Gathering My Lessons
I am constantly learning from my life. Someone special to me said that I could glean a lesson even from a recipe.
Which is what I did in my post, When The Recipes Must Go.
I call them Ahas. I can also stand on a Soapbox every once in a while.
And I learn some pretty big stuff from some little people in my life. The good and the bad and
the happy and the sad. My friendships are very important to me. The past holds some wisdom yet to be learned.
And my husband’s lessons are occasionally shared by his voice here. I may repeat myself, but guaranteed,
I’ll get you to think about life just a little differently.
Practicing Compassion like God
I was truly inspired after I listened to a podcast recently from the unbelievably smart Sas Pethrick. It was the 30th episode of her podcast called Courage and Spice and she interviewed Jane Reeves, author of a book I recently bought on practicing Loving Kindness (aka Compassion) titled A Heart of Gold. The reason I originally got the book? Because I have come to believe that the only way out of the self-torment and judgment cycle I’ve been subjecting myself to for the greater part of my life is to practice self-compassion. And these...
read moreIgnore Your Brain, Feel Your Feels
This week, I had a really bad spell of the feels. I finished up my creativity workshop and instead of feeling that amazing “I did it” feeling, I felt like an impostor. Who was I to think I had anything to say about creativity? And then, why did I put myself in this jeopardy? And PS, this is the same doubt spell I had at the end of my creativity/anxiety sermon I gave at my church. So I rolled around for a day feeling really crappy. Letting all the silly mean stuff rip around in my head. Grieving the marvelous feelings I was supposed to feel in...
read moreCreativist or Consumerist : Which one are You?
I believe that you are choosing to live your life on one of two paths. You are either living your life as a Creativist or as a Consumerist. And this is how this story and the dawning of my understanding between creativism and consumerism unfolded. I made friends with fellow uber-creative Olivia Sprinkel via Instagram. And I see in her bio she calls herself a creativist. I ask her what’s this? She answers, “Hello! I saw a friend’s Facebook post about Eddie Izzard, an English comedian who asked ‘Are you a capitalist or...
read moreWhy I’m OK Teaching a Creativity Workshop
If I had a dime for every time I heard, “Oh Shalagh you are so creative”, I’d at least have five bucks. This became one of those phrases that made me twitch perhaps because I didn’t think of myself as having any kind of creative superpowers which was obvious to them but not to me, until it finally was. I think perhaps what they meant was they wished they knew the secret creative permission spell too. Fast forward to the past several years when I intentionally indulged myself in creative challenges to gain creative confidence. I followed many...
read moreMy Body Myself
I had a not so nice moment with my body in a dressing room recently. I said in this Instagram post, “I went shopping today. Put my body in front of mirrors. It was quite soul crushing. I’m reeling with the hangover of my 52-year-old body.” This mental place of self-hatred is a familiar abode for me. I’ve spent more time in my life disliking my body than liking it. Gladly, I bought clothing afterwards that I liked the way it fit and looked on my body. And that was what I packed for my vacation. I did more shopping while...
read moreWill You Face the Day with Hope or Dread ?
It occurred to me this morning that I am either hopeful or I am hopeless at any given moment. Am I dreading my day or looking forward to it? And in that very answer is the truth of my life’s outlook. My perception of who I am and how I have value to add to the world is the key to which state of being I’m in. I am holding my breath this morning to find out how I feel. Our thoughts and feelings are codependent and fickle. We may have a fleeting thought about our “less than” worth and then suddenly our inner child has gone on strike...
read moreFocus is My New Word of the Year for 2019
Last year, I chose the word Trust as my word of the year for 2018. I wanted to trust the world, my process, and myself. But I’ve found that just because I want something to be a certain way doesn’t mean that I am inspired by telling myself it has to be that way. In fact, I’ve found that it can work quite the opposite way for me. If you tell me to do it, I’m not necessarily going to do it. Our inner punks are like that. So the well meant word of the year didn’t inspire me to trust myself anymore. I think I just...
read moreBelonging to Myself
I feel unqualified to be an adult. Like someone didn’t give me the manual and the rule book. And I’ll be found out. I was raised to need someone else to give me a sense of belonging. It would seem my kryptonite is my own independence. This is the story I am discovering and hoping to rewrite. And may well be the story of many women who feel their purpose of existence is to serve others. But I have found that not belonging to myself causes me great grief. A sense of being untethered and ungrounded. Not belonging to you means that...
read moreYou May Have Forgotten But You Are Still in Charge
You, Yes, you are in charge of your life. I am adamant about stating that your life is for you to plan. Even if you choose to do what others suggest you do, it’s always been your final choice to make. You are in charge of your own life plus the lives of your small ones. And for the most part, this in charge status also extends to your family’s way of living. You are probably steering your family boat as a Mama. Without this understanding, other people think they’re in charge of you. The kid in the Target who is melting down...
read moreWaiting for the Grump to Leave so I Could Live
This past weekend, we had an impromptu birthday potluck supper at my house. I spent Saturday afternoon exchanging my living room with my dining room and did all the rearranging my heart desired. But it took a good couple of hours for the cleaning and decorating therapy to kick in and cure me of a sour mood I seemed to be in. I wasn’t dreading my birthday, in fact I was looking very forward to all the festivities. I realized the next day that my inner people had held their breath until the grumpy bitch finally packed up her things and left....
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