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As I write this, I’m close to wrapping up the first set of events in the Creating Time book tour. It’s been a very full couple of months, and I’ve continually felt so grateful that the book is, in fact, about inhabiting a new relationship with time, because it has kept the subject in the forefront of my mind! :-) By continually speaking and conversing about a new vision of time, I’m continually reminded that we all have more control over our experience of time than we think we do. Traditional time management techniques teach us that we have choices about how we use our time. The approach of Creating Time reminds us that we also have choices about how we feel about time, and how we choose to experience it.

Time is a wonderful topic of conversation and dialogue; everyone has a story about time to share. It’s exciting to discuss the nuances of time, the emotional and psychological layers that lie beneath our chronological, linear sense of time. Last weekend in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I asked an entire room full of workshop participants, shown above, to doodle about time and stop when they thought that one minute had passed. They were surprised to realize that even the first hands were raised 10-15 seconds after a minute had passed. This opened to a riveting discussion about perception and guesses why so few of us seem to know how long a minute really is.

Why are we so obsessed with ordering our lives around something we can’t even accurately perceive? Perhaps it’s our attempt to create order out of the apparent chaos of our lives on this planet. If so, then as far as human evolution has brought us, especially in the past few decades, we would be well served to incorporate new, fresh measuring tools for the ever-more-important concept of time.

I experienced this profoundly when I followed a bit of time management advice and recorded a time estimate beside each item in my daily to-do list (for example, call to schedule appointment — five minutes; write an article — one hour; and so on). As the book predicted, this did in fact increase my productivity and effectiveness. Even more staggering, however, was what I uncovered when I reevaluated my past daily lists using this criterion. When I went back to recent daily lists and applied time estimates to the tasks I had put on my lists, I realized that I had been expecting myself to do as much as thirty hours of tasks in a single workday. This discovery was life changing for me. No wonder I always felt like there wasn’t enough time. No wonder each day had a gauzy sense of failure around it. My perception of “the time in the day” was so unrealistic that I was constantly filled with a deep sense of lack and overwhelm.

Of course, being overwhelmed about time leads to feeling overwhelmed about the things we do with time: not only our responsibilities and commitments but also our opportunities, projects, ideas, and dreams. This is why so many people stop themselves from pursuing a goal with a simple catchall excuse: “There’s not enough time.” Yet time is a valuable resource that is far more infinite than we tend to think it is. We worry so much about “not having enough time”, when time is, in fact, one resource that is always present, for as long as we are living. Much like oxygen, time is there for us. While the finite amount of time we have is real, the occasions when we feel it lacking, drifting, or lost are largely a matter of perception only.

It’s a human paradox, because we often want to escape ourselves and lose track of time, and yet it is when we become fully aware of the gift of time that we become more alive and in touch. This approach then invites us to embrace this paradox, as we find a blissful solution where we become less aware of time but more aware of the present moment.

For those short on time, to simplify this week's Artellagram, here are some "quick links" to the highlights in this edition. You can simply follow the links that you're interested in and go directly to that section.


NEW! Spring into Summer with 50-75% off All Artella eProducts!

NEW! Creating Time To-Go Kit!

NEW! Special Time-Traveling Freebie!

NEW! Creating Time Comes to Portland Next Weekend!

Join the Artella Affiliate Program
Become Part of Artella's Team!

Creativity Tip: Clock of Ours

Storefront Spotlight

NEW! Cruise Corner Free Previews!

In the Studio with Merrill Disney

Quotz Crystal™ -- TimeFlash Card




1. NEW! Spring into Summer with 50-75% off All Artella eProducts! Through this Tuesday, June 5, you can get a whole summer full of inspiration, and creativity at your fingertips at Spring Clearance prices! Welcome to Artella's once a year, 7 Day Spring into Summer Sale, with 50-75% off ALL eProducts! Not-So-Small Print: Sale ends June 5, excludes third-party products by artists in The Shoppes of Artella, and cannot be combined with any other offers (but with prices this low, who needs to?) Hundreds of eBooks, e-courses, workshops, seminar recordings, collage kits, e-magazines, and downloadable art supplies...all 50-75% off! Spring into Summer with Everything 50-75% off, here!


2. NEW! Creating Time To-Go Kit! We are so delighted to introduce The Creating Time To-Go Kit … full of inspiration and insight to bring the wisdom of last month’s Creating Time Mega Event full-circle as you continue to transform your relationship with time. The To-Go Kit combines everything you experienced in the event and never-before-seen or heard conversations and activities, all designed to fully support you in your time journey! Best of all, we’re introducing it during Artella’s 7 Day Spring into Summer Sale…where All Artella eProducts, including the Creating Time To-Go Kit are 50-75% off! You can get more details about The Creating Time To-Go Kit here!



3. NEW! Super Cool Time-Traveling Bonus Freebie! You can get your own Free set of ~TimeFlash~ Cards when you order any combination of eProducts totaling $40 or more during the 7 Day Spring into Summer Sale! The ~TimeFlash~ Cards feature favorite takeaway quotes from our luminaries, shared during The Creating Time Mega Event series. They can be enjoyed online or printed out to use as inspiring reminders for yourself, incorporate into your personal journal, send as inspiring postcards or gifts… the possibilities are infinite, just like time! :-) These cards will be sold in our storefront after the conclusion of this sale, but they are your free time-traveling gift with every purchase of $40 or more this week!
Instructions to claim your free set of free set of ~TimeFlash~ Cards:
  1. Go shopping and get all Artella eProducts at 50-75% off until June 5.
  2. Order any combination of eProducts totaling $40 or more after discounts, and complete your purchase.
  3. Make a note of your order number.
  4. Go to this form and submit your order number to receive your Free ~TimeFlash~ Cards.

