To See Us Through The Long Dark: Life Is A Verb

Life Is A Verb: Become You

Hello lovely. :)

 

Stay In The Loop! Like me on Facebook!  This is where news about BOD content release, emergencies, etc. will be posted in future. I am also planning a contest for my 'likers' very, very soon, so connect and stay tuned!

It's Monday! This newsletter contains our last "LIAV" dispatch along with your Monday full spread video. 

 

Some Thoughts On Part III

 

Become You

 

I've been mulling over the final chapter and the epilogue for a little while now. When last week hit the family hard with Kidling Marital Issues, I had to step back from pretty much everything, be honest with myself and let myself go under a little. It was good. I sank. I mused. I introspected. I journaled. I arted and arted and arted. And the conclusion I finally came to was this:

 

I can't live my children's lives for them. I can only live my own. I can only do the thing I was put on this planet to do:

 

Become Myself. 

 

That's it. The rest of what has happened, what is happening and what will happening server as ways of doing that. My story is, in fact, a series of events that were perfectly designed to make me ME. 

 

Here's What I Found Super Impact-ful:

 

"As e.e. cummings once wrote, "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." After bowing to the wind, being blown into one thing and another - even if they were successful and rewarding - in 2005 I began to right myself, stick my roots deeper into earth, resist the wind, tell my own story, not the one I felt I should tell..." (pg. 202)

 

This is me, right down to the year. I felt kissed by an angel when I read this: known, called out, and embraced by some loving universal force. 

 

I heard this ringing in my ears:

 

"You want to know what you've been up to? The only work that matters. You've been up to becoming you. Congratulations. You get it."

 

And I grinned and hugged myself and blew kisses to the wind that blew through my companions, the trees in my backyard. 

 

As though the Universe was conspiring to give me a gold star moment, I found this in my newsfeed on Facebook:

 

   

(From Brave Girls Club which you can also find onFacebook)

 

As soon as I saw it, I shared it with my Sisterhood and included the following musings:

 

When you say "This is where I'm at" and you accept that you are there, and only you can change it, suddenly, you are empowered. So many people choose denial over acceptance and self-inquiry. If there is anything I have to impart to my beloved sisters and friends, it is this: Know yourself. Work at it. Acknowledge where you've failed. Apologize when you should. Trumpet your victories. Live authentically. There is nothing better. Nothing. I'm living proof.

 

The Epilogue Rocked, Too.

 

The thought of writing your obituary can be a little spooky, but I gave it some thought and here's what I came up with:

 

Here Rests Effy Wild who spent the first half of her life figuring out who she was and the second half empowering others to do the same. She was infinitely flawed, yet infinitely blessed, and grace was written in her heart from the moment she woke up. 

 

Am I there yet? No. I'm in progress, like my Book of Days. I'm a work of art, conceived by a loving creator who allows me to paint alongside Her like a clumsy, chubby-fisted toddler. She holds the brush with me, but never resists when I choose to paint outside the lines. I trust that She will nudge me back as needed. Always.

Thank you for joining me for this wonderful journey throughLife Is A Book by Patti Digh. Your e-mails and comments have meant the world to me. Join me in the Premium Programme for Soulistry, beginning April 4th, or I'll see you next year when we read Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes (Dr. E!). 

 

On With The Show (and speaking of Progress, Not Perfection!)

   

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 Live Stream Schedule

I will be streaming this coming Sunday, April 8th and I will be finishing the mixed media whimsical canvas we started this past Sunday!

 In the meantime, the live stream is archived here for a limited time. Wild Soul Art Stream #10 Part 1 is a face tutorial, and Part II is a mixed media background with stamps tutorial. View while you can, since there are space allowances at Ustream that were recently put into place! As new streams go up, I remove old ones and archive them in the premium platform.

 

 And That's All She Wrote

 

Love & Glitter,
Effy 

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Our Last Post Will Be On Monday

Life preempted today's LIAV post, sweetlings. I'll see you on Monday with bonus art. 

