When I was a kid, I made art all the time. I loved it. It was my thing. Then it happened, the same thing that happens to so many of us: some teacher in high school told me I was doing it wrong and made me feel so bad about my art that I quit doing it at all.
In the past, say, 9 months, my inner artist has been re-emerging. This is, I am sure, a direct result of the shamanic healing I've been doing for the past two or three years, and it is awesome. The truth is becoming more and more clear to: Art or some sort of creative activity is not optional for any of us. We are born to create. It is in our blood, in our soul. It makes sense, especially for us tarot folks (I just assume all my readers are tarot folks). We so commonly view the suits in this order: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. That is: inspiration/idea, soul/commitment, mind/plan, and finally manifestation. And I am not unique in realizing this now. It is in the air. It is rising to our collective consciousness. Have you read Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic? If not, get your hands on a copy and read it. It will speak to your creative self that is aching to make things. Our Minds and Our Souls I used to say that the best way to understand what you think is to write. Of course I said that. I am a writer by nature. Also, I am a product of my culture, so I valued writing, thinking, precision, logic. As a culture, we have been trained to feed our minds until they are full to the bursting point and we all suffer from information overload. But we don't get a lot of training on how to feed our souls. One way, I think, is to experience art (by art, I mean anything such as fine art, dance, music, photography, sculpture, movies even). Another way is to make art. Here's the thing about art. Many of us think that unless our creative efforts will have some tangible end goal, they are a waste of time. But they are not. And that is something Gilbert stresses a lot in Big Magic. Whether no one ever sees your work or if you show it in a gallery, it doesn't matter to your soul. And just as we know that writing helps us understand our minds and what we think, making art helps us understand our souls and what we value or yearn for or feel. A watercolor artist, Barry Toshio Shiraishi, said once that your art may not change the world but in the making of it, you may change yourself. Now, to my way of thinking, if you change yourself, you will also be changing the world. Because everything is connected, you know. Tarot and Art Lately I've been having a lot of fun (and learning lots about myself and the cards) by incorporating daily draws with simple art journaling. I have a journal, a free marketing item from a paper company, that I only use marker or paint in (no pencil, no erasing!). For a while, I was drawing mundane things, whatever was around. Then I started pulling a card or cards and later adding charms from Carrie Paris' Magpie Oracle. That's when the magic happened. The revelations and insights and pure joy has been so incredible. Below, I'll share some of my journal pages just so you can see it is not about making great art that will change the world (or impress anybody else) but about making "great" art that changes you! I think that art is important and works so beautifully with tarot that my friend Melani and I teamed up to create some tarot and art classes. If you live in the area, I hope you check them out and consider joining us. Melani is a fantastic art/craft teacher and I am pretty good with tarot, so I think these are going to rock. You can get the deets right HERE. And, as promised, here are some of my journal pages.
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Last month, the first group of my Novice Program students worked on the lesson about spreads. While spread design was not something I set out to do, it became clear early on that I had a natural understanding of spreads, how they work, and how to create them. That's why I ended up writing a book on the subject (which you can learn more about HERE). Consequently, I was really curious to see how my students did with this lesson.
Part of the homework is to use what they learned in the lesson to analyze a few spreads. Then they pick one and do a reading with it. After that, they modify the spread based on their analysis and do another reading. Most of the modifications were fairly small, but I was shocked (and they were, too!) by what a difference those changes made for them. Without exception, the readings flowed better, made more sense, and were simply easier to use while providing better results. For anyone who has never modified an existing spread, let me encourage you to try it. Spreads are not these unchangeable, holy things that must remain intact. They were created by someone to meet a need. It is perfectly okay to adjust them to meet your own needs. Rearrange the layout. Change some positional meanings. Add or eliminate positions. A spread should be, in some ways, like a matt for a framed picture: something that helps show off and highlight the work of the artist. You, as a reader, are an artist. Let the spreads you use showcase your unique skills and style and your readings will be stronger because of it. Hello friends!
