Living Luxuriously

Yesterday, I did something completely luxurious. I spent two hours in one of my favorite places, a place I hadn't been to in years, indulging in one of my favorite pastimes. It felt wonderfully energizing, yet at the same time extremely soothing. I wanted to stay there all day. And this wonderful, inspiring, invigorating place? My local coffee cafe, where I sat during the best part of yesterday's rainy morning, continually refilling my cup from the big silver urns, reading my book, surreptitiously evesdropping on various conversations, and making a few notes in my Moleskine journal.

Sitting in a coffee shop for a couple of hours is not something most people would consider luxurious. Neither is walking the hiking trail at the park taking pictures along the way, or singing along karaoke style with your favorite tunes. Nevertheless, these are the kinds of "small luxuries" that are so important to our sense of well being and to our creativity.

I knew this, but it took Julia Cameron and The Artist's Way to remind me. Cameron says that in order to allow our creativity to flourish, we need to practice "self-care," and "pamper ourselves" with the small luxuries that bring us joy. She writes that when we "put a stopper on our capacity for joy by declining the small gifts of life, we turn aside the larger gifts as well," gifts like creativity and contentment.

When I read this, I immediately began thinking about some of the ways I used to pamper myself. Notice I wrote that in the past tense, for I realized that it's been a long time since I've done these things on a regular basis. Perhaps that's why I continually feel so harried, rushed, and unfulfilled with everything in my life - as if I'm always behind the eight ball, and never quite able to catch up with all life's demands.

I scribbled my personal list of small luxuries right in the margins of the book ~

~a trip to the library ~walking in the park ~dancing to music on my stereo ~driving with the windows down and the radio blasting ~a long, hot, bath with a glass of wine, candles, and a good book ~and of course, spending the morning at the coffee shop, reading, writing, people watching

So, what are your small luxuries?? And, how often do you indulge yourself??

Sunday Scribblings-Fortune Cookie

First Cookie: My Family - husband, son, daughter-in-law, mother, father, puppy dogsSecond Cookie: Health and well being of all the above Third Cookie: All my friends, those nearby and those in the blogsphere Fourth Cookie: Work and co-workers that I love (most of the time) Fifth Cookie: My talents and the ability to use them in ways I enjoy Sixth Cookie: My home(s) - the old one, and the new one Seventh Cookie: Living in a land of plenty, where everything I need is so readily available

These are my fortune, and I am indeed one fortunate cookie!

for other fortune cookies, go here

Grateful Friday

I love fall. Cool, crisp breezes that invite warm sweaters and extra big mugs of coffee in the morning. Blazing red and gold foliage, flaming in the sun. Back to school, with crisp new notebooks and sharp, woody-smelling pencils. I think I would not like to live in a place where there was no fall.

So, I was grateful today, on our walk in the park, when I spied this first frosting of red on these trees overhanging the river. I made Magic and Molly stand in one spot far longer than they liked while I took some pictures. I wondered why these branches have turned to crimson so much earlier than the rest of the tree. Are they forward thinkers, setting the standard for other limbs to follow? Are they early birds, eager to show off their colors before every one else? Or are they simply aging more quickly than necessary, giving up on the effort to stay green?

As much as I love fall, I am not immune to it's bittersweet nature. It's nature's last hurrah before the frosty months of winter, and I do not love winter. So even though I welcome these dusty red tipped branches, I also want to tell them to be patient, to hang onto their verdant green leaves as long as they can. To be grateful for life, in all its colors.

Birthday

Birthday

You were born on the cusp

of the earth's yearly turning,

that bitter twist

toward cold and death.

We call it fall,

but you lifted us up

with your feverish excitement

and passion for truth.

Your seasons were marked

with love and devotion.

But you -

always searching, never finding,

unable to bear

the full fire in your mind -

found comfort at last

in arms cold as ice.

Winter, your womb

at the end.

In memoriam -J.D.D. September 1, 1978-January 31, 2006

Poetry Thursday-Poem In My Pocket

my backyard, early this morning

Why I Wake Early

~Mary Oliver~

Hello, sun in my face

Hello, you who make the morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the windows of, even, the

miserable and the crotchety-

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light-

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.

Written neatly on a piece of pretty paper and folded gently in half just once, this poem has been tucked inside my wallet all week, serving as instruction, prayer, and benediction all in one. I know I've posted this poem before, but it's one that always comforts me and sends me onward into life with a renewed spirit.