Too Good To Be True

Recently i've tried to give away a random CD to a random person.
By saying that i have tried i mean it literally. People are often suspicious of you offering something for nothing, out of the blue. They suspect there's a catch.

So i've been trying to give away a cd, and it has proved to be very trying indeed. Has marketing and consumerism sucked the life out of the power of a random act of kindness? Is it too much to take in that someone just might give you something because they can? Don't people believe in karma or serendipity anymore?

Try it yourself. I hope you have better luck than me. I DO live in the hope that we can beat this negativity by more of us offering random acts of kindness in our day to day lives. It doesn't have to be much. Just opening a door for a mother and her children, offering your good shopping trolley to the elderly person who is struggling with their runaway, or offering some of you homegrown tomatoes to your neighbour. It really is as much a joy for the giver as it is for the person who embraces your kindness.

Did ya ever dream?

Remember when you were a kid?
Remember the excitement and anticipation of becoming an adult. "when i'm a grown-up, I'm gonna.....". So what was it you were going to do? Whatever it was, it was pretty exciting, and you couldn't WAIT to get started, holding onto the magic of the idea and all it's merit.

So, now you're all grown up, did you do it?

Why is it that adulthood often quashes the dreams and aspirations of childhood? Why can't we indulge in a passionate reality, where we believe in possibilities and aspire to greatness? Surely we don't have to take ourselves so seriously all of the time. There is still so much to explore, create and discover. After all, aren't adults just older children?

Hold onto those dreams. Allow yourself to breathe life into them. When you were a child, the only thing holding you back was not being old enough to do what you wanted. Now the only thing holding you back is you.

A good explaination of the creative process by Elizabeth Gilbert

Family & The New Year spirit

Like most folks, the New Year to me symbolises a newness, an opportunity to throw off the excuses and execute a fresh and new approach, where each step is one closer to the unreachable "grown-up" within. It's a time to proudly look back, and with excitement look forward. It's a time when a part of me wants to rush ahead without looking down, and crash through my own boundaries, even if it means grazing my knees.

As for the year that was, i am happy in many ways. In the case of recordings, the year finished with the recording of a children's CD, in which all of children and my husband Mark were involved. It was sprint to the finish, but we made it, and all still with laughter intact, and have a very special recording to share as a result. It's the favourite in our house...can't understand why...

2009 is shaping up to be another year of experimenting, and indulging in ideas that i have had for many years. A water album, perhaps (to follow on from the music of the air - Feather's Breath)...Serendipity is certainly playing her part in this, as she always does, literally handing me instruments and gadgets to record with. I also plan to spend more time recording songs, and see this as a major aspect of my time in the studio this year. There is much to achieve.

My friend Clare and i are still scheming with our photography projects, and have a lot of ideas and plans in the pipeline. Living in different parts of the country isn't easy, but we are planning to get together when we can and stuff ourselves silly with photo shoots and editing. Looking forward to getting my hands dirty!

There are lots of other opportunities to work with some fabulous Artists this year, and it's hard not to say yes to everything. I'd like to get back into drawing this year too, something i've been promising myself for some time now, and my sewing projects have now taken over half the house! None of them finished, of course.

So, less time online, and more time frontline, i think one could say. Maybe i need to turn that into a sign for my office....

FEATHER'S BREATH CD is here!

Yep...how busy has it been here!
I began this recording well over a year ago, and though i feel weird releasing two recordings so close together, when you look at it, it's just that they both came to be finished near the same time.

A good part of my time is spend jumping from project to project...I'm a fire-stoker, you see. I have never been able to only focus on one project from start to finish. I like to keep my perspective fresh, and this is the way i've evolved my work.

i used to worry that i was never going to finish things. After all, i have cupboards filled with half knitted jumpers, half-sewn clothes, unfinished pictures, and less-than-completed songs. But somewhere amongst the chaos of leapfrogging from one thing to the next, things grow, until overnight it seems they are finally finished.

I am particularly fond of this recording, as it's the first public recording i have made with no electronic instruments, something i have been meaning to do for a while. This recording is one for the breath..

