Book of Positive Aspects

For general information about my Book Of Positive Aspects and some inspirational links please scroll down...

05-12-2013 Home Sweet Home and a BOPA Page!

Hi beautiful creators!

We are finally back home…. In the end we’ve been away for almost 2 months! We’ve had a beautiful time ‘dog sitting’ in Germany and when our friends returned from their trip in the USA we just couldn’t get away, we had too much fun together! J Boy I am blessed with such dear friends!

It took me some time to get adjusted to my ‘normal’ life again. Missing my friends, the dogs and my sweet Myrah. Missing that huge garden and the wonderful village and its people living there. But we will return there to celebrate New Year so we will be seeing them all again soon!

As for 2014, we still have big plans and now work is in progress! WHEEE! J

To make sure everything works out as I want it to I am still keeping my vibration high as much as I can! Abraham would say: ‘ stay on your high flying disc’. I love that, hehe

So, one of the things I do to keep me feeling good, flying high, expecting only the best, is my BOPA Journal. Now that I’ve found my rhythm at home again I make a positive aspects filled page every day and here’s one of them on video (just scroll down).

Did you know that it only takes 17 seconds to set a vibration that has enough attraction power to bring you more of the same? Only 17 Seconds! That’s not very long to focus on positive things right?

It works the other way too off course. If you focus on the not-so-good-stuff for 17 seconds it will bring you more of that stuff.

Making a page in my BOPA Journal is one of the moments in my daily practice that I focus on good feeling thoughts. However, the longer you can feel good the better and the stronger the attraction power of your positive vibration will become. 

But just like everybody else, my life goes on and other things come up during the day. Things that need to be done, every now and then something happens that bothers me or even really pisses me of!

What I try to do to keep the average of my vibration positive is remind myself to stop and focus on something that makes me feel good for at least 17 seconds. I can do that while I’m waiting in line at the groceries tore, at the post office, when I’m lying in bed getting ready for sleep, in the shower, while I’m doing the dishes and so on. All those short moments of 17 seconds or longer add up to a vibration that brings me more things to be happy about and to ponder whenever I can.

Off course there are things in my life which are a little more difficult to feel happy about. However there are ways to make you feel a little better about them too! I will write about that in another blog post.

For now, here’s my latest BOPA entry where I could literally feel the energy flowing through me and I felt like I could conquer the world! J

The page was done fairly quickly because I didn’t have to think about what to do next, everything just fell into place. And I wanted to get other things done too! I felt almost like I was in a hurry (the good kind ya know?), like I wanted to ride this wave now that it was there! It’s so good to get things done when you’re feeling this way. It feels like there’s a humongous amount of support from the Universe, like the Universe takes tasks out of my hands and gets them done way better than I could.

So if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading back into my studio and ‘show up’ for the Universe and get this party going!

As Picasso once said: “Inspiration exists but it has to find you working”.

You have to show up and make a start. First feel as good as you can and then just start!

Note to self: practice what you preach baby! (I admit it, I am no stranger to procrastinating as well) J

I wish you many happy feeling thoughts and ride the wave!

Happy Creating,

~Monique

19-11-13 / BOPA Continues...

A new BOPA Journal made from paper bags.

Hey there lovely creators!

Yes, it’s BOPA time again! Well, actually it never ended.

Making lists of positive aspects in an art-journaling-way is the best thing I’ve come up with for me lately.

Ever since I found the teachings of Abraham through Esther (and Jerry) Hicks I have implemented the things I learned from them in my personal life and I have always wanted to also incorporate this in my art. 

(here’s a link to their website)

One of the processes they offer to make your life more juicy, blissful, easy and exceptionally wonderful  is to make lists of positive aspects every day on whatever subjects you choose.  

My BOPA is my positive list making.

Holy Souls what a beautiful, amazing fun way to create a better life!!! And it really works!!!

I have seen amazing positive changes in my life since I’ve implemented some of the processes and it got even better when I started art journaling this way. I feel more alive, more vibrant and more centered and in alignment with my higher self, my goddess powers, infinite intelligence and Source, or whatever name you can think of for this creative life energy we are part of and flows through us.

Maybe the word creative energy needs some explaining here. I don't mean creative in an art-like way. 

I mean creative in the biggest sense of the word you can imagine. Life source is an energy immensely creative in finding things for you to match your vibration. Law of Attraction takes care of the rest. 

It brings those things to you, usually in ways you couldn’t have imagined. 

That’s why we sometimes feel like life is ‘happening’ to us when in fact we create it ourselves. 

Or, put in another way, we hold an energetic vibration which attracts things, people and circumstances that match that vibration.

The way you can change or manage your vibration is through your thoughts and feelings.

It actually is quite simple but when we learn this at first we are not used to this way of thinking about life so it takes practice and that is perfectly fine.

It comes down to this: 

Your thoughts create your vibration à 

your vibration attracts things, people and circumstances that match that vibration.

So, if you think positive thoughts you attract more things into your life to be positive about.

Now, how to control your thoughts? By checking your feelings.

If you feel ‘bad’ you are thinking thoughts that will attract ‘bad’.

If you feel ‘good’ you are thinking thoughts that will attract ‘good’.

The words you say or think to yourself are much less important, how you feel is the way to check whether you are attracting/creating a future you will like or not.

You could say: You attract/create what you feel.

To manage your thoughts however is another matter. Every time you catch yourself feeling not so good (or worse) you have to find thoughts that make you feel better. 

You don’t have to jump from really bad to extraordinarily happy, that probably won’t work.

But you can find thoughts that feel a little bit better. In the teachings of Abraham they used to refer to finding some kind of relieve, feeling just a little bit better. 

The processes they offer in their teachings are very helpful in learning this.

It means taking control over your mind, you are the one who is thinking in your head!

This might sound too simple and sometimes it is a little bit difficult to put it into practice.

Believe me, I know!!! J

It’s like Art or anything you’d like to learn; practice, practice, practice.

And once you notice little things changing for the better you are on the go!

This is why I am continuing making BOPA pages. It makes me feel good, I can find good feeling thoughts easier and its great fun!

I wish you many, many happy moments with happy thoughts and feelings and off course…

Happy Creating!

Monique

I Know, I know but I couldn't resist...

I know the last page in my BOPA said don't look back. 

I simply could not stop myself from going through the whole album now that it's done. 

Boy what a journey! :-)

That's when the idea came to me to make a flipthrough and then really put it aside for a while.

I'll start a new one right away offcourse! 

No way I'm stopping this daily affirming of positive aspects of my life!

I'll share some of those pages with you in the future.

For now I'm taking a You Tube break.

There are two paintings wanting some TLC and they would like some privacy while growing up . :-)

I'll be back with you on You Tube soon with another series of Mixed Media art and/or some Artjournaling.

See you soon and in the meantime:

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 33 / 02 November  

'Don’t look back, you’re not going that way.'

That’s it my lovelies! The last page of  my 33 day journey in my BOPA! 

Well, that is to say, the You Tube version. ;-) 

As I mention in the video, there’s no way I am stopping making pages of positive aspects!

The title for this page came in yesterday evening while browsing the internet. II thought it was perfect for  this ending which is not an ending…. The journey goes on!

I thank you all for joining me and hope my journey has inspired you to look for 

the positive things in life a little more often.

I will take a You Tube break for a short while but I’ll be back with another 

creative and positive journey to share with you!

Happy Creating

~Monique

Day 32 / 01 November / Het regent Zonnestralen

Hey Beautiful Creators!

Today I had no clue whatsoever about this page. My mind was already occupied with what to do next. There are only 2 more days left in this journal! Not that I am going to stop making pages with positive aspects of my life. It has become a daily practice that I’ve come to love so much! Besides that, making lists of positive aspects every day, whether in an art journal or a writing journal or in music or a poem, really, really, really, shifts your vibe and therefore changes your life. I’d be a fool to stop now! J

That being said, I have been wondering what my next YouTube project could be. 

Maybe I’ll post a question about that out to you guys tomorrow.

As my mind wasn’t with his page when I started I just went for it. I used a page with leftover paint from yesterday and took it from there. It didn’t take long for me to get into it, I glued some scrap papers down, threw down some paint with my fingers and the page just evolved from there. I never make landscapes but this one just appeared in front of my eyes. That is why I wanted some kind of sun on this page. When the yellow pint dripped down,  a song from a Dutch duo sprung to mind; “Het regent zonnestralen”. That means: “It is raining sunbeams.” So that is what I went with.

It felt fitting and just right! J

Here’s the video, hope you like it! If so, please pay my fan page a visit and press the like button!

www.facebook.com/lifestruecolours

Happy Creating

~Monique

Day 31 / 31 October / Gratitude for Gratefulness

Hey you Beautiful Creator!

I hope you are feeling as good as I am.

Today’s page is all about a happy bouncy feeling and feeling gratitude for the fact that there is so much to be grateful for! I woke up with this feeling this morning and WOW, it sure hit home! J

 I felt that way all morning until late in the afternoon. That’s when I got so cold in my ‘shed’, I had to go inside and stop painting for the day. That made me a little sad but not so much that is got in the way of me feeling good. Knowing that I can paint whenever I want, I get to continue tomorrow on dried layers of yummy colors and I get to make another BOPA page. Life is Good!

And I am also grateful for the contrast in my life. There’s no light without the dark right? I guess that’s why today’s page turned out as it did. Lots of contrast that makes the happy bouncy butterflies really pop! 

