U of Spark

I started a "new" blog, I re-designed it (from my personal blog Cupcake) and added wallpaper and painted it all pretty, I re-named it U of Spark--as in University of (all things) Sparking (and creative)...


And I said to myself, "This will be about creativity and authenticity and, and stuff. Lots and lots of cool stuff."

Aaaand then I remembered that's pretty much what this blog Those Kennedy Women was/is supposed to be: 

Doing things better, funner, brighter. More creatively.

And then I said to myself, "Hey, do I reallyreallyReally want to manage two blogs?"

I was a sometime blogger (at best) for quite some time with both blogs. Now, I'm kinda proud of some content over at my old blog Cupcake, re-named U of Spark, so, I'll probably re-post some of things here...but I won't be adding new content over there.

Of course, I've met me and know how I roll--so "never" is a word I try not to use. But, in the foreseeable future I won't post anything new at my old blog--except to say, I'll be posting here! Got that?

So, shine-up your awesome selves and join us as we aim to live:

 a creative life

a positive life

an exuberant life

a laughier life

a stylish life

a full life

a diy-er life

a doing life

Here's the link at  U of Spark  to what I wished I blogged about more! Which got me all excited about this blog again...so, it's all good! Because, we'll be posting that stuff and this stuff and basically all the good stuff!

Do you ever re-do stuff--or do twice what you need to?

TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS... and, Hello Stranger

We're baa-ack.

Hello darling dearests, while my mom's and seester's fingers were itching for some action I had contracted the dreaded disease of EXPLODING LIFE! And could not bring myself to write any posts or to post anyone else's writings.

And then I read something -- not something my mother wrote (even though, I would have arrived at the same place, but who listens to their mother's?), it was something in a book: and within this book the author says these words: "I was committed to the end of suffering." She goes on to say, that either you get to the end of suffering or you don't. You choose. It was as if I were hit on the head with that horseshoe on the cover. BAM!

I had a choice to wallow in suffering or to choose to "carry on" so to speak. Which, by the way is not the same thing as denial -- I was not blind to the intricacies of my life, but I made a conscious choise not to let them rule my life. I chose happiness, I chose not to suffer.

And then I found a Positive Support Letter (a newsletter my mom, Joan Kennedy wrote in the early 90s) this one from 1993, here's what I read:

*Every condition, every experience you have in your life is the result of your mental and emotional activity. If you don't have the conditions you want, there is no one to blame. You can't look to others to make your life more than it is. Your life is an individual responsibility, an individual opportunity and an individual experience.

You are the only person who thinks in your mind. You have the power to decide what you want in your life.


You have the capacity to choose love, wealth, success and happiness. 


(Me: We have the choice, I have the choice. Wow! Wish I had actually READ this in 1993)

Your mind will accept and bring to pass in a natural way whatever you assume and believe to be true.


(Hello!)

Ideas will occur to you to show you how to develop and grow. Opportunities for achieving your objectives will be presented to you for your progress.


(This is where it gets exciting. I'm reading the book, I decide not suffer, but to be happy -- suffering kept me from posting to this blog, posting to my writing blog , and writing fiction.

Once I made the commitment to be happy to come to the end of suffering, I started visiting blogs I used to read and found out about a Fast Draft opportunity (detailed in my writing blog post) I joined in! First day was yesterday, I wrote 8 pages. Eight! If you're a writer, you know that's a lot (my goal is 20 a day!). Then I posted in my writing blog (hadn't done that since... a few months ago) then I posted here.

For some reason Those Kennedy Women was my biggest sticking point. Maybe because it is a joint venture, and the fact I had let down my cohorts (my thought, not theirs). It was like having an overdue library book and hating to bring it back because of the fine and the librarian and just not returning it to spare yourself from the humiliation... sorry, my childhood memory. I actually work in a library now and I would NEVER think to shame someone for an overdue item.

But, now the dam is burst! And the flow of words and ideas are back. Keep me honest, or, better yet, I'll keep myself honest.

The next time you think a negative thought about yourself or your life, ask yourself if you want to experience that thought in your life.


You are in control of your thoughts and your words. This moment is where the change begins. 




*all italics are Joan's words.


So, what's your choice?