“Most people she never tells about the tightrope because she doesn’t want to listen to their helpful comments from the ground.” -Brian Andreas
As I review my past journal entries from the month of May, I am reminded what a significant month it is for my family and me.
Celebrations and anniversaries dot the calendar, marking May Days (with its many histories and versions) with my children when they were younger, graduations and new careers, a baby shower for my first grandchild, a heartbreaking death (on the same day as a wedding decades before), along with various “Mother’s Days” that most of us need to forget.
✈️ Two amazing trips: a gathering (hosted by my dear daughter) with long-time friends (from literally, around the world) and a creative and restorative retreat with Mary Anne Radmacher in Manzanita, Oregon; and miscellaneous day trips of hiking and exploring nature with my children before the summer ☀️ heat set in.
Creative chronicles offer us context and serve us by enabling us to time-travel and remember the outrageous joy, personal mile markers and events that create the tapestry of our living.
Walking like a one man army
Fighting with the shadows in your head
Living out the same old moment
Knowing you’d be better off instead
If you could only … Say what you need to say
~John Mayer-
I am currently adding to my May memories, doing what I must + saying what I need to say and almost daily medical 🩺 appointments.
I have already had 15 medical appointments this month—and ✅✅✅ three more next week. (This count does not include my partner’s various medical 🧑⚕️ appointments.)
In the midst of all that there were major and micro-decisions to be made—and me sorting through my thoughts and feelings. I recognized being in overwhelm, which meant: pause most everything, rest, create and recover. ❤️
I am acknowledging the language I use, and being self-compassionate about words I say (and didn’t say to two doctors). I have this proverbial chance to rewire my brain, create new pathways of freedom—and I am takin’ it! 😎
For me, saying what I need to say has more to do with not speaking words that can and will be used against me. 💁♀️ But also, not everyone deserves my time and energy. It is what it is.
“I am not fully healed, I am not fully wise, I am still on my way. What matters is that I am moving forward.” -Yung Pueblo
I am embracing the reality that we rarely ever know with 💯 certainty. And yet, decisions must be made. I am reminding myself I have to get my joy back.
“We have to get our joy back.” -Anne Lamott
Getting my joy back has become a promise to myself; to notice the goodness. 🪅 The joy and goodness within May’s adventures and memories keeps me open to hope and receiving love and care. (Sorta not one of my defaults.) 🙃🤭
Seeing ourselves clearly helps us to be honest about the facts we are living—and eventually discover that joy is something sturdier than happiness.
Being active in a kindred community is a way to hold steady when we are overwhelmed. To hold space and discuss books and ideas. (Another reason I am devoted to hosting support communities for creatives.)💗
🫂member comments and testimonials:
“I was surprised to feel so relaxed and seen…” | open and authentic | “I have learned to simply resume (without shame)…” | stronger together | motivation to create | warm & welcoming | “I was surprised to feel so relaxed and seen…” | open and authentic
“True spaciousness of the soul is having the will and courage to experience things as they are.” -Christine Valters Painter
⏰ [time is on my side] 🦹🏻 This is something I have been writing in my daily log. 🔮[synchronicity ‼️ yesterday’s 🥠 fortune in the Secret Message Society app was affirmation & inspiration!] 🥳
Thank you kindly for your presence here, Braveheart. 💗
I appreciate your interest and support.
~love & good wishes~
⭐️ I am an artist and curator; I am one who communicates with color, found words and collage, inky marks and doodles as I cycle like the moon (as my calendar), chronicling oracles and abiding with the sky as a meditation.
⭐️ I host creative communities, safe spaces for gathering and sharing. I choose love and creativity for coping with the ongoing challenges of this world and I go to work—not because everything is fine but because I believe art heals.
❤️ Braveheart, as the Creator/Artist of Right Brain Planner I am ever-grateful to have the opportunity to share my creative work online + support other creators! 🎉 For almost 20 years I have had the privilege of sharing my art and writing about right brain planning while also hosting kindred 👭🏽💞👭 communities. ✨ I consider it an absolute 🤸 delight to continue this portion of my creative 📝🖌️✂️🫧 work (even as I retire from full-time work).
- This is possible, in part, by {you} and your presence here. But also because of the support of my Ko-fi patrons and the other member/subscriber communities I host (via their presence, input and paid subscriptions). 🫶
- 💁🏻♀️ Other ways to support my work: ❤️ continue to read this blog + follow me on Instagram. 📲
If you already have your own system of creative journal-planning, but are interested in financially supporting my creative work, you may do so by making a donation:
- Make a one-time contribution in any amount via [this link]. (Thank you!) ❤️