Mabel Magazine | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

We’ve been in Waldport at the beach almost a whole month now. We have just a few days left and then we’ll pack up and head back to Colorado — the heat, our garden, our own bed, our “normal” life. I haven’t been blogging or even online much while we’ve been here. It’s been a nice break, but I’m also feeling ready to get back.

This morning, while eating some delicious marionberry pie for breakfast after our walk on the beach, I listened to Jamie Ridler’s latest episode of Creative Living with Jamie. Lately she’s done some extra special podcasts, one with Natalie Goldberg and another with Lisa Congdon.

In the intro, Jamie always says “Who knows, one day I just might be talking to you.” Guess what…she did! In today’s episode, Jamie is interviewing me! It was so much fun to talk with her, to contemplate and answer her questions, get to tell my story.

Image by Kat McNally

The other place I showed up is in the first issue of Mabel Magazine. Because we’ve been gone, not home to get our mail, I haven’t looked at the real copy yet, but my friend Kat was nice enough to post a picture of my article on Instagram so I could at least see it. I can’t wait to hold the issue in my own hands. So many of my favorite people contributed.

And for those who have been missing it, just know I’ve already started collecting stuff for the return of Something Good on Monday July 21st. That first post just might be a long one.

I wrote a guest post for Laura Simms at Create as Folk, Becoming Who We Know We Are. The picture above is the one she created to go with the post. I’ve been thinking (and writing and talking) a lot about this lately, how important it is to just begin, to give yourself permission and make space, to go ahead and start.

The prompt this morning from my 5 year journal was, “If you didn’t have any responsibilities for the day, what would you do?” The list I made was exactly what how I plan on spending my time when we get to Oregon in a few weeks: Sleep in. Write and meditate. Do yoga. Eat good food. Nap. Read. Watch TV. Sit in the backyard. Take a walk.

This reminded me of an article I read over 15 years ago on Escape from America, a magazine dedicated to helping people relocate to other countries, live as expatriates. I was reading it at that time because Eric and I used to fantasize about moving to another country, specifically Australia. In an article about making a big move, a huge change in your life, the author recommended that you live as closely as you can now to the life you dream of, rather than waiting. Don’t wait until you retire or move to Australia. Start living as close as you can to your dream life now.

The argument the author made was if you do this, you’ll be happier now, rather than later — and we all know that none of us are guaranteed a later. The author explained that maybe you’ll find out that you don’t really like what you’ve imagined and save yourself from waking up on an island somewhere with no electricity having sold and changed everything only to find yourself missing your old life, still unsatisfied with where you find yourself. Or you might make some changes and live that dream life now, realizing you don’t have to move or retire or make any other drastic change to have what you want.

It’s a good lesson, one that I encounter over and over: don’t wait. In my own words from my guest post, “Stop thinking about it, stop wishing for it, and start.” I also wrote a piece for Mabel Magazine about beginning (the issue comes out in June), and said something similar:

Image by Mabel Magazine

What tiny step can you take today, right now, towards your dream? What can you do to begin to live a life that reflects what matters to you, what you love? It can be the smallest thing, but that action is like a prayer, a promise, medicine and magic. Give yourself permission, kind and gentle reader. Stop waiting for something to happen and happen.