In honor of the upcoming Valentines day, I would like to take a moment to talk about Learning to Love You More, a collaborative project with artist extraordinaire, Miranda July.
Learning to Love You More started out as a website but is now in book format as well as in art exhibitions all around the world.
Creative assignments are posted on the website, such as "make the saddest song", "write the phone call you wish you could have", and my personal favorite, "take a picture of strangers holding hands". The general public can choose to submit their version of an assignment to the website. Some submissions have been selected for exhibition as well as portraits in the book.
The best art and writing is almost like an assignment; it is so vibrant that you feel compelled to make something in response. Suddenly it is clear what you have to do. For a brief moment it seems wonderfully easy to live and love and create breathtaking things.The transformative power of "assignments" I imagine can help you learn to love yourself more, even if for just a moment. Creativity and art is the higher arching breathe of life from which sustenance abounds. Through art and writing, I endeavor to learn to love myself more. How has art inspired you to learn to love yourself more? This is one of the many reasons why the blogging community is a collaborative expression of love and self-love. Through my blog, I am learning how to love myself, and lucky enough to share that process with you. This is performance art.
Whether you are alone or with someone you love on Valentines Day, I encourage you to find the inspiration to love yourself more. Not just on the 14th, but on each and every day. Find something that compels you and inspires you to make something in response. Enjoy the process.
The latest assignment #70 asks you to "Say Goodbye" in list format.
Sometimes it's hard to say goodbye. It just feels easier to keep holding on. But in the long run it's usually a good idea to let go, it's the daring thing to do. It allows room for new things, for transformation. And maybe the goodbye isn't even forever, but you can't know until you really say goodbye and mean it. In some cases, goodbye is really the end, and good riddance! For this assignment, say goodbye to all the things you need to let go of: bad habits, dead people, alive people, ex-boyfriends and girlfriends, self-destructive feelings and behaviors, jobs, projects, re-occuring thoughts, etc.1. Goodbye reluctance.
2. Goodbye fear.
3. Goodbye myspace.
4. Goodbye loneliness.
5. Goodbye fast food.
6. Goodbye ex-love.
7. Goodbye e-stalking.
8. Goodbye heartache.
9. Goodbye self-hate.
10. Goodbye negativity.
What are some things you need to say goodbye to?
Posts
26 wandering stars:
"A wise person is able to let go
To let go is actually to receive
To receive boundless happiness"
I wanna say bye to HIM who once mattered so much and yet matters because I avowed unconditional feelings for him. But I wanna let it go.
I wanna let go of the past which overtakes because I let it. I wanna make new memories.
I wanna let go of the little hates that i hold within. no one is capable of my hate yet, i am all for love as love for all.
I will say bye to silent dreams, echoing voices and the devils play. No more evil. Enough happening around and NO I AM NOT A PART OF IT!
Aww this sounds interesting. I hope they have this on ebook. =)
Thanks for the note on my V-Day post! Let me know if you find a delicious way to spend it sovereign (aka not-attached! I like that definition better than "single"). This Miranda July thing sounds great! :D
xoxo
Birdie
Been awhile since I stopped by here, so I took a cruise around and this is just one jumpin’ place. I especially enjoyed your Letters – Past and dig the Learning to Love You More concept. It’s a rare person, I think, who wouldn’t want to be driven blissfully wild enough to make something pinging off something mouthwatering. I love it when that happens. I’m in a dry spell right now with a work deadline hanging over my head. But when that’s over with I’d like to entertain the thought of the Learning to Love You More assignments.
This sounds really great! People should really learn to love themselves first and let go of all insecurities.
Ah what an awesome project!
I like to let go of things as I go, so at this moment, I am burden free.
I'd like to say goodbye to secrets and false comfort. And to idleness. I need to have a look at this website.
I love the goodbye list. Mine would probably look almost identical to yours.
Thanks for sharing this! Another one of your very awesome finds. I think I really wanna say goodbye to responsibility. For once, I want to take care of no one but myself...but I know that won't happen. I just wish I can be carefree sometimes.
1. goodbye l.
2. goodbye j.
3. goodbye m.
4. goodbye c. REALLY, goodbye, c.
5. goodbye tardy.
6. hello punctual.
7. hello why.
8. hello let it go
9. hello janet.
10. hello new burdens.
I hate to say goodbyes but the list of goodbyes encourages me to do some of mine later. Nice list.
too great.
thanks for pointing us to the site!
hello floreta
this is sourik. I am a poet.
You blog is really very nice.
It would be nice if you could drop by my blog someday and leave your comments on my poems.
I would be waiting for your comments :) :)
Wishing you good luck
Sourik
Wow all these sound interesting. Great point when u say that instead of just loving someone,we should first learn to love ourselves more.At times I feel I don't do all the things for myself that I deserve to.And art or writing for that matter is everything to me....it keeps me going.Though human life is full of meetings and partings it's harder to leave....think deep....we can go but we can never leave as we leave behind a person or a place,we leave behind a bit of ourselves that can't be obliterated.Do u agree with me? If possible let's hold on to what we have and learn to say goodbye to goodbye.
I hope u try to write a novel someday..or even assimilate some of your pieces and try publishing them.
seher - great list. hope you achieve this.
chinkygirlmel - maybe they do! worth a look.
birdie - haha, i like that: sovereign. i am actually going to a single girls only vday party, and hanging out with my girlcrush before that..
missalister - thanks for dropping by again! i appreciate it. glad you liked my letters, and i hope the assignments on the site will be a fun challenge!
chloie - i agree. but sometimes hard to do.
cheryl - awesome, good for you!
errant gosling - nice list. yes, i love this website.
tasha - we seem to have a lot of things in common judging from your comments here..
the demigoddess - thanks! this site is something i found years ago, and wanted to share. :) i love miranda july!
anon - thank you for stopping by evita. ;) love your lists.
marites - thanks for stopping by. hope you can make a list of your own sometime.
chase - you're very welcome!
sourik - hi sourik, thanks for stopping by. i'll return the favor. :)
deeptesh - very profound thoughts.. i think i agree with you. refreshing thoughts! and wow, thanks for the encouragement about getting published.. i'd really like to someday..
Floreta, awesome post and I'm going to go check it out. As for good-bye's, well my honesty scraps is pretty much good-bye to the old and hello to the new. Seher's quote sums it up well, thank-you Seher,
"A wise person is able to let go
To let go is actually to receive
To receive boundless happiness"
Thanks for posting such amazing content. I love this blog and your great.
Huggs
JB
Hmmm, from a guys perspective, this is interesting!
I need to say goodbye to being shy....yup, shy!
jb- thanks hon! i did like your honesty post a lot. i will continue to post cool content that i find or want to share. :)
ron - i'm glad you think it's interesting! i could probably say goodbye to shyness too!
My friend did a Learning to Love You More project in which she would list certain things about herself and ask friends to say which were true about them too. It was a lot of fun, although it eventually petered out...
im so with you on good bye self hate. :)
Kristan - i imagine an interactive LTLYM project/group would be a lot of fun!
Lolita - yay, glad you feel that way.
such an inspirational post. okay, i'll try to love myself more. lol.
i've been too hard to myself lately especially the fact that im single haha
happy v-day floreta!
I've used their Web site in a creative writing class before. It's a cool place!
@totomai - hehe glad to inspire you :)
@ speakyourself - would be great for creative writing class definitely! nice you got to experience that.
this is really amazing. Thank you
attainingme - i'm glad you liked it. you are very welcome.
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