Tag: joy

Quarantine Lessons

Yes, I know, it’s been so long since I wrote anything on here. It’s hard to believe how different life was just a couple of months ago, and it just keeps getting more and more bizarre. I’m sure all of you are at home quarantining as well, and I know there is a lot of anxiety and fear in the air.

What are the lessons you’ve learned so far? I get it. I know most people don’t think about the lessons when they are right in the middle of chaos, but they always provides me a sort of raft so I don’t mentally go underwater.

Here is what I’ve learned so far:

  1. As difficult as keeping a schedule can be, I can see the benefits now more than ever. Making sure I am creating time to do the things I want to do (and have been needing to do), makes me feel more in control of my life in the times when there isn’t much I am actually in control of.
  2. All the times I’ve taken for granted being able to BUY whatever I wanted at anytime, and it would appear on my doorstep a day later. It’s much harder now, and I trust that when the time comes that I can actually visit stores, or order whatever I want online, I’ll be much more grateful.
  3. Do things now that we imagine! It’s so easy to put things off, so easy! And yet, here we are living in a crazy world where we CAN’T just get done what we want, or receive services we would like, or finish projects we started. This is a huge lesson for me. If it’s in my head, take the jump and get out there. We never know when life won’t be so easy to make things happen.
  4. Being more in the moment. Because we aren’t buzzing around in our cars, and staying busy every second, the only option is to slow down and notice LIFE AROUND US. I know for years society has taught us that the only way we can feel good about ourselves is if we are ACCOMPLISHING and PUSHING and RUNNING IN CIRCLES. It’s pretty ironic that we can’t do any of that now. So instead of pushing against what is happening, I am leaning in to the quiet, and the slow.
  5. This is the perfect time to be creative!  And really, maybe it’s always been the PERFECT TIME, but life got in the way before. Now, there is NO excuse. Life is on hold so our creative lives can catch up. That is exciting!
  6. Mindless shopping and even social events can be a great distraction from what we are FEELING, and a way to procrastinate what we want in our lives. We no longer have those options, so I’m definitely looking at my own distractions differently. I can choose to be aware of how I live my life and what I want out of it. I can live intentionally, even in this crazy pandemic.
  7. Having intentions everyday helps me feel good about what I am doing and where I am headed. Since intentions are a mental awareness, they don’t need to depend on anything outside of us. This is a great reminder that I can still feel at peace, productive, share love, and feel creative, regardless of what is going on in the world.

I know there are a lot more lessons out there, but I’m starting with these 7. I hope everyone else is learning and growing as well. We will come out of this stronger. We will get through this together.

 

 

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Thriving with Time

Oh my gosh I know it’s been forever since I sat down and wrote! Of course, just like for everyone, the holidays were full of travel, and decisions, so much purchasing, and lots and lots of stuff going on. We are also creating a new room in our garage, so boxes and papers and life seems to be exploding all over the place.

My husband and I sat down the other day and started our ‘cabin work,’ that we usually save for actually being in a cabin around New Years. This year that time will be later in the month, but we needed to start now. On our couch. We have so many elements that are needing to be organized and labeled with a system that both of us have been getting overwhelmed.

Here is my favorite change we are implementing:
*Building our schedules with our personal needs/desires/dreams/and of course self care added FIRST. This is a huge change! Usually we have been at the mercy of whatever fires need to be put out for the kids, or the room being built, or the buildings we are managing, that we don’t get to do the things that ACTUALLY GIVE US ENERGY AND JOY. So,… these things go on first. Then the other stuff that isn’t so much fun, goes around the sides. We are hoping that this gives us a good foundation so that everything we want to ACHIEVE/WORK ON/CREATE/EXPERIENCE/GROW INTO,… actually gets the attention that it deserves so that we feel we are moving ahead in our lives. Yesssssss….

It’s so hard to know HOW to organize our time, isn’t it? I mean we all have the same amount of time everyday, and yet at least over here, it seems like if we aren’t conscious about how we spend it, the time can easily drain, drizzle, fizzle away with nothing to show for it.

This year I am hoping to be more respectful of my time and more aware of WHAT I am doing, HOW I am doing it, and WHY I am doing it, so that life feels a bit more intentional.

