STRETCHING OUR CAPACITY

Three of my favorite tools from 2022, Recommendations from December, Taking a chance on something new, and more...

Hello, Dears!

As we move into Christmas week and begin to ease toward wrapping up 2022, I wanted you to know what a joy it remains to be here with you and how very much I appreciate your support of this creative adventure. Thank you!

December’s subscriber-only newsletter is a hodgepodge of interesting things that have come my way this month as well as my favorite practices for leaning into the goodness of a new year.

In 2022, I was inspired by Austin Kleon to take a bit more care in tracking my days and capturing bits I want to remember from the year in an easeful, playful way. I’ve loved adding these simple tools and practices to my day and will continue using them in 2023.

1. A Quote Diary. I bought a five-year diary and use it to record a quote a day. I love discovering inspiring and clarifying quotes. Admittedly, this is the journal I lapsed in most frequently, sometimes missing whole months, but the quotes I did write would have been lost perhaps forever had I not noted them, and I shall do better this year. It’s already a treasure.

2. Daily Diary or Journal. This is a blank, unlined soft-cover notebook, where I am free to doodle, make gratitude lists, sketch a bird, collage, make notes about something I love, or whatever tickles my fancy that day. This is a ZERO-STRESS daily journal, but looking back through the pages from last year, so much more was captured than I realized at the time. Another treasure.

3. A logbook. While all this might feel like overkill to some of you, this little hardcover diary allowed me to track my activities on any given day. Loose and easy, I just noted my general activities each day. Sometimes I forgot and had to go back and note them the next day. It’s a great way to see how you use your time and where you place your attention. And if you are ever subpoenaed for court, you’ll have an alibi.: )

If you’d like to dive deeper into these tools or see exactly what I use, check this post from February.

Who remembers these? : )

Santa, is it you?

I met an old man on the village green yesterday, lame and frost bitten and ruddy and white haired who told me he had had goose for dinner and “really thought he was the happiest old man in the world.” He looked so convinced of it and so stealthy as though happiness was not altogether respectable that I told him he was a credit to the race and upon which he shambled off to the public house, and I nearly followed.

Virginia Woolf
Letter to Violet Dickinson
28th December 1906

The Letters of Virginia Woolf, Volume 1

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FOOD FUN FOR MY FAMILY:

Looking for a fun little snack board? I’m making this Snowman Winter Wonderland snack board for my family this week. It’s from the book, Beautiful Boards by Maegan Brown/ The BakerMama. My youngest daughter, Aiyana wants us all to watch a movie together over the holidays and this will be the perfect little snack board to accompany it. I adore snowmen so I’m excited to make this and it’s relatively healthy. You can find BakerMama here.

Stretching Our Abilities:

An Update On My First Hip Hop Class In My 60’s

Boundless Company Photo via Impulse Dance and Fitness

This past Spring, I decided to give myself the gift of a Hip Hop class. I’ve always wanted to learn and just never made the time. I do have some dance background via years of musical theatre, but I have never tried Hip Hop. I kept hearing myself tell friends that I wanted to take a hip-hop class, but I never really took action. This Spring, I finally did.

It was a weekly dose of challenge and fun, culminating in newfound friendships and our performance this month to a sold-out house. Boundless, was produced by Impulse Dance and Fitness at the Griffen Concert Hall at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

I love this company because they “provide accessible adult dance opportunities that cultivate community, expression, and happiness. Impulse is a space for adults to come together and support one another in positive self-expression and personal growth – all through the art of dance!” I felt encouraged, accepted, and celebrated!

While my body doesn’t recover at 62 as quickly as it once did, I feel alive and empowered when I dance. It’s worth the aches that often follow. I am grateful that I have a place to go to learn more and to keep dancing. I hope to still be dancing into my 80s!

How can we each stretch ourselves into new spaces and ways of being in the new year? It doesn’t have to mean Hip-Hop, but is there a hobby or pursuit that you have been delaying giving yourself? Is there something you have heard yourself say repeatedly that you wanted to do, and you haven’t begun? What if you took the first baby step toward it? What joy might be waiting for you?