I’m lovin’ it. J

Here’s the video of my happy-bouncy-BOPA page, enjoy!

Happy Creating.

~Monique

Day 30 / 30 October / Inspiration galore!

Hi beautiful creators!

Yesterday’s page and amazing synchronicities have brought ideas and inspiration galore!

You will hear more about that soon but they all have to do with energy, mixed media, paintings, journaling and maybe even a class I am thinking about of putting together! WHOOOT! :-D

Last night things seemed to click into place, I thought I knew where I was going but now the path has become more clear and it’s not exactly where I thought I was going but close. It seems to have evolved into something better!

See?

Your cognitive mind may think it knows everything but it doesn’t, your higher self has a much broader perspective and can lead you to unknown turns on your path that work wonderfully! This clicking into place feeling is the best there is!

Although I do not know yet how this will manifest in the so called real world, I know it is the right way to go now. I once heard somebody say: ‘just follow the breadcrumbs’, well this is one of those whole loafs in front of my face! LOL

Because of the inspiration that was and is ‘bubbling up’ I decided to make a page with bubbles. I love working with circles anyway! Not only do they represent the inspiration bubbling up but they also are symbols for infinity , the circular way of life, the seasons and everything. I felt  it quite fitted the changing of the seasons here, everything has turned into beautiful autumn colors. The only downside is the cold. Still I’m headed back into my cold and wet outdoor studio, I feel a painting bubbling up! Haha, I’ll put on my thick sweater, warm boots and turn the small gas heater on, I’ll be just fine!

Here’s the ‘bubbly’ video, enjoy!

Happy creating

Day 29 / 29 October / Everything is Vibration

Hello there Beautiful Creators!

Here I am with page 29 in my BOPA. Still feeling great, I have a lot of things to journal about that make me feel so good! J

I decided to take my time with this page, no 30 minute challenge, just easy going, enjoying every second. In the end I worked for 1,5 hour on this page. I love the colors and the energy that seems to jump of the page! My thoughts were floating so sweet... about energy and vibration How I ceate my world with my vibration and energy, that in fact no one can change that execpt me. When my vibration is one of love and appreciation there's just nothing that can harm me in any way.

I did struggle a bit with my materials. It is getting colder and wetter up here in Germany so layers take longer to dry. I can’t remember using my heat tool this much! LoL

Especially the pens and markers, they don’t seem to work as well when it gets colder but I’ll think of something to solve that tomorrow. (Because I CAN remember? haha) 

I did have to edit a lot with this video, I didn’t want to bore you with minutes of watching me dry the layers.

Not much else to say really, I loved making this page and I am looking forward to tomorrows BOPA!

Here’s the video, enjoy!

Happy Creating

~Monique

Day 28 / 28 October / What if I CAN?

First of all, do you see the numbers lining up again? :-D

I did not do that on purpose! I just noticed it when I was saving the files, hihi

Sweet Beautiful Creators, 

we are nearing the end of my 33 day trip through my BOPA. I can tell you now that I am definitely NOT going to stop this process. I will work in other journals and on other projects but this BOPA is stayin’ baby!

I will probably make a new journal because this was a special one, the firstborn so to speak and it’s getting very thick and heavy. Positive heaviness, haha!

Off course I will share some of the new BOPA pages with you but my intentions for my ‘art journaling life after BOPA’ are shifted but I’ll tell you all about that when the time comes.

This page still has the positive energy of the last couple of days in it BUT: something did happen that shook my world quite seriously. Oh boy, what a mess!

The next day, after a good night sleep I felt calmer and was inspired to listen to an interview with Rikka Zimmerman. This was one of those beautiful synchronistic things that happen when you are generally in a good vibration. It was a replay of a show from a year ago that simply landed in my mailbox! And I needed exactly that!!! My questions were answered, my doubts faded away and I came out of that mess stronger than everrrr! Thank you Rikka!

Even more hidden negative thinking patterns were dissolved so I can now truly say: What if I CAN…?

That is an amazing feeling I can tell you!

Just think about it a little bit. 

How often do you say about yourself that you cannot do this or that. 

Not even to put yourself down but just because it seems to be like that. No big deal really……right? 

We can’t all be good at everything…..right? It’s just not in my genes…..right?

Really? Think again!

What if you are actually not thinking that yourself? What if you were taught/told that you probably never could do this or that because nobody in the family has ever done that?

What if society tells you that you cannot do this or that because you were born poor, wrong color, wrong sex, wrong believes etcetera?

And what if that thing you say you cannot do would be so nice to learn and do?

What if you would, at that moment, ask yourself: What if I CAN do this or that?

Well?

What if you COULD?

What would change if you could……………………………..???

WOW! That brings about a stream of positive energy like crazy, I love it!

