Living on Tic-Tacs and Applause

"Let life happen to you. 

Believe me, life is in the right: always."

-Rainer Maria Rilke

A couple years ago, I had the chance to see Sherie Rene Scott perform "Piece of Meat" at 54 Below (located below the former of Studio 54 in Manhattan).  The show tells the story of how Scott, a committed vegetarian, succumbs to intense cravings for meat.  Through her one-woman cabaret, she tells the story of being torn between her guilt and her desire to experience carnal pleasure.  In the end, she says, "Everything in life comes down to three things: What do I hang on to, what do I let go of, and when?"

Here I am with my favorite uncle and my New York cousins at 54 Below 

At one point in her performance, Scott is describing life in New York City where she convinced herself that she could live "on Tic-Tacs and applause."  While I don't care for Tic-Tacs, and don't get much applause, I understood exactly what she meant.

There was a time in my life when I clung to the highs.  I honestly believed I could receive sufficient nourishment from sunshine, infatuation, and chocolate-covered almonds.  In its initial stages, it was wonderful.  I was newly in love, I could see a new and attractive life opening up to me, I was energized.  At, what felt like, my high point I weighed 110 pounds (I am almost 5'9").  I wasn't dieting, I just didn't feel the need to eat.  I was also constantly on the go.  I was too wired to fall asleep or stay asleep.  I thought, "this is great!  The secret to weight-loss is to just keep yourself on a high."  I put a bit of effort into turning my pale skin tan, straightening my curly hair, and never having a dull moment.  It was lovely.

And then I met the ground.

My new relationship abruptly ended.  Winter came, the coldest in over 100 years.  I began to gain weight.  I came into an embattled relationship with my body and life.  I kept striving harder and harder to bring the highs back.  I increased my exercise.  I filled every waking moment with busy activity.  But the more I tried, the more exhausted I became.

Eventually (and this was no easy feat) I began to accept the ground.  I put down my weapons against reality.  I watched my weight gain with a sense of curiosity rather than defeat.  I learned to sit still for moments of everyday.  I stayed home a lot.  I welcomed the night, sleep, and winter.  I began to eat regular meals.  And, like magic, I found the alchemy I had been seeking.

When I finally stopped struggling with reality, it became my dear friend and teacher.  I could wake up to the lessons that were being offered to me- beautiful lessons about self-care, empowerment, and allowing rather than manipulating an abundant life.  I am still learning to do this.  I make mistakes everyday.  I have many preferences, but I know that the more I cling to them, the more unhappy I will be.  When I can bow down to what is, I become wise, at peace, and am carried by the mystery.

Probably my favorite verse of the Tao says "success is as dangerous as failure.  Hope is as hollow as fear. ... Whether you go up the ladder or down it, your position is shaky.  When you stand with your two feet on the ground, you will always keep your balance." I am trying to remember this.  The whole reason the ground is there is to offer its support to us.  It is a welcome source of stability in an uncertain world, and it is difficult to be in touch with when you are subsisting on applause.

What Happens When You Fall in Love With Life

 

"Do you think you can improve the world?

I don't think it can be done."

-Lao-Tzu

 

 

 

An old friend sent me the quote above via Pinterest this week.  Isn't it great?  Before I started this blog (which I am committing to for the calendar year) I had another blog which you can read here:

 

http://www.lavidacelestial.blogspot.com/

 

Here is my favorite post from that time in my life.  I titled it: FIRST LOVE LIFE.  It was written almost 4 years ago, but it feels like a lifetime ago.  At that time I was married and was processing my brother's tragic death.  Somehow I came up with the following.  I hope it speaks to you.

 

First, love life. The rest will follow. Love life, love yourself. Your pulse, your breath. Love your courage and faith, your beauty, your hopeless and unending faults. Love these things. Because at least you are alive.
When you love, love fully. Don’t hold back. And when you lose, let loose. It was never yours to keep. This is the nature of everything. Spring turns to summer and summer turns to fall. And we all fall down. But all around you at any given time are a million saving graces waiting to pick you up. We are saved. Saved from ourselves by life. A clouded sky, a gentle smile, a song on the radio. You can’t stop life. Birth comes, death comes, it was never ours to keep. You can’t stop the winter from coming. And why would you want to? A life with no darkness is blinding. Winter turns to spring, spring turns to summer. You can’t stop the ocean from flowing.
We exhale to make room for more breath. We build things up just to have them washed away. We are alive. And we feel that life in the forest, in the breath of wind on our face. The city, too, has a pulse. We see life all around us. We see life in the pigeons with their dazzling, purple-grey feathers, and life in the pigeon shit. To love life is to love the sun on your face, but also the freezing darkness at your back. Life is the long, lonely night, and the gently beckoning dawn.
Do not be afraid of life. Love it. Love it with your whole heart because it only happens once. The only thing more terrible than the long, dark night is being so dead that you can’t tell the sun from the shadows.
First love life and everything will take care of itself. Life proceeds according to its own perfection. In this moment, everything is perfect. Don’t worry. Don’t cut yourself with useless fears. First, love life



Introducing Creative Wisdom

A couple of days after the New Year, I was visiting my cousin Lauren and her girls.  We started talking about how we love the process of discovering wisdom.  This is the same process as unlearning all of the blocks that we have to being in a direct relationship with our inherent, sane, wise, and kind selves.  We began to talk about how much we enjoy playing with art.  We talked about a shared desire to connect deeply with wise women.  Our modern world can make us feel very disconnected at times.  We talked about our desire to share what we have learned.  And that's when our company, Creative Wisdom was born.  Please check out our website:

www.creativewisdom.squarespace.com.

And feel free to read my first blog post for it below.  (P.S.  That beautiful mess is my actual desk.)
***

I am so excited to be bringing this group to life with my cousin Lauren!  The two of us have had such a good time brainstorming, sharing wisdom, and discovering our shared intentions.  We both have the intuition that surprising and beautiful things will emerge from this endeavor.  This is my first contribution to our blog and I wanted to say something about the 5 components of our manifesto.

·         We believe that women are inherently creative.  Every moment we are choosing how we will respond to life.  We are choosing what to eat, what to wear, what to think, what to say, how to act, what to pay attention to, and who we are.  These choices eventually compose our lives.  Moment by moment we are creating the world we live in.  I find this to be so empowering.  It must be important to choose wisely.  The use of journals and intention setting has been hugely beneficial as I create a life for myself that I can deeply love.  I can’t wait to share this with more women.

·         Which brings me to my second point.  I’m just a woman with specific strengths, weaknesses, fears, and dreams.  I am not here to give you advice.  I am here to show up as fully and authentically as I can.  I am here to listen to you as you give your gifts and wisdom to the world.  I am here to learn from you.  Diversity is welcomed and celebrated.

·          This idea would never have gotten off the ground were it not for the support of my wise girlfriends (including the amazing Lauren).  I feel like women’s wisdom is an unlimited (and largely untapped) resource.  I am so glad to be able to use my skills as a connectress to introduce cool people to cool people.  There is power in recognizing our shared sisterhood.

·         We believe that fun is not optional.  When we are playful, celebrating, and relaxing, we are open to some of our very best ideas.   When we have fun and take risks we get to let go of all of the “shoulds” that can take over our lives.  It is so important to make the time for doing what you love.

·         Finally, I could not be happier to be teaching our first class in my home.  I feel so fortunate to have my own space.  I am grateful to share this gift by inviting like-minded women to share in the sacred process of play, processing, eating, and making art.  We promise you will come away feeling nourished in body and soul.

The Easy Language of Magic



"Inside you there's an artist you don't know about...

Say yes quickly, if you know, if you've known it

from before the beginning of the universe. -Rumi

I am a magician.

It didn't start out that way.  It started out with me looking for a word to use as a guiding intention for the New Year.  My word for 2014 was “grace.”  This word helped me transition my life to one of greater ease and an abiding sense of thankfulness.   Grace helped me let go (a little) of the ways in which I was burdening myself.  I decided to continue along this stream of grace and use the word “easy” for 2015.  I love coming home, changing into my pajamas, and taking it easy.  I have seen great benefits from dialing back my workouts and simplifying my life.  Easy is a grand and noble thing.  I set my compass towards easy and headed to Palm Springs to spend the last 5 days of 2014 with my beloved aunt and uncle.

  

It was on one of the mornings there that the word “magic” jumped in my lap.  I was watching the sun rise above the effortlessly chill and gorgeous palm trees.  It is enough to stop you in your tracks and make you say “wow.”  It was magic.  As soon as I said that word, I knew it was my guiding word for the year.  I felt it.  It was like a bright, yellow, energetic puppy had climbed up in my lap and I had no choice but to take him home.  It was exactly the same feeling I had when I met my pup-companion, Boo.

I knew that my word was magic, but I didn’t know what that meant.  In many ways I was embarrassed to claim this word.  It sounded sort of juvenile and maybe a bit delusional.  I was hesitant to share my word.  I was even more hesitant to admit my next conclusion: if magic was my guiding intention then I was a magician.  I couldn’t be.  And yet I knew in my bones that I was.  I also knew that if something scared me, I needed to take a step closer and examine it.  Authenticity and embracing darkness are also part of my guiding intentions.  So I decided to try on the word magic and the title of magician.  I called my brother to get a feel for the response I might get.  He seemed unfazed, yet fully supportive.

I called my friend Derek and announced “my word for the year is magic.”  He replied “that’s perfect for you.”  I explained how I had originally chosen the word easy, but it didn’t feel right.  Derek immediately pointed out how magic and easy are similar.  They are companions.  If it’s not easy, it’s not magic. 

  

Magic moments are ones that come to us and take our breath away- a beautiful sunrise, having things work out without the need for over-planning, meeting someone who has the exact solution for your problem, quickly fixing something that once seemed overwhelming.

I am not trying to say that there aren't times when we need to work hard or give 100% effort.  I know life is not all roses and sunshine.  What I am saying is that when you collaborate with the conscious universe around you with a spirit of curiosity, creativity, and good-will, magical things will happen.  It is not up to us to decide what those things are.  It is up to us to be willing to show up as the instrument, the magician, who participates in making reality a bit more beautiful.

 I know that when I demonstrate my willingness to step into a bigger, more beautiful reality, the universe shows up in full support of how I am choosing to be.  I do not know what this year will bring, but I know that already it feels magical.  Magic is about making the unseen, seen.  It is about birthing dreams into reality.  It is also about alignment, synchronicity, flow, ease, and grace.  It's about intention.  A magician is a creator, an artist, a human being.  If it feels right, please join me in broadening our vision of what is possible.







Dare To Be Visible

Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world. 

Don’t let anything stand in the way of the light that shines through this form. 

Risk being seen in all of your glory. - Jim Carrey

I have several blog posts in process.  Some are in my head, some are living in conversations with friends, some are saved, awaiting some combination of inspiration and revision before they are published.  It is amazing how liberating this process has been for me.  I have loved to write since I was old enough to hold a pencil.  But something silenced me for the past few years.  It was the fear of being seen and being rejected.  It was the fear that there was no place for me in this world.  I am so grateful to have heard the whisper of that familiar voice calling me.  "Grow, grow," it says.  "You want to write, so write."

I am thankful for the encouragement of the few readers who have shown support.  Over and over the words of Hafiz echo inside of me "how did the rose ever open its heart and give to this world all of its beauty?  It felt the encouragement of light against its being.  Otherwise we all remain afraid."  I am so terrified and energized and grateful to be expressing myself from a place of love and fear and truth.  I am so glad I created the space in my life to make mistakes and to risk being seen.

The thing is, you need to be seen to be known.  And you must be known to be loved.  Invisibility blocks both rejection and the wild embrace of light.  It is the task of the writer, the artist, the individual to continually bring the unconscious to light.  To open ourselves and be seen.

The above photo is of my first crocus of 2014.  How marvelous is nature?  Can you imagine a world where the birds and flowers remained hidden out of fear someone would see them and criticize?  Would you even want to imagine such a world?

I hope this post encourages you to show up in whatever way feels authentic for you.  Make the phone call, post the thought, paint the canvas, try the recipe, speak your truth.

The quote above is taken from a remarkable talk given by Jim Carrey.  You can watch the full video as well as read the transcript here.

Today my front yard is brown and barren.  I await with wondrous anticipation the buds and blooms still buried.

When Did You Learn To Fear Art?

