I can't compete with my marathoners.
(Daughter Sara and her husband Jeff, with my son Brian on the right
after running a 1/2 Marathon Sunday morning)
Nor can I keep pace with my field hockey player
Kelly (right) ready to strike on Monday
I feel like I've been on the run all year. What I am doing now is learning how to relax.
I started today by cashing in on my Mother's Day gift – a 1.5 hour massage. I think it has changed my life. First of all, it was my first massage. I've always been reluctant to indulge in personal luxuries ~ manicure, pedicures, hairstyling, clothes shopping and yes, massage. I know you understand. All I need is art. Making art is my personal luxury.
I'm not quite sure how to put it into words but I'll try. The massage changed me. Yes, it relaxed me and I sorely (pun intended) needed that. It rid my body of the toxins and tension of a summer (year?) of stress. It slowed me down ~ a one and a half hour massage! How would I ever be still long enough for that? I can't sit still enough for my nails to dry when my daughters haul me off for a manicure. Well it turned out not to be a problem. I was uber relaxed, both mentally and physically.
But I knew I was meant to be there when Missy (the masseuse) told me that there was a yoga studio right around the corner from my new house – probably less than 100 steps away. The woman has been giving classes in her home for 30 years. I have been putting off taking some sort class for YEARS because of the hassle of getting there, of fitting it into my schedule. The message I was being sent from the Universe could not be any more obvious – "no more excuses, Lesley."
There were also other not so subtle messages and signs presented throughout the day. Two books I stumbled upon, Getting Things Done and Sark's Juicy Pens Thirsty Paper arrived at my doorstep. I stayed up reading until after midnight – a rarity for me nowadays.
I guess what I am saying is that a feel a shift in my universe. The move to a new home, the selling of the old, the change in the weather, the winnowing down of my possessions, the almost complete organization of my stuff – it's like I just needed to slow down for a mere 1.5 hours for it all to wash over me. A stop and smell the roses kind of thing. I thought I had been stopping, but 5 minutes here and there just doesn't do it. It's like grabbing a breath of oxygen and then going back underwater. It doesn't last very long. And there you are again gasping for air. Yet I didn't even know I was gasping.
I know many of you come here to see some art. Perhaps you tire of my promises of art to come, but this is what and who I am right now. What has transpired over the last 9 months (see any correlation there?) will have a profound influence my art but this is my time of fertilizing the soil, my fallow time. Fallow yet not wasted. Baby steps into a new way of living, of being. I came across an appropriate quote while going through yet another box of books from the attic this morning.
Of all the arts the living of a life is perhaps the greatest.
Kathleen Raine.
  
   
  
   
   
 
You’ve given somuch of yourself to others, encouragement and inspiration! It is only fitting that you have this season to yourself, a kind of creating the seeds for the art of tomorrow! Cocooning, refilling the well, whatever you want to call it you are very wise to know that it is what you need! I’m so happy for you! When you resume art for showing others we’ll receive it gladly, until then we are all wishing you and yours love, health and happiness! To everything there is a season….
I think you have found your center after your year off. I look forward to seeing more art from you as you explore your new, simplified and relaxed self. Delightful!
I have not posted art in a few days myself…I think we all need that down time to fill back up…speaking of personal luxuries ~ manicure, pedicures, hairstyling…two of my girlfrineds gave me a gift certificate for a 1 hour massage…i have not redeemed it yet. My daughter gave me a gift certificate for a manicure and a pedicure…I have not redeemed it. I know EXACTLY what you are talking about!!
eBeth
That sounds like heaven! And those of us who love your art understand the need for decompression and renewal. Enjoy!
I’m so glad you got a massage. I received my first one as a Mother’s Day gift from my dd. Now I go every other week and book it 2 months in advance. Very perfect! 😀
Lesley, How wonderful… As a true believer in the healing powers of massages, I am so happy you have “crossed over.” I too, am in the midst of change and having an interesting time letting it happen! So, baby steps is quite the answer, yesterday I took a long walk in the fall birch trees (quickly before the snow falls) with my very cool lab and then had a massage. Funny, how things looked totally different after that! Take care (of yourself)
It’s often called “refilling the well”. Take the time you need – emotionally and physically. We will still be here whether you show us some art or not.
jan
It takes more time to process and incorporate all the changes in our life than we think. My dad died four years ago and I occasionally find myself in tears. I, too, have found that what we term “personal luxuries” are more like gentle healing care. My writing remains stalled more than a year after major life changes and I continue to trust that this, too, shall right itself. Be gentle with yourself.
Cheryl
A time like you are having is what we need so that when we are ready to do our art again it comes from where we are and where we have been. K
You know, I haven’t been putting much art/craft on my blog lately, either, and feeling guilty about it. But, I want my blog to be more open and honest than it has been, so I am trying to be patient with myself, and letting things flow. I’d read your blog even if you didn’t post a single art piece — really!
Yes, a time of birthing a new thing!