First, I want to make sure you all know about Lo Scarabeo's new Kickstarter. You may be aware of their first one for Tarot Fundamentals. It was a huge success and the resulting book is just so wonderful. I wrote an article about it HERE. They are working on Volume 2 (there will be 3 volumes total in the Tarot Encyclopedia series), Tarot Experience. You can read about it HERE. As for me, I'm up to my eyeballs in my Readers Studio presentation. A few weeks ago I went on a two day retreat to work on it. Everything was in me, no research needed to be done, I just needed undisturbed time and space to get it all down. I came away from the two days with a completed presentation. The problems began when I started rehearsing it and working on the Power Point. Then I streamlined it. Then I added other things in. It turned into a muddy mess! Why am I sharing this? People sometimes ask me for advice about preparing presentations. I have tons of advice. What I usually forget to tell them is that for me presentations go through this cycle from the moment I'm invited to present (oh no! whatever do I have to say?!?!?) until the actual presentation (oh please god let it be good for the attendees!). In between is everything from "oh my goodness, this is perfect!" to "oh holy crap, this is total garbage." It seems like an important point. It's like that image that goes around sometimes, something like what does success look like? We think it is a straight upward line but really there are a lot of snarls and step backs that happen along the way. Not always, but mostly. At least for me. Thank goodness I found my way back to "okay, this is gonna be pretty good" by remembering who my target audience is and what I hope their experience will be like. This is more challenging than it sounds because at Readers Studio there is such a variety of tarot readers, beginners to experts, mystical to psychological, professional to hobbyist. Working with material that I'm currently passionate about and trying to create a great experience for all levels is an interesting task. It's a journey with high points and low points, and it's always fascinating. If you are thinking of attending, I'd highly recommend it. The line up is super awesome, as it is every year. Check out the details HERE. May Spirit infuse your work. May all your projects be filled with passion. May all your projects satisfy your heart. May all your projects stimulate your mind. May all your projects manifest beautifully. Hello my friends! How are you doing? Things here are going very well. I'm knee deep into my Readers Studio presentation. Today, in fact, I worked on the Powerpoint presentation. Putting together Powerpoints is such fun for me. I figured out how to include movie clips and gifs, which makes me happy. Before the Powerpoint, I make a very detailed outline of the presentation and rehearse it through a few times for flow and for timing. Now that the Powerpoint is done, I will continue to rehearse and edit from now until the grand event. It will change a lot over the next few weeks, but it is all refining. The heavy lifting is done. When I'm not working, I've been continuing to work on art. Tomorrow is the last day of a six week watercolor course I am taking through Wet Paint. So far I have nothing that I am willing to show anyone, but that doesn't matter. There is a great, eccentric YouTube video teacher who says, "Relax, you aren't necessarily making art that will change the world, but the making of it just might change you." Speaking of watercolor, Lisa and I saw the most wonderful and unusual watercolor exhibit at the American Swedish Institute, the Watercolor Worlds of Lars Lerin. If you are in the area, the show goes until May 22 and is highly recommended. If you go, do make sure to watch the video...so interesting. Part of what is interesting about his work is the size. It is hard to do watercolor so large, so his huge pieces are unusual. Here are a few examples: Making marks on real paper is a theme lately, as evidenced by my letter writing. I've written to almost everyone who sent me their address and have gotten some wonderful letters in reply. It's kind of funny how much I look forward to the mail these days. I love the intimacy in letters, both the writing and the receiving of them. It's such a pleasant way to visit with people. I enjoy it so much, I even joined the Letter Writers Alliance. For $5, I got a lifetime membership, a nifty patch to sew on my backpack, and two new pen pals.
