Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

I like to buy postcards when I travel, whether it’s other parts of the world, or just a mile away from my house! I choose postcards because of the photography (which I could never capture myself) and the emotion the postcard evokes in me. And don’t discount the fact that postcards have a very small writing area. This is a good thing for people who say they never know what to write. Just the fact that you take the time to write a couple of lines about the weather and the fun time you are having means a great deal to your recipient. If you are having a “staycation” close to home, a postcard is a very personal way to connect with family and friends. Go ahead; send a postcard showing off beautiful downtown Main Street USA. Let’s keep in touch…

Let Freedom Ring

July is all about freedom. From the obvious celebrating our country’s independence with 4^th of July festivities to the obscure Social Wellness observance and including the borderline ridiculous National Drive-Thru Day. It’s all about recognizing the beauty of our glorious options and opportunities to change. The freedom to stop and stick our toes in a stream, river, ocean, or under a sprinkler attached to the garden hose. The freedom to smile at our reflection in the mirror (which is all about Social Wellness) and to know we have the gumption to follow our dreams. The freedom to choose our Authentic Selves.

July comes smack dab in the middle of everything. The middle of the year and the middle of the summer. We’re at a tipping point for all sorts of options. Is it time to re-evaluate or goals? On the other hand, is it time to celebrate being alive and seize the opportunity to play when it presents itself.  

When the calendar page turns to July for children, if they bother to notice the calendar at all, it may mean summer camp, trips to the beach/lake/mountains, or days filled with sweet unstructured hours. As adults, July may mean mid-year reviews/quarterly reports to be completed before a long anticipated family vacation. The freedom to be a family united in their quest to navigate a new hiking trail and tell the best ghost story around the campfire.

Our family vacations were more like Sunday afternoon outings because farmers with animals always have morning and evening chores. We were fortunate enough to have a boat and live in the Midwest where there is lots of water for the boat. My childhood summer memories are full of fried chicken picnics, feeling the mud squishing between my toes, splashing in the shallow water, fighting with my brothers about whose turn it was with the inner tube, feeling the wind in my hair when Daddy “opened her up” and drove the boat fast when we went around the lake. I also remember the smell of Noxzema and suffering with red arms, backs, and legs after many of those outings.

If your July plans keep you close to home, there’s still plenty of creative ways you can claim the freedom to choose to be your Authentic Self. Take a tall glass of your favorite ice-cold summer drink and a blanket out to the back yard. Lie down and do some serious cloud watching. Your whole body is allowed the freedom to down shift and relax as you observe the white wisps consolidate into dogs, bunnies, flowers, faces, even dinosaurs. Now that you’re in the back yard, are you thinking about the garden you meant to plant? You can still go to the garden center and pick up all the elements necessary to plant a beautiful flowerpot in no time at all! Want to get away from it all for an afternoon? Escape into a movie with lavish landscapes and gorgeous costumes, or visit an exotic art exhibit. Try your hand at pottery painting at a do-it-yourself pottery shop. Discover the soaring experience of flying with an introductory flying lesson. Take a bike ride and feel like you are 10 years old again. Watch the sun go down and wait for the fireflies to come out. Pick up a brand new notebook, some magic markers, or colored pencils, find a shady spot and write about your favorite summer vacation. It doesn’t matter if it’s a vacation you’ve already experienced, or one you plan to someday. Write about it right now. Relive the experience, or anticipate the adventure. Let freedom ring…

Rebuild Your Life This Month

Rebuild your life? June is Rebuild Your Life Month. Depending on your point of view, that could be a very odd phrase, or an exciting challenge. In some ways, we rebuild our life getting out of bed every morning. Each small decision builds upon the next, until you’ve chosen what to wear, what to eat, where to live, which career to pursue and who you want to spend time with. Sometimes those decisions are the direct result of random events in your lives.

After my first breast cancer experience, I bounced back into my old routine so fast I think I left tire marks in the hospital parking lot. Well, no. But, while my physical self regained normalcy, emotionally I was in a state of shock. Pretending it had never happened made it quite easy to get on with my life. My family was also anxious that I return to “normalcy” as soon as possible too. That way they could feel nothing had really changed in their world. After all, I looked the same, so it was a couple of days of bed rest and back to the usual routine. Putting the whole diagnosis, out-patient surgery and recovery into the recesses of my memory seemed to work quite well – for a time. It worked until I was diagnosed with D.C.I.S. again in the same breast 3½ years later.