Intention Part II

Hello lovely. :)   Stay In The Loop! Like me on Facebook!  This is where news about BOD content release, emergencies, etc. will be posted in future.  It's Monday! I wanted to play with paper dolls, and boy did I ever have a blast. This spread is inspired by Christy Tomlinson and Wyanne, both of whom teach wonderful classes on the subject of mixed media girls of the paper doll variety!   I worked with the idea 'Get Off The Ship' today, and though I didn't write any specifics (because I'm still working on my 'get off the ship' list), I did feel very liberated by making this spread. That girl with her gorgeous pink wings really feels free to me, and I know that as I begin to work my list of things to do to 'get off the ship', I will experience that same freedom.   The first thing on my list that I know of for sure? Go Yurt camping. Yup! We're leaving on Thursday and won't be back until Monday, April 2. Expect fun stuff to arrive in your inbox on the Monday, though, since I am bringing art supplies with me!   The second thing? Get my learner's permit. It's well past time I became the household's second driver. I know the manfingy will be thrilled, and you know what? I'm so going to love being able to drive all over the place, crashing on couches and enjoying all that life has to offer!   The video is a bit shorter than usual, since once I put the clear gesso on, I forgot to hit record until I finished her face and crown. Sorry about that. o.O I should really learn not to press pause at all, since this is becoming a regular occurrence. *le sigh*   You still see the process, though. Cut out papers. Build a girl. It's uber fun! You could make her face with paint or coloured pencils, or leave her face blank. You could do her hair with paper or paint or markers. Whatever floats your glitter encrusted boat. xo    Here's Your Video    Just click here to access it Your password is effylovesyou Live Stream Schedule   There will be no stream until Thursday, April 5th, but the archives are available for you to watch in the meantime.     And That's All She Wrote!   I'll see you on Wednesday, March 28th with our last chapter of Life Is A Verb. If you want to access these posts in archived form, bookmark this site. The blog for LIAV will stay up for the rest of 2012. If you want to continue reading with me, we will be working with Soulistry by June Mack Miffin in thepremium programme for an indefinite period of future time. If you are in the basic programme, Wednesday dispatches will slow down for you until next February when we take on Women Who Run With The Wolves.    Throughout the week, you can always read my blog!    Effy  P.S. If this programme is a blessing to you, please consider tipping me? Your support makes this project happen! xo  Henceforth, 10% of all donations go into a fund for Kiva loans. Here is my Kiva Loan Lender Profile so you can see all the good we're doing in the world. We raised $24.00 last month! I'd like to raise twice that this month. Could you help out a little? xo

 

 