Art is becoming an important theme in my life lately, even more actively than it was before. In fact, it is spilling over into my professional work. I can't share all the details yet, but a friend and I are getting ready to launch some awesome workshops that incorporate art and tarot starting in May. I'll announce them first via my newsletter, so if you are interested, don't forget to sign up. Some people said that they are interested in the next Through the Looking Glass Retreat, I'll have news on that soon as well. All kinds of wonderful, in-person, fabulous tarot experiences are in the works! Finally, how am I doing not being on Facebook or any other social media? Great! There is one small hiccup. When you deactivate your account, to reactivate it, all you have to do is sign back in. I've not signed in but my account still was reactivating. I'm not sure why but I think it is because some websites say "Sign in with Facebook." I used to do that, so I think that when I go back to those sites, because I originally created my account with them through Facebook that it somehow signs me back in. I don't know for sure. So I've had to go in a few times are re-deactivate it! Even though I saw all those notifications, I didn't check anything. The first time it happened, it was hard. But the last time I had to re-deactivate, it was not tempting in the least. I don't feel like I have tons of extra time now...because I'm busy reading and writing letters, making art, living life...but I feel less distracted, less stressed. I'm not as upset about the world or about people being mean...because in my actual life, the people I interact with aren't mean. It's nice to have the space to breathe and be. May you, my friends, have the space you need to breathe to think to create May you, my friends, have the peace you need to enjoy your space to breathe calmly to think deeply to create richly. “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
~TS Elliot Two weeks ago I deactivated my Facebook account and closed my other social media accounts. I explain why HERE. As a magical practitioner with some shamanic understanding, you’d think I would have prepared myself better. You’d be wrong. Because sometimes I’m really dense. Facebook has been a huge part of my life for about six years. I was unplugging for almost purely energetic reasons. Did I prepare my energy body for this major disconnect? No, I did not. Let me be a lesson to you: if you cut something huge out of your life, be smart and prepare yourself. Within a few minutes of deactivating the account, I felt gutted…actually physically and energetically gutted. In shamanism there is a practice of cording, or actually de-cording, where you remove all the cords that have developed between you and others. It’s not a huge deal, just a part of good energy hygiene. With Facebook, I had about 2,300 friends. I removed that cord, made up of over 2,000 small cords, and it was definitely noticeable. Luckily, my sister was bringing her 3 month old baby over shortly, so I sat by the window trying to hold my guts in. There is nothing like holding a baby or petting a dog for good, grounding energy healing. At least for me. The first five days or so were hard. I felt lonely and left out, forgotten. And a bit like an addict. I was pouty and childish and angry. The FOMO (fear of missing out) was so intense that I could hardly bear it. Another challenge for me was that people kept telling me how brave I was and that made me feel good. Which was part of the problem...I like when people think highly of me. It is probably my deepest flaw and one of the hardest thing about not being on Facebook. With so many sweet and kind friends, I could always count on nice comments. This is very embarrassing and hard to write about because it is like my ego consumed all those lovely words. My friends say nice things to feed my soul and my heart. But my ego gobbles them up and it feels like it demeans the nice messages, which is so unfair and yucky. Luckily, I'm reading a lot of Thomas Moore right now and getting the importance of soul nourishment in perspective. During the Iowa caucuses, I wanted to be on Twitter like you wouldn’t believe. I hardly ever used Twitter, but every once in a while, it seemed like the best way to “know what was going on.” It seemed so important to know what "everyone else" knew was happening. All I had was news articles and some clunky "live blogging" sites. Finally, I just gave up and waited for the morning to find out what happened. When I did, it was kind of "meh." So what was all that angst about? A desire, a NEED to know NOW and then when I did find out, it was no big deal? It is just so interesting to see how twisted up I was (and to be honest, still am) in social media. I found myself checking the “News” app on my phone a lot, which I had never done before. It gave me something on my phone to check besides my email. I clicked on some stories and read fewer but longer articles. I was somewhat interested but eventually that faded. Yesterday I only checked the News app once and didn’t click through to a single story. One thing that surprised me is how much time I must have actually spent on Facebook. Not only blocks of time, when I consciously checked on friends and groups, but those smaller “filling in the gaps” scrolling, like if I had 5 minutes here or there, or when whoever I was with at the bar or restaurant went to the bathroom. What filled those moments before Facebook? Now I have to consciously decide what to do. Zone out. Think about something. Make some notes. Doodle. Read a book or magazine. Play with my dog. Clean out a drawer or cupboard. Another thing that surprised me is how much I am in the habit of "self-interrupting." Even when I was sitting a reading for pleasure, I'd pick up my phone and stare at it. When I realized what I was doing, I was kind of disgusted. Two weeks in, I still do it but thank goodness it is becoming less frequent each day. I can feel the need for constant information or stimulus (because, really is most of what is on Facebook “information”?) waning. I’m getting used to my world being defined by my actual physical world. But I still want to touch my phone all the time. Last night I was reading a menu online for a restaurant I will be going to, simply because I wanted to stare at my phone screen. I trust that will wan, too, as time passes. I am shifting from pouty/angry/lonely to noticing the benefits of this decision. In the past week I’ve created a ‘zine (something I’ve always wanted to do), written a bunch of letters, and overall felt less overwhelmed and emotionally reactive. This week I also participated in Infomagical (read more about it HERE) because it focused on being conscious of your information consumption, which was one of the energetic aspects affecting my decision. Yesterday’s suggestion was to have a conversation (in person or on the phone) for at least seven minutes. The daily podcast explained why seven (you can listen if you click that link and scroll to Day 4 Magical Connection) minutes. I didn’t know who to call. It didn’t seem in the spirit of the task to talk to Lisa or one of my sisters, so I picked someone who I know from the tarot community and Facebook, who I think I’d really like if we spent more time together, and whose work I admire. I called her and she actually picked up the phone even though her caller id didn’t show my name. The happiness in her voice when she heard it was me touched some part in me that I forgot existed. Magical Connection, indeed. I explained why I called and it wasn’t too weird. And then we had a lovely conversation. It is interesting how my experience of daily life is changing. I’m no longer thinking about taking pictures solely to post. I am not thinking in short “post length” bursts. Instead, I’m thinking of ideas more deeply. Instead of posting a blurb to “everyone,” I consider who might be interesting to talk to about the idea and then write them a letter. One of the goals mentioned in my initial post (HERE) was to connect with fewer people more deeply. That is indeed happening. I still miss Facebook and socializing in that way. I don't miss being emotionally freaked out by some terrible memes or hateful posts or becoming obsessed with the latest "who said what about whom" drama. If you want a letter, send me your snail mail address! In early January I went to LA for Rob Bell's 2 day workshop on Finding Your Groove for Creatives and Communicators. You will be hearing about it a lot over the next few months because so much of what he taught set me free in different ways and it is going to take some time to process and share all of it with you.
