November, 2022
The title of this post is taken from Anne Lamott’s book of the same name. I’ve pretty much separated my meditation practice from any specific religious practice. Having said that, sometimes when I am sitting with my thoughts I find myself talking to someone or something out there. I don’t trouble myself too much over who I’m talking to, and I don’t label it as prayer, I just let it be. Now Anne Lamott does call it prayer, and it’s the prayer she believes most. Ask for help, say thanks for what you have, and don’t forget to celebrate.
November, 2022
October passed me by too quickly to get this post out and included in my month-end summary email. It’s important to me, marking the passage of time even if no one else ever read it.
October is a long month, but it felt short. I met my own challenge of resolving or at least renovating a stack of mixed media paintings that had been sitting around for quite some time – the photo is one of my “after” shots. Now, some of them seem worthy of matting or at least storing in osme way that they don’t curl up and resist all future efforts to flatten them out.
This October was one of the prettiest I remember in quite some time – lots of warm days, lots of crisp but not cold days, and the nicest leaf colors I’ve seen in a while, even along the interstate on my way from Chicago to Michigan for a quick family visit.
My boyfriend was on the road quite a bit too, so I had some alone time at home, something quite rare over the years that I always enjoy, knowing he will be back. We always give each other plenty of space, and our physical space makes that easy to do, but there is something different when your time is untethered. I always ask myself, whether it is coming back from vacation or time alone at home, what is it I do differently? Is there any reason I couldn’t do that every day anyway? Usually the answer is no.
Plenty of together time going forward, though. We will be leaving, a week earlier than usual, for a long stay down in the Florida Panhandle. My wish list for what I will accomplish is way to ambitious, even for this extended five week stay, but I feel certain that at the minimum I will successfully get my toes in the sand on pretty much a daily basis.
October, 2022
No matter how much you aspire to just letting thoughts pass by, there are times when thoughts just cycle and cycle. I’m not really one for mantras or guided meditations, but sometimes I need a little help to stop the spinning. Some might say that sitting with the discomfort of the obsessive thoughts is the best way to ultimately move past them, but sometimes I just need a circuit breaker. Lately I’ve been using my own version of “be here now”.
Here’s what I do – I repeat silently to myself, as often as I need to, these questions and answers:
Who am I? I am Kate
Where am I? I am here
When am I? I am now
How am I? I am well
What works for me might not work for you, but pretty much all of us at some point might need a little help staying grounded in the moment. What’s your way?
September, 2022
Summer always feels short, and there are always things we wish we had done when the weather was just right, regardless of the season. This picture might be surprising to a lot of people who have an idea of what life is like in a big northern city, especially one that is a favorite media punching bag right now. This is my front yard. This is my Chicago. And this summer, I remembered to take the time, more than I have in the past, to walk across the street from my high rise, put my toes in the sand, and watch the boats, the waves, and a city. Cities are living proof of both the messiness of lots of people living together and the genius and beauty they can create, and when I get to have this and the sand and the water too, I feel pretty blessed and right at home.
September, 2022
I’m carrying on with revisiting some old mixed media paintings – some I knew were unfinished, some I thought might be unfinished. It’s really fun to reword these. This one is an example of a piece I thought might be finished some time ago, but either I was wrong or I have changed since then, because it just demanded to be reworked. It’s always a surprise to see what form that takes – in this case it was clearly more than just a few tweaks. Is it better now, or just different? Am I better now, or just different? More to come.
