inhale. exhale. (a meditation)

inhale . exhale soul mantra earrings (in the shop)

pause in this moment.

inhale.
notice.
exhale.
find you in this moment.

inhale.
notice.
exhale.
stay right here. 

what is resting inside you today?

try to notice without judgement.

without a need to feel a certain way.

just notice.

then when you are ready:

inhale
compassion
exhale
love

repeat as needed 

***

Deeply appreciating how popular the Inhale Exhale Soul Mantra earrings have been. I imagine women pausing to take a deep breath as they put them on, when they see them in the mirror, when they feel the amethyst gemstones gently touch their neck.

Somedays even putting on earrings becomes part of the practice.

If you would like a pair of Soul Mantra earrings customized with your phrase, just let me know.

a reminder (for you, for me)

In this moment,
when the rain comes down
or the to-do list might seem like it has free will to add items
or the little ones are saying "mama mama mama" on repeat
or you simple, truly feel sad
or the sun is shining so brightly it takes your breath away
or you aren't sure how you will pay the bills at the end of the month
or you are caught up in the shoulds or what ifs
or you are happy to just be right here
or you just wish you had a friend who could come over and play, 
take a few moments (just a few seconds if that's all you have) and notice that each time you inhale, you create space around your heart.

Close your eyes. Find your breath. Notice.

You create space inside you, around your heart, with each breath.

Space.

Beautiful, real, true space.

Notice if that space can remain even as you exhale. (It can. It does. Notice.)

Before you open your eyes, give yourself the gift of trusting that you choose what enters this space.

Yes.

Repeat, repeat, repeat as needed.

Sending light and peace to you today,
Liz

PS Listen to (and download) one of my guided audio meditations that focuses on finding this space around your heart here. And for more love notes like this one, sign up to receive my (almost) weekly newsletter here.

a prayer.

the space between

At the beginning of each month, Kelly and I are sharing our own brief responses to the month's theme over at Chickadee Road. My response to September's theme, "This sacred life," talked about how I find the sacred in the space between each breath.

When I close my eyes and find my breath, I try to notice how my body feels when I inhale and exhale, and then I see if I can find the spaces, the pauses, that also rest inside each breath.

What does it mean to find the breath? I mean bringing an awareness to your breathing. Noticing: How your body moves with each breath cycle. How your chest opens and your spine lengthens as you inhale. How your body settles into itself again as your exhale.

Try it.

Close your eyes and let your mind find your breath. Now let your body feel your breathing. Notice how your body moves. Notice your mind. Find the rhythm of your breath cycles.

Then after 5-10 breath cycles, see if you can find that pause between each inhale and exhale.

And just notice...

What do you find there?

Inside this space, this pause, this observed stillness, I am able to listen even closer for the wisdom that I most need.

Today, while in the bathroom (where so often wisdom and ideas present themselves for some reason...probably because every now and then I find myself alone in there), I found the name of a new Etsy shop I'm going to open. It was waiting for me at the end of an exhale. Just waiting. And when I heard it, I inhaled and smiled and immediately grabbed a marker and wrote it on the mirror.

Last week when I was sitting in my new studio, I took a few deep breaths just being really present to the possibility that seems to rest in every corner right now, and in the space between I found a new layer of understanding when it comes to a relationship in my life.

Perhaps there is magic in that space, that pause, that stillness. Perhaps it is grace. Perhaps it is trust. Maybe it is all of these and more. But I think the sacred waiting there seldom appears out of thin air. It might feel like it does. But I believe that we have to be open to seeking that space. We have to be active participants. We have to look for it. We have to practice finding it and bringing intentional awareness to it. 

When people say that you should listen to your wisdom or you read a quote on Pinterest about listening to your heart and you think, I have no idea how to do that or I have no energy for that today...when this happens, come back to your breath. Come back to noticing the inhalations and exhalations. Come back to the presence found in that space. 

And begin to listen.

Just start right here.

***

If you want to continue to have conversations about this type of exercise and how it relates to living a creative life, I invite you to join Kelly and me for the Chickadee Road::Studio Sessions. As part of our curriculum, each week I will be sharing a story that illustrates the ways meditation and yoga have become part of my creative practice. 

Come join the beautiful circle of women already gathering for this inaugural session. Find out more and register here.

May your day be full of light and peace...

space between...

Tonight, I am reading from Mary Oliver's collection Thirst: Poems, and again, I am grateful for the way her poems just feel true. As though I am sitting beside a mentor who doesn't have to tell stories for hours but instead just says what she needs to say in a few lines. And then says, "Now go live."

Today was a long day. 

But I promised myself I would sit alone for a minute or two and just breathe deeply and try to find some softness in that space between the inhale and the exhale.

So I did that tonight while Jon gave Ellie her bath. 

And it did feel softer as I let a few pieces of the day slip off of me. 

And I had the thought that the softness feels a little quiet in that way one can feel when you just really need a good night's sleep and then someone who loves you to make pancakes in the morning.

Know what I mean?

In this moment, I wish for you a minute or two where you can close your eyes, let your shoulders drop away from your ears, your face relax, and then you can settle in to notice your breathing...to try to find the softness you need.

PS The photo at the top of this post arrived in the mail in the form of a postagram from my friend Donna. Seeing her tea beside my little book of poems made me simply happy. You can now order Five Days in April, a collection of poems, here.

creating space within

Sometimes you need to simply pause right here, find your breath, and remember the truth that rests inside you.

