Set Your Guts on Fire

Won the auction! I'm now the proud owner of a vending machine and 250 little capsules begging for something to fill them. Some ideas: favorite quotes, zen koans, and ideas for little art projects. I'm thinking of putting it out in the woods behind work, just off the walkway to the garage.

Not a lot of fires started this weekend, but did get a little time with the uke and some big school projects are finished now. Plus: lots of homemade jam and a couple of home-cooked meals, so definitely not a loss.

I'm finding it very easy to get caught up in the idea that this project has to have grand plans, forgetting that it began in the simplest of symbols, a little matchstick. In the spirit of paying attention to the little things that nourish me, here are my matches for the last couple of days:

• Checked in with a friend who was looking a bit down & tired to see how he was doing.
• Played hooky from the company picnic, went home & took a desperately-needed nap
• Saw one of my friends belly-dance at a local bar last night. Went mostly for fun but it turned out to be very meaningful to her that we came.
  
• Took a walk around a local neighborhood while waiting for a shop to open, greeted a stranger sitting outside and had a nice little conversation about nothing in particular.

Today is a day for grander plans, most having to do with school, but my planned match for today is to sneak in at least a half-hour on the ukulele. Film at 11.

Setting some things in motion, but still looking for a thing to actually do today.

• Signed up to be part of the 1001 Journals project, and part of journal #3083, coming from Tacoma.
• Put in a bid for a capsule vending machine, with the idea of filling it with either very small art or cool little activities to inspire people. Like a much smaller version of this: Art-o-Mat

Yesterday: Sketched the backside of the building and a little light along the path for about 10 minutes.

I think the first thing we need to figure out is what constitutes a match. I'd like to propose the following. A match must do at least one of the following things:

• Stretch you beyond your current boundaries in some way
• Feed your artistic soul or physical body
  
• Create connection with others
  
• Add something of value (even if small) to the world

The challenge is to light one match each, every day, and record it here. There is fuel in doing and fuel in remembering what we've already done. We take on this challenge as a reminder to keep reaching and as a way to keep the fire burning.

But I've got this spark, I've got to feed it something
or put it out for good...

~ Amy Ray