The Snow Queen

Perfectionism is fear in disguise. How many times have you wanted to do something but told yourself the timing wasn't right or you didn't have enough time? Maybe if ___ happened or ____ then you could begin. Oftentimes, I find the most difficult part with something new is to begin. If we could allow ourselves to just begin, then the rest will unfold. We don't have to be experts to begin.
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I’m currently reading Julia Cameron's newest book, The Listening Path. When she teaches, she cues her students to make a list of 10 fill in the blanks. Each one begins with- If it didn't have to do it perfectly, I’d try ____.
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My very first thought was paint. I would paint. Thinking of all of the things I would do if they didn't have to be perfect was profound and gave me a lot to journal about. Think of all the things we hold back from in fear of not being good enough. We are depriving ourselves of the very things that will make us thrive!
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Let's be brave together and show up and do the work...whatever that work may be.

Growing Ideas

Take an idea and build off of it. Watch it evolve, change, and grow. Witness the stories that unfold as you create from all of the pieces of your life- past, present, future.
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Luna {Self-Portrait}

Shedding What No Longer Serves Me

Shedding What No Longer Serves Me {Self-Portrait}
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I am a work in progress. Ever-evolving. Ever-changing. I wax and wane like the moon. Ebbing and flowing with the tide.
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Let the wind dry up these old wounds that resurface. Let me learn the lessons they teach and apply the wisdom in my life so that I may lead by example.
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Sometimes I forget my own lessons that I teach others. Yesterday, while feeling rather slump-ish, it dawned on me that I have been avoiding creating- as I am waiting for the “perfect” time. The time is now. Now is the time. The weather is cold. The weather is windy. My fingers were instantly numb of all feeling, but in that moment I was reminded of what it feels like to be alive.
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This. Is. Everything.
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Be well my friends. Stay kind to yourself and others. And nurture yourself by creating, for not only will that breathe new life into you, it will help others as well. ♥️

Layers of Protection

These layers of protection, like an iron wall built to surround me. I must ask myself, who is it that I am really hiding from?
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Layers of Protection {Self-Portrait}

The Promise | Self Portraits

The Promise

The story behind the dress. 

The thrift store is located in a 17 room 1860's mansion in a local town by the shore. The earnings from this store benefit the church by paying the annual subsidy for the school next to the thrift store. 

As I walked in and looked to the left I saw the dress. After immediately scooping it up, the kind woman approached me with teary eyes. Smiling she said, " I prayed this morning for someone to come in and buy some of our formal wear today because it's filling up and taking up too much space." 

At the time she was most likely under the impression I was newly engaged and had just found my wedding gown. After bringing 2 gowns up to the register she informed me all clothing was 50% off. She was slightly hesitant once she learned I would be using the dress for something other than a wedding.

"Just promise you won't destroy it and you will take care of it."

The dress will live on to tell many new stories. 

"I promise." 

Lone Wolf | Self Portraits

“The doors to the world of the wild Self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is a door, if you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door.” 
― Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With the Wolves

“Go out in the woods, go out. If you don't go out in the woods nothing will ever happen and your life will never begin.” 
―Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With the Wolves

“Though her soul requires seeing, the culture around her requires sightlessness. Though her soul wishes to speak its truth, she is pressured to be silent.” 

―Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With the Wolves

{Masks}

"What do you know about loss?" she asked.
"Everything."

{Masks}

She looked away from the light in hopes to keep her frozen heart from melting again...

Hush...

Masks designed and hand made by the talented Artist, Carolyn, and can be purchased in her

Etsy store by clicking HERE. 

Many Moons Ago...

I recently purchased these masks through a shop on Etsy. The artist does incredible work and she's a pleasure to do business with. I would think it could be a little unsettling sending your creations off to strangers having no idea of what will become of them.

I hope I did her art justice. 

You can check out her shop HERE. 

Heartbreak | Self Portraits

Self Portrait Series

From Another Time

Running Out {Self Portrait Project}

The illimitable, silent, never-resting thing called Time, rolling, rushing on, swift, silent, like an all-embracing ocean-tide, on which we and all the universe swim like exhalations, like apparitions which are, and then are not....

~Thomas Carlyle

The clock talked loud. I threw it away, it scared me what it talked.

~Tillie Olsen, Tell Me a Riddle

“It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.” 
― Rose Kennedy