I am off bathing in some more positive vibes, see you tomorrow and 

Happy Creating! J

Monique

Day 27 / 26 October / Feel Connected

Good day to you Beautiful Creators!

As you know my intention is to create a page in my Book Of Positive  Aspects every day, to milk good-feeling-thoughts for as long as I can. Today my time was limited so I gave myself 30 minutes to create a page. Setting a time challenge maybe doesn’t fit the intention of my BOPA but 30 minutes is better than no minutes at all right? J

It did fit the way I was feeling since the last two pages. Detaching from the artistic outcome and focusing on feeling good and going with the flow.  That really works well when you work within a set time frame. It helps me to stop wondering if my creation is pretty enough and keeps me going.

I liked working this way and probably will do more like this in the future. Whether that will be in my BOPA or in another journal I do not know yet.

I must confess though, I did cheat a little bit. J

After the timer went off I did make some last adjustments, just 2 minutes or so more. That made me feel like the page was finished instead of stopping in the middle of creating it. And I prepared some materials before I started. I didn’t think too much about that, just picked out some spray paints, a few stencils and some pages from a magazine to use as collage material. That was all, I didn’t want to spent too much time on searching for the ‘wright’ stencil or picture.

More inspiration for this page came from RobenMarie Smith. I think she’s an amazing artist so I watched some of her videos and took some ideas from that. Thanks Roben Marie Smith! <3

The video is not edited (except for the binding part, you all know that by now J), only sped up. I am off camera here and there. Sorry for that, I didn’t pay much attention to the camera this time.

I hope you still like the video so here it is, enjoy!

Happy Creating

~Monique

Day 26 / 25 October / Play

Hi Beautiful Creators! 

Play, play, play, that was what I wanted to do. After yesterday’s ‘struggle’ that sounded like a great idea. At the same time I could check where I was on detaching myself from the outcome.

Whoot! I think I really did some cleaning up yesterday about that! J

I am not 100% happy with the outcome but I don’t care, I had fun and that’s what counts. I was able to stay in the moment while creating this page, had fun and enjoyed it from the beginning until the end. Me Happy! 

I also tried something new; a transfer with tape. I couldn’t find any packaging tape so I went for the normal transparent tape. I had some trouble with writing on top of the tape, even with 2 layers of matte medium. Maybe next time I’ll try gel medium. Anyway, that totally didn’t matter! I was in the middle of a learning curve and that was what I was enjoying. Learning what works and what doesn’t can be a delight when you are detached from, the outcome, when you can see and feel it like it’s a game. Good to know right?

That’s how I want to engage everything in live, as play, exploring and discovering. I simply know that all is well and the moment I let go of the struggle the answers always come.

In the end I love the 'grunchy-sort-of-vintage' look I managed to create. Although there are aspects that I would do different next time I’m happy. The process and what I’ve learned the last 2 days are amazing and feel so good! And that’s what live is all about right? It’s not about the ‘things’ in your life and how they look, it’s about living in the moment and feeling good no matter the circumstances.

I sure got that wright today! JJJ

Here’s the video, hope you like it!

Ow, and if you do, please pay my fanpage a visit and click on like! www.facebook.com/lifestruecolours.

Thanks! And Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 25 / 24 October / Mandala of positive aspects

Hi Beautiful Creators!

Today I had fun and struggled at the same time. Is that even possible? It sure felt like that.

Actually, I don’t think you can feel those things at the same time. I do believe they can ‘trade places’ very quickly and it may seem they exist at the same time.

Creating this page felt like that for me today. 

The struggle I had was to detach from the outcome while playing with the Mandala.

I started out feeling great, found some different things to play with as stamps and made a happy mess. 

But then I started to think my page was not pretty enough….oops!

Those are just the thoughts I don’t want to be thinking when I am playing in my BOPA! They can cause these not-so-good-feelings! This journal time is for positive aspects that create positive feelings right?

To make a long story short, I paid attention to my feelings so I could recognize the thoughts that were creating them. It felt like a struggle for a while until I noticed I was having fun too! J

I gave myself a break and realized I was cleaning up my vibration about attachment and the so called need for pretty pages. Then the struggle was gone, I could observe without feeling bad.

Gosh that felt awesome! J

At that point I was inspired to use the paper napkins and all of a sudden the page was almost done 

AND I was happy with the outcome. Sometimes things can click into place within minutes.

Lesson learned: remember that thoughts create feelings and that there is no wrong or wright. Be kind to yourself and let your higher self, take you to a better place. It works all the time!

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 23 / 17 October / Germany take one

Hi Beautiful Creators!

I found some more pages from an old photo album so I packed them before we left for Germany.

Yes, I’m travelling again! J 

This time we are ‘dog-sitting’ for friends who haven’t been on vacation for years. They were so happy to be able to go on their trip and their dogs may be big but they are easy to handle. They were raised very, very good so it’s fun to be around them.

