this is my practice.

The "My Practice" necklace is your chance to think about what you currently want to invite into your life and claim it with a hand stamped word paired with kyanite and amethyst to really support you as you stand tall in the life you want to live.

This is the necklace I've been wearing for the last few weeks. Mine is hand stamped with the word "allow," which has become one of those words that keeps appearing in my life. Allowing all the feelings. Allowing for the possibility that I can choose to make little moves each day toward the life I want. Allowing those around me to show up as them just as I want to show up as me. Allowing for more abundance, more love, more in-person connection, more community.

When you order this necklace, you choose a word that represents your current practice. Yes, this could be your word of the year, but it could also be the soul care practice you're calling in right now or even just the feeling you most want in your life. Perhaps you have begun to notice, like I did, a word that keeps appearing again and again and is almost demanding that you pay attention, so you feel called to bring it into your life in this tangible way.

After I hand stamp you word/short phrase on this brass bar, it is then paired with a gorgeous wire wrapped kyanite teardrop gemstone to invite in clear communication and to help you speak whatever you need to say as you live this practice. And a sweet little faceted amethyst is added to invite in a sense of balance, peacefulness, and calm. These three special pieces hang from a thick brass jump ring to give you a gorgeous focal point for your practice.

I imagine you reaching for this necklace and holding it when you need to be reminded that you know the next step you want to take. Yes yes yes.

You can find the limited edition My Practice necklace right here.

we practice

Ellie Jane paints

I watch her practice as she stacks blocks, when she organizes her bows, when she sees what happens when she gently pets our dog or uses a new word or pours water back and forth from cup to cup in the bath. She is practicing how to move through the world, cause and effect, and how to interact with other living creatures. She is practicing being human. Practicing is her path.

Somewhere along the way so many of us decide that focusing on what we are good at (or told we are good at) has more value than practicing what interests us or even listening to the deep longings within to slow down, to write, to paint, to sit in the quiet and breathe. We let go of the space practicing creates and fill it with "to dos" and the things we must learn.

But this is not the way of the two year old. I see my daughter's curiosity appear as thought bubbles above her head. "What will happen if I dip the yellow paint right into the orange?" "I am going to makes lots of blue dots now." There is no fear of making the painting "too muddy" or "too busy" or "too colorful," there is only color + water + possibility.

As Kelly and I begin the Chickadee Road Studio Sessions today, I'm thinking about how powerful it is to circle with women who are open to cultivating a practice again. Who want to find out what happens when they dip the paintbrush into the orange paint. Women who are ready to let go of what they are supposed to be doing for a little while and spend time with what their hearts are asking them to do.

There is still time to join us. Registration will be open through Tuesday. Find out more here.

today...

Today I let go of how I thought things would unfold and tried to just stay present amidst the grumps of a one year old.

Today I woke up almost choking on grief and missing after a dream about a house in South Carolina.

Today I called a friend just to hear her voice and I was gently held across the miles.

Today I wished for sparkly purple eyeshadow but settled for the dark blue with a few sparkles I found in the drawer even though it made me look more tired. 

Today I ate two meals while standing in the kitchen.

Today I watched my daughter point to the birds in the trees when I said, "Do you see the chickadees?"

Today I watched the eighth Harry Potter movie twice (during nap time and after everyone else was in bed).

Today I dusted off the altar in the family room and rearranged it and gave it a new focus as I burned the Earth candle all afternoon.

Today I received some truly beautiful emails from my Create Space students that reminded me that this work is what I feel called to do.

Today I stood outside under the blue sky and remembered to breathe.

Today I took photos of necklaces layered on Betty and began to upload a few to the shop.

Today I stained my fingers with frozen blueberries as Ellie and I shared a bowl to help the grumps.

Today I gave myself the gift of several mugs of tea.

Today I lived in big and small ways and somehow found my way to keep my heart open to all of it.

the practice

seeking the beauty in the quiet moments

we continue to really be in summer over here; there is a permission given to relax and laugh and get outside and watch movies and rest and just be a little family together. i recently wrote this in an email, "time is flying by as i am finally sinking into living after so many months of survival mode. i didn't even realize i was still in it until i was out of it." it does feel like we are coming out of hiberation after months of worry and so so many doctor's appointments and how the list goes on. ellie continues to be doing great overall...growing...hopefully growing out of her other two heart issues. time will tell as always.

i have been thinking about this idea of how sometimes we don't even realize we are in survival mode until we are out of it. how the body and mind adjust to what must be done. how we protect ourselves in order to focus on what seems to be or is important. how my mind can distract me with its swirling, twirling ways. how this little grey with an apple on top box of wonder that holds worlds can distract me too. but then something will shift to quiet my mind. there will be a slowing down...a noticing...an invitation to be right here.

as i work on some current projects (including the i-am-so-excited-about-this content for emerge), i am observing how my practice of trying to be right here through photography and writing and creating in my studio and reading poetry and taking a breath or two or three has given me a map of sorts to get through the times of survival mode.

this idea of having a practice that you work with (as much as possible) daily means you practice on the good days where you have so much energy and your outlook is "hello world. bring it." it means you practice on the days when you stay in your pajamas and eat ice cream for breakfast. and again on the days when it rains and hails and when the sun shines so bright you have to leave the grumps behind. you practice on those usual sort of days so that when you suddenly encounter a day that finds you in a hospital or standing next to the phone after hearing something that has changed life forever or walking the path of grief and loss and sadness or even when you have just had a simple shift that confuses you or when something beautiful is going to take you on an adventure and you fear you will not find your way...

you practice so that when you encounter those "i have no idea where i am" sort of days, you will find a bit of light because you will see that hand in the darkness in the form of your practice. you will find light as you take a photo that captures the realness of a moment. you will find light as your write down every word that lives inside your fear. you will find light inside a poem written by someone else from another time who pushes you to know you are not alone. you will find light inside sitting in the quiet and letting the space around your heart grow with each breath.

you practice to begin to notice the beauty, the joy, the truth that is (always) there.

you practice to find the light. 

you practice.

you practice.