blessed adventure

Every day I get a little more caught up. This morning I finally checked out Lucinda Williams' videos for her amazing album, Blessed. If you haven't heard the title song I can't recommend it highly enough. And even if you have, I recommend listening to it again. There's a really nice version here. And these are my two favorite videos from the series they created of people talking about how they're blessed: Part 4 and Part 5. Enjoy and be blessed!

[And for anyone who enjoyed my post yesterday about how I fell in love with "Halloween Girls" - you would likely really enjoy The Maiden Heist, now streaming on Netflix.]

beautiful adventure

Painting copyright Murat Kaboulov
"Nothing fascinates and inspires me more than human nature. Storms and calm of the human soul are the preeminent subjects of my art."
~ Murat Kaboulov

When I walked into a wonderful local gallery a couple of weeks ago, the last thing I was expecting to do was to fall deeply in love with a painting. But when I saw "Halloween Girls" it was as if I had found a long-lost treasure. I felt a deep recognition - there was my soul on the wall. All the people I carry in me, the witch, the gold-star girl, the wild animal, were looking back at me, beautifully. And so, to make a long story short, the painting now hangs on my bedroom wall and I love to lie in bed and look at it. Every time I walk past it it makes me smile. It makes my life feel more beautiful.

This is a big thing for me. Being given gallery duties at my job has had me worried in the past that it could take away some of the joy from my connection with art. I do feel like my creative impulse has changed for my own work now that I spend so much creative energy at my workplace. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, to be paid for being creative and for a much larger audience, but the projects I'm asked to work on often aren't my own ideas, although some do become something of my own creation. And my patience with artists sometimes runs a little thin... So it has been a real joy to reconnect with my deep passion for art, for the power a piece of art can have on one's life. It also doesn't hurt that a huge project that's been hanging over my head and terrifying me is looking pretty good these days. More on that next weekend...

And now for a list of other things that have been bringing joy into my life these days:

Viktor Frankl on the spark in everyone

A heartfelt pitch for a movie and the movie itself (thanks for the tip, Mom!)

Jack Goes Boating (now streaming on Netflix)

Paper Heart (also now streaming on Netflix - thanks for the tip, Kath!)

Signing up for the Slice of Life Project and WholeHearted Living and finding out about this

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

quiet adventure

I really am enjoying having a different relationship with my online time, but I miss you guys, too. Thought I'd share some of the things I've been enjoying lately:

A great Tim Burton quotation from Quiet: The Power of Introverts

Jen Lee in a similar state of mind

Please Give (So many things I could say about this one, maybe for a future post... Thanks for the tip, Mom!)

Orange Is the New Black (Totally LOVING this book!)

Hope you're all doing well! Sending you all much love from this quiet corner.

The adventure continues

There were a couple of things that I heard at the retreat that really spoke to me. One was about being in service to our lives. Suddenly meditation and rest and exercise and eating well weren't about being "good," but really about how to skillfully live my life to best serve it. Taking "good" out of the equation was very powerful for me. If I look at my life as something I'm in service to, then it makes sense for me to be in the best shape I can be in so I can do that well. That's practical good common sense. I also like how this perspective means that life isn't just something that's happening to me, but that I'm in relationship with it, that I can bring something to it.

The other thing I heard, which is related, was about how we're really not in control of our lives and that if we think we are it causes our whole nervous system to clench up. Yeah, it sure does. I think it was David Whyte who exposed me to the idea that our lives are not what we want them to be, nor are they what the world wants them to be, but rather that they're somewhere in between. I think our culture likes to pretend that we're in control, but if we're really honest I think this other view is much more truthful.

Living from these two truths has been very helpful for me. I've been sensitive to when my nervous system clenches up and allowing myself to relax into not being in control, while at the same time being creative with how I can best serve the situation. Most of the time this has meant trying to give it a lot of space, slowing down, and tuning in. And the lovely thing is that I have a lot of opportunities to practice, to start over:)

A couple of books that I've really enjoyed lately are Expecting Adam by Martha Beck and wonderful Sharon Salzberg's Real Happiness. Such good and gentle company on the journey.

adventure with trains

Cheekwood, our local art museum/gardens, has an amazing model train display for the rest of the year that we've been dying to check out. What a wonderful way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon!

enjoy and love adventure - home and shifting gears

Got home about midnight last night to be greeted by the cheeriest flowers and a sweet, sleeping hubby. Home, sweet home:)

It was an outrageously wonderful time away and quite clarifying in a lot of ways. There are so many people to thank for all the things they added to my experience and made possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you dear lovely friends and family. You are my treasure and I am immeasurably blessed.

While I was away the tightness I usually carry in my belly and chest disappeared and it is my deepest wish to try to shift some parts of my life to help me keep some space in my day and in turn to try to keep a sense of spaciousness in my body. So I'm going to experiment with posting once a week here. It is lovely to keep in touch with all of you, but it's a lot to fit into a busy day for me and likely for you to read. So, let's open up some space and I'll meet you back here this weekend. Let the adventure continue!