WintEr of WE

WintEr of WE …….we are a sum of all our parts and a very important part is our community, our support system, our kindreds. You’ve heard the phrase “It takes a village.” and I am here to tell you that is indeed the case.

I am blessed to have a fabulous husband that is supportive beyond measure. I have a best good girl that is closer to me than any other person, aside from my Mr. I have many other friends that love me and lift me up both in person and online.

As we celebrate the beginning of winter, a time to reflect and stay in and with our families and selves. I urge you to take a look at those around you, the ones who offer love and support and let them know how important they are to you, how much you appreciate them, how they are a part of you. xo

This Day…….

This is the day we have set aside to collectively give thanks, acknowledge even the smallest blessing in our lives. As I look around I see reminders of goodness and this gives me hope.

I have always been an ‘old soul’. Most times I yearn to lighten up but I am learning to lean in, to accept all that I am, to ALLOW. Being thankful and grateful offers a gateway to the best of both of those worlds while offering little conflict with my true ‘old soul’ nature.

Daily I try to be thankful for all the wonderful things and people that make up my life. I am thankful for a sunny- yellow VW bug that makes me smile every time I see her. I am thankful for the unending love and devotion of my one true love. I am thankful for blue hues everywhere. I am thankful for those that left their mark on my heart even though their stay was all too brief. I am thankful that I am gathering my tribe of creatives that envelope me in their support. I am thankful for good times and good friends, my family. I am thankful that I am on a journey to myself, that this very day, I am more of who I am meant to be even if I can’t always articulate what that means.   I am thankful that when words fail me,  I am but a moment away from others that are on similar paths and in their words I oft times find my voice. An on-line friend of mine, Darlene Kreutzer, has an uncanny ability to see into my very soul:

‘The words swallowed whole, gulped down in a fit of desire come out fragmented from lips that no longer understand how to speak the language of a life changing inside of her.”

I am thankful for my life, even when the words are just out of reach, leaving me with emotions just at the surface.  I am thankful that we can always re-write our stories, our happily ever afters.  xo

Year……

A year…..A lot can happen in a moment, much less an entire year. It may not seem that this much time has passed but the dates align and you have irrefutable proof.

There are time measures for most everything in our lives. Some are obvious while others might be more personal, even there, just beneath the surface, quietly understood. We have moments of reflections, get togethers; markers of both good and bad. In all this, we honor what has happened with celebration.

So much in our lives feel out of our control (and for someone just a tad preoccupied with control, that can be trying) but when we celebrate, even in moments of sadness or doubt, we take the power back and make it our own. We move forward and are better for having been there. No matter the outcome, we are here, year after year, making our place. We have to remember we are all on the same field~not knowing how this thing we call life will play out, just that we are here and must celebrate it all. xo

doubts……..

** This entry is part of my seasonal self-care series, ‘fALLing in love with me’, where I am trying to be more accepting of my self-perceived flaws and look at them as endearing quirks that make me who I am. I want to learn to love me…..ALL of me because I am wonderful, wise, and worthy. **

I love yoga – I mean, puffy heart it something fierce! I started my personal practice again several months back and I go 3-4 times a week. Every.week. I will even be attending a fabulous yoga retreat at the end of October and I am elated. But, I have recently entertained two doubts that cropped up and cast shadows on my practice. I almost vlogged this post but am still tender about it, so the written word is going to get me through this. And I won’t delete it, I pinky swear.

I am the big girl in class. (Andy will hate this part. He won’t allow me to talk negatively about myself, so let me clarify: this is fact, not negativity.) I wondered if this would be the case before I attended my first class and it was. Everyone is really lovely and we are all just trying to stay on our mats but, as I tuck myself into certain poses and catch a glimpse in the mirror, I sometimes feel like a lump on the mat. I try to quickly give myself credit that I am even in class and remind myself that I am more than the exterior reflected back and I love yoga,  my classmates, my instructor. But I have to admit, there is still shame in my heart when I look into that mirror.