As you have noticed I did bring my camera this time so I’ll be making videos of my BOPA pages again every day. 

This one was fun because I had to set up my work space first, reorganize some things around me and getting comfortable in this place. This felt like a fresh start which felt very good! 

I had fun with this page and had a lot of good feeling moments to record.

I hope you like the video and remember;

No matter where you are, you can always journal, make art and lists of positive aspects! J

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 23 / 17 October / Good ideas never come alone

Hi Beautiful Creators!

I am running out of old photo albums of this size so I thought I’d use up a blotter page for this day in my BOPA. (I guess I’ll have to dive into a cabinet to find some more old albums LOL)

I had also already decided to use one of my touchdrawings on this page. As you will see my muse led me to use two and the message that came with is was very clear. After having such good, fruitful and inspirational conversations with lovely people, ideas started flowing even more than they did before.

I learned that real good ideas that come from pure inspiration (and not the wanting and/or pushing I sometimes do) never ever come alone. There is always another great idea on the heels of the last one. I am now feeling the difference between an idea I like to pursue and an idea that comes from the pure inspiration. Off course all ideas come from inspiration but they feel so different when I’m feeling really good. And I do not have to pursue them! They seem to have a guidance with them that follows along. I only have to follow the breadcrumbs so to speak.

That does not mean it has all come to fruition yet but I am convinced they will in good time if I keep my vibration up and listen to my impulses.

That being said, I worked for about an hour on this page. I fell in to the pit of fiddling too much on the faces again! J

Trying too hard and pushing a little too much. When I noticed it I stopped and made my last adjustments and called them done. Now that I see the pictures in daylight (I worked on them at night with different lighting) I am very happy with them! They seem to have a dreamy expression on their faces, like they are listening for something….

If you like to know how I made these faces/touchdrawings, there’s a tutorial on this blog right here!

Here's the video, hope you like it!

Happy Creating,

~Monique

Day 22 / 16 October / The only way is up

Jetlag is gone and I am getting into my rhythm again, yay! J

I gave myself some time to find my rhythm.  Not only because I flew halfway across the world but also because so much is happening and so much good stuff is flowing into my life that I wanted to stop and take a breather…

Now I find myself still in a perfect flow of manifesting beautiful things and at the same time feeling I have found my center and my inner peace again. I also appreciate the beautiful stuff even more because I don’t feel overwhelmed anymore.

 At the same time more ideas are flowing, I had a great morning and afternoon with my coach who is helping me starting up my business. Life is really really good! J

This page is all about the good and inspiring conversations I have had with my coach, friends and my sweetheart. It is so nice to be surrounded by people who support you and share your enthusiasm!

There is no doubt in my mind that things can only get better; The only way is up baby!

Off course I created it all myself and I am convinced that taking the time every day to ponder the positive aspects of that day has helped to create a vibration that can only attract more beautiful things into my life.

Not to worry, I am still human and have my ‘bad’ moments every day too.

However, I choose to, once a day, even if it is only for 15 minutes (it usually is longer than that) to pay attention to the beautiful things in my life.

Just that simple action can change your life! Try it, it is amazingly simple and renders amazing results!

Happy Creating,

~Monique

Day 21 / 12 October / Flamingo’s

Yesterday morning we returned from our trip to Bonaire, where we had a beautiful 10 days!

We explored the Island, and explored other adventures which are now in progress of developing. 

In the meantime I took in as much of the colors, warmth, relaxed feel and inspiration from the Island! 

As you may have noticed on my last two pages which I made on the Island, I was inspired to use a lot of bright colors. Wherever you go on Bonaire, there are colors surrounding you coming from the buildings and houses! Nothing like the boring grey and brown architecture in the Netherlands.

Nature off course has it’s white from the beach, turquoise from the sea, deep reds and oranges from oleanders, pinks of flamingo's and so on and so on. My work has always been colorful but now I think you might need sunglasses to look at it! J

It also is a very inspirational Island, I thinks it’s the relaxed mode everybody is in that makes you go slower and create more room for inspiration to flow. No stress, no more running, no ratrace, I love it!

Ideas are flooding my mind as I remember our days on Bonaire.

This page is one with positive aspects about Bonaire, I off course couldn’t skip that, it had to go into my BOPA. As of tomorrow I will continue to make a page a day about the positive aspects of that day. Other Bonaire related ideas and artistic outbursts will go either onto canvas or in one of my other journals. I’ll keep you posted!

Happy and colorful creating!