Especially since there is a baby on the way! 😉 We are both so excited, and yet this is making it even more clear that having schedules that make sense BEFORE little one comes can help us feel successful now. Since I know that once the end of June comes around, all bets are off. 🙂

How is your personal schedule going? Are you leaving time for self care and everything your body/mind/spirit needs to thrive and be your best?

 

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I Create My Story

I was playing around with my line art and thought maybe I could create one using words. I’ve always loved words, and after 40 hours of work, this piece is done!  It was fun and challenging, and I definitely want to create more.

I love words that remind us to take control of our lives and go after what we want. We have the power!

xo

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Lines and Joy

What a wonderful thing to recognize that what I create naturally without even thinking, IS my art. I don’t need to be different. I am enough just as I am.

All this time wishing I was someone else, and no more. That never brought me joy, that never helped me feel good in my own skin.

It stops now.

I create in my way, and the beauty is that it’s a natural movement for me. There is no pushing.

So funny how much society tells us we need to be like everyone else, but in reality, what makes us unique is OUR thing. That’s what sets us apart.

Sending everyone lots of love that you are living YOUR truth, and living life YOUR WAY.

XO

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I am Remembering

That anytime in life,

may it be in a conversation, during yoga, while making art, sleeping, etc. if I am PUSHING/FORCING/GRINDING/SHOVING at all, I am not allowing the Universe to move through me.

Life can be filled with ease and delight in every moment.

Sometimes I need to remember this as I live.
Anything I choose to do,
be,
say,
experience, can be done with an open ease to allow the truth that I may not even know exists yet, come forth.

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Who Are You With

Life can move so fast, sometimes we forget to check in with what is FEELING right, what is FEELING good.

This is a good piece to remember….

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Appreciate Appreciate

I appreciate these amazing noise cancelling headphones so I completely feel like I’m in my own world.

I appreciate getting the house organized. The energy is improving!

I appreciate that the cat tree is moved close to the window so the kittens can enjoy the sun and look outside.

I appreciate watching the kids laugh and play out the window.

I appreciate being able to focus at the library and get done everything on my list.

I appreciate being reminded that me feeling good is the first step in creating the life I want, and enjoying the life I have.

I appreciate having the courage to say yes.

I appreciate being able to apologize to myself when I am not as compassionate as I would like to be.

I appreciate starting over with how I speak to myself if I need to.

I appreciate recognizing that I am making things harder than they need to be.

I appreciate being brave enough to feel my feelings when they come up instead of pushing them away.

I appreciate knowing that magic is all around me.

I appreciate listing off what I am grateful for in the morning.

I appreciate playing happy music while we get ready in the morning.

I appreciate listening to my body instead of judging.

I appreciate the sun on my cheeks.

I appreciate feeling calm when I go inside my closet.

I appreciate getting rid of clothes that do not spark joy.

I appreciate being in a relationship where we both show up the best way we can for each other.

I appreciate knowing that I can make changes with anything that isn’t working in my life.

I appreciate sore muscles.

I appreciate sore drawing fingers.

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Becoming Younger

Hello everyone! Happy Monday! I try and get on here at least once a week on Monday’s. But last Monday my hubby and I were visiting his parents, so I wasn’t able to. 😦 Sheesh, it feels like it’s been FOREVER since I’ve written!

I was thinking about something a couple of days ago that I wanted to write about. I remember turning 25 and feeling this horrible rolling pain of insecurity, disgust, and panic. I was so afraid that I was getting OLD, running out of time and had nothing to show for it. It’s so funny to look back and realize how young I actually was.

Society (and social media lez be honest) tells us (subconsciously and blatantly) what we SHOULD have:

  1. Accomplished
  2. Experienced
  3. Purchased

by the time we are 21, or 25, or 30, or 35 or 40 and so on.

I know most of us get involved in some way or another in this anxious fear that:
Where we are isn’t right.
What we are doing isn’t enough.
Who we are isn’t okay.

Something that I am grateful for lately especially, is paving my own way, and enjoying it. I’ve always paved my own way, I’ve always created my own path, but I usually felt ashamed about doing it. I usually felt embarrassed and different and wrong.