I am weak in body; I should stop before I fall off the mat. I stay in a constant state of inflammation (thank you, MCTD!) and my muscles are always tense but I attempt every pose and try to maintain them. I know my yoga practice will only benefit me and helps me deal with MCTD but when I am on the mat and my muscles are screaming at me or not cooperating, my first response is to think: “This is it – the last time……I can not do this.” Then, we swing into Sitting Pigeon and I know we are on the end of class and the finish line is near. After we complete our class my body feels like I have had an internal massage and I know I have to be at the next class.

As my yoga teacher advises: I am trying to find the strength, not the weakness.

I realize my arms support me while in plank. My shoulders, tense as they may be, aid in Bridge. My legs, even if shaky at best, hold me up as I come up to Warrior I and II. I am a fierce Warrioress trying to have gentle eyes and an open heart. xo

fALLing……..

Can you feel it? The air is cooler and the days are shorter. It is autumn – or “fall” as us Southerns tend to call it. There is also the promise of a quiet time when things start to slow, a time where we can really burrow in and settle into ourselves. I am ready for this slowness, this knowing.

I adore autumn and wanted to carry on the sumMEr love but could not think of a catchy title. Then, a very talented, thoughtful friend of mine, Rhonda Franks of MoonSeazen Designz, suggested “fALLing in love with me”~fabulous, right? And so it begins: the journey to love me because, as the saying goes: in order to be loved you have to love yourself. For all your ‘faults’ you have even more reasons to love yourself -go ahead, try it out and see how it feels!  Happy fALL, y’all!  xoxoxo

A rambling vlog sharing fALLing: click here to watch.

Recognizing…….

Summer is fading. I can smell, see,  and feel the autumn coming in and I love it! sumMEr was full for me but I would be remiss if I did not admit that somewhere along the way it fell just a bit short of my expectations. The guest bloggers were fabulous and more than I could have ever anticipated but I don’t feel like I upheld my end ~ to myself. Once again, I let the days pass by in a blur with sumMEr just on the tip of my tongue.

Then I remember to be gentle with myself.

Many people commented that sumMEr helped them, made them more aware and I recognize it did the same for me.

I now recognize more of what I do and don’t want in my life. I recognize I want more care-free-ness, more play. I recognize that I want more writing, more yoga and more books, less stress. I recognize that I want more singing and dancing. I recognize that I want to be more comfortable in my skin, the only skin I will ever have. I recognize I want relationships that are deeper and more meaningful. I recognize that I want a simpler life. I realize I want to live ~really LIVE~ my one precious life. I recognize that it is up to me, each and every day, to take steps (as small as they may be) toward my goals, to embrace what is while making what will be. I recognize I have to actively ALLOW and keep my eyes and heart gentle, be less judgmental while finding my true, authentic self.  I recognize that I create my own reality.

I recognize this is what life is – more about the recognizing, not so much the fading.

Fresh…….

Constance Rawlins is a fabulous artist who has a way with numbers – she has the best of both the left AND right sides of her brain! She is a loving, supportive part of  my everyday and I am excited to share her with you this sumMEr.  She is readying her first e-course and trying to remember to practice self-care. She is doing this through a fresh diet and allowing herself a fresh start when life gets in the way. THis post could not come at a more perfect time as life has set in over here in my little corner of the world and I feel I have lost steam. With Connie’s help, I realize every day I have the opportunity to start afresh.  She shares more on what this sumMEr was and is (AND, be still, my heart – there is a spreadsheet involved!!!). Click here to read more. xo

Tribe…..

I have always been creative and assumed it was a natural state for everyone. Then, as I got older and life happened all around me, I started to feel isolated. I was roaming the internet reading ::collecting::  blogs and stumbled upon Kelly Rae Roberts. She was offering her ‘Taking Flight’ e-course and I jumped at the opportunity as I was researching ‘what I wanted to be when I grow up’ and knew she had helpful information to which I had to be privy.

