THOUGHTS ARE THINGS

I believe in loads of things; 

that red lipstick instantly lifts your mood / the significance of numbers (especially 3) / being kind to strangers / looking on the bright side / Sunday morning lie in's / some sort of after life / good music / good books / family / friends and the law of attraction.

There are different things that can make you feel good if your feeling down but a lot of the time it's external factors that you look to that work for a short time. I was having one of those rubbish weeks that you just can't shift when I came across "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne which talks about the law of attraction, this book is amazing and you need it in your life!
The basic theme is that you attract everything that happens to you, when I first read that it was pretty hard to take in, I was like "Eh, excuse me I don't WANT to feel bad or for crappy things to happen" but then they followed up with "thoughts are things" which hit me between the eyes! 

Of course what you constantly think about and put all your energy into is going to materialise because your not spending any time working on the things you want.

I have been reading about the law of attraction off and on for the last year because it's really hard to work on but I really got into it in November and my 2014 goal is to practise it more regularly. It's already given me loads of great tools on how to deal with difficult situations you come up against, for example if you don't like something you have two options that you can apply; change your attitude or change your behaviour. Situations are rarely black or white and knowing how to handle them when they pop up is empowering and definitely gives you confidence.

I thought I would give you a heads up on what I'm currently geeking about at the mo as it will probably sneak into more of my posts.
I'd love to hear if you're into the law of attraction or have any other tips on how you stay truly positive.

GOODBYE 2013, HELLO 2014

I don't believe in resolutions. I believe in goals.

But I thought I would do a 2013 recap.

For me 2013 was the the year for learning, growth and direction.

It was the year I I fell out of love with Deesigngeek and didn't want to design any more, a scary concept as it is all I have done, 

it defined me.

It turned out it was the type of work I was creating that just wasn't rocking my world any more and I had to take it in a new direction, I tried not to be too hard on myself - sometimes to go forward you have to go back. 

So I got creative, I mean "picking up paintbrushes, pencils and cameras" creative and learnt how to have fun again rather than how much could I sell this for. 

I appreciate that money allows you to travel, buy art materials and have a nice life but does it motivate me? I have to be honest and say a big fat "nope".

For me to get excited about designing it has to bring some beautiful to the world and make someone feel good.

I realised I had put too much importance in work and I started to enjoy life, time with my friends and family and to achieve goals I never thought I would be able to like run a Half marathon. 

I also decided to live positively and started meditating, this helped me to see situations with clarity which had a great knock on effect on my design work and business planning. I had the idea of bringing everything back in-house under the DeesignGeek brand, Graphic design, Illustrating and Photography, it means learning a lot of new skills it will be worth it to ensure I'm creating a truly unique and original brand.

I have learnt to be honest with myself about what I want, the courage to go after it and to see mistakes as opportunities to learn.

2013 was all about learning but 2014 will be all about action, I can't wait!

Have a fabulous New Year! X

FREE PRINTABLE JANUARY CALENDAR

OK so I like to be organised but I admit it, I am also a total procrastinator! Sometimes I will give myself the task of organising my calendar before I start that really important (but boring) task. I wanted to gift a calendar which people could download and decided to design a monthly printable with a "motivational" quote that is more like a punch in the face (which we all need sometimes) but also soft (because we don't want to be too hard on ourselves), this was achieved by including a sweary word (apologies if you're offended) and a sweet colour palette, which makes it cute right? I have been blogging a bit more that usual and have noticed how important it is to schedule your posts and have a resource of subject ideas which is why I also included a January Blogging Calendar with space for a "To Do" List and a section to write your post ideas. Hope you like it! Follow the instructions below to print your own. Download the January Calendar HERE Download the Blogging January Calendar HERE If you have any issues downloading, try right clicking (Control and Click on the mac) on JPEG and save directly to your computer. All photos and artwork are © Stacey Wilson for DeesignGeek. Artwork in the downloadable PDF is free strictly for personal use, not for commercial use. Sharing these photos on Pinterest is welcome as long as you credit and link back to deesigngeek.com. If you'd like to blog about this post, a) I will love you forever and b) feel free to use a couple of photos provided that you link back to the full post on this page. Please do not distribute my downloadable artwork from your site and, as a courtesy, please do not link directly to the PDF download on my site- Instead, please link back to this page. Thanks so much for reading this boring stuff!

HELLO 2013

Well 2012 is officially over and we are at the start of a brand you new year.
I hope everyone had a fabulous time whatever you got up to.

I spent New Year at a Wedding in Glasgow, this was the first year where I haven't been in a club or a house party for "the Bells" and it was absolutely fantastic. Spending time with friends and family all wishing a single couple love and luck not only for the year but for their future put me in thee best mood.

I love the start of a fresh year, full of reflection of what has been and full of expectation of what might come. I found myself thinking about all the things that happened to me that I would never have guessed I would be doing at the start of the year;
- Visit Dublin
- Drive around the Scottish highlands after 6 years NOT driving
- Survive T in the Park 2012, the most waterlogged and muddy it has ever been... and love it!
- Visit a medium who asked if I was planning a trip to New York (I wasn't)
- Visit New York (3 months later!)
- Bump into friend who I hadn't seen for about 5 years and pick back up where we left off
- Read "The Secret" and for it to have a massive positive influence in changing my outlook on life
  (I'd always thought of myself as a positive person anyway)
- Join a running club (and meet the loveliest bunch of people)

I have already started thinking about all the things I want to achieve and do this year but for now I will simply sit here feeling very lucky and grateful for the opportunities and support I was given to do the ton of stuff in 2012.

Happy New Year!!!