Today I opened up to a list of 50 Things I Love that I wrote back in the fall.
Do you have a pen handy? If so, do yourself a favor, and write down 50 things you love. It is affirming and—if all goes well—you’ll end up with a list of 58 or 62 or 75!
The ones on my list that cheered me on this sunny winter day
(when I’m getting a little tired of winter):
5. A hot bath
8. Rob Ryan artwork
12. Riding a bike (soon, soon…)
14. PIE. Cherry pie (1st) Apple next, then pecan.
15. Painting outside (not soon enough)
19. foggy mornings.
20. A corn dog once a year (Tunbridge Fair)
24. Gypsy jazz
30. Getting dirty in the garden (by April? Hopefully. May, certainly)
32. Finding a treasure in my local thrift store
24. Bells on horses
38. Starting a painting
39. Finishing a painting
42. Taking pictures with L
45. Chicken pie
47. Rearranging furniture
50. Vermont general stores
You get the idea. Pick up a pen. Write it down.
This was an exercise from a wonderful online class taught by Kim Klassen. Kim is a sweet, gentle soul, who is a great photographer and an advocate for writing your wildest dreams into reality. It sounds akin to witchcraft, and it had moments of magic, for certain. At the heart of it was the daily practice of writing things down, owning them, and believing in them. After the one week class, I took a six week more intensive session that built on that writing practice.
The notebooks I filled during the class—yes, that is plural, notebooks—are now a fertile place I browse when I’m feeling stuck. There is a lot of optimism in those pages, which some days was harder to embrace than others. I made notebooks about making art, family relationships, the political divide in this country, and I let my juicy ink flow with high hopes and lofty visions. Many which are pie in the sky, but many which are coming to fruition.