This led me to my Tribe – the Fly Tribe. We even have necklaces:

Fly Tribe by Renee Burke

These creative souls understood where and who I was ~ no judgment no questions~offering only love and support. We have been through a lot of life together in this last year and while I have only met two of these special angels in person it feels that we are all kindreds and should only be 20 minutes down the road from one another. These women know me better than I know myself most days. They have taught me to be gentle with myself and to trust the process. They are there to lift me up when I forget. These women give without thought of receiving. I am one of their own and they make sure I know this as I hope they know they are mine.

In honor of our first year together, we wanted to ‘give back’ and our tribe has donated eight classes for what will be the last run of Kelly Rae’s ‘Taking Flight’ e-course. She has graciously offered to match our eight donated classes with eight of her own – that means SIXTEEN possible chances to win a placement in the class that helped to connect me to my Tribe and change my world as it helped me to live a more authentic life. To enter, you just need to visit our Fly Tribe blog page and follow the instructions there. Good luck!! xo

Share……

 Rosemary White has been following along with sumMEr from its inception and I am honored to have her as our guest blogger today. She understands the importance of self-care in a very personal way.  She shares with us some of her thoughts and helps us to remember that we need to share our stories in order to help not only ourselves but others in the process.

Renee  @  happilyeverafter by Renee Burke  who is hosting  SumMEer of Me asked if would mind sharing how much the SumMEr of Me  community postings have touched  and encouraged me this summer.

 I can say without any hesitation that part of my SELF -CARE has been to take the time to reach each one of these wonderful guest-Artist postings. Each one approaches self-care a bit different and yet the common thread is so strong throughout all of them.. TAKING CARE OF OURSELVES. Many of us  still need to truly learn to nurture ourselves without guilt of any kind.

As for being an artist~ If capturing moments in time with a camera count then I am all in~ The longing  to do more with my pictures  continues to motivate me each day.

One of the 1st things I did this summer was to make a “SumMEr of ME”  list ( with a gentle nudge from  Jamie Burch’s post: just a few of the goodies on that list.

• Spend less time cleaning house and more time doing the things I wanta !!
• Improve on my time management
• Keep my promise to myself to keep up with my weekly/daily blog posts ~ as I have 2 websites and 3 different blogs ~
• work on “The Invitation” in relation to my life

The following will no doubt be an awesome wind down from summer in the best of ways.

•  I am so excited to do this one… I just about cried happy tears down my legs when I read about this e-course. LOL. Touch the Moon will kick off  August 27 (a few days before the Blue Moon) and go through Wednesday, October 31st (Halloween, a few days after October’s full moon).   This has to be one of the most truly creative and loving souls in this universe. I could do a whole posting  just on Her contributions to my life being ” a dream come true”  You know her as Rachél Payne of  collectingyourself .

Re-birth posting help a light bulb come one that I have and do tend to tie my self worth into what I am doing for others.

 Just love this expression “when lit from within~ you can light up the world up”      Kajal Dhabalia   did her posting  on  self-care   a fire did light within.

I too have been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease this summer.  As I read her plan, I was so proud that she has already made a plan to keep it in check. In my mind I was saying those things but she has already put them on a list and actually doing them.   A lot of my summer Time has been spent waiting to get a  complete picture of what is going on with my thyroid if there are any other possible “hot/cold” spots in my body. I had made a commitment to myself that I would start a blog about this Journey not knowing exactly where it would take me.  I was so encouraged by her post  yesterday that I have asked her if I could post  a link to it on my website Finding1selfs thyroid journey.

I continue to look forward to each new post of  SumMEr of ME… When we share we just never know who or when it can make all the difference in the world.

Rosemary White

Lit………

I hope you have been enjoying your sumMEr so far! I have marinated  in thoughts, books-for-fun and be-ing.

Today Kajal Dhabalia joins us with her thoughts on self-care and there are not enough words to express how strongly I feel about her post or her calling. She is gifted in so many areas and I am excited and honored to be able to get to know her. I would love for you to drop by and read what she has to say on sumMEr and let it sink in, tucking her words in your heart. I guarantee that it will light you up!