Intention Part I

Hello lovely. :)   Stay In The Loop! Like me on Facebook!  This is where news about BOD content release, emergencies, etc. will be posted in future.    It's Wednesday! That means I've got the penultimate Life Is A Verb dispatch for you today. This week, we are focusing on Intention. Next week, we will read Part Three and that will be all for this year's book club. Hasn't this been so much growth-ful fun? *Happy Sigh*   If you want to continue reading with me this year, we are doing Soulistry by June Mack Maffin in the premium programme for as long as we can stand it. There are 80 prompts, of which I expect we will do at least fifty. Content will be released for this programme every Wednesday (musings + art video) and it will be available in thepremium programme only. I expect to be adding this content to my BOD in the form of tip ins.    And here we go...   Part Six ~ Intention ~ Slow Down If I could, I would wrap this chapter up and insert it somehow into the hearts and minds of everyone I love. It is that good.  As I went into it, I thought "I've got this licked. I know about intention. I know about being desire-led. I know about living each moment as fully as I can. And then Patti Digh's particular and special way of seeing things kicked me in the butt. Hard. So that I cried. But in that good, cleansing way that changes your life.  What could she possibly have written that could have that kind of impact? Well, read the part about getting off the ship. Yes. That. That was written for me. (It's on page 181).    Many of you know me to be a self-professed hermit. You know that I rarely leave the house, that I don't have a driver's license or a passport, that I have carved a groove the shape of my generous ass in the red leather couch because I am very grounded in my life here in the little house that could. After a lifetime of nomadic moving from place to place throughout childhood and early adulthood, I found myself here in Southwestern Ontario in 2003, moved into the little house in 2004 and I haven't moved since. These eight years in this house represent the longest stretch of time I have ever spent any where in one place in my life, and I got to liking it.   Rather too much, I think.   Living with intention (or mindfully, or slowly) is one of my aspirations. I practice it. I art intentionally. I eat intentionally (some of the time). I rest intentionally. I read intentionally. I practice intention like my life depends on it. I think of it as a kind of bondage that sets me free. Structure. Discipline. Knowing ahead of time. Planning and executing those plans ~ this is how I do what I do. Intentionally.   But earlier in the year, I had an epiphany about living: that there was doing and there was being, and life requires both. I know how to *do* intentionally, but being?   Not so much. I've locked myself up in the little house that could and I've created this tiny little sphere in which I do *a lot*, but even with all I'm doing, there is a decided lack of being (which I define as enjoying, receiving, taking in instead of putting out).    I thought this was something I chose because I wanted to choose it. I thought it was about comfort. It wasn't/isn't. It's about fear. Fear of getting lost. Fear of straying too far from what has come to represent safety. Fear of finding myself in environments or circumstances in which I will have no control. Fear of having too much down time (which is when anxiety bites) or of having great expectations dashed or losing my sense of rootedness.     You might have gotten something completely different out of reading this chapter, and I invite you to play with all the juicy journaling prompts in your efforts to root out what intention means to you, but here's what I got:   If I intend to live the richest life I can live (the wild, precious one I began to dream of in 2009), then I have to take intentional risks. I have to get the passport, the driver's license. I have to intend to go places. I have to intend to leave the house. I have to intend to have experiences that enrich my *being*. And then I have to take action. Get the passport. Write the driver's test. Make reservations. Get on the train/bus/plane/road. Go have those experiences and let my life be as full as I know it can be.    And so it is.    Monday's prompt will be to art around the difference between being grounded and being self-limiting. I will also be exploring my intention to (slowly, mindfully, without blowing up my rootedness) begin moving out of this tiny little world I've made for myself. It is safe, yes, but it is too safe.    It is time to get off the ship.    And That's All She Wrote!   I'll see you on on Sunday at 1 p.m. EST for a live art stream.  If you miss me in the meantime, you can always read my blog!    Effy  P.S. If this programme is a blessing to you, please consider tipping me? Your support makes this project happen! xo  Henceforth, 10% of all donations go into a fund for Kiva loans. Here is my Kiva Loan Lender Profile so you can see all the good we're doing in the world. We raised $24.00 last month! I'd like to raise twice that this month. Could you help out a little? xo

Intuition Part II

It's Monday! I am feeling SO MUCH BETTER. Yesterday was a beautiful day with long country drives and a fire in the back yard, puppy snuggles and work on a canvas for The Red Madonna. Purely wonderful and totally restorative. Thank you for the time off. I really needed and it did me a world of good. 

We talked on Wednesday about Intuition and trusting yourself and knowing who your support network is. I think this is crucial. If you don't know who you can trust with your three a.m. phone call, your ugly cry, your venty screed, you can mistakenly overshare with people who won't (or can't) support you. 

I feel so blessed to finally, really know who my people are. I know who I can call at 3 a.m. and I know that when I nurture those relationships, I am nurturing my own life's garden. 

What did you take away from reading the chapter on Intuition? Did you think about your 'seat mates'? Did you come to any conclusions about who you are spending your time with/your energy on? I'd love to hear your thoughts. As always, just hit reply and you can send me an e-mail. 

I was all about being child-like and messy and spring colored and happy today. I also included some video from my Sunday off with bonus puppy! I hope you enjoy it. 

  

Here's Your Video 

 

Just click here to access it

Your password is effylovesyou

 

Live Stream Schedule

 

I had planned on streaming on Thursday but I have some work to do this week to prepare a lesson for Elements: Self-Guided. It is the long awaited promised Spring Equinox lesson, which will be released to current students in that course along with those in the Premium programme. Due to my extended illness, I will be scrambling to catch up and get that created and released, so there will be no mid-week stream. 

