“When your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete” Buddha
It’s been such a whirlwind few weeks around here.
Full, exciting, challenging. I continue to stretch myself in lots of new ways, learning new information and negotiating for what I need, buying supplies to set myself up for success. I’ve done a lot less painting than I’d like, as the preparations for Greenfest and other pressing projects take center stage.
I’ve also slept a lot less than I’d like and am feeling the effects. I was talking to a friend the other day and told her I’ve failed to keep up a good sleeping schedule lately. Going to sleep by 10 instead of 12 has been a goal of mine lately, but it’s been too hard.
She stopped me and told me to listen to the words I’d used: failed, hard.
While I would never tell someone else so pointedly that they’d failed at something, I’m quick to use that word for myself. When we regularly interpret our experiences in the world as being hard, how and where can we ever find ease?
Two reminders emerged for me from this conversation: the first is that words have weight, especially the words we use to color our own experiences. The second is that it’s never too late to correct a course that’s not working. Ignoring my self-care doesn’t mean I’ve failed myself, but rather that I’m learning more information about where my limits lie.
And that’s a beautiful, important lesson in self-compassion. Thank you Leah for your wisdom!
♥ ♥ ♥
When I last updated I was working on a new painting and shared an in-progress shot. Here’s the photo I shared:
I received a lot of fun feedback about what I could add to finish up the painting. Thank you! I knew I wanted to add some more animals, and the suggestion to add whales stuck with me for a few days until I decided to add them in. Whales! They’ve always been a favorite of mine.
I mocked up some whales on paper first, to get a sense of the scale that I wanted:
I let them swim across the painting like this for a few days until I felt certain that they wanted to be there. Then I painted them in:
I love them! Truly do.
The final painting will be ready to share in my next blog post.
♥ ♥ ♥
And sketches!
Friends, I’m so excited by the recent updates in my sketching adventure.
Here’s what I’ve been working on lately:
I love, love, love bears. They’ve always meant a lot to me and I admire their strength and fierce protection of their cubs, their instinctual knowledge of when to slow down and hibernate, heal, rest. They’re just amazing animals.
The second update is that I decided to up my sketching game and so I got some markers. Look at these colors! I also adopted my sister’s marker collection, kept in a well-loved old case that belonged to our late aunt (so special). Eric and I are going on vacation soon with family and I’m excited for some unstructured time to sketch / color.
Here’s my first quick sketching experiment, just getting to know some of the colors:
♥ ♥ ♥
Prep for Greenfest continues! We’ve been buying what feels like tons of supplies (everything from a tent to extra paper!) and brainstorming how we want the booth to feel at the festival. I started printing some inventory so we could imagine filling up the booth with art.
We set up the tent in my parents’ backyard to figure out what we still need. Here I am feeling super thankful to be in the shade, as it’s been SO hot in Philadelphia lately.
Then it was time to play around with some prints and note cards. We’re currently scouring eBay and other sites for fun bins, old wooden crates, walls for hanging, and other methods of displaying art. I’ll share more when we start putting together our display.
♥ ♥ ♥
Now: let’s take a moment and remember that today is not about success vs. failure or easy vs. hard. Today is about reaching into those moments that feel challenging and asking what needs my attention here? what needs my love?
When you find that spot, send all of your compassion and gentle tenderness right there.
Today I’m sending my love to all of us who try to do it all and can’t quite fit everything in. We’re not failing! Not even a little bit.
We’re simply learning… and that shift in thinking feels like a release. Thank you, perspective. Thank you, compassion.
With love,
The post When self-compassion is the answer (hint: it always is) appeared first on .