some days you need a little comfort

these tulips were 3.99 at the grocery store. they sat on my desk all week and brought me infinite pleasure. always bring home flowers.

Hello Beautiful,

How is today? Is today a beautiful, exciting, artful, creative day for you? I really hope it is. And I hope that many, many of your days are beautiful, exciting, artful, and creative. And peaceful. And full of ease.

And I know, some of your days are not. Some days are sad, rushed, messy, and difficult. In fact, if you are like most women, I would guess a substantial proportion of your days are rushed, messy, and difficult.

Today was that day for me. You know that day, when you wake up with paper thin skin, you're in the mood to remember your childhood wounds, and the smallest criticism can set your boat rocking for the rest of the day? Well, today my skin is thin, my scars are tender, and my boat is rocking. Everything's OK - just the same as it was yesterday, when I was feeling deliciously optimistic and cheerful. It's just... that day. So what do you do when you find yourself in the midst of that day?

In one of the lovely on-line circles I belong to, there's been discussion lately of what we can do to nurture ourselves on that day. I love seeing each woman's list of little creature comforts, and it's remarkable, really, how simple those comforts can be, and how universal some of them are. So here are a few ideas. For next time you are having that day.

 Some universal comforts, tried and true, tested by women over the centuries:

• take a hot bath
• prepare and quietly drink a steamy cup of tea
• have a heart to heart with a woman friend
• spend time in nature, near water
• engage in prayer
• prepare and eat your ancestral comfort food
• light candles
• fluff your pillows and make your space smell good
• listen to music that you love
• move your body 
• cuddle your pet
• write freely in your journal
• give your nearest loved one a very long hug
• raise your eyes to the sky and take a long, slow, deep breath.

If you work your way through this list, by the time you get to the long, slow, deep breath, you'll be feeling so, so much better.

Now, I'm off to take a hot bath.

P.S. Oh! On a more festive note... I wanted to let you all know about the *highlight* of my weekend - my wonderful chat with beautiful Tranquilista Kimberly Wilson, for her podcast Tranquility du Jour. We delved into all the delicious details of the Seven Keys to an Artful Life, while our black pugs each snored on our respective laps. Have a listen. It was such a fun conversation.

reverb10 - wisdom

Hi Beautiful,
This is an inspiring on-line project I've decided to jump in to! "Reverb 10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. Use the end of your year as an opportunity to reflect on what's happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead." Every day in December there is a new prompt for writing and reflection.

December 10 – Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out? (Author: Susannah Conway)

I love this photo, I think I look like I'm in the midst of making a wise decision right in that moment!  All the elements that support wise decision making are there: solitude, perspective, a wide-open and supportive environment, relaxation, space, and self-contentment. Personally I find Dog & Ocean to be very important elements to support my spirit too!
I'm proud to say that 2010 has been a year of good decisions for me. I've made strong decisions, hard decisions, smart decisions, good decisions. I really like the path on which I have set myself  by making these decisions. But this prompt is about wise decisions.

Smart and strong can come from our minds, our experience, and our discernment. Wise, I believe, has to come from all that as well as from Heart, Spirit, and a sense of larger purpose.

As I reflected on this, I realized that all my smart and stong decisions of this year  (and I made some big, life-changing, good ones around health, career, and life-focus) all these decisions about my outer circumstances came from a deep, wise, internal decision I made early in the year. That decision was to push out of my comfort zone and engage much more profoundly with the world. And by World, I mean the Outer World of commerce, community, people, and culture.

Essentially, after years of artistic introversion and working alone, I wisely decided it was time to shine my light outwards. Not because this is a better way to be, but because I knew on some deep level that it was my time to grow in this direction. I also knew that it would require courage, discomfort, and a new way of conducting my daily life.

This one moment of deep knowing, this decision which was really a commitment to myself, has been the catalyst for all kinds of positive change in my life, and I have found that by checking all of my practical decisions against this one wise decision, I am keeping on a path that feels true. With each new turn in the path, I ask "Is this supporting my decision to shine my Light into the World?" If the answer is "Yes," then I know it will be worthwhile to push through the inevitable discomfort and rawness of a new way of being in the world.