Lately, I am seeing my creative veering spirit as a gift. I am finally acknowledging that I have never followed the herd, and that maybe that is okay. Maybe that is in fact PERFECT,.. for me. Maybe I have everything I need right now in this moment. Slowly, all of the yucky phrases I used to say to myself like: ‘You should have done more, you aren’t doing enough, you are wrong, you are bad, you must be lazy, you are different, you are ugly…’ are fading.

If I had to guess, I would say here is why that is happening:

  1. I’m making self care my top priority. I am constantly checking in with how I feel, and treating myself the way I would to a small child. If I am tired, I will take a nap. If I feel emotional, I will cry. I don’t need to know why, I don’t need to figure it out. And I certainly don’t tell myself that it’s silly.
  2. I’m allowing myself to feel the depth of my joy when I am doing the things that I love. For some reason this has been a hard one for me! Even when I am doing art, there is a tendency to check my texts, suddenly do a google search, or look through my email. Making art brings me so much unbelievable joy, but there has been a part of me that didn’t feel I deserve it. So instead, I stop messing with my phone, tune into what my soul is saying and what my an immense amount of joy actually feels like.
  3. Meditation. Okay so I’ve said that I meditate every morning. But that’s not entirely true. Every morning I have gone into my meditation closet with the intention of meditating. But also every morning my super sweet, yet annoying cat also comes in with me and spends the whole time climbing across my lap and meowing into my face. Most of my ‘meditation’ time has been used up quieting him and inside getting so so fucking irritated. Anyway,… now, I am spending the early session (with him climbing on me) acknowledging and listing everything I am grateful for. He loves the energy in my meditation room and eventually relaxes, but I am no longer pushing against him or needing him to be different. A little later in the morning when Nova is sleeping, I sit down to do my actual meditation. This way I can have a really wonderful meditation with no interruptus. 😉 Also I am using Deepak Chopra’s 30 day challenge that I found on YouTube.

It’s so funny how I felt so terrified and old and wrong when I was 25, and in this moment I am 13 years older. 
I actually feel a thousand times more grounded, more grateful, more creative, more solid, more reverent, more brave, way more attractive, and with a knowing that gifts are continuously coming from the Universe.

I feel like it really is true that age is just a number, and we can become younger, calmer, stronger, lighter, and more patient.

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Healing Touch

Hello!

Welcome to the end of March! Sheesh! This year feels like it’s flying already. Wow!  Anyway, after a post the other day about not listening to my curiosities, I decided to do something about it.

I took a 2 days course on Healing Touch, something I have been CURIOUS about for a couple of  years. I would love to enhance my intuition, and so…. I SAID YES!

I must say, I really  loved it. It was a new experience to go into a class not knowing if I would enjoy it or not. But being able to be light about it,
to ‘check and see,
to keep my heart open,
to move through it with ease
and just ‘check in with what felt right.’

It was nice to allow myself to be a beginner and to not have signed up for all 5 classes already. ahahha

Anyway, it was a fascinating introduction to energy work, and I wanna go further! I actually think I want to take Healing Touch for animals in the next couple of months. I love animals, and the older I get the more my heart just relishes in them.

So that is the plan! For those of you curious about Healing Touch, check it out. What I love about it, is that it is taught the same way no matter where you go. Hospitals are now utilizing it, and seeing the benefits! Ha! So it’s not just gypsy women sitting on the street corner with no money begging for cans of tuna in exchange for energy healing. haahah

I feel great that I am paving a path for myself, and ART is still intermixed with it. I can do them both!

By the way, does anyone have any tips for schedules and creating balance? Between managing 3 buildings with my hubby, family, healing touch, art, volunteering at hospice, attending hospice classes, and uhhh taking an occasional bath, I sure could use some suggestions.  😉

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Movement

Here is something I am playing with in my art journal. I don’t know why I am so into these curvy lines lately. But they feel good to make, so I’m just going to go with it.

It reminds me of the ebb and flow of the waves. Of life. Of emotions. No matter where we are, it’ll always move. Ahhh

Sorry for the exposure of the photo. I took it with my phone, and didn’t want to bother with photoshop. Eek. So it looks a bit washed out. ;/

 

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