~Monique

Day 17, 18 / 1 oktober / First impression We have been exploring beautiful opportunities for the past 3 days, boy what an adventure! There is so much to take in! I won't be going into details yet, I will let you know what this mystery is all about soon. For now my page is about all the colors that surround me here, amazing! ! So different from what I am used to. I don't have a camera to film so I took some pictures.  We mixed media artists work with what we have right?  ;-)

Happy Creating, 

Monique

Day 16 / 26 September / Pretty amazing I did not write anything myself for this page. I came across this piece of text in a magazine and it said it all for me at the moment. 

I realize that it is all about perspective. If you really want to you can find beautiful things all around you, just try to look for happy, funny, hopeful and nice things.  Nice is good enough to boost your energy. 

Take a few moments a day to stop looking at everything that is not how you would like it, and find the beauty in the small things.

Happy Creating! ~Monique Day 15 / 25 September / Ladybug or Lady Luck

I had a beautiful day with friends and in the evening my BOPA.

While writing about the good things I encountered today a Ladybug landed in my neck. This was the third time this week! J I couldn’t resist to google about it and this is what I found:

The Ladybug is widely considered a symbol of luck and is seen as a good omen when it comes calling. In Sweden, it is said that if one lands on a young woman's hand, she will soon get married. In France, it is said that if you are ill when one lands on you, it will fly away with your illness. Ladybugs are also considered to be symbols of fire and the Sun. Ladybug teaches life is short and it teaches to let go of ones' worries and fears, to trust in spirit and enjoy life. It brings the gifts of renewal and regeneration. The message of the Ladybug could be asking you to “Let go and let God”.

Isn’t that a great message? I had so much fun with that, I decided to make that the topic of this page.

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 14 / 24 September / Window of opportunity

Coincidences galore today! It was so much fun to first notice them and then later enjoying them again while writing them down! J

The page itself was one of flow and ease. It was done in about 15 minutes!

I started with the blotter page from yesterday where I had scraped left over paint on.

I hadn’t noticed it yesterday but now I saw a window-like shape, some stairs going out of the window and a big tree outside this window.

 I know how incredibly fitting this is in my life right now, I was soo happy with that! I decided to only accentuate the window and keep this little treasure as it was.

For the video I thought it would be a nice experiment to keep it at real time speed for a change. Because it was a short video I figured I could do that so you can see how I really work. I did a little bit of editing, those moments that I walked away for coffee and the writing part, that’s just boring to watch. The rest is real me in real time.

Let me know what you think! J

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 13 / 23 September / Words and ideas can change the world (Title is a quote by Robin Williams)

Wow, what energy I had today! I got a lot of work done and it all flowed nice and easy.

As I was feeling so good I decided to play one of the word games that are mentioned in The teachings of Abraham; the Alphabet-game. The goal is to find good-feeling words for every letter of the alphabet.

I changed it up a little bit because I wanted to create a mixed media page with this game. I picked random letters and then just let the good feeling words come… love that game! It’s very relaxing and fun. J

Mind you, it’s not always a good idea to play this game when you’re not feeling good. Chances are that when you play this game in a sad, angry or frustrated mood you will only ‘have access’ to words that match that feeling/vibration. That will make things worse.

If you want to play this game first make peace with where you are, then find a better feeling place by thinking about things you love and then play the game. 

You do not have to create an art journal page off course. I often play this game to slow down my mind when I go to bed. Works all the time, unless I am not feeling good! J

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 12 / 22  September / Oops, I did it again

Today I went back to the basics of finding good feeling thoughts. I was thrown of my vibe yesterday and wanted  to ‘think-and-feel’ my way back again.

I started slow but by going general, not focusing on any details of my life. I just wrote, and wrote, and wrote in general terms until I could feel myself moving towards a better place.

Then I realized I still had to upload the video of the page I did yesterday. It felt like that was sort of in my way so I took a break from this page and uploaded and posted the video and page from yesterday.

Now I could really focus on today and be in ‘the here and now.’ I did not take much longer before I felt good again! I decided to leave most of the text readable. The writing process was too important to cover up on this page.

I know I can always find my good feeling vibration, it just takes a little breathing, going slow, going general and not judging where I am or how I got there. Good to know! J

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 11 / 21  September / Beauty lies underneath

I re-titled this page "Beauty is underneath" because I wasn’t ‘feeling ‘it. Details of my life threw me of my good feeling vibe again. 

When I started I was doing great, things I wrote about really made me happy! 

Then somewhere along the way I got disappointed with my painting and my vibe dropped.

When I noticed that I had already taken the page too far, wasn’t happy with the result. 

I am glad that I used transparent acrylics because I can still read the good feeling thoughts underneath. Hence the new title.

While editing today I realized I was paying too much attention to the details en too little on how I felt and what I was thinking. Good to know I can stop myself there, take a break and leave things as they are, make peace with them and just start over. That feels a little better already! J

Tomorrow a new page awaits…

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 10 / 20  September / Sadness never attracts happiness

Today I realized why I could only think of one good thing yesterday.

