Category Archives: Vacation

Full Strawberry Moon Dreamboard

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From Jamie’s post: “The Full Strawberry Moon, the Full Honey Moon, the Full Rose Moon, what evocative names for this luscious, sensual moon. As we began to gather our supplies and images beneath the new moon, I invite you to consider the question, ‘What would I love to delight in this month?’  Let this moon set you free to dream with wild abandon, to bust through any barriers that have been in your way. Fill your dreamboard with whatever stirs your spirit and catches your soul – without censorship. Let yourself experience the luscious abundance of this moon and fill your dreamboard to overflowing. Let the pictures drip off the sides of the page.  Run wild with your dreams under this full Strawberry moon.”

What would I love to delight in this month?

freeing the mind
freeing the body
sweet dreams
fresh living

breathe
tucked in
easy, enjoy
drift off

something beautiful is happening
summer in motion
make every day a celebration
be gentle

journeys and destinations
get up
go
run
breathe
work it out
stretch it out
get out there

it’s life
a crazy happy life

The image of a person diving in to the water, diving in, jumping in and being submerged, immersed in life. At some point, there’s no more preparation or planning to do, you simply have to jump, (or walk away, stay stuck and numb).

Peonies, for some reason I’m obsessed with them right now, they are so full, lush and tender.

Water color paints, a flower wheel of blue. I am painting a bit, trying to stretch my creative boundaries, move beyond my comfort zone, and the blue is for the ocean, the beach, where we’ll spend a month this summer. That’s also why the book case, nightstand, all in white and blue, because there will be much reading and rest.

A woman napping in a boat, movement and rest. These are two things I crave, hunger for, would love to delight in, caring for my body, being in my body, moving and resting my body.

Typewriter and hands making an offering. These are both the same, the writing and the offering, my tender open heart, sharing it in the hopes of easing suffering.

And a strawberry–strawberry moon.

Three Truths and One Wish

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cover of my new journal from rifle paper company, reminds me of the wallpaper in my great aunt magdelaine’s bedroom (except that it was pink)

I started this post today with this simple writing prompt: “What do I know to be true right now?”

1. Truth: My house won’t be any cleaner just because I’m on vacation. Oh dear reader, I had such plans to be better, do better–stronger, faster, cleaner. And yet, only a few days in, I’ve decided to let that go. There is nothing magic or special about vacation. There’s still work that needs done and still not enough time to do everything I have planned–and that’s going to have to be okay.

2. Truth: The days aren’t magically longer because I’m on vacation. Another expectation I had about this vacation that I am letting go early on is that somehow the days would stretch out before me like forever. That I would lose track of time in a sense of endless bliss, feeling like years had passed between sunrise and sunset, like the way summer vacation felt when I was a kid. Now don’t get me wrong, I hope to have a few days like that, maybe even a few weeks, but I’m okay if the entire almost three months doesn’t feel that way every minute.

3. Truth: I need to learn to rest and play. At the workshop with Brene’ Brown this weekend, reviewing the guideposts for wholehearted living, the things to cultivate and the things to let go that she writes about in The Gifts of Imperfection, I felt pretty good about most of them. I am clearly still working on “cultivating self-compassion and letting go of perfectionism” and “cultivating calm and stillness and letting go of anxiety as a lifestyle,” but I am making such good progress.

The one place that I need to do some real work is with “cultivating rest and play and letting go of exhaustion as a status symbol.” I’ve mentioned before how now that I’m finally moving, it’s so hard for me to stop–I feel like I’ve already wasted so much time. But, Brene’ reminded us this weekend that if we rush the work, the work won’t be as good as it could be, and that this is a life we are living, we don’t want to rush our way to the end, and we want to enjoy it and contribute something of value so we need to cultivate the things that keep us strong, to “respect our body’s need for renewal.”

One Wish: That we can all soften and lean in to joy, whether we are on vacation or not, wherever we find it. And that we remember we can stop, sleep, rest, even quit if we need to, that there is wisdom in being gentle and kind with ourselves, brilliance in slowing down.