I hope you enjoy it as much i i truly loved creating it.
smiles to you,
Tania

Meditations have Arrived

It's proving to big a big year.
I have just finished recording FEATHERS BREATH, which holds a special place in my heart. It's the first public recording i have made without any electronic instrumentation of any kind. It happened out of the blue, without plan, without thought. In a few days it will arrive, and i am sooo excited.

Talking about an arrival...The SECRET HEALING CD arrived a few weeks ago. Here is is fresh out of the box...


I can hardly keep up with things at the moment. The CD went berserk in the first week, which is why i haven't even written a post here yet to let you know it's arrived!!

It's all a bit daunting when i'm waiting for the first run of a cd. I get a bit scared of how the artwork will print, and wonder if the recording will live up to expectations. It's all the paranoid stuff that creeps it's way into my psyche. I usually distract myself while i'm waiting by launching myself into other projects...but the wait alwasys seems endless...2 weeks feels like months.

I'm very humbled by so much support, and do apologize this news isn't hot off the press. Don't worry, for those of you hanging out for these meditations, we have plenty of them, and will keep plenty of stock in reserve.



If you click Secret Healing CD album cover, it will take you straight to our Artscope Music ebay store. I promise to be more prompt with giving you the heads-up when Feather's Breath arrives.

Smiles to all of you for your generous support, and wonderful emails.

I remain your biggest fan...

SECRET HEALING MEDITATIONS CD almost complete!

Yes, it's finally almost here. In a few weeks SECRET HEALING MEDITATIONS, my first spoken guided meditation cd is complete...so if you were planning to join the throngs who have been emailing me to ask when it will be released, you will no doubt hear about it soon.

As usual i've been working on several projects at once, and am getting very excited at them all nearing completion within the next few months. A second spoken meditation CD (no title just yet), and a long awaited recording FEATHERS BREATH will be following on the heals of SECRET HEALING.

It's been quite a productive time recently, though i have felt quite snowed-under with other things. The CORAL SEA DREAMING 2 film is nearing completion, with plans for release in 2009, and an assortment of other bits and pieces which may become more tangible projects in the next few months will keep me very busy for the rest of the year.

Imagery by Tania Rose

Rediscovering An Old Friend

Wow! Since my last post things have totally changed. My create-1-new-thing-every-day campaign has not only brought about a whole new range of creative projects, but it had totally changed ME!

It's so easy when your you're a mother of small kids to put yourself last. It's starts off being the right thing to do, as a babies needs are all about fulfilling the Now, and with great urgency. My 3 boys were each only 2 years apart, so i was either breastfeeding or pregnant for 6 years, constantly in a state of alertness to their needs, and cramming in my own things between nappy changes, comforting, and mood swings (theirs AND mine). Let lone sleeplessness...

Now my youngest is 3, and has recently become agreeable to negotiations, i realised just how highly-strung my day had become. Frantically hanging washing out in order to rush back inside to get back to the baby, it suddenly dawned on me that i didn't have a baby anymore, and that i could take my time, relax, and let my thoughts flow. I could get back in touch with ME again.

I'm not sure how i managed to cram in recording a couple of albums, shooting film-clips, writing soundtracks and songs, and a myriad of other project during these past few years (except to say that working from home is a blessing . I think a determination to trudge through the torrential downpours helped, but i also have come to believe that's it's more about just who i am, and how i am.

So my recent campaign has been more about giving myself permission to let go, and to find myself. To catch up to that place pre-family, where a day was more about immersing myself in the project than hanging washing and preparing 20 little meals every day.

I may not get to sleep-in much after 7am, and working into the wee hours just isn't gonna see me sane, but a little cuddle and a cute few words is all the inspiration i need these days to indulge in the creating of a masterpiece! Or at least an incredible achievement in the midst of chaos!

One new thing Every Day!

I often get asked in interviews whether i find it difficult to handle the business side of my profession (as many creative people find it a huge challenge). The truth is i really do love the admin and managerial stuff i need to do every day. The down side is that it's very easy for me to spend weeks getting so absorbed in the business side, that i forget to stoke the creative fires.

