How to Cope When Things Feel Hard

(art above from my new project: Pachydermal Advice from Alice for Opening Your Heart )
It seems like a heck of a time to be living right now. My heart is breaking for all and the enormity of the challenges facing those in the fires in LA. I’m grateful that my sister Maria her husband Scott and two doggies, who all live in Altadena, got to safety and their home is OK (at this moment). Many of her neighbors lost everything.
So much change is swirling and, some days, the changes can feel terrifying or unimaginable.
How do we cope? We treat ourselves with tender care. We do our spiritual practices. We gather. We pick up the 10,000 pound phone and call each other.
WE, the helpers and healers must guard our gifts, so that we can share them when they are needed. I have been dipping back into my “How Good Are You Willing to Let It Get” book to support myself in the mornings. The wisdom from Alice helps me keep the focus inward on the things I can change and the wisdom to know what it is I cannot change. Maybe this book could be a friend for you too now?
Here’s this week’s list of my favorite GROWTH FOOD for humans!
1. The Quote That Reminded Me of My Possibilities:
“When someone makes a decision [she] is really diving into the strong current that will carry [her] to places [she] had never dreamed of when [she] first made the decision. When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it.”
Paolo Coelho, the Alchemist
I reread the book in December and savored the truth that omens and beasties and “signs” are all so very helpful along the path…
2. Explore my Guatemala Sketchbook. It was so good to get time to focus on my heart. I found much inspiration for my art on this adventure with one of my shaman teachers, Rainer Schurenbrand. His music is out of this world. I take you on a 6 minute tour of my sketchbook here.
3. When It Is Too Cold (or too smoky) To Walk Outside. I have been into dabbling in gentle-ish exercise videos again. Back in college days I was a Jane Fonda FREAK. I have always loved to move to music. This one I did this AM got me 5000 steps in 30 minutes! I love this youtuber also- always uplifting!
4. Messy Is Also Beautiful. Years ago, my sister Maria paid me the highest compliment. She said something like,
“I love coming to your house— it’s so relaxed. You don’t keep everything so perfect like mom. There’s stuff around. It feels so comfy”.
Our momma was a school teacher and probably had more frontal lobe horsepower than me (for order and systems)…….my house reflects my more freeform sensibilities.
A lovely friend shared an article with me- and being born to FREAK (aka ADHD diagnosis) I could not agree more!
From the article:
“For years, it felt like I failed the aesthetic litmus test for
being grown-up and put together. But four years ago,
I accepted something that freed me
and brought unexpected joy: I am messy.”
My own kitchen counters are not clear and my art studio is often in wild disarray…but I am OK and it is OK.
I do require periods of cleaning and decluttering to refresh my brain periodically also.
If you’re messy and told something is wrong with you I hope you find peace in this essay!
My studio in pretty TIDY conditions.
5. Alice’s Advice for Opening Your Heart. I think I have landed on my 30 day BEAM project- here is my first go at it. Will you join us? This is going to be WONDERFUL.
“Don’t turn your face away from the suffering. Stare into the monster’s maw. The fear. The terror. The despair. Look directly and and breathe deep into your belly. If panic rises…try to relax and lean back —use your open heart like an overstuffed recliner. Rest there. Breathe. Keep looking. You may cry. You may feel at peace. It’s ok. You will not die. You will be OK.”
~Alice the Elephant, Pachydermal Advice for Opening Your Heart
🍌Is 2025 the year you’ll exercise your creative powers?
🍌Join our 30 day BEAM experience!
🍌January 28 is day 1 of creating! Do your project for 15 minutes, photograph and share to our group!
🍌Repeat for 30 days (the group is warm, safe and no feedback is ever given- except, of course, your own!
🍌February 27th gather to reflect + celebrate the work we have done…and consider how to proceed!
Learn more + register! It’s just $50.00!
Some creative ideas to get you started:
20. Draw a tarot (or other card) each day and reflect on how the symbol relates to your life.
21. Read 3 pages of a book that’s important to you each day and reflect on what it means to you.
22. Do a doodle in response to a random paragraph out of your favorite book.
23. Creating a fresh food mandala.
24, Meditate for 10 minutes after you read a passage from a meaningful book.
25. Cut up 3-5 pieces of your favorite writer’s work and create #foundpoetry
26. Read a poem and paint a 2 inches x 2 inches watercolor to express your feelings about it.
27. Paint flowers on your kitchen wall.
28. Remember 30 rooms you’ve been in and journal about what you did there and what it meant to you.
29. Create art around 30 of your favorite quotes.
30. Start your memoir by writing the first sentence of 30 chapters.
Learn more + register! It’s just $50.00!
with love,
Sarah
P.S. Have you received your boundaries workbook already? If so, I would be SO grateful to you if you’d write a brief positive review at Amazon- these reviews help authors like me SO MUCH! Thank you!
P.S. Beginning January 28th, we are going to practice adding one small CREATIVE habit for 30 days…it will be a mini-creative soul retrieval! You can learn more here and register.
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