4. NEW! Creating Time Comes to Portland Next Weekend! I’m heading to Portland next weekend! Here's the lineup of exciting events for those of you who might be in the area:
I’d love to see you at these events! You can get more info and register at the links above.




5. Join the ARTfiliate Program! Join Artella's generous ARTfiliate Program and enjoy all the new affiliate tools that we've recently added! You can get more info by going here.

6. Interested in Becoming Part of Artella's Team? We are expanding our team for all the exciting things we're working on this summer, so if you've ever been interested in becoming part of the Artella Team, now is the time! Check out this page for details.



In this short clip on the Good Morning Texas TV show, I share a quick way to reframe time: create a new clock by replacing each hour on the clock with a word that represents how you most want to feel every day. This is a simple way to begin playing with new time measurements that embrace qualitative time, in addition to quantitative time.

Whether you just make a quick sketch with a marker and pen, as shown in the TV clip, or you make a more elaborate piece of art, making a new clock with your own hours reminds us that time is not just hours…time is ours!

Here are more examples from Creating Time to inspire you…


Mandala Clock on LP record by Patricia J. Mosca


Digital illustration by William J. Charlebois




In this new Artellagram feature, we’ll feature something special in the Artella Land Storefront that matches your specific interests. Since there’s always so much to see in Artella Land, you may have missed some of our special gems! This new section introduces you to a specific item that you might like to take a look at, based on your personal interests and preferences.

The Storefront Spotlight for this issue is...

The Goalar Energy Program
A Unique Guidance Program for Extraordinary Action

Do you have a project or goal dancing around in your heart but you just can't seem to get it started?

Are you trudging slowly through a project but losing motivation and energy?

Or are you working diligently through a project but you have lost touch with the joy at its heart?

If you have a specific project or goal that could use a dynamic brand-new support system, GOALAR ENERGY™ is for you! Goalar Energy™ is a 30-lesson program that offers step-by-step guidance, from a creative, right-brained perspective, for completing a project.

Spring into Summer Sale! Save 50-75% on this and All Artella eProducts through Tuesday, June 5!

Go here to see more...








Artella’s Member Ship Creativity Cruise is an ongoing adventure of information and inspiration, all hand-selected to be about your favorite creative topics. Each and every month, you get a huge overflowing gift basket of inspiring goodies in your Cruise Cabin. You can read about all the different Cruise Cabins here.

NEW! Free Previews! To help you get to know more about the goodies in the Artella Member Ship Cabins, here in the Cruise Corner, we’ll offer a free download preview of one of the dozens of goodies included in this month’s goodies!

Free Self-Discovery Preview of the Month: One of the articles in this month’s issue of The Art Journal Journey e-magazines is called “Pulling Apart the Fear of Success” by Michelle Berlin. It’s a great tool!  Download your free preview of the article here! (Michelle also has a terrific article in this issue about creating beautiful home décor from recycled milk jugs…fascinating and surprisingly beautiful!)

Go here to learn more and come aboard the Artella Member Ship!



Merrill Disney
Expose Yourself Campaign 2012
Merrill Disney
In our last Artellagram, we inadvertently featured an incorrect interview with Merrill Disney. Here is the complete, wonderfully inspiring interview with Merrill…whom I must say is one of the most fun, invigorating, and creative individuals I’ve had the pleasure to meet.

Merrill is an ARTbundance Coach™ who is also a comedy concept writer and is currently writing, directing and producing “Will that Fit in my Mouth”, an animated short about emotional eating.

Merrill truly embraces each moment and is a wonderful example of someone who fills her personal and professional time with great meaning.

Artella: What led you to become a Certified ARTbundance™ Coach?

Merrill: I was initially mesmerized with the Artella Land website; hence, it transported me on a yacht with my own imagination. I knew Marney had a special message to offer. Originally, I wanted to swim around with some new ways of relating to my comedy clients but ended up with an added bonus of flavorful tools to help with my volunteer work with teens that suffer from eating disorders. Seems I am always looking for revolutionary ideas to relate to the world and art always opens the channels.

Artella: How has your ARTbundance™ training influenced your work?

Merrill: I have a larger repertoire with communicating with clients and helping them move through blocks so the material can flow. With my work with teens with eating disorders, ARTbundance helps them to check in with how they are feeling--going inward instead of controlling their outer environment.

Artella: What kinds of people do you most enjoy working with? Who is your ideal client?

Merrill: I seem to attract clients that don’t have many boundaries. I say “If you haven’t learned to abandon yourself by 35, it is time”. In order to reward oneself with the magic life has to offer, being free is essential. In comedy, we call it “being up in the helicopter” because there are no wrongs or rights, no rules, just up in the space of freedom where great material is channeled.

The ideal client is someone that has a strong comfort zone to disagree with the draconian rules of an unhealthy society. Always appreciate a foundation of their own opinions, thoughts and ideas, so we can go in and make some divine revisions!

You can read the rest of Merrill's interview, here

The next ARTbundance Certification Training (ACT) session will be scheduled later this year. You can learn more about ACT and request an application when the next session is announced, here.



For today’s Quotz crystal, I selected one of the beautiful ~TimeFlash~ Cards with a takeaway quote from The Creating Time Mega Event. You can get a whole set of ~TimeFlash~ Cards as a free gift when you order any combination of eProducts totaling $40 or more during the 7 Day Spring into Summer Sale!




Time sighs when you’re having fun,
Marney

Artella Founder, Mango Lover, Hula Dancer

Artella Land ~ the creative isles of words, art, and spirit

Artella 9090 Skillman #182A-116 Dallas TX 75243