"The primary benefit of practicing art, whether well or badly, is that it enables one's soul to grow." -Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

In July 2013 I was on a yoga retreat in Tuscany.  (Yes, Tuscany.  It's ok to be jealous *wink*).
During some down time a group of us decided to take a walk.  One of the instructors (Scott Moore) asked me, "what do you create, Celeste?  What is your art?"  At the time I had really placed my left brain in the driver's seat.  While I felt proud of my artistic friends, I prided myself on keeping an obsessively orderly life.  Making art was messy.  It was for naturally creative people.  I was better suited to keeping my house clean, being productive, and my organizing every corner of my life.  The others in the group seemed to have an art, a passion, a creative outlet, so I decided to play along.  With a little thought I replied, "I don't have an art.  Cooking, I guess.  Being a teacher counts as creative."  I left it at that.  Little did I know that with one simple question a seed had been planted.  Somewhere inside my brain (probably not the left side) the question was living:  is there value in making art for art's sake?

Two real artists were also on this retreat  Jill Hooper and Kamille Corry.  These women are insanely talented, dedicated to their art, truly world class.  Everyday while the rest of us went on excursions, Kamille and Jill would stay at the farm and paint.  Here's a photo of Kamille's paint palette.

Doesn't it excite your heart?  My totally-in-denial inner artist knew she had to at least pull out her camera and capture a picture.

On the last night of the retreat Kamille and Jill held an art show.  They made invitations and delivered them to everyone.

I pressed those flowers and they are sitting on my own art desk today.  The night of the art show was ethereal, beautiful, magical.  Everyone dressed up.  There was a gentle buzz of excitement.  The soft glow of the evening Tuscan sun illuminated the art and its muse: Tuscany.

That's Kamille in black, getting ready.

Isn't this picture gorgeous?  Notice there is actually a farm animal behind the ladder.

Jill and her donkey.  So much love.

This night was one of those experienced where you are just flat out humbled to be there.  You want to capture the feeling, the memory, the image and store it somewhere in your soul for a dark winter's night.  I loved it.

Fast forward one year later.  By some grace I had spent enough time meditating (either that, or my left brain was getting worn out) that my right brain began to wake up.  I saw people around me whom I loved and respected making stuff.  I saw them enjoy it.  I saw that even though I'm not a world-class artist with a decades-long career, I could still create.  I could create really bad art and enjoy myself.  I could create really awesome art and surprise myself.  I could play.  I could get messy.

One day after getting up from meditation, I walked into what was then an empty bedroom in my house.  I thought about my friend Justin and his absolute delight in interior design.  He wasn't a formally-trained designer, he just loved it so much that he couldn't help but design.  I somehow gave myself permission to move into that room.  I had a blast.  I found some furniture on craigslist, started browsing paint colors, and found some prints on Etsy that really spoke to and inspired me.  When I was all done, a room that I never went in suddenly because a space I could not wait to inhabit.  Take a peek:

I love this space.  I love the second-hand desk and the window.  I love that it is organic and in-process.  I love the accent wall and it's paint color name: Mother Nature.  And the funny thing is, I was so afraid to do this.  It seemed so frivolous.  I kept justifying every move I made.  "Well, the chair was only $100 and the girl delivered it herself."  "Its just a temporary thing," I told my friends (and myself).  The truth was I loved it!  My life was seriously lacking frivolity, relaxation, and play (all of which are a breeding ground for creativity.

Why was I imposing this "everything must be serious to have value" mentality to my life?  I wanted to clear out any clutter, increase productivity, decrease down time and streamline my way to growth and arrival.  The thing is, you never arrive.  So you might as well enjoy the journey.  Rest and play are not luxuries.  They are essential to helping us operate as our most sane, authentic, fulfilled selves.  I realized that play includes the creation of art.  I am happy when I am making seriously crappy art.  And I was so scared to admit this.

This morning I went to visit my cousin and her two beautiful daughters.  Here is Alice (almost 3) working playing away at her creative process.

Doesn't that make you happy?  This year I am going to allow myself to create.  I'm going to scribble frivolously.  I'm going to enjoy the process without being so focused on what it is exactly that I am creating.  I am going to do that which I love to do.  No apologies.  No excuses.  Just art.

Jealousy as an Inquiry

Women for women.  But first, check out these photos from my walk today.

 

There is this incredible portion of the Jordan River where you walk through a grove of giant cottonwood trees that make you feel small (in a good way).  They have the most incredibly perfect heart-shaped leaves.  In the fall it is like walking through a forest of golden hearts.  Above is a snow-print of one that jumped out at me today.

 

Look at how the sunlight glitters on the water! I love to take a walk with my camera.  This year I'll be looking for sparkle.

 

This reminds me of the quote: do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

This brings me to my opening statement.  Women for women.  I can feel it.  It's going to be powerful for us.  Its the direction we need to go.  More on that later.