I was thinking about the amazing great opportunities that are given to us. We are now in the middle of exploring them and when we decide to take them I am going to have to leave Myrah (the famous kitty-studio helper) behind. She will be in very good hands but nevertheless I am going to miss her soooo much!

My vibration was such that I even forgot that she is ‘the other one thing’ that always makes me happy! 

See? When my thoughts are making me sad I don’t have access to good feeling thoughts!

I should know that by now but thank goodness I am only human. J 

It’s no use  to be feeling sad about something that hasn’t even happened yet and who knows what solutions we might come up with!

So, today I feel much better and Myrah will be the focus of my page as to never forget how she makes me smile all the time!

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 9 / 19  September / Just the one thing; my honey

Today I could find just one positive thing to focus on for this page…

Some days just are like that, it is more difficult to find the good stuff. As I learned two days ago in my BOPA, trying to hard doesn’t get me  there so I let go and focused on that one thing.

      

Instead of trying to hard to find more things that made me happy today I focused on the ‘honey’ part en used colors that I really like.

This feels good, not great, but simply good enough and that’s just fine.

 I hope you enjoy the video anyway. :-)

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 8 / 18  September / What you give is what you get

 There are so many beautiful things flowing into my life right now that when I started this page I had that jumpy energy going. I was all over the place! J

While making this page something changed so the page had to change too. No idea where that came from but it did. Now it feels more like a ‘go with the flow’ page. I like it!

Happy Creating!

~Monique 

And off course a video, enjoy!

Day 7 / 17 September / The Universes’ puzzle

 

I started out feeling really good, writing down more and more great things about my life and playing with inks and drawing a face. By the time I got to the painting I started to fiddle to much, trying to hard and that threw me right out of my Vortex of feeling good!

So….I took a break…….

When I came back I decided to change the materials (Portfolio crayons), that’s when I could play again. J

Once you’ve practiced the good feeling thought-train long enough it becomes easier and easier to get back into it when you have lost it. Good to know right?

Enjoy the video and Happy creating!

~Monique

Day 6 / 16 September 2013 / Keeping it Simple

It doesn’t have to be complicated, filled with mixed media techniques, or loaded with pattern and color (says the person who has ‘difficulties’ with leaving white space LOL! But, I’m learning).

Today I only wanted to write a list of positive aspects of my day. Back to basics as is taught in the teachings of Abraham (www.abraham-hicks.com).

I used the blotter page from yesterday, I liked the patterns that formed on it while spraying the piece of curtain. Then I did some stitching on the sewing machine and wrote in between those stitched lines. A little doodling and it was  finished. Love it!

Not just the subject of my list made me feel good, also the easy flowing way of making this page.

Good to know I can keep it simple. :-)  I hope you Enjoy the video.

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 5 / 15 September 2013 / When Mom’s happy

You should have seen the look on my mom’s face when we finally put up the last curtain in her bedroom today. A few weeks ago we started on the refurbishing of her bedroom. It was a lot of work but today the final curtain was hung and she looked so happy! She said that the bedroom is now the most beautiful room in her house! LOL

It is good to see Mom happy, it makes me feel happy too, and I feel blessed with a mom like mine. J

Love you Mom!

Happy Creating and enjoy the video!

~Monique

Day 4 / 14 September 2013 / Watch the magic

Today my best friend came to visit us. We chatted away the afternoon and in the evening watched

5 (!) episodes of Merlin. 

Off course we had to ad our own comments here and there….  And we wrote the script for season 6 so BBC… come and get it! J

I wrote about it and made it the focus of this page. Isn’t the music fitting as well? LOL

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 3 / 13 september 2013 / 11:33

Today this peculiar phenomena of numbers lining up was all around me.

I am not looking for it but it sometimes just happens. Everywhere I look I see double or triple numbers. It always makes me chuckle.

Because of the chuckles and the childlike-believing-in-magic-feeling it gives me I made that my focus for this page. J

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Day 2 12 September 2013 / Love lives here.

Here’s day 2 of my 33 day journey in my BOPA.

Making this page had me glowing all evening! J

I started with a few good and positive thoughts about my day and ended up with a page about my love for my sweetheart.

It all just flowed onto the page! It brought back a memory of me waking up one morning and finding our whole living room filled with printouts of poems he had written and pictures he had printed out.

Whooot! Soooo sweet!!!!! <3

I saved them off course and one of the collage pieces I used comes from that stack. The other one I found in a magazine and just had to put it on my page. My Herman is really my one in 6 billion!

And then, today while editing and uploading, I found myself feeling the same way I did when I made the page. So there’s another benefit of filming; in Dutch we say: 2 voor de prijs van 1. (2 for the price of one). J

Happy Creating!

