January was all about letting go of the end of 2017. I came out of the Christmas period slowly - I think I was so relaxed after creating some lovely Christmas memories at home, I was very slow to get going this year. Normally I would have been pushing myself back to work and to get things done, but this year with my focus on delight and self care I found myself much more gentle with myself. I made a few commitments to myself, and set out to honour these through the month.
Going with the flow...
I think this was partly acknowledging the weather and the spirit of the season. One thing I did notice with other creatives is just how hard it can be to stop, or slow down and work at the pace that your body is telling you to. We are a very "busy" society and slowing down and listening to yourself and what you need feels a little wrong, and that you'll somehow be seen as a "slacker" and that you really should be more productive. Of course, there are some times that we have to do things - but if we have the choice, what is it with feeling guilty that we can go with that flow which may actually be better for us? I had to give myself permission to go at that pace, and also trust that the pace would pick up if I allowed myself that space to follow the flow of what was unfolding. It's good to be slow but it's definitely not my natural place to spend all my time. Even knowing that helped me to know that the pace would soon pick up, but that I was OK to slow down and enjoy and be grateful for the flexibility I had to work that way.
A regular affirmative practice...
It felt a little like I hadn't made much space at all for being creative and actually painting for some time - I was busy at the end of the year with getting things listed and selling in my etsy shop and in local sales events, which was amazing, but I wanted to make a definite commitment to myself to get back into the creative flow. For me it helps to keep me grounded, and one of the good things is that it doesn't have to be a piece that takes all day. I started creating these daily self care prompts and pictures that I posted on my Instagram account, and it was just so lovely to be both creating them and sharing them and seeing some of the comments that others had about their own self care.
These are all the pieces that I created and shared in January. It felt so good to be able to take a step back and look at them together at the end of the month. I'm looking forwards to continuing this selfcare practice in January.
Meditation and awareness and migraines Oh My!
I've been getting migraines for a while and a weekend locally learning on a teach meditation masterclass was just amazing. I came back completely refreshed and inspired, and for one of the few times since I've done a learning event, completely migraine free! I felt so relaxed it's helped me to get into a good space to start meditating again, just short bursts that I do at home around 10 minutes at a time, but it makes me feel so much more grounded and relaxed than not taking that time. I've also been more aware of my time online (although asked my husband and he hadn't seen a huge difference, so I definitely still have work to do in that area!!) and also I've not been drinking to see if that helps with not triggering a bad head, something I've been wondering about for a little while.
So January feels like it has been a great starting point for my own selfcare, and for starting creativity back into the daily flow of my life too. I'm looking forwards to the energy level picking up a little as we move into Spring.
You can keep up to date with my February selfcare pictures over on my Instagram - do pop over, say hello and leave me a comment with your own selfcare stories!