A Wellness Practice of Creating Space Within
To be driven by our appetites alone is slavery, while to obey a law that we have imposed on ourselves is freedom.– Jean-Jacques Rosseau
Last week I began a simple practice of fasting for one day of the week inspired by a conversation I had with a girlfriend I was visiting in Maine-who is an amazing cook and we had the best time cooking together! I’ve read several opinions on this subject and decided I’m simply doing this because it feels right and good for my body.
We are often a slave to our appetites so fasting one day a week is about creating a Practice to allow space for me to fill my life with other meaningful things.
Since I was away on vacation in Maine for the early part of October I did as many of you might, I over-indulged in wonderful foods, a bit too much alcohol and although I loved every nourishing, delicious bite and sip on my return flight last Tuesday night I felt full. I don’t just mean the normal fullness of a meal but so full of all the experiences, interactions, stimulus and indulgences that I wanted a day of emptiness to process everything. So I began my one day fast last week and this week it continues. I may cheat and have an apple, or some tea or coffee and it’s not about a strict detox for health purposes (that’s another subject and you can read about it here).
For me this one day a week fast is more about not being a slave to my appetite. Allowing space within so that I can process everything and digest it in a slower, more mindful manner.
One of our Feasts in Maine-Softshell Lobster, Raw oysters, fresh green beans, delicious garlic bread and a bit of southern indulgence-Squash Casserole
Do you fast or have a practice of internal-physical clearing? If so what space have you discovered or created both internally and externally?
Maybe you have noticed that I recently changed my tag line to “Cultivating Creative Space”, this is because I believe we all need to practice the art of cultivating space in our lives. This can be done in so many ways and over the course of the next year or so I plan to explore this more in depth, in my own life, with my clients and in the content I share with you here (and newsletters soon to come!).
Master Makeover
It’s been awhile since my last makeover…I’ve been busy transforming spaces but sometimes I’m not able to share the before and after shots. I’m really proud of this one though. I began with this client right before Christmas and the project was put on hold for about a month. When we picked up again in late January, we had done a full closet purge and were mostly through the sorting and purging of her dressers and remaining wardrobe. This phase of the project was all about removing the obstacles in her bedroom and making her room a sacred space. My client was not making her bed daily and not using her nice linens because the rest of her bedroom was such a mess she just didn’t see the point. I encouraged her to make a comfort zone on her bed that felt as luxurious as possible and see if that radiated outward…it has and continues to do so.
My main concern as we began was safety and beyond that I knew we needed to purge not just clothes but a lot of papers. We also needed to relocate some items out of the bedroom into an office that is now partially functional. Those photos will be coming along later this spring.
Do you see the chair above and the computer on that cart? Well guess what…I tripped on a cable and that computer fell! No, I do not consider myself a clumsy person and needless to say this was HORRIFYING to me but I have an accident clause in my contract and in this case my client was so gracious she knew it was an accident. Really, this kind of thing doesn’t happen often and the Mac survived…We had discussed safety at the very beginning of the project so she knew what the hazards were. Not only did we purge and remove boxes and other obstacles but we re-arranged furniture to allow for easier passage on this side of the bed. There is now a wide open space and hopefully no-one will be tripping on anything here again! Below you can see the table that was on the left side of the room which was moved to the end opposite the bed, the rolling stool is now also out of the way and there is much more open floorspace. I don’t just organize, I look at the whole picture!
You can see from these photos that there was a large pile of boxes, bags, artwork, baskets etc that was entirely sorted through and organized. Eventually we will re-arrange furniture again and move the large file cabinets out to make space for a yoga and meditation corner but for now the room has been transformed into a safe sanctuary for this client to continue to heal her physical and spiritual body.
We met this client’s deadline to have her bedroom neatly organized and cleaned by Valentines, that’s a sweet and loving gift don’t you think?
Minding our Manners
Minding our Manners is subjective! They can change according to gender, age, culture, lifestyle and other factors for consideration.
So, I’m not preaching and I won’t go into what I believe constitutes good manners because it’s sure to be different for each of us.
Some lessons are here for a lifetime and need a little reminder from time to time. I hope you’ll give the subject some thought and consider how little it requires of each of us to “Mind our Manners”.
Wednesday’s Word::Discipline
1dis·ci·pline noun ˈdi-sə-plən
Life is not a rigid set of rules and sometimes we need to loose self control!
In our move to Charleston from DC we have begun to live a less disciplined lifestyle. We both work for ourselves, can create our own schedules and be spontaneous…but in order to do these things we still have to have a level of discipline that enables us these freedoms. I am learning to re-define discipline on my own terms these days and THIS…
…sums it up very nicely! (image via Pinterest-original attribute not posted)
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- …
- 18
- Next Page »