Ease. Joy. Inspiration.
I got lost in the grocery store the other day.
I’d love to be able to say that it wasn’t my regular store, or that it was a really large building. Or even that something had changed in the layout that threw me off. Nope, none of the above. What was different was me.
Continue reading “Get Your Creativity On”
You know that we get what we ask for, right?
That’s really what law is.
Let go of Murphy’s Law, the voice of doom and gloom. The one that says, “Anything that can go wrong, will.”
Replace it with a new attitude, and make it your own. Call it, “insert your name here‘s Law.”
We get exactly what we order.
Enjoy!
In my twenties, I stayed at home with my babies. I practiced a daily beauty-product routine, even though I didn’t always leave the house.
I just didn’t want to let myself go.
In my thirties, I went back to work in public and gussied up a bit on Monday through Friday. On the weekends, I practiced a scaled-back beauty product routine.
I just didn’t want to let myself go.
Now in my forties, my new career is creative and my personal interests are developing. On any given day I use beauty products if and as I feel moved to. This time, I’ve learned to follow what lights me up.
I’m so glad I let myself go!
Beauty is the product, when you make joy your routine.
“What’s that?” I am repeatedly asked on a recent evening, as various family members walked by the kitchen counter and peeked through the glass-lidded pot.
“Chickpeas. Garbanzo beans,” I reply, looking up from the couch. I’d never noticed before how universal a confusion response is: one sharp backwards head movement, the snap of a corner mouth tug, a flash of eyebrows meeting. I wonder how often my own face flies into autopilot.
“They’re soaking. Overnight.” The confusion is now gone, replaced by an open smile of questioning. “So that I can cook them tomorrow. I’m making hummus.”
And then I witness another universal facial response. I’ll call it the “Huh. Cool!” Reaction. You likely recognize it: small head nods, mouth corners pulled back in a slight smile, eyebrows up. A nonverbal light bulb turning on. And my family members are not even big fans of hummus.
But they are big fans of me. And being in the company of someone exploring their creativity is a happy contagion.
This time of year we emerge from our mental hibernation, stretch ourselves, and add movement into our days. It’s a time of expansion, action, and joy.
My husband is preparing to upgrade an existing wall with knotty pine tongue-and-groove boards. YouTube videos play regularly on his tablet, planks are stacked and staged on the office floor, and stain choices are being finalized. He is enthusiastic each day, and we get to share in the excitement.
My son is in the high school Spring Play and has rehearsal daily. In Willy Wonka–The Musical, he has successfully landed a role with neither singing nor dancing, and is thrilled. Plus, “Phineas Trout” is just fun to say. He comes home uplifted every day, and we get to share in the elevation.
It’s fun to see those you love follow what lights them up. Even if their topic isn’t your own personal gig.
And, it inspires you to act on your own creative hits!
Here’s a gift of a reminder to each of us, from Abraham, to follow our joy and expansion. Recognize and appreciate it moving through those you love, as well.
Follow what lights you up!
The purpose of your life experience is the joyful expansion that comes from the new ideas that are born within you. The expansion part of that is inevitable. The joyous part is about how well you are keeping up with the expansion.
~Abraham
This book by Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks deeply explores just how much attending to our creativity creates a fabulous life, especially in our second half of it.
Midlife provides a beautiful opportunity for us to choose: am I going to settle into this life of comfortable patterns that I have created thus far, or am I going to play and recreate myself?
The layout of the book has a good flow. Chapters attend to both the qualities and tangibles of consciously choosing and expanding creativity: integrity, being fully present, and overcoming fear share pages with sex, facing death, and online relationships. Appendices provide activities to practice that build thriving selves and relationships. Further resources are also shared. The ideal and the practical hold hands in this book.
Although the layout and title lend themselves to a relationship manual, this book is also for singles. The most important relationship you can have is with yourself, and at its heart this read is about consciously creating your best Self first–which you then bring into relationship.
I recommend this book for anyone in midlife or beyond who wants to create their life on purpose, especially if you are either in a relationship or want to be in one. Between the concepts and the practices, you will be fully supported in your choice to play, recreate yourself, and thrive. I for one am looking forward to my upcoming decades!
I received this book from Hay House through NetGalley, in exchange for my thoughts after reading it.