I will be streaming this coming Sunday, March 25th. If my fabric arrives by then, I will be working on prayer flags. Otherwise, I will be playing with my new easel (if I can figure out how to train the webcam on it properly).  

In the meantime, the live stream is archived here for a limited time. There are space allowances at Ustream that were recently put into place, so as new streams go up, I remove old ones and archive them in the premium platform. If you're not a premium member, watch 'em while you can! 

 

 And That's All She Wrote!

 

I'll see you on Wednesday with our next chapter of Life Is A Verb.  If you miss me in the meantime, you can always read my blog!   

Effy 

P.S. If this programme is a blessing to you,

please consider tipping me? Your support makes this project happen! xo 

Henceforth, 10% of all donations go into a fund for Kiva loans. Here is my Kiva Loan Lender Profile so you can see all the good we're doing in the world. We raised $24.00 last month! I'd like to raise twice that this month. Could you help out a little? xo

Intuition Part I

It's Wednesday! I still have a chest cold, and I am having trouble brain-ing because it (and the scads of cold and flu remedy I'm taking) is making me dumb, but I'm here to do my best by this chapter in Life is A Verb by Patti Digh. Today, we're focusing on Intuition. 

 

Part Five ~ Intuition ~ Trust Yourself

It should come as no surprise to you that this chapter is near and dear to my heart. This year, my one word is Trust and as I worked with the word through the month of January, I came to understand that rather than trusting others in a 'blind faith' sort of way (which I had somehow convinced myself was virtuous), I needed, instead, to trust *myself*. Wrapped up in that was also a need to trust the divine as I understood it, and so throughout the last few months, that's been my work ~ trust the gut. Trust the heart. Trust the still small voice. 

 

There are a couple of stories in this chapter that were very powerful for me. I resonated most powerfully with the story about her seat mate during an ill-fated flight (found on page 143) and the other about a failed relationship (found on page 158). Both of these stories mirror situations I have found myself in in which I did *not* trust my gut, in which I opted to be long suffering instead of self-caring because I was trained up that way. What really strikes me about those stories is the question they raise for me:

 

How could things have been different had I only trusted my gut?

 

Now, I'm all for living in the present moment, and I also understand that some of my nastiest life experiences brought me to this pure and shining moment in time. There is so much that's *right* about my life that I can't regret a single thing. If I had done anything differently, I would not have been led to this wonderful experience with you here in the BOD experience, or in my personal life. Everything conspired to bring me here.

 

But I still wonder. What would things look like now if I'd paid attention to the red flags ten years ago? Fifteen? What would my kids have experienced instead of the struggle we went through? Would I have ever finished school? Would I be in a better place financially?

 

I ask my gut and my gut tells me that it doesn't matter. This is where I am and I've found myself in a really beautiful place, but it also gently nudges me to *listen next time* because maybe, just maybe, I might just avoid a lot of unnecessary detours in getting to my destination. 

 

On page 146, Patti describes an action step that involves taking stock of those people in your life who will be there for you when the hydraulic system fails. These are your 3 a.m. people. Your no-matter-what people. I love the idea of making this list, and then honouring those people in an art journal spread. 

 

My Art Prompt for this coming Monday will be to do a kind of paper shrine to those people in my life who I can ring at any time of the night or day. I may use photographs, and some digital elements from Studio Tangie Baxter, because she just happens to have a digital kit especially for shrine making. 

 

 And That's All She Wrote!

 

I'll see you on Thursday at 1 p.m. EST for a live art stream.  If you miss me in the meantime, you can always read my blog!   

Effy 

P.S. If this programme is a blessing to you,

please consider tipping me? Your support makes this project happen! xo 

Henceforth, 10% of all donations go into a fund for Kiva loans. Here is my Kiva Loan Lender Profile so you can see all the good we're doing in the world. We raised $24.00 last month! I'd like to raise twice that this month. Could you help out a little? xo

Intimacy REDUX Part II

It's Monday! 

