What I learned through life in 2011? Risk can lead to rewards.

My creative muscle has gotten plenty of exercise this past year as I have practiced art collage; added mind-mapping to my routine; and begun journaling, blogging, and participating in mini–writing courses. Throughout my year-long creative workout, I have taken the risk of making myself vulnerable as I've shared creative outputs with family, friends and acquaintances, as well as here on my blog and on Twitter. The responses of encouragement, appreciation and constructive feedback I have continually received have increased my desire to risk more in my creativity, create more and share more.

In early 2011, my grandpa began hospice care. Before Gramps died, the idea of his death, to me, meant overwhelming uncertainty, uncontrollable emotions and impending grief. While part of me wanted to hibernate at home and avoid the situation, my heart led me toward my grandpa, where I risked facing reality. While I was there with Grandpa and my family, I let the emotions roll in and out like the tide—pain and sorrow, love and joy, fear and uncertainty, strength and weakness, resistance and relief. Grief crashes in when I least expect it, yet I cherish the decision I made to risk my heart and sit beside Grandpa as his body surrendered to the inevitability of his death.

In both my grief and my creativity this past year, the Internet has played a surprisingly major role. A note of grief I posted on Facebook several weeks after my grandpa’s death prompted friends and family to reach out to me with the love and acknowledgement I needed to begin healing. Not long after that, I risked starting this blog and began developing relationships via Twitter. Now, from my Grief_Friend Twitter account I explore healthy grieving and how to help friends who are grieving. And from LearnExploreShr I tweet links that involve learning, exploring and sharing. A couple months ago I participated in my first online class, the Path Finder e-course by Chookooloonks; the experience further encouraged my creativity and introduced me to like-minded friends across the country and abroad. Connecting online with supportive people has definitely been worth the effort and mild risk.

Through the course of 2011, I learned that creativity is vital to my well-being, that sometimes death looks like a miracle of love and that online connections can be meaningful. I learned that sharing my creative work can lead to support and encouragement; I learned that experiencing my grandpa's death could bloom into indescribable love and grief and acceptance; and I learned that opening up online can lead to richer relationships. I have learned it before, but, once again, I have found myself understanding how risk can lead to worthwhile rewards.

What lesson did your 2011 life experience teach you? Leave a comment here, or connect with me on twitter.

* Gwen Bell started Reverb in 2009 as a daily reflective prompt through the month of December to guide participants in reflecting on the past year and imagining what's to come in the new year ahead. Reverb repeated in 2010 but in 2011 has been passed on for individuals to host. You can find prompts along with lists of 2011 participants at #Resound11 and #WEverb11 (and probably other sites that I have yet to discover).

 

Share: 2011, Year of Change

What is Reverb/Resound?

Gwen Bell started Reverb in 2009 as a daily reflective prompt through the month of December to guide participants in reflecting on the past year and imagining what's to come in the new year ahead. Reverb repeated in 2010 but in 2011 has been passed on for individuals to host. One person hosting a series of daily prompts is Jaemie of #Resound11. Prompt number one is: What is one word to describe your 2011? Why does that word sum up your year?

One Word for 2011: Change

Sometime in the first half of the year, I decided that 2011 has been a Year of Change. It started when I got my first smart phone early this year. In late March, my beloved Grandpa died, and a month later I turned 40. A relative latecomer to twitter, I joined in the spring and have had no regrets. I participated in my first writing mini-course and, in May, started this blog; gradually, I have changed from not thinking of myself as a writer to practicing this elevator speech: "I write about making learning, exploring and sharing part of everyday life." In June, I was fortunate to participate in my first sailing overnight with my family. My older daughter started middle school in September. Around the same time, I resigned from a four-year-long volunteer post and embarked on a journey of personal discovery through the Chookooloonks Path Finder e-course. Recently I attended my first TEDx talk thanks to a twitter connection.

It seems that much of the change I have been experiencing has come about because of an attitude of intentionality that I set earlier this year. If I hadn't started 2011 with a goal of trying to increase my learning, exploring and sharing on a daily basis, you certainly wouldn't be reading these words today. Repeatedly during this past year, I chose to take risks and set aside the status quo in order to be spontaneous, learn something different, explore new experiences or connect with like-minded people. I am grateful for the journey and look forward to what lies ahead.

Is there one word that describes your 2011 experience? Leave a comment here, or connect with me on twitter.