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Welcome to this new Gratitude Friday ! Feel free to share with me your (partial or full) gratitude moments in the comments; that way I can hold joy for you ✿ (you know that makes me happy to make you happy).

This week, I am grateful for:

• • Unexpected gifts
  • Sunshine and warmer temperatures
  • Fresh food
  • Sisterhood
  • Finally being back in my ArtCave (aka home studio)
  • Sleep
  • My daughters and husband and Mom
  • All the self-work my Mom is doing for herself
  • Youtube (it is my go-to learning place)
  • Connecting with others
  • Possibilities

What about you ? What made you smile this week ? Share in the comments so you get it out to the world (promise, it feels amazing to do so ! :))

The song for this week:

So much thoughts and feelings

I started journaling again, to get it out as much as possible. When I had my first diary, I was about 7 years old and it was a birthday gift.

Diaries and I have a complex relationship. I resist using them as much as I love using them. Let me explain: I am intense. I feel things strongly and for a very long time, it was either black or white in my world. Now, I love all shades of grey in between. But I am overwhelmed by it all, most of the time. This is why I came to journaling it out, breathing exercises and creativity in every form.

Did you know how cooking can put you down into a meditative state ? I guess it is the repetition of the gestures. And the eventual glass of wine that goes with it 😉

I feel fucking lonely

See, I am an introvert and everything in me points to being awkward and weird when surrounded by people. Even though when I am at ease, I am the goofy talkative type, it is not easy.

I try not to dwell on it but most of the time, I feel fucking lonely. I usually love my me-time but I also have this deep in-my-bones need of having a circle of girlfriends. People who would know me and love me as I am. People to go out with or spend at-home time just being together. Folks who know they can count on me, as well.

But how do I let these persons find me ? How to maintain deep relationships without sounding needy ? If you know, please tell me…

I am a modern witch

I have seen so many times that if you don’t practice you can’t call yourself a “witch”. To those people, I want to say “go fudge yourself” (but I was raised better so I just think it).

For so long, I let my spiritual life on the back burner. I had other priorities, life happened and even though it was still on the back of my mind, I did not do any rituals nor my usual reading to deepen my knowledge.

Becoming a Mom, I wanted my daughters to be raised in an understanding and open home. We won’t force our beliefs on them and we answer all the questions they can have. And when we don’t know ? We simply research and come back to it with them: it is okay not to know.

I am back to daily practice but decided not to put any pressure on myself. To do things my way and at my own pace.

Creativity is saving my life

I am back in my ArtCave and it is becoming a regular thing again. For some unknown reasons, I am waking up earlier than my usual. Even though I should be pissed to be awake at 6am on the weekend, I am excited.

The picture right here is the perfect example of how creativity is saving me. I did this painting on a very tough day emotionally. A day I remember I just wanted to give up, throw the towel and let go. Instead, I literally ran to my Studio, picked the colors of my feelings and went to town.
The results is, to me, the pure essence of my emotions of the moment. Despair, sorrow, mental exhaustion… It is better out than in.

Welcome to this new Gratitude Friday ! Feel free to share with me your (partial or full) gratitude moments in the comments; that way I can hold joy for you ✿ (you know that makes me happy to make you happy).

I am aching all over my lower body as I am writing this and this is when it gets important to remind myself the most important. Yes, I walk funny and moan at every stair I have to climb (up OR down). Yes, it’s been three days of pain already. BUT I have a body that overall functions. Fibromyalgia and other stuff are just details now because I want them to be. Because I choose them to be. My husband and I disagree as he thinks I am putting too much strain on my body working out every day. That 3 or 4 times a week is best. Not for me though and I know because I listen to that envelope of mine. So I am grateful for it. Every morning that I wake up breathing. No matter the level of pain, I am grateful it is still working somehow…

This week, I am grateful for:

• My body getting stronger with every workout
• Never giving in to the temptation of giving up
• The honest love from my BFF Cocotte, and for having her trust
• Being part of such a fun group of creative women representing Strumpet Stencils (Psss: head over my Instagram to discover the ones I received)
• Lush bath products
• Music
• Learning to give less of a shit about others’ opinions about me and/or my family
• The real friendships my daughters are both developing this year
• The care my Mom is putting towards herself and her well-being
• Art journals and creativity
• Something I keep on the low for now but will tell you about in a few months (hopefully)

What about you ?

What’s the things we tend to take for granted that leave you full of Gratitude today ?

I would love to hold space for you when you share with me your Gratitude List in the comment.

This week’s soundtrack:

Welcome to this new Gratitude Friday ! Feel free to share with me your (partial or full) gratitude moments in the comments; that way I can hold joy for you ✿ (you know that makes me happy to make you happy).

This week, I am grateful for:

• Being part of a new Design Team
• Having the choice in my nutrition choices
• Sunshine
• Working out every day and a body that is getting stronger and stronger
• Creativity
• The package received from ColourArte
• Time spent with my kids, together and seperately
• Stress free school mornings
• My husband’s love

What about you ?

Is there any excuse you are finding that keeps you from becoming your best you ? Within you own definitions, not somebody’s 🙂

I would love to hold space for you when you share with me your Gratitude List in the comment.

This week’s soundtrack:

Today is the beginning of the 100 Day Project, initiated by Elle Luna and Lindsay Jean Thompson.

I have participated in the past but this year, I decided to tackle something else than a creative practice in my Studio. Self-portraiture has helped me heal some wounds in the past years and I will focus on that.

Showing pieces of me every day. Defining who I am through the lens of my phone camera. I may be editing or not in order to pass my message.

I will be unapologetically me.

What do I mean by that ? I am not perfect. I am not a photographer. I am not a model. I am just me. A woman in her early 30s trying hard to conciliate her body image and how she feels inside.

I want it to reflect how I see myself on that day. Good and bad.

Here is day #1: