“Remember the earth whose skin you are: / red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth / brown earth, we are earth.”
Joy Harjo
Self-Portraiture – Day 4
self-love
Self-Portraiture – Day 2
“My body is an argument I did not start,”
Morgan Parker
Learning Vulnerability
Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc.
After Krista O’Reilly-Davi-Digui
Learning to move from head to heart,
moving into greater vulnerability,
everyday feels like the first day.
There is the risk of doing or saying
the wrong thing. Hurting others
as I learn to express myself,
what I want, what I need
makes those close uncomfortable.
And yet,
as I step deeper into fugitivity,
linger in the edges, skin prickly
with expansion. I trust.
Take self-authority and do not hide
from this becoming, this vulnerability.
Offering myself and others grace
and compassion, I walk on, slow,
with heart in hand.
Gratitude for my body
I’ve spent decades hating on my body.
Too big, too fat, too black for most spaces, places, people. So I thought or was lead to believe.
I’ve spent decades trying to get rid of my body.
Make it smaller, make it thinner, make it whiter. All the time knowing I was wasting my time, energy and money. But that didn’t stop me.
I was hard wired into chasing the perfect body, the ideal standard of beauty. Which just wasn’t me and my body.
Slowly, with care, self-love, mindset changes and practice, I’m learning to appreciate my body and all the spaces and places and people she takes me.
Through my body I get to experience this world and all its terrible beauty. And right now, as that’s all we can depend on/ should focus on/ breathe into, I’m loving on my body from the inside out.
I’m offering her grace and compassion as she continues to move me through this world. Allowing me to be here, {being} myself in all my fucked up glory.
And isn’t that fucking awesome!
Today my body walked me into the sea to remind me to feel again. To remind me I’m alive again. To remind me that we are only here for a short, brief time so shouldn’t we try to squeeze all the feels, sweet and not so sweet, out of it while we’re here?
My body supports me in this mission.
Every. Single. Moment.
Thank you x
I’m loving on this space/place/me
I’m sharing this spread created this morning because I’m channeling the love. The love on self. In all my fucked up glory. There is beauty in the messy. Ugly and sweet. And that’s the way it goes ( Janet Jackson style!).
Preparing for the next chapter
Sometimes, I can feel my energy stagnating. Or being leeched away into activities, projects or circumstances that I want to be in but which if I allow it take me away from what is important to me.
I do great work and I enjoy facilitating/ creating/ coordinating it. Changing lives and bringing joy and opportunities to others, for others.
But sometimes, I have to strengthen my boundaries and batter down the hatches in order to make sure I can show up the best version of myself for myself and others.
The last couple of weeks have found me running low on energy, patience and creativity. I’ve been giving away a lot of myself, time and energy, and focus.
So the next chapter to the end of 2023, is focused on me taking back what’s mine. Taking back my time, my energy, my sparks and directing them in the directions that feed my soul. Which fuels my dreams and confidence in my voice.
And it starts with preparing my next visual journal. I’ve returned to a trusty old faithful. A pink pig sketchbook. And I’ve set up on my kitchen bench with paints and the gift card.
Every time I go into the kitchen, I create a spread. I smear drops of paint across the page with the disused credit card. I can feel my energy, my excitement and joy rising.
This simple act of moving colour across the page fills me with joy, wonder and ideas. My creativity has been lit up again and I’m looking forward to filling these pages.
Looking forward to dreaming on paper.
Sharing my joy: visual journal spreads 011
Gratitude is a must!
I fell out of the practice. And feel out of practice too.
Maybe I got complacent. Maybe I got into a funk. Let’s just say for a time there, I found nothing to be grateful for. My glass was half empty, as they say.
And then I had a moment. A moment of realisation. A moment of shaking myself into consciousness. A moment of clarity.
I have a lot in my life to be grateful for. I have an abundance of reasons to be leaning into joy rather than gloom. I’m alive for one and get to choose how I live my life. Duh!
So I’m resurrecting my gratitude practice which I’ve let slide for the last month. I know when I’m practicing gratitude, my outlook on life, my life, all life is much greener. Much more hopeful. Much more honest.
So today I’m grateful for the time and space to laze in bed until I’m ready to get up. I’m grateful for this time and space to listen to my body and rest. I’m grateful today to have a bed to laze and rest in with a roof over my head, protecting me from the rain, from the elements, from the man-made destructive world. Outside. I’m thankful that I can retreat from the world and heal.
Today I’m grateful to have family and friends in my life. I’m grateful to be loving, loveable and loved. Love is the most powerful energy there is and I’m grateful to recognise it when I give and receive it.
Sharing my joy: visual journal spreads 005
Living Wild Studios 