The Simple Things: Aware Bears! Guest Post by Sher of Day Dreams

I am pleased to introduce Sher as a guest poster on The Simple Things. Her blog focuses on a lot of the same principles I do so I think you will enjoy her post - I did:) Be sure to check out her blog after you read this post.

~Angela

Thank you Angela for having me guest post with you today! Your posts are so lovely and inspiring – particularly those of your family. I am Sher and I make my home in Nebraska with my husband. Our children and grandchildren are scattered about the area – they are each a source of strength and inspiration to us! DayDreams is my small at home business inspired by my passion for sewing, crafts and advocacy. How does advocacy fit into all this? Through inspirations captured after seizing the day. I am a dedicated family member who wanted to find a unique and comforting way to raise awareness of so many causes youth and their parents are challenged with; specifically children’s mental health http://www.daydreemz.net/aware-bears.html . Aware Bears were originally designed and made as a fund raiser for Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week and have since grown to be comforting bears for all causes. With all that said, I was inspired on this first day of spring to write about where my inspirations come from and ask that you share some of your favorite inspirations with us!

The Simplest Thing: Listening to the Whispers of Inspiration

There is a small inner voice that whispers to my heart; sometimes softly singing familiar lyrics in my ear, until those lyrics have found their place in yarn, soft pastel fabrics, bright and bold prints or delicate aromas of essential oils. My Muse - some call it an inner voice, other’s intuition.

I feel lost without her and there are times when I become filled with anxiety thinking my muse is gone. Those times I have fought for control have produced some interesting choices in crafts (and some hilarious fails!). There are times my thoughts drown out the delicate voice of my Muse until I tell myself to stop, look around me and notice the colors and designs of what my senses perceive. I journal these impressions into ideas, busy myself with other tasks and wait for her to inspire me again with impeccable timing.

When It’s Dark Enough, You can See the Stars. As I fill out my profile on various sites and SEO’s for building Day Dreams, I find the self description is quite simple: I’m a passionate seamstress, advocate and crafter who is 50 something and rethinking the plan. Several months ago the original plan apparently wasn’t entirely where I was to be and it wasn’t working out as I had intended. I nearly lost out on this specific moment today of writing this guest post simply because during that time I was trying hard to ignore my Muse and the opportunities she was placing before me. Had I not listened to her Day Dreams would not exist, Aware Bears would not have been created and perhaps this post would not have been written. We may work for years at laying out the blue prints for our future, all the while forgetting we don’t control what lies ahead. If we ignore our inner voices and try to fight for total control we miss the opportunity to open doors to where we should be at the time we need to be there.

Carpe diem! Seize the day! Listen to what your

inner voice, your heart or your Muse tells you. The simple things in life, as Angela beautifully illustrates on her site, are not (always) material; they are those moments that make us smile; they fill our hearts with overwhelming love; moments that lead us to think critically about a picture, person or something we have read taking the moment to watch your child or grandchild examine with wonder and great curiosity the bug crawling in the grass. Some of my best inspirations and creations have come from listening to the songs of spring or the whispers in winter or a memory of my now adult children. Are these moments planned by us in our best laid blue prints for our future? No. I don’t think I’ve ever woke up one day and told myself, “I’m going to study the lines in my loving husband’s face.” Instead, a moment may come when his eyes meet mine and as I gaze across the lines of work, worry and love in his face, I am transported to the time he first said I love you. These are the moments we may miss them if we don’t seize the day.

Writing inspirations in a journal can be the first step in seizing the moment (or day). Many great works of art in all forms, philosophy and more started with a pen and paper – sometimes a piece of scrap paper. My journal is not your typical “write it all out” kind of journal. It’s everything I think about, it’s messy and it’s the keeper of the lyrical voice of my Muse. The beginning pages for Day Dreams inspirations are messy; a lot like the rapid thoughts were when I was in the launch stage. I look back at the pages and see where I arrived at the Aware Bears idea – what an exciting day! The inspiration for Aware Bears is an extension of my passion for advocacy for children and teens with mental health and/or behavioral disorders. I wanted to find a unique and comforting way to raise awareness of so many issues youth and their parents are challenged with; specifically children’s mental health http://www.daydreemz.net/aware-bears.html Aware Bears were originally designed and made as a fund raiser for Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week and have since grown to be comforting bears for all causes; it all started by my listening to my Muse and putting the ideas to paper.

What inspires you? Carpe diem!