Practicing Mindfulness

Susannah Conway has created a new online course

Open Your Eyes, Practicing Mindfulness in Everyday Life.

I love her classes!   What I love about them is how much they make me think and how much they make me examine my thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.  Not only about the subject of the course, but about me.  She does it in a way that's thoughtful, spiritual, practical.  The topics she teaches about are all personal, but nothing ever seems self-indulgent.   Don't get me wrong, certain self-indulgent things -- like bubble baths -- are great.  But when doing personal growth work I like how she moves the class along, pushing us all to think deeply about what is really important.  That's my take anyway.

This particular class feels to me very much like coming full circle.  You see I first learned about Susannah the second year I participated in One Little Word.  Choosing a word each year to focus on, to think about, to guide you is a wonderful international phenomena.  Online groups are formed, classes are taught.  I discovered Susannah had a workbook to assist people in choosing their words.  I really liked her style and found the workbook so helpful in choosing my word that year -- Mindful.   I look forward to adding to what I learned about mindfulness and even looking back to see how that word, that practice grew.

Click over her to find out more about her.  If it speaks to you, I highly recommend you sign up.  I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Visibility

This summer I participated in Susannah Conway's Summer School as part of  The Inside Story. 

The  focus was VISIBILITY!

This is me -- a maker of pretty, crafty, decorative things.

I am also a wife, a mom, an artist, a gardener, a reader, a traveler, and a loyal friend.

I've always wanted to make art, to sell it, to teach it --

except I haven't done enough making, selling, or teaching of late,
 and I have been quite invisible for a couple years

.

So how to become visible, allowing my work, allowing me to be more visible?

I changed the URL for my blog to use my name.

I already have two posts!
I imported all the old blog posts here,
and I directed people who go to the old blog here

I've made a friend of mine an accountability coach.  

I purchased a new computer with enough memory to save photos.

I'm looking at all the things that stop me.

And focusing on all the things that keep me going!

my kids keep me going

Going Public

When I first started my blog I wanted to be known, sort of, and still be kinda anonymous  Marilee is just not an anonymous name, and I was hesitant to use my whole name.  And then I've always had a bit of conflict over my married name vs birth name.  However, lately, I've wanted to be more visible in the arts and crafts world.

So using my name, I changed my URL.  And instead of transporting the whole other blog with all it's time gaps and such, I decided to start fresh.

I was going public in this very small little way.  I got to thinking.  What if your going public is not some small thing?  What if it's a big secret or something difficult? How hard is it to go public?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, specially with women coming forward with their #MeToo stories.  And as I read these brave women's stories, I know it could have been me.

That's me on the right, my future husband on the left.

I went to college in the late '60s, early 70's and I thought of myself as a fairly typical college student.  There were 5 colleges right next to each other in that charming town.  Mine was a hippie womens school.  The other womens college served tea every afternoon outside their library; a library with a fireplace that actually worked!  There was a school with a great theatre dept and lots of cute guys.  I hung out with the theatre crowd.

I had adventures.  

I hitchhiked halfway across the country with two women friends.  When we got home I hitchhiked around Southern California alone.  I was really and truly protected.  I was not abused or threatened or hurt.  One driver did suggest I looked tired and wouldn't I like to go to a motel and get some rest.  At the next red light I quickly got out of his truck and walked the opposite way he was driving.

I've been thinking about this somewhat wild college past of mine.  I did some things that could have turned out quite badly.  Friends and strangers, women and men were often protective, making sure I got home in one piece or had a safe place to sleep.  I am very grateful for all this protection.   But before college I had more than one #MeToo experience. 

I recognize how difficult it can be to talk about.  How coming forward is not always treated kindly; sometimes it's almost worse than what happened.  I was fortunate.  I always thought "something" happened when I was little.  I had some disturbing dreams in high school, and in college, I finally got the nerve to talk to my mom about them.  Did she know if I could have been molested?  She didn't know. I can't remember.  But she didn't say I was making things up.  She told me about the year I was 4 and suddenly lost a lot of weight (and I wasn't sick).  She told me about the day care center I stopped wanting to attend. She took me seriously.  It's what we have to do with any woman or man who is coming forward with their stories.