I have a chest cold and I can't breathe and talk at the same time, so today's video is not in the least bit talky. To make up for that, I want to talk a bit in here about what I arted today.

If you read Wednesday's dispatch, you'll know that my intention for today's spread was to 'reframe' failure. I wanted to turn it around, to take the negative crap I have around the concept of failure and remind myself about the truth as I know it.

My truth about failure is summed up in the following quotes, which made it into my spread today:

 

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.

~Oprah Winfrey

I've probably earned the right to screw up a few times. I don't want the fear of failure to stop me from doing what I really care about.

~Emma Watson

For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.

~Mary Kay Ash

I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try.

~Nikki Giovanni

I was also reflecting on what I wrote about having such a struggle in maintaining friendships. I think that *might be* old tape. When I reflect on friendship, I think about my friend Sarah, who has been in my life since 2000. I think about Monika, who has been a mother to me as well as a friend since 2002. I think about the women of the Sisterhood, who perceive me to be nurturing and giving and full of love. I think about Catherine and our hours long visits over coffee that leave us both feeling refreshed and blessed. I think about my ex-boyfriend, who I've known since 2001 ~ we are better friends now than we ever were when we were lovers. I think about my partnership with the Sultan (who is my very best friend) and how good I am at nurturing it. 

In reframing my concept of failure, I also came to understand that I was being unfair to myself last Wednesday. 

Because, listen: Just because some friendships don't work out doesn't necessarily mean I *failed*. It could mean any number of things. It could mean I was trying to be friends with *the wrong people*. It could mean that someone was in my life for a season ~ that they left what was meant to be left behind and their moving on was as perfect as their arrival on the scene. It could mean that I am not that person's cup of tea or that that person isn't my cup of tea.

That's not failure. It's discernment. 

And all that came to me as I worked on today's spread.

  

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Speaking of Friendship  

One of the sisterhood is having a hard time, and though I had planned on giving the composition book I made yesterday away in a contest, we unanimously decided that it should go to this special soul who has so blessed us with her friendship, love and nurturance. Nancy, we love you. xo 

This is what I made:

 

And here's where you can view the live art stream. 

 

 And That's All She Wrote!

 

I'll see you on Wednesday with our next chapter of Life Is A Verb and on Thursday at 1 p.m. EST for a live art stream.  If you miss me in the meantime, you can always read my blog! 

Effy 

P.S. If this programme is a blessing to you,

please consider tipping me? Your support makes this project happen! xo 

Henceforth, 10% of all donations go into a fund for Kiva loans. Here is my Kiva Loan Lender Profile so you can see all the good we're doing in the world. We raised $24.00 last month! I'd like to raise twice that this month. Could you help out a little? xo

Intimacy REDUX

Hello lovely. :) 

 

It's WEDNESDAY and that means we are continuing with part VI of our journey through Life Is A Verb by Patti Digh Thing is, as I prepared to move on to the next chapter (Intuition), I felt a nudge to remain for a little while longer in Intimacy. I know you won't mind the extra week to simmer and sip at the font of goodness that is LIAV!

 

Part Four: Intimacy ~ Love More ~ Redux

Last week I focused on intimacy with self because to my mind, that is the root of all intimacy. It also plays into Intuition (next week's chapter) because you must know yourself before you can trust yourself.

 

But I kind of glossed over intimacy with others. I think this is because my inner hermit was showing, but as much as I might like to deny how much I need intimacy with others, I have come to recognize over the last few months that intimacy with others is a need we *all* have. Even the most stalwart introvert. 

 

So I'd like to bring my focus back to that from a perspective I've been working on with Andrea Schroeder. 

 

In a private group she runs for bad ass creatives (yes, we refer to ourselves that way ~ how fun, right?) we're working with the theme of sovereignty ~ especially personal sovereignty. Some of you who know me personally know that this is the singular most important value that I hold dear. Sovereignty is so wrapped up in authenticity and living your one wild and precious life that it is very tangled up in those other values for me. If I'm not living out of my own sovereignty, I'm not being authentic. If I'm not being authentic, I'm not living the wild, precious life I'm meant to live.

