I have a rare midweek day off today. I’m tired…it’s mid-June and teacher me needs time to decompress, get away and recharge the batteries. However, I’m also a Type A personality and I don’t sloth easily, at all. So, I have this day and I have already done laundry, prepped tonight’s dinner, cleaned the cat litter and am considering baking something, except that means leaving the house and I don’t feel like it.
Honestly, I did wake up with a self care plan in place! I did my morning meditation, my gratitude list and my mini morning pages journal. I had every intention of getting out to the forest, to the trees, where I feel most at peace and find a sense of calm. The sun was shining in and it looked like a beautiful day was on the rise. Then, I thought to myself, I’ll head over to the garden center and pick up some new baskets for my doorway, something colorful and joy promoting. Then, the clouds came in and so did the cloud over my head. I’m tired of rain, darkness, cold, chores, commuting…uh, oh, spiral, the downward one! So, I pulled a tarot card, The Magician, manifestation, and I set my head…remember, the magic is in me and “if it is to be it is up to me”. So, here I am, typing away and giving creative advice I’m not sure I’m qualified to give.
I’m trying to give myself a break here. I have been really busy this year and lately I’ve been really busy making as well but I miss being out in nature. I’ve been soothing that ache with creating images of the forest floor. It isn’t exactly the forest but through the process I can call up those autumn days of wandering in the sunshine and just being, not having to do but just be. I’ve been on a mushroom roll, considering the forest floor and all the beautiful, often missed flora that grow there. That’s a certain bonus about living in the rainiest province in Canada, there are a lot of mushrooms out there!
There is something so sweet and satisfying about finding little colonies of mushroom beings living, tucked away in dead falls and under rock outcropping. It’s visual treasure hunting. There are a multitude of shapes, sizes and textures and sometimes their growth defies gravity. At times they fan out along tree limbs or climb in beautiful patterns along the shady sides of gigantic cedar. I blogged previously about perspective and how changing the degree of my gaze can shift my mood, my outcome and my creativity. The forest floor shifts my perspective, it never ceases to inspire and redirect my mood.
The other activity that always shifts my mood is creative doing. Even now, the clouds are lifting and I can feel a smile on my face as I think about the last few weeks of creative output but also the writing process and the stimulation of endorphins from the act of creating in this moment, right now, have lifted me up! Ah, there’s the true magic! And it is always up to me…what does Yoda say, “Do or do not. There is no try.” Sage advice, little guy, sage advice!
Well…that’s it for me, for now! I think I’ll put on some pants and go get some plants for my doorway!
Comments
Love your gorgeous paintings. We have mushrooms growing all around our lawns and trees right now. This weather is so depressing and fills me with am awful lethargy. Hope the sun comes and stays for a few days as we have so much hay to make. Take care.