“With every act of self-care your authentic self gets stronger, and the critical, fearful mind gets weaker. Every act of self-care is a powerful declaration: I am on my side, I am on my side, each day I am more and more on my own side.”
-- Susan Weiss Berry
I said to myself, to myself, I said, “You are doing good. You got that list in your head all done.” And then I make a new list. Somewhere in my past, I equated “Goodness: with working and staying busy and doing good, I am giving service to others, I am nurturing others, and doing more…”. But I forget to nurture myself. Sometimes we have to stop in our tracks, or find ourselves stopped in our tracks, and we need to ask ourselves, not if we are worthy, enough, etc., but if we have we nurtured ourselves. We often forget that our emotions rule us. Our emotional health dictates how we feel, no matter where, when, how, we are trying to work through it all.
Remind yourself how strong you are. Imagine going through it all again. Imagine you future now. Yes, there was every experience anyone can imagine and you made it through... yes yes yes, we made it through. We plowed through, we wept through, we thought we would never get through… but we did... here we are… no matter the way we limp through, no matter the times we fall into that deep hole of feeling we can not make it another day…we did. We do. We did. We can. In spite of ourselves, sometimes.
Self-worth is a mighty hand in our lives and lifts us up when nothing or no one else can. We need to nurture that in ourselves. We need to give ourselves flowers.. oh, yes.. Comes the Dawn
"Comes the
Dawn"
"After a while you learn the subtle difference
between holding a hand and chaining a soul.
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
and company isn't security.
(Kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises.)
After awhile you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes open,
with the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child.
And you learn to build your roads on today
because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain
and the inevitable has a way of crumbling in mid-flight.
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns
if you stand too long in one place.
So, you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone else to bring you flowers.
And you learn you really can endure,
that you really do have worth.
You learn that with every good-bye comes the dawn."
Author Unknown
In an art journal page, there is something so evocative about lines. Finding a way to use lines can really enhance a page. This page has simple straight lines around the three aspects of the theme. Repeating lines can define forms. Sometimes you can use straight lines and then curve around a subject or object. (You know the hand and line making an optical illusion? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0teupIUsNXI )
There is no rule or set way to do it. Experiment with line. Mine is simplistic but works for this page. Let it be intuitive and see what magic happens.
©Carol Desjarlais 7.1.22
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