“Fantasy and gratitude are, on paper, opposites. Gratitude asks you to be here, with what is. Fantasy asks you to be anywhere but.” -Carissa Potter
Braveheart, I am in a season of savoring my dailies, trusting my pace and doing what [feels] like Next. Currently, one of those things is to compile summary notes from various years of my life.
- 💁🏻♀️ By the way, the *seeing-anew part of the title is both figurative and literal (cataract surgeries this month). ~thankful and highly recommended! (yay for insurance!) 🎉🎉🎉
There was a series of traumatic familial experiences for me in 2023, moments of realization (and termination) that proved to be turning points. And frankly, points of no return that led to long-awaited peace and wellness for me.
Even as a devoted believer in second chances—repeated circular conversations and retaliations finally made it clear to me it was time to cease “hoping for the best” and face the abundance of facts (that had been on repeat for decades).
This is important. This should take
some really deep thought. We should take
small thoughtful steps.
-Mary Oliver, Felicity
[future versions …] what are you telling yourself, Braveheart?
The past three years have been revelatory and healing as I practiced [identifying + abandoning] my default hopes. The events of 2023 guided (and empowered) me [to see + face] the difficult 💔 facts of my life story.
- My primary habit to that point was to minimize the hardships of my life, particularly within my primary relationships, and to basically ignore what I needed for my well-being.
“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.” -Thích Nhat Hạnh
“You refuse to reflect,” he said. “But to get anywhere we must reflect.” -Agatha Christie
“Your time is your life. So when you surrender control of your calendar to other people, you put them in control of your destiny. Our digital world has broken down the natural boundaries on how and when people can tell you what they think you should be doing.” -Elizabeth Grace Saunders
My writing and visual journals, along with meditation, art therapy and community support have guided me to where I am right now. (And I am celebrating every bit of that goodness!) 🥳🥳🥳
My priorities right now: celebrating breakthroughs regarding my well-being; movement and being outdoors; wellness; my wild gardens; ease and comfort; making-home for me and for my partner as we savor this extraordinary season of our life together; conversations with my children and grandchildren … and of course, sharing time and space with dear friends and the kindred communities I host.
Personal reflection is like walking along a shoreline. We are in heightened sensory mode and yet there are soft, changing boundaries between what is grounding us and what is washing away with the tide.
Reflection and review are [re]membering: the union of the present with the experience of past and the hope of the future—a balance of holding on loosely and wholehearted release as we face forward and journey onward.
❤️ Braveheart, each of us has the option of determining how we define and spend our days. Through self-compassion and love, forgiveness and fellowship we discover new strength and inspiration.
The focus in developing a right brain planning practice is to see our living as ongoing—a timeline [days within years; years within a lifetime] guided by self-compassion.
- To resist the urge to allow a “bad day” or a “bad week” to become a filter—a lens—that limits our ability to hope, heal and live differently.
- Easing away from a performance-based valuation of self-worth; cycling like the moon and exploring so-called irregularity (stops and starts) as a cycle of wholeness.
Right brain planning is an opportunity to allow our journals to be our “planners”—elevating expression and desires over expectations and shoulds.
❤️👩🏻💻 I am hosting weekly Zoom sessions focused on review + creative chronicling. I hope you will join me in the Ko-fi community for more details.
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!) ❤️