To find your own way is to follow your bliss. This involves analysis, watching yourself and seeing where real deep bliss is — not the quick little excitement, but the real deep, life-filling bliss.
~ Joseph Campbell
I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that spring break is next week. After two full weeks of major snowstorms, I’m still habitually wearing my heavy winter coat and boots. We’ve really had an amazing winter. Here are a few scenes from our new yard and neighborhood (which by the way, we have fully come to love).
After running e-courses the last 5 months, I’ve felt a deep desire to unplug. I just haven’t been motivated to post much on Facebook or Twitter. I’ve had a hard time returning to my blog. I’ve had to really limit how much information I take in these days, too. Do you ever feel that way? You hop onto Facebook only to feel distracted and confused after wasting away several minutes reading about your friend’s dog and what kind of coffee they had at breakfast? And don’t you find it so easy to slip into that whole comparing your life to all those over-achiever-can-do-it-all-type-A’s who seem to always share the perfect quote, and have time to write the perfect blog posts, and somehow find space to paint those amazing, gallery worthy paintings?
I’ve been so consumed by mommy-hood these days that I have to admit my creative projects have been pushed to the wayside.
And then, when I clear my head and get enough sleep and snap out of it, I remember.
There is no “perfect.”
There is no room for “comparing” myself to others.
There’s no reason to judge.
I am enough and whole and complete – right here and now.
And so are YOU.
Mommy-hood is my creative project.
It’s where I find my JOY.
It’s where I laugh (most days).
It’s where I cry (happy and sad tears).
It’s where I feel.
It’s where I grow.
It’s where I play.
It’s where I connect.
It’s where I express.
It’s where I remember…
that where I am in my life, in this very moment, is right where I need to be.
I am the creator of my life. And so are YOU.
And even though I am yearning, longing and needing…more downtime to read, to write, to paint, to simply…be alone…
I know that I can make that happen. Because this is my one life. I’m choosing to create it and I’m choosing to find my own way.
Your Personal Reflection:
Do you find it easy to be swayed or influenced by the people in your life? Are you yearning, longing and needing downtime to clear your mind? Take this time as the new season is slowly emerging, to clear the distractions in your life that keep you from hearing the messages in your heart. When you get quiet, and really deeply listen…you will find your own way, too.
Mothering with heART Update:
I am walking down a new path towards creating my Mothering with heART e-course while I continue to learn how to mother my own heart. And to do this, I need YOU. We mothers need to bond together. Community is an important part to our growth and self-discovery, and I hope you will consider joining my new online Mothering with heART community. It’s a very special place for moms, moms-to-be, and grandmothers – where you can be yourself. (Yes, it’s on Facebook and yes, we talk about our dogs, our kids and our favorite coffee…but it gets deeper than that. It’s a place to feel compassion and support and to most importantly…remember you aren’t alone.)
Join us by visiting: Mothering with heART Private Community.
Beautiful images and words – I jumped straight over to join your community! i am waiting for your next ecourses as i discovered your site just after you started the latest one. I will patiently wait for you to recharge and jump in the group in the meantime – thank you for extending the offer xx
Dear Deb,
I’m SO happy you are joining us over on Mothering with heART. I look forward to getting to know you better thoughout this shared journey. Be well and big thanks for taking the time to share! xoxo
Oh yeah I so get it. I am in the midst of a lot of parenting stuff right now that and it’s taking a lot of time-some of which I would be rather working on me and my stuff. I am working on the being swayed/comparison part-I’m better than I was this time last year. I am working on getting out of the house on consistent days to work (in peace) on my projects. And yeah I get the vortex of the internet. 🙂 Between kids, jumpy schedules, internet exhaustion, work, I have not darkened the door of my blog in days.
xo,
ang
Angela!
So happy to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad I’m not alone in this! 🙂 Yes…so many things to do in a day. I think it’s why I’m once again on a decluttering kick! I find the more I release – physically, mentally, spiritually – the freer I feel to do the things I love most – and the more energy and JOY I have to share with my children. Big mama hugs to you. xo
As always your words are so perfect Shannon! Perhaps something is in the air? I am so much more ready to release clutter in every form this year than ever before. And I find the more slow I am and the more simple my life is, the happier I am! The more creative I can be as other “stuff” isn’t clogging up the way! I am more me and more grounded when I pay attention to what is important to me and my family. But sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in others’ lives and not fall trap into comparison. I ran into that a couple of weeks ago and felt “less” when I ran into a mom that I was in a mom’s group with ages ago. She seemed more put together, more in tune, more who knows what. But then I realized later what I was doing and wondered why. I am enough as who I am and I, too, find my joy in being a mom and need to realize that joy comes from me and within not from comparing to other. Love your post today!
Karen – thank you for this! I am SO excited to focus more on clearing clutter in April. You are SO RIGHT! The more “stuff” that isn’t clogging our way…the happier we feel! I LOVE THAT. It’s amazing how easily we can slip into that trap of “not good enough” – but don’t you find that with all our inside out work it’s getting easier to let go of all that negative, old way of thinking? Thank you for sharing and I’m SO happy that you are loving the simple life. xo