One of the things he talked about was the problem many of us who communicate about matters of spirit face. He said that questions of grace, blessing, and favor are as hard as questions of suffering. To the question "why did my loved one die?" there is no satisfactory answer. To the question "why am I lucky enough to have this work to do; how in the world did I get this gig?" there is no satisfactory answer. This rang true for me because I often wonder that a lot. I've been sitting with the idea for a few weeks now and feel it unfolding within my soul. The energy of this idea, this truth, if you will, is flowing through my established synapses, shaking them up, and creating new pathways. It wasn't a cure all but a strong beginning. One other thing I fret about is that there is so much hunger, need, homelessness, real immediate physical need in the world. Isn't it a little presumptuous of me to pursue spiritual work, and asking people to pay for it, when others are starving? Let me tell you, I've beat myself with this particular whip pretty regularly. Which is really an ungrateful act. It is kind of like kicking sand in the face of a generous gift from the Divine. But I was saved from further beatings by a few revelations. I thought about how some people do work that attends to our immediate physical needs. Some focus on education. Others on entertainment. All these areas are important for human life, for not just surviving but thriving. While my work is kind of educational and some might say kind of entertaining...but I figured out a word that feels more accurate: enriching. The goal of my work is to enrich someone's life during their time as a spiritual being having a human experience on this planet. I told this to my wise and practical wife. She suggested that I find a charity or organization that is attending to a cause or need that just totally breaks my heart. Whenever I do work that brings me the kind of joy that makes me feel a little guilty, I should give a portion of that to that cause or need. It is like balancing out two extremes: joy/abundance versus heart break/need. As Above, So Below. As Within, So Without. I believe this. Lisa's idea is not just practical, it also incorporates sound magical principles. Not only will the actual money help the cause, because the money was generated by joy, love, and abundance, it will create a flow of joy and love toward the cause. The $25 or whatever will have value beyond the monetary...it will create a magical shift of energetic as well as financial abundance. Yes, questions of grace, blessing, and favor are hard. Being grateful and doing something concrete to show that gratitude is so much better than beating myself up over the great gift that is my life. In tarot terms, the suit of Pentacles explores the flow of resources in the world. Finding the right balance between maintaining your own life and participating in the flow of resources in the world isn't always easy. But for now, it's a balance I'm working hard on getting just right. Most people don't like being told "no." Even if it is gracious. Even if the "no" includes useful feedback or constructive criticism.
