Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Day By Day By Day By Day



So remember how Julie and Julia inspired many of us to cook again? And remember how Julie took on the enormous task of cooking something from Julia Child's cookbook every single day for a whole year?

Well, I was going to write about how, back around 1984, I determined to do something kind for someone outside my immediate family all 365 days of the year. And I did. And it turned into one remarkable, rewarding year, indeed.

But then yesterday I found this article about a young woman who, also, was inspired and challenged by Julie and Julia, so she's been spending this year remaking ugly thrift shop dresses into stylish, oh-so-cool clothing. Every single day she makes a new creation and for only $1, according to the article.

Wow. You'll see some of her recreations in the article, but you can find more inspiring before-and-after photos at her blog, also.

Why are we so inspired and encouraged by these sorts of projects?

I believe it's because they challenge us to always live consciously, with a concise, daily purpose. You know, to live awake.

Life races by, gets complicated and we become so overwhelmed, that we end up zoning-out, hiding, or just trying to survive rather than thrive. How much better to enjoy great adventures of discipline and purpose rather than allow our minds to become lazy on auto-pilot.

Always there's something more marvelous than just trying to survive or do the least we can.

So anyway, I hope you'll zip over to this latest article and perhaps be inspired to find what it is God would like you to do daily for a month, a year or maybe for forever. Something which will keep you excited about Life and able to inspire tons of other folks, as well.



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Some possible ideas of what we could do 365 days in a row:


Send an encouraging email daily to different people.
Call a different person to share encouragement.
Write in a blog.
Share a photo in a blog.
Write a poem.
Write one page of a new book.
Take a walk.
Make a different dessert (or main dish, side dish, etc.)
Read a short book or a certain numbers of chapters of various books.
Go to the gym.
Speak with someone you don't know (as in, around your town).
Make one simple or creative change in your home.
Learn a new word. Learn a new hobby (or about a new hobby).
Record one new thing you learned that you didn't know the day before.
Toss or give away ten items in your home you no longer find useful or beautiful.
Paint something in or around your home.
Take a bike ride.
Sew fabric squares into a quilt.
Crochet squares into a quilt.
Work a crossword puzzle.
Dance.
Send a cute, encouraging snail mail card. Or an ecard.
Make one conscious, healthy change to your diet.
Do one creative thing today which you didn't do the day before.
Jog.
Swim.
Feed wild birds.
Work on a piece of art--a painting, a collage, a tapestry, etc. Sell or give away what you've made at year's end.



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2 comments:

Donetta said...

Oh my goodness that was a ball! I used to do that all the time and then the ridicule of the post recession 'women to work at gods' era and homemakers the fool. Seems things are finally coming round.

jodi said...

Thanks for sharing that blog. I love it!