As you know from my work, I love color!! I find it to be an incredible source of joy, a life enhancer….everything is better with color!! I make my food colorful and choose colored plates that compliment my food, coordinate my under garments with my outfits and jewelry, organize my closet by color, have colorful art from all corners of the world in my home and studio, and always have colorful flowers at home. All of these things make for a life that has a lot of visual richness. I feel strongly that the details are what life is about, what makes up most of our days, so we need to make them enriching and meaningful. I am very intentional about how I want to experience life. There is a lot of pain in the world, and I get affected by this, so it is a matter of survival for me to find ways to highlight all the beauty that exists parallel to the cruelty and ugliness. I am not interested in burying my head in the sand about all the injustice and destruction, as I find that unjustifiable and feel strongly about standing up for what is right, but I need to uplift myself to be able to show up at my best and not be crushed by all that I find heartbreaking.
As time goes on and we continue to shelter in place, social distance, and with all the social injustice issues going on I am finding myself starting to be emotionally affected by it all. I have had to ramp up my self care in all of the ways I know how to nurture my spirit. I am having to really be proactive about doing things that are nourishing, and make my day to day fulfilling, and uplifting. Color has been a huge tool to uplift, and make life vibrant. I want to share some of what I have been doing and really encourage you to try it, and see if it is helpful to you too! Just try and see….
As time goes on and we continue to shelter in place, social distance, and with all the social injustice issues going on I am finding myself starting to be emotionally affected by it all. I have had to ramp up my self care in all of the ways I know how to nurture my spirit. I am having to really be proactive about doing things that are nourishing, and make my day to day fulfilling, and uplifting. Color has been a huge tool to uplift, and make life vibrant. I want to share some of what I have been doing and really encourage you to try it, and see if it is helpful to you too! Just try and see….
ARRANGE YOUR FOOD BEAUTIFULLY & SET THE TABLE FOR YOURSELF
I love to arrange my food on a beautiful plate and make it look aesthetic, what can I say I am a visual person. I set the table with beautiful place mats or eat out in my backyard looking at the plants and birds who abound despite my hunter cats. This is something I started doing for myself after I got divorced and noticed that I loved doing that while married and once I was living alone I no longer did for myself. I realized that love was what had motivated me to do it while married, and I was not being loving to myself and needed to change the messaging. As women we enjoy nurturing others, but sometimes forget to do it for ourselves!
DRESS UP IN SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE COLORFUL CLOTHES & JEWELRY
I can’t remember where I heard “dress how you want to feel”, but this has been such a great tool for me over the years. Sometimes I wake up in a great mood and feel like dressing up, but other times it’s the opposite. On the days that I am feeling meh, I find that wearing something colorful and beautiful makes me feel better, and more alive. I usually go to see live music and dance, and these are great occasions to wear something nice. Now that those activities are no longer an option, I am finding that I have to dress up for myself once in a while, as this is a form of self expression that I enjoy. One of the great things about dressing up for staying home is that you can be as wild as you want and will not get all the unwanted attention or judgement, so you can do whatever you want!!!
I can’t remember where I heard “dress how you want to feel”, but this has been such a great tool for me over the years. Sometimes I wake up in a great mood and feel like dressing up, but other times it’s the opposite. On the days that I am feeling meh, I find that wearing something colorful and beautiful makes me feel better, and more alive. I usually go to see live music and dance, and these are great occasions to wear something nice. Now that those activities are no longer an option, I am finding that I have to dress up for myself once in a while, as this is a form of self expression that I enjoy. One of the great things about dressing up for staying home is that you can be as wild as you want and will not get all the unwanted attention or judgement, so you can do whatever you want!!!
WEAR YOUR GOOD JEWELRY WITH WHATEVER YOU ARE WEARING
Those who know me, know that I wear my good jewelry all the time. My thinking is that if you don’t wear it, it’s the same as not having it. Sometimes I wear things at home that go in the safe when I go out. I wear things for me first, then for others, it’s about how they make YOU feel! That doesn’t mean I don’t like to go out into the world feeling good about how I am presenting myself, but that is not my main motivator.
TAKE A NEIGHBORHOOD WALK AND TAKE PHOTOS OF ALL THE BEAUTIFUL PLANTS AND FLOWERS
This has been so great, I am discovering so many beautiful flowers and plants. I love all the colors and textures, and am loving getting to see all the gorgeous gardens in my neighborhood. My favorite thing about smartphones is that they have great cameras!!!
Those who know me, know that I wear my good jewelry all the time. My thinking is that if you don’t wear it, it’s the same as not having it. Sometimes I wear things at home that go in the safe when I go out. I wear things for me first, then for others, it’s about how they make YOU feel! That doesn’t mean I don’t like to go out into the world feeling good about how I am presenting myself, but that is not my main motivator.
TAKE A NEIGHBORHOOD WALK AND TAKE PHOTOS OF ALL THE BEAUTIFUL PLANTS AND FLOWERS
This has been so great, I am discovering so many beautiful flowers and plants. I love all the colors and textures, and am loving getting to see all the gorgeous gardens in my neighborhood. My favorite thing about smartphones is that they have great cameras!!!
BUY FLOWERS FOR YOUR HOUSE
This is something I have been doing for a couple of decades and love. Flowers bring beauty, color, fragrance and life into your home. Do it, you deserve it!!!
This is something I have been doing for a couple of decades and love. Flowers bring beauty, color, fragrance and life into your home. Do it, you deserve it!!!
Leave a comment