This time, rebuilding my life meant taking part in my healing process and choosing to not jump back into old habits as if programmed, or just because it was expected. Instead, I followed my own path to exploring creativity and all the benefits of hands-on activities. I wrote in my journal about everything I was thinking and feeling. I gave myself time and space to explore what my body, mind and spirit needed. I’d always been drawn to many forms of crafts such as sewing, beading, collage, decoupage, and stamping. But never thought of myself as an artist. Artists had paintings and sculptures in museums; I liked to make distinctive beaded jewelry. I made dance and ice skating costumes, slipcovers and window treatments, and embellished journals with whimsical collages.

In the process of rebuilding my life, I have reinvented myself. I now claim the mantle of Artist of the Everyday because my works-of-art are to be used and enjoyed in day-to-day life. As a self-proclaimed Creativity Mentor, I encourage everyone I meet to claim your creativity to rebuild your life in whatever method, means or sector beckons you.

Have you ever received a note of encouragement in the mail at the exact moment you needed to hear good news? What better way to honor Effective Communications Month than to communicate with someone we are extremely close to, yet seldom acknowledge her strengths, talents, and passions. Who am I talking about? You, of course. Today take out a pen and some pretty paper, a note card, a post card,  (an index card in an envelope will do) and write a sentence or two in praise of YOU! Not sure what you want to say? OK, write down a favorite quote, or a line of poetry. Something that will inspire you, give you pause, or evoke a sigh of delight. I can’t wait to see what my mailbox will bring…

Is it Spring Cleaning or Clearing time?

Many of us grew up with the annual ritual of scrubbing down walls, opening windows to air out the house after a long winter of closed up rooms, and removing winter’s remnants to make way for a fresh start. It wasn’t uncommon for us to leave for school in the morning with the boring tan front hall walls being “prepped” for painting and come home to a brand entryway of sunny yellow. Wallpaper was very big then and my mother asked a team of local ladies to help her with updating our living room. I was amazed at their agility climbing up and down the short ladders, it was almost like a dance the way one woman would lavish paste on the subdued floral panels and pass it to her co-worker perched on the ladder. Finally, another member of the team would smooth out the air bubbles with a dry brush. A few rolls of wallpaper and a couple of coats of paint made the whole house feel brand new.

In observance of May as Women’s Health Care Month, I’d like to talk about how we could approach this season as a time of renewal for ourselves. We’re at the mid-point of 2010. How are you doing on your goals for this year? I know I’ve been pretty good about working on my business, and not so good about overcoming habits in the “personal growth” area. There was a time when I was really established with an exercise routine, however, I have not been in that groove for some time. I had a Yoga teacher I loved and very proud of the fact I could keep up with the step class choreography. Life intervened…my 80-year-old Yoga teacher moved away to live closer to her daughter, and the step class was cancelled. Although I felt terrific when I was exercising on a regular basis, I haven’t gotten back into that routine again. Does this story sound familiar? Whether you made January resolutions or not, let’s start right now with a clean slate. Take inventory of where you’d like to air out old ideas, rearrange sluggish attitudes, reclaim enthusiasm for a prior activity, or adjust a timeline to allow for a more flexible learning curve. Want to start a journal? Establish a yoga practice? Learn to meditate? Become a brilliant cook? Progress from a gentle jog to running a marathon? Speak French? Sail? Fly Fish? Or, just spend 15 minutes watching the tide?

Taking care of ourselves in body-mind-and-spirit by tapping into our creativity gives us a whole new perspective on being in the present moment. Each season has unique gifts to offer us. I can’t wait to see what this season brings.

