for the month of may, i decided that it would be fun to reflect a little on myself. who i am. what my personality is like. what i use the most in my life… my mind? my heart? my body? or my soul? do i engage all four of these parts of being human in my life, or do i neglect one of the areas? if so, why do i neglect it? well… i decided to do this little reflection and exploration in the form of a photo journey. and i invited y’all to join me.
and join me, you have! i have met new bloggers, new instagrammers, new artists in just one week and my inspiration cup is overflowing. you people are amazing! whether you are posting on twitter, your blog, or instagram, you are growing the belovelive photo journey into something even bigger this month… bigger than it’s ever been! we’ve all got so many more people to connect with. and i am so excited and humbled. what a gift this journey has already become.
by the way, if you have not yet joined in, there is still plenty of time left in may. so, just download and save the may photo a day challenge and begin snapping away. you can go back & do the heart words from days 1-8, or just pick up with the mind words beginning tomorrow. no biggie. you choose! it’s you’re journey, make it whatever you want.
week one of may’s journey of self discovery has been all about the heart. what touches your heart? what’s heavy on your heart? are you a heart person? do you live from your heart?
heart people are the lovers. obviously. if you live life from your heart, then you crave freedom, spontaneity, and emotions. you live in the moment. you laugh and enjoy life. you care about others and are most likely a people person – that doesn’t mean that you are an extrovert in my opinion. only that people, humans, are important to you. you’re passionate and independent. you’re moved by music and beauty. and you can be quite impulsive. how much of a heart person are you? how much am i?
the words for this week were all what i’d like to call “heart words”. they reflect the values and desires and passions of a person who lives life from their heart. it was my intention to use the heart words as a way to let my heart be active this week. to interpret the word prompts and be creative, and to see what touches my heart on a daily basis. i’ve come to the conclusion that i engage my heart quite often. i am quite an emotional person, and while my photos may not stir emotions for you, i guarantee that when i look back on these photos at a later date, i will remember exactly what emotions i felt when i snapped the shot. for me, being a heart person has now come to embody living a life where i feel what i feel. and there are so many things that happen within a day, within a week, that affect my emotions. but, i think that’s a good thing.
here’s a little snippet of what my heart felt every day during the first week of may.
1. selfie: we had to begin here. while a photo does not define or capture the essence of a person, it is a snapshot of who i am. and this photo reminds me exactly who i was, how i felt on this particular 1st day of may 2013.
2. feeling: when i took this picture i was feeling all kinds of emotions. someone had just come by the apartment to photograph it for the next renter…. i felt sadness, excitement, joy, fear, everything! it’s so crazy the adventures that await us!
3. spontaneity: an unplanned day at home with my love. we were both sick… like all week. ugh. but, it was cozy.
4. independent: i stared at this bird building her nest for at least an hour, watching her every move. delicate. strong. determined. living her purpose. i wrote a blog post on my little birdie friend the other day. you can read it here.
5. bliss: pink. blue. may. warm. need i say more?!
6. music: it was another beautiful, warm day, which means only one thing… it was a michael buble kinda day.
7. creative: i spent some time browsing around one of my fave fair trade stores that sells unexpected, recycled goods made into new & funky designs. so smart. so caring. it’s important for us to love the earth… are ya with me?
8. friends: just 2 american friends having a mexican lunch in sweden. a little crazy fun in the middle of the day.
by the way, here are some of the fabulous bloggers who are participating this month:
pennies in the jetstream
the musings of a lesbian writer
a year of rejoicing
and here are some of the beautiful selfies from all over the world on instagram:
if you would like to “meet” fellow bloggers or instagrammers, just leave me a comment and i will be sure to feature you in my next may photo a day post in a week! and make sure when you post to use the hashtag #bllphotoaday!
it was really good to get in touch with my heart this past week. to feel things. to find something to be passionate about and grateful for every single day. but, now, it’s on to part 2/week 2 of my self discovery…
So… I have a) managed to remember to take my photo and reflect on it 4 days out of the 8 — I have yet to tweet you the one photo — that’s next 🙂
b) just realized the words are the guide!
c) I’ll check out the challenge using the words and my photo exploration of me tomorrow! 🙂
Thanks for the mention — I do love this challenge, and your creative spirit that shines so brightly!
Beautiful wrap up of week 1! I’m so sorry that I’m not keeping up with this- I am at least thinking about the concept of the day, each day, sometimes writing it out in my journal- so not a total bust. Besides being insanely busy this month, I was getting frustrated at not being able to explore this journey in the authentic way I wanted to (can’t do that on my blog right now).
I would love to follow blogs that are doing this 🙂 (I don’t have instagram so I can’t follow there)
Thanks for offering the inspiration for this journey.
As i said before, I am so glad that you are listening to what you need. That’s the most important part of our journey. It is a private thing, this self discovery journey, and sometimes we need to just be private and alone with our thoughts. As for the blogs, the only ones that i know of that are doing the challenge are the ones i linked in this post. Most people are on Instagram.
Wishing you a beautiful weekend, Lexie. xo