 

Sovereignty is a relatively new concept for me. I embarked on a journey to invite personal sovereignty into my life in 2009 after realizing the degree to which I give myself away. Prior to 2009 I was either wrapped up in romantic relationships or wrapped up in relation to the addicts in my family of origin. Undertaking a disentangling from that was *hard*. Very hard. And it meant that since then I've been all over the place in terms of personal sovereignty. Sometimes, I fail to be sovereign at all and look to get my need for affirmation and validation met outside of myself and my relationship with the divine. (Dependence) Sometimes I shut all my doors and windows and vow never to enter into relationships with ANYBODY, EVER because it's too hard to navigate social and relational waters. (Independence). Neither choice is healthy.

 

Andrea shared with us recently that when there is something you need to work on, you are afforded LOTS of opportunities to do so. She also, with a delightful giggle, shared that those opportunities are rarely pleasant. 

 

I needed to hear that. Badly. Because there is still a voice in my head that says that if things are difficult, I'm doing it wrong, and relating to other people is still, in fact, very difficult for me. Hearing Andrea say that (and other things about letting yourself fail and being gentle with yourself) shone a beautiful bright brilliant light on the truth I'd been unaware of:

I have been working on being sovereign in my own life while including others. I have been learning to be interdependent instead of all dependent or all independent. It hasn't been easy, but it is bearing sweet, juicy fruit in my life.

And that means that even when it feels like I'm failing, I'm not. What looks like a failure to relate in healthy ways is really, secretly me working hard and *trying to relate in healthy ways*. 

There is no failure in trying. 

 

What. A. Relief. 

 

Now, not everyone is going to be able to relate to my particular issues with interpersonal relations. Lots of people I know are really great at forging, nurturing and maintaining relationships. I've been great at creating intimate relationships with myself, the divine, my kids, and the Sultan of Software, but friendships? 

Not so much. 

 

It is the area I am most challenged by, and it is the area I have been working on the hardest since I crawled out of my hermit's cave in 2009. 

 

So, maybe you're reading this and thinking "What does this have to do with me?" Maybe nothing. Or maybe you recognize something of yourself in this. Maybe this resonates but in a completely different area of your life. 

 

With that in mind, I submit the following:

If you're struggling with some area of your life, it doesn't mean you're failing. It means *you are trying* and that, my love, is a great success in and of itself. 

 

My art prompt for Monday's spread will be to reframe 'failure' in an art journal spread. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but since I've moved into my bigger journal (huzzah!) I know that it's going to be juicy and good and fun and full of glittery goodness.        

 

And That's All She Wrote!  
I'll see you on Thursday, March 8th at 1 p.m. EST with alive art stream (if you can make it!) or on Friday, March 29th with our multi-day spread video! If you miss me in the meantime, you can always read my blog or check in with me on Facebook. 

 

JUICY ENTICEMENTS: Our very own Denise Phillips is running an ATC challenge and a giveaway on her blog, and she would love it if you'd check it out. Registration in Angel's In My Studio, lovingly organized by our very own Sheri Ann Ponzi, is open for registration and she would love it if you'd check it out! Our very own Tangie Baxter has a gorgeous *FREEEE* ezine available for digital download, and she would love it if you'd check it out!

Love & Glitter,

 

Effy 

 

P.S. If this programme is a blessing to you,please consider tipping me? Your support makes this project happen! xo Henceforth, 10% of all donations go into a fund for Kiva loans. Here is my Kiva Loan Lender Profile so you can see all the good we're doing in the world. 

Intimacy Part I

Hello lovely. :) 

 

It's WEDNESDAY and that means we are continuing with part V of our journey through Life Is A Verb by Patti Digh. This week, our focus is on Intimacy. 

Part Four: Intimacy ~ Love More
In a recent blog post, I mused about the way my personal development has gone since I began memory keeping through blogging back in 2000. I have many of the posts I've written since then, and once in a while (especially when I get a new computer and move my archives), I read through some of those posts as a way to honour how far I've come.