Jonathon Field's recent Good Life Project podcast riff, "How You Handle No is How You Handle Life" really resonated with me. This is only 10 minutes, so if you want to listen, check it out HERE. In the riff, Jonathon explores possible reasons why we shouldn't get all bent out of shape when being told no and I agree. As an acquisitions editor (for over 15 years), I've had to tell plenty of people "no, thank you, but this project isn't a good fit for us." Mostly people act like adults and either don't write back (which is fine, no reply required) or thank me for my time. These people stick in my mind as possibilities for future projects. Others will write back with a lot of hostility and defensiveness. So even go so far as to spread angry comments about the company in public. When I receive, hear, or see those words, it makes me thank the gods and goddesses that we did say no, because there is no way I want to work with someone like that. All their vitriol did was burn a potential future bridge. As a tarot reader, I've had to, in essence, tell people "no." By "no" I mean giving them news that isn't exactly what they want to hear. Whether it is the common, but still always heart-wrenching, "will he come back?" or the ostensibly advice-seeking "what can I do to get a job?" If the answer isn't "yes" or "nothing, someone will walk off the street and give you a dream job with stellar salary" some people react with anger, defensiveness, or disbelief. I remember one reading where the client wanted to know about getting a job and there were some very obvious blocks that he could clear, but he kept getting more and more upset. He ended up saying that I had obviously brought my own negativity into the reading and that it was the worse one he'd ever had. His reaction to the really solid advice the cards were giving made it easy for me to see why he was having trouble finding employment. Instead of being defensive to the gracious no (especially when it comes with feedback or advice) and behaving as if the world is against you, calm down (maybe make note of the disproportionate emotional reaction and investigate it later), sit with the rejection and consider it, as Fields suggests, as data. Information is valuable. Take it in. Respond with openness. Use it as an opportunity to grow. In tarot terms, don't be like the guy in the 4 of Cups, who is only seeing something that makes him unhappy and is completely missing the gift that is actually being offered. Those of us who identify with the Hermit love to spend time alone. The Hermit, after all, goes off alone up a mountain, into a cave, or across the desert; sometimes he just withdraws into his own mind. It doesn't matter where he goes; what matters is keeping his own counsel. He does come back to his tribe from time to time to teach and share and probably to get a Starbucks and maybe a pizza.
Many of you know that this is the year of the Hermit (as reckoned by adding the digits of the year together 2+0+1+6=9=the Hermit). So I didn’t think much about it when the Hermit card kept coming up for me over the past few months. Turns out, he wasn’t just stopping by to say “hi” or get directions to Starbucks. Nope. He had a bigger message for me. The first threads of the message started over a year ago when I read The Philosophers’ Secret Fire: A History of the Imagination by Patrick Harpur. This paragraph really stuck with me: Hermes is also, I suspect, behind the ‘information revolution’. He is, we remember, the god of crossroads and boundaries, of mediation and of communication. If we revere him he gives us hermeneutics, insights, and wisdom; if we do not, he deceives us (he is a great Trickster) through messages that seem true but are really false. Since he travels, uniquely among the gods, from Above to Below, from Olympus via our world to Hades, his dimension is depth. We relate to him through the depths of soul whose movement is slow, labyrinthine and downwards towards death. If we deny Hermes his vertical movement, he begins to spread horizontally, to speed up, until he is girdling the Earth like Puck (who did it in forty minutes). Hermetic revelations become literal signals, from satellites above to cables below, whose transmission criss-cross the globe, growing faster and more garbled by the minute in a wild attempt to return us to that knowledge of eternal things which can never, alas, be cobbled together by no matter how many trillions of bits of information strung across the world. Those words have been growing louder in my memory, sometimes shouting as if in warning. For the longest time, I ignored it. Instead, I kept scrolling through my Facebook feed. I had a really bad case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). I always want to know what’s going on, what people are doing, what’s exciting and interesting “out there.” So much so that I forgot that I need to pay attention to what’s exciting and interesting “in here” <points to head and heart>. So much of what I read on FB fills me with ideas and questions and fuels my curiosity, which is great. Except that all I really do is make a note of it, but the note in this big box of notes that I have, and move on to consume the next great idea. I don’t actually pursue the ideas, seek out answers within myself, or follow my curiosity deeply. One idea that kept skimming the surface of my consciousness is for a novel about a young woman who takes herself offline. I kept thinking about it, not realizing at the time that I was imagining my own future. My birthday was January 16. The night before, as I was falling asleep, I had this clear thought “You must remove yourself from social media.” I told that thought it was nuts. How would I run my business? How would anyone know about my readings or my classes. And a really quiet, honest voice asked “how will I know who I am?” The next morning, I was journaling and pulled a card for the year (a birthday tradition of mine) and almost fell off my chair when I saw it was the Hermit and the voice that spoke last