 

I have noticed a tendency towards jealousy throughout my life.  I think it has to do with a fear of missing out, my own insecurities, and my ambition.  I've worked hard to eliminate my jealousy.  It's been good.  I've learned to be genuinely happy for the successes of others.  I've learned to appreciate my life as it is.  Over and over again.  I've learned that you can't tell everything about a person just by looking at them or reading Facebook.  Your coworker who just lost ten pounds may be exiting a rocky relationship.  Your friend who was born rich may be imprisoned by her debilitating anxiety.  I realized that jealousy wasn't serving me and I made a genuine effort to weed it out of my life.  That's why I was surprised recently when a friend I admire very much (I'll call her Elle) asked me (with a twinkle in her eye), "who are you jealous of?"  I wanted to answer, "Who, me?  I'm above jealousy.  I've transcended all that."  But instead I told the truth.  I told her the name of a mutual friend.  "Why are you jealous of her?" she asked (again, eyes twinkling).  "Because she gets to work for herself.  She names her price.  She chooses her hours.  I could never do that."  Elle looked me right in the eyes and smiled.  I got her point.  Why can't I do that?  Who says?  And, if I can't be my own boss, could I still pursue greater freedom in my working life?  Is it possible?  Yes.

 

Elle was suggesting that looking at who we are jealous of and why can be an extremely useful inquiry.  It's like breadcrumbs leading us to the ventures and experiences we want to be having.  Typical jealousy may go something like this. " I am so envious of X because they get to Y.  I'm unable to do what X is doing.  Life is unfair."  But when you turn your jealousy into a question, and allow the mind of possibility to step in, you gain very valuable insight.  Instead of looking at others with an overlay of fear and lack, we can look at ourselves and see what we truly yearn for.

 

 

"What in your life is calling you?  When all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned, the lists laid aside ... what still pulls on your soul?" -Terma Collective, "The Box"

 

I think we are often jealous of others who are living a life they love.  That's fine.  In a way jealousy is showing us what is possible.  Is it possible to spend more of your time doing the things you love?  Is it possible to follow what "pulls on your soul" even if you have a long list of convincing reasons why you can't?  I've told myself for a long time that I'm not a creative person.  Then I turn around and watch my artistic friends with a hungry, even starving envy.  Who decided I wasn't artistic?  Do I really have to be jealous or can I roll up my sleeves and start creating?  I want it bad enough to get messy.  And that's saying something.

 

All of this brings me back to my opening sentence.  Women for women.  When a person decides to show up for their life, to be joyful, to be visible, to be creative, to unapologetically craft a life they love, they are on some level encouraging others to do the same.  If nothing else, they are indicating that it is possible.  They are challenging the limits and the limiting beliefs that made them.  The world needs women who are authentic and powerful.  It needs more people who are actively doing what they love.  Do what you love.  Follow your bliss.  Who knows where it may lead or who might be getting jealous. *Wink.* 

 







Life as a Garden

 

“Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to joy and makes right royal kings and queens of common clay.  It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven and we are gods.” –Robert Green Ingersoll

It is the second day of 2015 and I am sparkling from within as I become acquainted with the intentions of my heart.  There is an entire beautiful, flowering world just waiting to meet me.  I can’t wait.

I feel fed by my optimism.  It is an optimism rooted in my observations of nature.  As the new year approached, I began to take stock of my life and inquire about what I wanted to see unfolding for myself.  I felt torn between two approaches.  (This blog will spend a lot of time looking at paradox, or twos.  The whole world is a dance of opposites.  Fusing the paradox requires compassion, wisdom, and humor.)

As I sat down to envision, I found myself going to two common approaches towards my life.  Neither one was giving me the inner "YES!" I was looking for.

The first approach I tried on was the approach of self-improvement.  This approach has a can-do attitude.  I've used it and it can be powerful.  This approach is all about goal-setting, accomplishment, effort, sweat, bigger, and faster.  It's about having a clear list of things which you can easily check off.  The trouble with this approach is that it can be exhausting.  Sometimes we put so much effort into our goals that when we finally achieve them, we are find ourselves depleted, drained, and in dire need of a vacation.  Another trouble with being in a self-improvement relationship with our life is that our inner-critics can take center stage.  We then spend our waking moments focused on fixing “what’s wrong with me.”  This can definitely be a soul-crusher and can quickly drain precious energy from us.  It can also silence some of the more subtle, yet profound, desires within us.  A lot of resolution-setting centers around self-improvement.  "Be Your Best Self" fit, tanned model after fit, blonde model tells me behind the photo-shopped improve-your-life packages sold online. (More about that in a coming post).  No thanks, exhaustion and self-criticism.  I've had enough.