So this week i gave myself the challenge to CREATE ONE NEW THING EVERY DAY. It sounds like a big ask, but when you break it down to the fundamental principal of the idea, it's not difficult to achieve at all. I'm not asking myself to write a whole song every day, or write a masterpiece. All i'm asking to do is flirt with my creative mind at least once during each and every day.

It might be a simple thing, such as taking a photograph, or trying a new take on an old recipe. At the moment i'm designing t-shirts, and i find that very gratifying, but it might be just writing a verse of poetry.


Just think, if we all did something small each day, we would have 365 new things that have come from within ourselves every year.

Imagine too taking this idea to another level, like doing one kind gesture every day. If only 10people in your town followed this principal, there would be 3650 kind gestures per year, which could touch a lot of people. Of course, you'd have to make it so it was a step further than your normal niceness (I'm sure you do nice things all of the time). Maybe there's a lonely old person who you could bring a nice meal to, or offer to pick up a friends children from school one afternoon when you pick up your own. Little things like thanking someone else for taking the time to make your own life better (someone who goes that extra mile - we should all thank them). The possibilities abound.

So, ONE NEW THING EVERY DAY. It's not that hard. We just have to decide to do it. Heres the link to the T-shirt
smiles to you! Tania

Connections

What is it that makes two people connect?
They can be strangers in the street.
They can see each other from the other side of the store.

What is the energy that draws us nearer?
What is the desire to interact?
Do we need to understand it?

No matter where i go i see people working very hard to avoid contact, when it would be far easier just to look at me and give a little smile or a nod. It takes so much more energy fighting the natural instinct to look at someone than to acknowledge it with a simple smile.

I choose to embrace the natural instinct. I used to look away, pretend to be watching something else, act like i didn't have the urge. Now i'm a little wiser, i smile, sometimes even say hello. Other people seems to feel relieved. It's like i've given them permission to not have to play that stupid game.

Next time you catch yourself playing the avoidance game, give a little smile. You'll be a much more honest person for it, and you might even make someone else feel a little bit better about themselves.

Living Simply...what can you trade with me?

We live in a very complex world, full of complex things and complicated happenings. If only there was a way to simplify everything, wouldn't our life be better? Imagine if we could...

Everything CAN be simplified. Human beings don't need much at all to live and be content. The problems many of us are experiencing in this mad mad world are symptomatic of the complexities we attribute to everything. and yes, WE buy into them. WE make it complicated. WE CHOOSE to think of it as being complicated.

"I have no time to myself" - then allocate some
"All i seem to do is rush rush rush" - s-l-o-w down. Take time to smell the flowers
"I just don't understand it" - do you really need to?

Sure, you can come back to me with a "you don't understand. It's more complicated than that". Who says it is? Oh, you do.

The thing is that we live in a time where all of the "experts" tell us we don't know anything unless your another expert (and then you're wrong anyway). We have forgotten how to simply live, or is that live SIMPLY.

You need shelter, healthy food, and fun. That's it. Money is simply a means to be able to have healthy food and shelter. It's a way of trading one service for another. It's not complicated. Our ancestors used to swap cabbages for milk, but when you don't have anything to trade with, money became a way of giving points which could later be traded for something else with someone else.

So what can you do, or do you have, or can you make which is worth trading? I trade with people i know all of the time...a friend gives me massages and i make promotional material for her, i help another friend producing her album, and she does some work for my business. Everyone has something to trade with, even if it's just their time to help in the garden, or mow the grass, or look after children.

And you know, trading in this way makes the transaction a meaningful one. When's the last time you had a meaningful transaction, where both parties felt a sense of fullfillment and friendship? And you don't even have to be friends with the person.

This is how communities evolve, and how people care for each other, and how bonds and friendships are formed and people are nurtured. THIS is just one tiny example of how we can learn from the past, and become healthier and happier living simply. And the biggest buzz is that it FEELS GOOD.

This week, offer to trade something with someone. Think of something you would like done for you, and be the first to offer the trade (make it a friend to get started). once you get the hang of it, you won't look back, and it will be the start to your life becoming simpler.

You CAN make the change! You just need to want it.