Once upon a time – every fairy tale seems to begin with, those words, but we’re not talking about fiction here – we’re talking about your story, your health story. May is Personal History Month. Do you know the connection between Grandpa’s heart trouble and why you need to be aware of eating healthy to avoid clogged arteries? Do you know Aunt Gertie’s hump back was really osteoporosis and something as simple as starting a low impact exercise routine now (walking around the block a couple of times) could go a long way to prevent that fate? Knowing our history can help us cope more easily, perhaps even avoid health challenges. Or, maybe we’ll discover creative ways to live with them. It’s wonderful when we share stories about how little Sally gets her red hair from her father’s side of the family. Unfortunately, red hair and stubbornness seem to go together, and knowing how to de-stress by getting lost in a sewing project has helped the young lady tremendously. Tapping into our creativity in a variety of ways can do a great deal to write a wonderful story for ourselves and live happily ever after.

As little girls, knowing our numbers meant counting from one through ten, or all the way up to 100. Today, the vital numbers we should be aware of correspond to May’s distinction as Women’s Health Care Month. I recently received a letter from Peggy Fleming, (yes, the Olympian and Preventive Health Advocate). No, I’m not in the habit of corresponding with celebrities. My entire Coastside community received the form letter inviting us to take part in several diagnostic screening procedures. The tests measured our risk for stroke, Osteoporosis, cholesterol (total & HDL), glucose (blood sugar), blood pressure, body mass index (ratio of height to weight), and body composition (percentage of body fat). Knowing our numbers helps us understand the health risks, and what we can do to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Tapping into our creativity by doing hands-on activities is a proven strategy to cope with daily stress. Pro-active lifestyle choices cause a healing physiology within our body when we are engaged in creative activity from gardening to cooking, reading to painting, writing in a journal or making a collage, reorganizing a closet or sorting a junk drawer, and more.

 As children, knowing our numbers was a big deal. Knowing our numbers as adults while giving ourselves permission to play is also a big deal. What will you do to do to have your test scores in the healthy number zone?

May is Creative Beginnings Month and today is a perfect day to start something you’ve been thinking about but never seem to get around to doing. Is there an idea or project that’s been waiting in the wings for you to find a few minutes to do some research? Are you ready to tackle a challenge…fly-fishing, watercolors, knitting, journal writing, gardening, cooking, or baking? What’s been lingering in the corners of your mind until you decide it’s time to actually bring it into the light. No, I realize you can’t just pick up a new skill in half an hour. However, you can flip through a magazine, surf the web, or just kick back, plant the seed, and imagine the possibility.

When was the last time you watched the sky progress from shades of grey to streaks of purple with smudges of pink, peach, and yellow? Ultimately, revealing an orange globe dominating the horizon and allowing shadows to shape shift from suspicious objects into trees, homes, cars, and people. Permit yourself to the slow down and become absorbed in the minutes waiting for the show to begin, and watching it unfold. I’ll never forget attending a week long writing workshop in Minnesota where part of our coursework was to go to the shores of Lake Superior to greet the dawn – and then write about our experiences. Now, I know that it’s not necessary to go to such lengths to watch a sunrise, but they were memorable. You’ll be amazed at the sense of peace, ability to focus and joy you will discover after witnessing a sunrise.

Write in your journal – Coaxing Creativity Tuesday Tip April 6, 2010

April is Stress Awareness Month and writing in your journal is a great way to not only de-stress, it is a creative, empowering path to self-discovery and change. A journal may be many things:  a sounding board, a collector’s cabinet, a snapshot album, a history, a travelogue, a letter to yourself, a laboratory, a jewelry box, a treasury, or a dream-catcher. It may be kept regularly, or now and again. It may be entries on a calendar page. It may be gorgeous leather bound volume, a spiral notebook, or a collection of random bits of paper in a shoebox. A journal may be a record of your day-to-day life as well as a chance to keep track of your thoughts, record information, and keep ideas. You may even want to keep parts of newspapers or magazine articles you find interesting (or even consider creating beautiful collage pages in your journal). Many people have discovered a trusted and valued friend in their journal.

I’ve been keeping some sort of journal since I was 11 and I used to hide it from my older brother. My journals and I go back a long way and I plan to continue the relationship for the rest of my life. It’s become a part of my morning ritual. I never know what’s going to happen when I show up on the page.

Care to join me? Just grab a pen, a notebook and let the words come.