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Three things have happened recently that have made me decide to take a break from blogging and Twittering for the next month or two. Each happened independently of the other thing---no relation other than that they have happened to me. But today when I watched the snow fall, took a deep breath, and gave gratitude for all I have, I realized I need a creative retreat from the space I try to create online, if only for a month or so.
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The first thing happened in a yoga class with one of my favorite teachers, Marcia Miller, on New Year's Day. After a grounding and joyful two-hour class, Marcia spread angel cards on the floor in the center of the room and encouraged all of us to come close and pick a card. I chose to wait, spending time wrapping up my mat, putting away the blankets. Once gathered, I walked up to Marcia. "What did you get? What word?" "Oh, I haven't chosen yet," I replied. I spotted one card I thought I wanted and then went for a card buried deeply under the rest. Contentment---it read. "Oh, I love this. This is my thing. This is what I'm working on," I said to Marcia. "Well, then, it's yours...just flew right up into your hand, it did."
Contentment can mean happiness, peace. For me, it's one of the niyamas {santosha} and something I have been working on over the last two years. So to receive this card...well, I took it as a sign that my work is the right work for me, and I can spend more time working towards the things that make me content this year.
The second cue came from an essay by Pica Iyer called The Joy of Quiet in the New York Times, and then a blog post by one of my favorite bloggers, the Gluten-Free Girl Shauna James Ahern, called Going Quiet. Both pieces reminded me of the contentment to be found in leading a life off-line and in tune with yourself, your body, and your family and friends. I've been longing to dive into some new creative projects but have found that I need this quiet space, this joyful peace around me---I need to carve it out for myself---in order to devote myself fully to my creative work.
And then the next cue came when I started to dive into the creative work I have planned and realized how much I'm doing!
| I'm participating in Susannah Conway's Unraveling: Ways of Seeing Myself online course in photography. I'm soooo excited about this course as I love taking photos and look forward to connecting with fellow artists from around the world.
| I'm taking part in A River of Stones this January. I find these prompts to pay attention to the world each day and write a short line based on my observations so grounding and purifying.
| And I'm re-designing my blog. Yes, this has been a goal of mine for quite some time and the months of January and February are devoted to making it happen.
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I'm also excited about our work for the spring issue of Edible Columbus, and looking forward to committing more creative time to all of our collaborative endeavors to make the spring issue beautiful and thoughtful.
So what does contentment have to do with all of this? Well, in practicing santosha and learning what 'enough' looks like for myself, I have come to realize that the way to peace is peace, the way to contentment is contentment. And right now, the idea of long winter days full of quiet and good work seems like peace to me. Hope your New Year is off to a contentment-filled start! See you here with a new website sometime in late-February | early-March!
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