night kind of laughed and murmured something about the Universe and a 2 x 4 and my thick skull. I swallowed my fear and entertained the thought. It was finally time to admit it. I needed to energetically cut my cords to social media. Not just check it less, but deactivate my accounts and metaphorically depart on a Hermit’s journey, taking the time to explore all these ideas and possibilities that I’ve been gathering. And I need to find out who I think I am when my beautiful, kind, and generous Facebook friends aren’t telling me who I am. Don’t get me wrong, I love who they say I am. And I think that’s really who I am, only older and not quite so sparkly pretty. But I need to find out for sure. Also, I’m interested in connecting with fewer people more deeply. Which means I’ll be doing more blogging. Hopefully people who are interested will stop by and see what I’m thinking about and share what they think via email or the comments. I am not going off the internets completely, just all forms of social media. I’m not sure for how long, either. It’s all a bit of a mystery to me. Another interest of mine right now is paper…with handwriting or hand made marks on it. So if you send me your mailing address, maybe I’ll write you a real letter sent with a stamp and everything! This is important: I do not think anyone else needs to do this. There is absolutely no judgment here (you all know me well enough to know that, right?). I don’t think social media is bad or evil. I actually love it. But sometimes a gal’s gotta do what a gal’s gotta do. I hope you all keep the party going while I’m gone and I really hope my Hermit trek doesn’t take that long so I can join you again soon. So, in honor of the Year of the Hermit, in honor of the crazy voice in my head, and in hopes of curing myself of FOMO, I will deactivate my Facebook account at the end of the day on Friday, January 22. Yikes. I’m kind of scared. And kind of excited. Image: 7 of Cups from the Steampunk Tarot. Find out more HERE.
I think of myself as a logical person who likes to make decisions based on facts and reasoning. Gather facts, list out pros and cons, think about ramifications...these are all ways we prepare to make rational decisions. You know what? Turns out I'm not always the logic-ruled creature that I like to pretend that I am. And despite her common sense and determination to always make the best decisions, my dear Lisa is sometimes driven by impulses other than reason. Because we are mostly rational, when one or the other of us made a decision that didn't seem logical, the other would be confused, would question the other, often getting a defensive response. Confusion and hurt feelings were often the result. It's hard when we want something for non-logical reasons because our culture values reason (and, for us, because we mostly are logical). But those heart-driven desires and choices do happen and they are fine. We just needed another way to deal with them since we didn't like feeling or acting defensively or being on the receiving end of defensiveness. Our solution is easy. And it is working for us, so of course I want to share it with you. When we want something that we can't defend logically (and as long as the ramifications are not logically disastrous), we simply say three little words: "I prefer it." Instead of creating a potentially defensive situation or feeling bad because we are driven by something other than logic, now we can laugh about it and understand each other very easily. In addition to easing potentially tense situations, this realization and practice has opened us up to honoring other ways of knowing and deciding. We are a little more free from the stranglehold of cold logic (please don't make me turn in my Spock card), free to be a little more fully human, embracing all aspects of ourselves. Images from the Tarot of Delphi. Find it HERE.
The beginning of a new year holds so much magic. Who isn't excited by the idea of a fresh start, of the promise of a happier life, and of leaving the troubles of the past year behind? As we all know, so many resolutions begin with being critical of ourselves. What did we do wrong last year? What is the matter with us? What needs fixing? I don't know about you, but for me this annual end of the year judgment-fest left me feeling determined and full of grand plans. And, I'm sorry to say, they usually petered out in a matter of weeks. Because they weren't fun. They weren't the true desires of my soul. They just highlighted how bad I felt about myself. Changing the way we say things can sometimes shift the energy, so many people change resolutions to intentions or goals. These feel kinder and less judgy. But they still don't feel right to me. Maybe it's because the older I get, the less enchanted I am with outcomes. The journey is so much more interesting. The destination may be, but in the meantime, I want to smell the roses along the way. Sometime ago I read something about becoming a person that you like and the idea stuck with me. I thought about people I like and what I like about them. You know what was never on the list of what I like about them? Their weight. How much money they made. How often they exercised, if at all. How big their To Do List was and how much they were able to cross off of it. Sometimes I liked their clothes or hair or boots...but that's not why I liked them. You know what was on the list? Their imagination and creativity. Their kindness and wisdom. Their generosity and willingness to help. Their silence. Their laughter. This year, instead of trying to fix myself like some Frankensteinian repair person, I'm going to craft myself into a person I like, like an artist carefully bringing forward the most beautiful aspects of their work. And I won't have any preconceived ideas of who that person is. I'll let her emerge, the way Michelangelo released the angel from marble, carefully and with love and wonder. That sounds like so much more fun than going on a diet. |
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