To pause and breathe and remember to trust what you know.

Today, through this video/guided mediation, I am inviting you to do just that.

***

If you feel called to continue the conversation about ways to create space within you and around you, come along to the next session of Create Space that begins next week. This will be the last time I am offering this class until next year (perhaps the last time in this form), so if you have been feeling called to join in, I hope you will. Learn more about Create Space and register here.

creating space for joy

i opened my eyes (my heart) and took this photo . lake superior, april 2012

My daughter is discovering ways to move sand with rocks and sticks as she plays with her grandparents along the shore of Lake Superior. I stand at the water a few feet away, eyes closed, stomach and heart holding a few heavy pieces of this life. I listen to their laughter, the lapping water, and then for just a moment I hear only my breathing. 

I take a few deep breaths right here, feeling my feet beneath me, the sun warming my body, and the wind gently holding me. I focus on the space I create with each breath. Space inside me. Space around my heart. And with an exhale, I let pieces of what I do not need to carry slip out of me and sink into the earth.

Seeking a tactile reminder of this moment, I open my eyes and take a photo of a woman standing in the quiet joy that is creating space to move out of her head and back into her heart.

*****

Slowing down and noticing my breathing is one of my access points to joy. When I quiet the chatter in my head by sinking into the moment, I am gently pushed to see the beauty of simply being here. I notice the world around me, and my senses so often guide me to joy. And when I open up to joy, I feel myself mending and shedding the pieces inside me that no longer serve.

But it is a practice, this seeking joy stuff. It is something I have to cultivate and create space for. Coming to the page and writing about the moments where I find it (and documenting those moments through photos) help to remind me to listen to what I know and to keep on practicing.

*****

This week, Jennifer Louden, Marianne Elliott, and Susannah Conway have invited a few people to share some thoughts on creative joy. (Thank you ladies for asking me to play along as I love this topic!) The three of them are hosting a retreat on this juicy theme in June with workshops in writing, yoga, and photography. (Retreats about joy are a very very good thing!) Find out more about it here. And if you tweet, check out the #creativejoy hashtag this week.

a self-care letter :: journaling

a page in my creative wholeness journal (in the eco-green smash journal)

I am deeply enjoying the conversations about journaling that have been happening since I posted my first video two weeks ago. Some of you have mentioned that my posts have encouraged you to get back to journaling; some of you have emailed me and said you are going to try your own version of a "creative journal" where you hold yourself accountable to the big dreams or the day-to-day business stuff. I am guessing some of you just kind of fell in love with the Smash journals when you saw them. Some of you are trying the "Jen Lee-inspired method" of keeping one main notebook/journal of everything. I just love how these conversations are unfolding and I so appreciate you sharing your experiences with me.

Seeing your journals pop up on Flickr and Instagram and Twitter made me think that it would be fun to have a journaling Flick group where we could cheer each other on and share ideas and pages and other good things. I have decided to call the group "Notes for the Journey" because that is what journaling feels like for me; notebooks and journals in all their forms become a place to capture pieces of ourselves that often become the notes we piece together to make sense of our experiences.

This group isn't just for Smash journals or business journals. It is simply a group to share photos of your journals and where you journal. You might share the pages inside your journal, notes about how your are journaling, and so on. If you are trying to create a daily journaling practice, you might post a photo each day of your journal and the mug of tea you drink while you write. If you are a journal buying addict (ahem...I now know I'm not the only one), you could share your finds. My hope is that we can support each other through sharing photos. I know it will help me hold myself accountable just a bit more so I keep going with this practice.

Just click here to join the group and start sharing (you will need a Flickr account). 

UPDATED :: A group of us is now using the hashtag #journeynotes over on Instagram if you want to join in.

As I focus on my own journaling habits and needs, I will continue to share what I am discovering and talk about how holding myself accountable is affecting me. I also plan to share some prompts or invitations every now and then that might inspire you to write in your own journals (or on your blogs). In that spirit, I want to tell you about an exercise I did this week.

A Self-Care Letter

As I mentioned in my previous posts about my new "creative wholeness journal," I have a section about self-care. In this section, I am listing my go-to self-care practices so that I can turn to them when I begin to notice I am feeling depleted but also when I just have a few minutes to myself and need a place to begin.

Earlier this week, I turned to the page shown in the photo above and decided to write myself a gentle reminder to rest. I thought about all the women I have connected with through the Be Present Retreats during the last three years. I thought about the stories they have shared and the ways in which we have held the space for one another as these words are spoken aloud. I thought about you and you and you and what I would most want to tell you if you needed a reminder to rest so that you could keep living your dreams into reality. And then I wrote the words in letter form right into my journal.

An Invitation

In your journal, write yourself a self-care letter that tells you whatever you most need to hear in this moment. Maybe you need a reminder to rest or to pay more attention to when you are hungry or maybe you need to give yourself permission to write and dream and know you are enough.

*****

A few people have emailed asking about where I have purchased my Smash journals. Here in Tacoma, there is a local store called Artco Crafts that is carrying them and has them on sale right now. I have also seen the accessories at Michael's and their website indicates the stores carry the journals. Amazon has quite a few Smash journals and products available (and they have the best prices I think). It looks like they are available at Paper Source. Please share any shops where you have seen them.

Blessings and light,

Liz