Begin

You Don't Have To

You are loveable as is. TRUTH.

You don't have to work so hard. You don't have to try to leave any kind of impression. You don't have to compete for a spot. You don't have to be the coolest, the funniest, or the most artistic. You don't have to be the best writer and you don't have to play to the crowd one bit. You don't have to be nominated the 'most likely to' anything or to the get the most votes.

You don't have to be the most popular or the most famous or the most well known.  You don't need to have the most interesting story or the best hair in the room. You don't need all of the attention.
You don't have to win the congeniality award and you don't have to be the most gregarious or the most extroverted. In fact, you don't have to perform at all.

You showing up as you is all you have to do. When you are fully YOU--the real thing--all those other things--'the bests and mosts' may be true--but then they represent the real truth of who you are; not the image you want to shape, craft and control because you are afraid you are not enough.

 You can show up as an equal; as open and also generously full--learning what you need to learn and offering what you have for the benefit of others. You are already MADE--hard-wired--to do the work that only YOU can do in the world. You have permission to take all of that pressure off of yourself and to let it be easy.

You are truly ENOUGH.

Trust

Trust. Even if you are underground like a seed that hasn’t germinated yet. Trust even if you are wrapped up tightly in a dark cocoon and memories of your green days seem unreal to you now. Trust even when the root begins to break out of the shell of your seed-self. It will feel like you are being split in half--being broken--like your world is exploding. Trust through the pain of the breaking.

Trust when you start to wake up in a too-tight space--when you feel claustrophobic and panicked and all you want to do is thrash around CRAZY until you get out. Trust that the space isn’t too tight for you--that you will be given the strength you need to get out at the right time. Trust when the wind feels freezing on your still-wet wings that you already have everything you need to fly.

Trust that you will be ready. You will know what to do when it is TIME.

Art Journal Fun

Fun with watercolors! I love how this turned out. I did a wash with the paint, and then before it was dry, I dropped rubbing alcohol over it with one of those infant medicine droppers. Yummy!

Show and Tell: Inner Excavation Wk 1

 I am really enjoying working through the prompts from Liz Lamoreux's book Inner Excavation.
 One of the first assignments was to  'set an intention' for what I wanted to focus on or learn from the next 7 weeks:

After that we could focus on whatever prompts or activities we felt connected to.
 One of my favorite exercises was to create a 'word toolbox' by grabbing a book off of the nearest shelf and making a list of words--then writing an "I am..." poem using the words we found. 

 I was blown away by how easy it was to capture what I wanted to say by using the list (I used a few books and a magazine)  I wasn't thinking about writing the poem when I was picking out random words--I was just writing down words I liked. So much fun!

Inner Excavation: Week 1

I'm participating in a 7-week read-along of a book called "Inner Excavation" by Liz Lamoreux. Liz is participating right along with the group. I've had the book for several months and I'm so excited to be working through it with a community of folks across the world.
 I'm talking 5:10 am excited! I was up way before my alarm, got my tea and jumped right in. SO. MUCH. FUN!

Everything is an Adventure

My mom tells me that when I was a kid she could come in my room when I was sound asleep and say "Shelley, wake up! Do you want to go __________ with me? (insert any destination--grocery shopping, the circus, the typewriter repair store...) and I would open my eyes and and sit right up no matter what time it was and say "Yes!" 

I'm sure I get my sense of adventure from her. We'd be driving somewhere and see a sign for a scenic overlook or an ad for an out of the way cafe/boutique and she would look at us in the back seat and say "Let's go!" I love that about her! And now I realize I do the same thing with Sadie. Yesterday we were trying out a new eatery (Granny Gert's in Rushford--for local friends it used to be Jack and Mary's...) and on the way back I thought I was going to the boat launch area of the lake, but realized that I had taken the wrong turn and ended up at the top of the hill with a great view of the valley. We could see the one-lane bridge in Caneadea and I pointed it out to Sades and said 'Let's Go!'

We stood in the middle of the bridge and looked down through the metal at the river below, and I felt almost as breathless as I did when we stood at top of the CN Tower and looked down at Toronto through the glass floor. Then we found a path that led down to the cement girders under the bridge and had fun looking up at a couple on bikes who had no idea we were there.

It really was an adventure!