 

In the blog post linked above, I marveled at the pattern I noticed in my development: that I'd moved from intensely self-focused relating (recovery from child sexual and physical abuse) to relating to my children (learning ways of parenting that would not repeat the cycle of violence) to relating to romantic partners (learning how to love in healthy ways) to relating to friends and finally the world at large. 

 

This chapter really speaks to that kind of spiraling out from self-care into the world, like a pebble we drop lovingly into our own still waters that makes ripples that move ever outward to far reaching shores. 

 

The arc of my story, which I used to define as 'troubled', 'difficult', a nightmare, and other not so nice words now looks like this:

 

Learn to love self, and in loving self, love the Source of self, and in loving the source, love others, and in learning to love the easy others who we find so lovable, challenge yourself to begin to love the unlovable. 

 

I saw this arc reflected in this chapter. 

 

Usually, I pull a few quotes from the chapter to illustrate what moved me. The whole thing moved me. I can't pick one favourite quote. It's that good. 

 

What I can tell you is that I think we're losing intimacy in the name of convenience (snail mail, hugs, face to face conversations, asking the hard questions, telling the truth) and what we are losing to convenience is all the ways we can know life through those we encounter. 

 

Intimacy is necessary to human beans, not just so they flourish, but so they can survive. I'm lucky in that I enjoy a great deal of intimacy with the world around me, and I'm even trying to learn to love the unlovable ~ not because I'm virtuous but because the need for intimacy with my world is a compelling drive within me. 

 

What about you? Are you intimate with yourself? Your loved ones? Your world? 

 

I'm curious to see where we're at and what this chapter brought up for you. Your reading of it may bring you completely different questions or insights, and I would be delighted to hear them. Just click reply or send an email toeffythewild@gmail.com

My art prompt for Monday's spread will be adapted from the action step on page 114.

I'm going to do a stylized self-portrait that expresses who I think I really am based on the journal writing that arises out of the exercise.       

 

And That's All She Wrote!  
I'll see you on Thursday, March 1st at 1 p.m. EST with alive art stream (if you can make it!)! If you miss me in the meantime, you can always read my blog. 

Effy 

P.S. If this programme is a blessing to you,

please consider tipping me? Your support makes this project happen! xo Henceforth, 10% of all donations go into a fund for Kiva loans. Here is my Kiva Loan Lender Profile so you can see all the good we're doing in the world. 

Integrity Part II

Hello lovely. :)

It's Monday! I'm playing with the concept of 'Toast Rules' farom Life Is A Verb today and this spread was pure awesome to make. I edited it down to about 22 minutes, but in reality, it took over an hour to make! I had so much fun, though, so it was 77 minutes very well spent! 

Here's Your Video 

 

Just click here to access it

Your password is effylovesyou

 

The toast rules I came up with were pretty important in the sense that they limit my freedom to live a peaceful and juicy life. Both of them are on notice that I am excising them from my life as of *right now*. They were:

 

"You must always be honest. Even with people who don't want your honesty." I'm paraphrasing from my original journal writing, but that's the gist of it. And this gem:

 

"No pain, no gain."

 

Yes. Honesty is important, but it is also true that discretion is the better part of valor. You can (she says, having learned this the hard way) be too honest. You can be tactlessly honest. You can be too much thorn and not enough rose. Better, sometimes, to be kind and keep the whole truth in your heart where it can be tempered by compassion. 

 

And as for no pain, no gain? 

 

Feh. It's a rule I'm more than happy to be done with. 

 

And That's All She Wrote! 

I'll see you on Wednesday with our next chapter of Life Is A Verb and on Thursday at 1 p.m. EST for a live art stream. 

 

If you miss me in the meantime, you can always

read my blog! 

Effy 

P.S. If this programme is a blessing to you,

please consider tipping me? Your support makes this project happen! xo 

Henceforth, 10% of all donations go into a fund for Kiva loans. Here is my Kiva Loan Lender Profile so you can see all the good we're doing in the world.