you are held in love

Along with all the words of the year I stamp this time of year, I’m also lucky to get to sit with words my customers share with me and choose mantras and intentions for them.

This one above going to a dear soul who shared her word of the year and then asked me to choose a mantra and gemstone to send her way that would be companions to her word.

I. Love. My. Job.

If you’d like me to choose a word or phrase or gemstone necklace for you, check out the “Let Liz Choose” section in my Soul Mantras shop.

on listing

Listing gives me a rhythm of pausing and noticing and slowing down my thoughts. It eases my anxiety. And it gives me a reason to write with this brush pen I love.

Yes, it’s just a simple act of putting a few words to a page.

And.

It’s proof of life.

Proof I can return to again and again.

Join me for a new round of Five Things. We start February 1st!

wisdom from mister rogers

Over here I’m thinking about the little girl who watched episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood every day after preschool as she sat in the green Lazy-boy and imagined she could go to The Neighborhood of Make Believe. My mom says I would sigh as the credits rolled and then find her in the house to talk about our days. I still sigh that deep exhale when I read his words. Also I love how the internet gives us access to photos so we have the chance see our heroes in their more candid moments.

(Photo is from my Water Your Soul journal, which is a class you can join at any time.)

Soul Mantras is open again!

My Soul Mantras shop is open for holiday and word of the year orders. You can order custom talismans, a chosen just for you gemstone necklace, and a few other goodies this year. I’m still focusing on my 2023 word - grace - but I have to admit that my 2024 word has been showing up even though I keep resisting it. I love this practice.

this is me

this is me sitting in the goodness of a conversation with friends and kindred spirits. this is me remembering what it is like to show up to this space that’s all my own and tell a few stories and share some musings and let the words show up through the hands typing on this keyboard. this is me longing for the curiosity and delight that showed up so often during my early days of blogging. this is me moving from the role of mother to teacher to business owner to exhausted human and on and on. this is me revisiting some of the old stories and reminding myself that we get to keep unpacking the lessons. this is me going back to the basics of how a routine alongside listening to my needs alongside knowing i can give so much of myself alongside a desire to be in the world might be a recipe i can work with. this is me wondering how you’re doing over there in your corner.

on doing the work of becoming

Here’s to showing up and doing the work of untangling from past stuff, staying curious and open-hearted, and learning to listen to what you need. Oof. That was a big sentence. We are doing it though. With every deep breath, every moment you dance it out, every pause to look at the window and remember the world that is bigger than us, every glass of water we drink, every hand we reach out to another. We are doing it.

Side by side.

creating an intention in my journals

Before I begin a new project inside one of my journals, I usually take some time to create a blessing or intention on one of the first pages. Sometimes this is a quote, maybe art from someone else, or my own words. I might add a photo that captures the season or a self-portrait or make a collage. I listen to what calls to me, which usually means looking at my studio table and gathering a few things that catch my eye.

Most of all though, this intention reminds me to show up as me in my journals. Whether I am teaching a round of Five Things or writing in a journal I’ll share at a workshop or creating just for me, I repeatedly remind myself, even push myself, to set down what a journal, what art, what writing and poetry are “supposed to look like” and let the pages fill up with pieces of me.

what if this uncertainty is a pause inviting you to notice

I sat at my typewriter and wrote these words. Maybe they are for you. Maybe they are for me. Most of all I want you to know that if you’re in a space of uncertainty, we are side by side. And we will still find the goodness, the beauty, the hope, and the miracles. Yes. Yes. Yes.