The second relationship that we commonly form with our lives is one of defeat.  Whereas self improvement takes a "I am in control," a relationship of defeat says, "I have no power whatsoever.  I might be dying."  We find ourselves so beaten down by the daily onslaught that we forget to dream.  We can't voice our hopes, not because we don't have them, but because they've been systematically choked out of us.  This attitude is not so much one of gracious surrender, but of being slowly broken down until we no longer have a will, or any joy for that matter.  I have a lot of experience with this relationship as well.  It has value.  Being slowly killed by life (yes, I see the irony of that statement) has helped me learn to be more compassionate to others.  It has taught me the virtue and alchemy of acceptance.  It has made me reach outside of myself for help.  But it’s not a great place for envisioning.  It doesn't exactly inspire imagination or creativity.  And, felt often enough for long enough, it robs us of our vitality.  I’m thinking about the last day of the school year when the last kid leaves and summer begins and all I want to do is curl up in a heap and die.  This attitude is not so much about letting go, but of giving up.  Who wants to give up?  Who wants to die and have their funeral speech be "well, she sure knew how to give up."  No thanks, defeat.  I'd rather live.

So what's a girl to do?  I had played along with these two approaches and knew that neither one felt right for calling in the life I want to be living.  And then I stumbled upon the approach, the metaphor, that felt just right.  Suddenly I saw that my life is a garden.  I’m not entirely responsible for what grows, (basil just doesn’t do well in a high-altitude desert) but I CAN cultivate some perennial favorites.  I can plant a variety of seeds.  I can find out which ones do well and which ones not to plant again.  I can become acquainted with invasive species and weeds.  I can do my best to make sure the invasive species of my life (stress, work, worry, lists, and bills) don’t choke out the more beautiful, flowering plants that I love.  I can discover the very best fertilizers for the plants I want to grow.  (Some of my favorite fertilizers are conversation, movement, writing, cooking, eating, and laughter.)

I can’t grow ANYTHING in my garden.  But I can grow a helluva lot.  I can do my best not to be disappointed when some long-hoped-for seeds don’t grow.  And I can be pleasantly surprised when long-forgotten seeds do sprout.  I can learn as much as possible about the climate of my life- my environment, local weather patterns, etc. and try to plant what I know will thrive.

My garden is never going to be completely weed-free.  Weeds are going to show up.  This isn’t negative thinking.  This is nature.  Where do they come from?  I have no idea.  My neighbor’s yard, deeply rooted seeds underground, a burr brought home by my dog after a mountain outing.  I don't need to freak out or despair when I see them.  I can calmly start digging them up from the root.

I love this image.  A garden, for as careful and contained as we try to make it, has an element of the wild in it.  Isn’t that exciting?  As my friend Elizabeth reminds me, “anything you can plan is going to be too small for you.”  This is where relaxation can come in.  We’re not in charge.  We are not the source of life.  We’re just the gardeners.  We're taking care of the garden.  We are not the garden.  And it doesn't require constant effort.  There are days, weeks, or even seasons when we can sit inside and do something entirely different from tending the garden.  We are also the ones who harvest what we sow.  And what is more delicious than a home-cooked meal straight from the garden?

I can picture her now: a girl heading out in the morning to check on her plants.  Blue jeans, colorful plastic boots, hat, and shovel in hand.  Good morning, life!  What are we growing today?

This brings me back to my original statement that I feel an optimism coming with the new year that is rooted in nature.  Nature has her seasons, her inhales and exhales.  She can be brutal and destructive.  But she also sustains life and creates without rival the most beautiful views I've ever seen.  The older I get the more I have come to believe in the goodness of nature, the friendliness of life.  What I used to think was the world collapsing, I now know is a change of seasons.  2015 is the year I am declaring myself a magician, a gardener, an artist.  As I learn how to line up more and more with natural rhythms and cycles, I see my life flowering in ways I never knew before.

I hope you will join me in watering your dreams, planting seeds that will one day grow into a garden, a life that makes you wildly ecstatic.