View From The Heart

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Busy Hands, Peaceful Heart

Feeling a bit disoriented? Yeah, me too.

I’ve been putting off writing this post for days. I’m still not entirely sure what it is I want to say. It seems to take a lot of effort to keep myself from just staring out the window at the birds and letting the hours drift by. We are all learning to navigate a very unusual situation and our challenges will all be a bit different. But when times are challenging, I know that keeping my hands and body in motion helps my heart and mind stay calm.

It doesn’t take much. Vacuuming, weeding, sorting my collection of vintage paper, any little action can help. It might feel like the world has stopped turning for the moment, but you don’t have to stop moving forward. Even moving in place can be a good thing!

It’s good to keep a little structure built into your week too. I know a lot of my artist friends have had their calendars wiped clean this month and that can really make us feel dizzy. The first couple of weeks I allowed myself to bounce around from project to project but this week I feel the need for more of a plan.

Tomorrow is the first day of the 100 Day Project. I skipped it last year but this year I’m in! My project will consist of 100 small wooden hearts covered in bits and pieces of vintage paper scraps, old stamps, tickets, book pages and anything else I can add with my magical glue stick. Because it’s kind of a messy project, I’m setting up a little station with all my supplies in a room away from my studio. I’ll be posting photos of my progress on Instagram every few days. I don’t know what all my little hearts will eventually become, but my hands will be busy and my own heart will be a little bit more calm. You can learn all the details of the 100 Day Project online at https://www.the100dayproject.org/ I hope you’ll consider joining in!

I wish you health and peace, and if all you can manage to make right now is a good cup of coffee, well done! Keep moving, even a little bit each day.

XO,

Colleen