Day 16,603 Gratitude

Today I am so grateful ...

For sweet surprises in the mail.

For my learning the art of the repurposed journal.

For the friends who made them happen.

Day 16,602 Gratitude

Today I am so grateful ...

To get Mandala Monday back on track after missing last Monday. You can download the fresh, new mandala here.

For a noon-time labyrinth walk to honor the recent Full Moon in Virgo and the Vernal Equinox. In bare feet, I might add. Rebirth is in the air!

For this unexpectedly sunshiney, windows-at-long-last-WIDE-open afternoon that is the stuff of Spring Fever. My shoulders came down out of my ears today for the first time since November.

For Mighty Leaf Organic Detox Influsion coming into my life. Love this tea.

Tell me what you've been feeling grateful for while I was away!

Day 16,598 Gratitude

The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick Glee Club
These are tender times. I just don't know what to do about Japan. In my heart, I do, but not so much my mind. The images are difficult to digest. As a Reiki practitioner, I can send healing distantly, like a prayer. But I'm feeling weary in the face of the depth of this disaster ... like what I have to offer is a miniscule drop in the bucket compared to the massive miracle that's needed. I know every loving thought helps ... every dollar helps ... but, man.

Mustering a sense of festivity today may not be easy, but feeling sad certainly doesn't help their cause (or any other) either. On this St. Patrick's Day, I am especially grateful for green. It's the color of the heart chakra, you know. I'm focusing on compassion for those in need and the love that embraces us all.

Day 16,595 Gratitude

It started yesterday afternoon with unexplained weepiness. Something random, seen or heard, would touch me unexpectedly and my eyes would fill with tears. Vulnerability in and for our humanity, perhaps. I'm wired to be more stoic than sensitive, but I think so many of us have felt our compassionate hearts burst and spill open recently. As the Mighty Ohio River overflows her banks right now, as do I mine. Along with the emotions has been this dense fog of fatigue. I long for the deep, restorative sleep of which my troubled dreams deprive me.

This morning I thought I ought to check my biorhythms just to see if there might be a clue as to what's going on. Well, there was not only a clue, but a flashing neon sign. R E S T !

I'm an affirmation kind of girl and can pep myself up pretty good by insisting on the right frame of mind. But the older I get, the more I'm learning to be gentle with myself in each moment, especially in the low times. To be curious in and about this space rather than hustle myself through and past it. Bullying is still bullying, even with a sweet voice and the best intentions. Sometimes what's best is for me to leave me be.

Life is a series of cycles. The low times provide space for us to wallow and, eventually, replenish. Of course, we certainly don't want to get stuck here ... and of that there is a risk. But there can be treasures unearthed in these moist and murky places. And for that, today, I am grateful.

Day 16,592

Today I am so grateful ...

For my Christmas cactus that won't stop blooming. I had another picture to share, but evidently I didn't save it where I thought I had and, honestly, it could be anywhere. I just don't feel inclined to look for it. I'm willing to bet that you don't mind.

For cutting myself some slack. I don't need to have a photo with every post. Sometimes I let the fact that I don't have a shot to share keep me from posting. Giving up Morning Pages for awhile has revealed where my other compulsions lie ... those things I make myself do every day that, in the long run, don't matter as much as I thought they did. I'm learning to be more flexible, less regimented. With myself. With others. With life.

Beth's post about The Hundredth Monkey Effect. The idea of moving toward a critical number of relationships as opposed to a critical number of sales through my business really resonates with me. I'm not just talking about "Likes" on the Fan Page, Hearts in the Etsy shop, Google Followers, etc. It's about recognizing each visitor here, each buyer, each student as, well, a friend ... as a fellow traveler on the journey. Maybe there is something here that you find of value. Maybe I'll never know what that is. What I do know is that I'm committed to sacred commerce and I know that what that looks like may be ever-evolving.

What are YOU holding in gratitude and appreciation today?

Day 16,591

I love this angel. She came to me as a recent Christmas gift from my dear friend, Sandi, who is an angel to me. I am trying to do one sketch per day leading up to Taos in May. I would love to have this sketchbook journal filled before then. There is a lot of experimentation going on ... a lot of figuring out what this journal can and should look like and contain. Some fumbling. Some breath-holding. I suspect that this journal will always be evolving. (That's good. So am I.) My techniques will evolve. What I choose to capture will evolve. The frequency with which I add to it will evolve. And all of that is fine by me. Really. Yes, even for a self-confessed creature of habit.

I have gone all week without the deep ritual of my Morning Pages. It has been awkward, yes, but not as hard to do without as I'd anticipated. I've been able to sleep a bit later in the morning, which has been nice. And I've had an unexpected insight. Here I am letting myself draw after decades of not doing so. Something ancient within me must be feeling nourished by it because now, from out of nowhere, revealing themselves like the first shoots from spring bulbs, I'm thinking of other things that I haven't done since I was a teenager. Things that I used to love to do back when I drew. Like sing. I was in chorus then, singing on a regular basis, and I loved it! And dance, too ... which is funny, because it's something I now go to extreme lengths to avoid.

What happened? Obviously, I didn't always feel awkward about these things. They came naturally to me. Having fun and doing things for the JOY of it, came naturally to me. It makes me wonder what else I've had amnesia about missing ...

Today I am so grateful for my willingness to follow this trail and see where it leads ... for the goodness of hearing the sweet voice of a far-flung friend ... for the synchronicity of reading an article in a magazine that I swear was written to buoy me, specifically.

Day 16,590 Gratitude

Today I am so grateful ...

For the momentum that I seem to be gaining in my sketchbook journal. I have (cautiously) decided to take a break from writing morning pages. I have been writing first thing in the morning for at least ten years. It's a practice that has come very naturally to me, but I don't think it's helping me to grow creatively. It's more like habitually picking up whatever I was chewing on from the day before, similar to a dog turning a hundred circles before it lays down. I would like to try a blank canvas ... literally and figuratively. I'm curious whether the energy that went into my morning writing will reroute itself to my sketches and other creative outlets. I'm willing to give it some time and see how it goes.

For this heartfelt post by Connie. I watched the program and ... I'm still processing. Can it be that after our darkest hour, after all else has been lost, there's art to save us? I can see why so many feel called to help in Haiti and why it must be incredibly hard to leave. Still so much to be done. So very much ...