~Monique

Hi there beautiful Creator!

11 September 2013

I am so excited!!!! :-D

The events of the last two weeks in my life have really, I mean REALLY inspired me! :-)

If you want to get up to speed with what I mean by that you can take a look here, these last two posts and visual journal pages are all about how I felt the last two weeks.

I felt inspired to pick up my BOPA (Book Of Positive Aspects) again so I did.

In turn that page and my re-finding my vibe again gave me the idea of picking up another good habit I had left a while ago.

I learned through the teachings of Abraham (Abraham-Hicks) the value of making lists of positive aspects.

I kept a writing-journal for a while. I wrote in it every day, recorded my successes, things that made me happy, big or very small. Even little things that made me smile I wrote them all down.

I did that for about 8 weeks (!) and I cannot begin to tell you what the positive effects of that writing have been. By just reminding yourself of the good things in life you get into a better vibration which leads the Law of Attraction nothing but attract you to (and it to you) better circumstances, things and feelings.

BUT, as so often, I got bored with just writing, I started to forget to write and in the end the book was put on a shelf for a future time which off course never came.

I can remember so well the good feeling of writing in that book! So I decided to put this in an art-journal form. I had started this BOPA a while ago and every now and then made a page but that just doesn't work for me. To keep up my good vibration I want to 'milk' the good things in my life.

I have decided to create a BOPA-page every day for the coming 33 days (as is mentioned as well in the teachings of Abraham), film it and publish them here on my blog and on my YouTube channel.

I know I am going to enjoy this and attract to me even more beautiful things in my life, I am looking forward to this journey, and you are welcome to follow along if you like to.

So here goes! My first page of this journey. Enjoy and Happy Creating!

~Monique

For more information about the "Lists of Positive Aspects" (which are the inspiration for my BOPA) that are mentioned in the teachings of Abraham:

here's a video where Esther translates the energy from Abraham where they talk about the difference between gratitude and appreciation, inspiration and motivation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DhHXoIC0iU&feature=share&list=UUnBfVA-8WFwOXACivW1rPyA

Enjoy!

  I am a big 'fan' of the work by Esther and Jerry Hicks. Esther Hicks translates for us a beautiful, inspiring and uplifting message brought to us by a loving and never ending pure positive energy that go by the name of Abraham. Together they have written several books, one of them is:"Ask and it is given"' In this book Abraham offers us processes we can implement in our lives to lift our vibration. Once our vibration lifts, the Law of Atraction has to brings us experiences that match that higher, better feeling vibration ans so our life must improve. One of the processe is called:" The Book of Positive Aspects." In this proces you write about all positive aspects of tour live. Not to 'right' something that you perceive as 'wrong', but to get in that good feeling of appreciation about something you really love. As a mixed media artist I took that process and made it a visual one. That is what my Book of Positive aspects is all about. Getting in that high flying feeling through my art and appreciate things, circomstances, people or anything that come to mind that I am allready happy about. Here's a video where Esther translates the energy from Abraham where they talk about the difference between gratitude and appreciation, inspiation and motivation. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DhHXoIC0iU&feature=share&list=UUnBfVA-8WFwOXACivW1rPyA Ik ben een groot 'fan' van het werk van Esther en Jerry Hicks. Esther Hicks vertaalt voor ons een prachtige, inspirerende boodschap die gebracht wordt door een liefdevolle pure positieve energie die zichzelf Abraham noemen. Samen hebben zij diverse boeken geschreven waaronder:" Vraag en het is gegeven".  In dit boek worden suggesties gedaan om je vibratie te verhogen. Zodra je vibratie hoger ligt moet de Wet van Aantrekking jou omstandigheden brengen die bij deze hogere vibratie aansluiten en dus verbetert je leven. Een van deze processen heet:"Book of Positive Aspects." Dit proces vraagt je elke dag een lijst te maken van alles wat je als positief ervarrt, waar je blij van wordt en waar je van houdt. Het is niet de bedoeling om dat wat jij als negatief ervaart om te buigen naar iets positiefs maar je elke dag een tijdje te focussen op dat waar je al van houdt. Als mixed media artiest heb ik dit proces omgebogen tot een visueel proces waarbinnen ik me uit kan leven en op mijn manier me kan uitdrukken. Dat is waar mijn Book of Positive Aspects over gaat. Dat heerlijke, blije gevoel vinden door middel van focus op en waanzinnige waardering voor dingen, omstandigheden, mensen of wat dan ook waar ik van hou en blij van word. In de link hierboven vind je een video van AbrahamHicks waarin het verschil tussen waarderen en dankbaar zijn voor wordt uitgelegd evenals het verschil tussen inspiratie en motivatie. Veel plezier! For more information about AbrahamHicks visit their website: http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/index.php