[Babette]

@Isabelle

That sounds like a fun Artist’s Date! I love going to Ben Franklin, which is our version of Hobby Lobby (which we don’t have on the Island–and no Michael’s either). There’s another store right next door called Daiso that I also love. It’s Japanese, and has a ton of bright colorful unnecessary plastic shit I enjoy looking at (and sometimes buying).

I didn’t do my Artist’s Date yesterday. It got hijacked by Hans needing my help cleaning out the water catchment tank at our daughter’s house while she was at work. So today, while he is back at her house again (still cleaning) I took an hour to tie a bunch of orchids to the trees in the yard. That is a relaxing, pleasurable activity for me, so I’m calling it an Artist’s Date.

A friend had told me recently about a vendor at the local Sunday market who sells a flat of assorted orchids for $20, and many of them need repotting and can be divided into several plants. So I have a flat with about twelve 4″ pots that are overgrown around the edges enough that I’ll probably get 30 or more plants from them. I’ll share pictures at some point.

Now I’ve gotta check emails, not my favorite activity because I always wait until I have an overflowing inbox. Wish me luck!

[Babette]

Hi @Isabelle

There is no rule about the morning pages except not to read them until you’re some distance into the class (which she mentions in the book when we get to that point) and if I recall correctly, that’s only if you want to. I don’t see any point in reading them afterward, especially since I jot down any important thoughts, ideas, and marching orders in a different place in my Bullet Journal. The Journal comes with a few index pages in the front, so I can also put page numbers for any contents I don’t want to forget.

[Babette]

Hi Jes,

Would you mind posting this question again in the energy healing group instead of the chat room? I’m about to delete most of the chat rooms because apparently nobody can find them–in fact, I got a notification of your post but then couldn’t find where it was and decided I’d imagined it. Posting in the groups seems to work much better. (We’re still working out the kinks.)

xoxo,

Babette

[Babette]

That is so cool! Thanks for figuring out how to post those videos so we could see how versatile it is. I’m gonna try it!

I’m attaching a photo of one of my post-it posters that I use to make huge lists that are impossible to ignore. I get bored using the same format all the time, so my lists are often made with organic shapes, wheels, spirals, etc.

[Babette]

I’m writing book four of the series now! So excited to be writing Reva and Mack’s love story, finally. Those two have a feisty, spicy relationship.

 

[Babette]

Hi, Susan,

My husband had a bout with high blood pressure a couple of years ago, and his doctor recommended that he start on medication, but she also gave him some guidelines on diet that he could try first. I had to learn to stop using salt as a seasoning, and using diet alone, we were able to get his blood pressure down naturally without the need for medications. But always, you should trust your doctor (or find one you can trust) and follow their advice when it comes to medical matters.

When I first learned about energy healing, the teacher said, “Energy healing can fix anything that doesn’t kill you first.”

So, while physical concerns can require immediate attention, energy healing is a long-game, and it starts with taking care of yourself on all levels. That means addressing any imbalances that are rooted in the realms of your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. And I’d also add the element of your current situation. Are you living in the right place for you? Do your friends and relatives support and encourage you? Are there any changes you need to make in your life in order to reach your highest potential?

Many times, I’ve had energy healing clients say that they’ve experienced complete–and sometimes even permanent–relief of their symptoms. And sometimes, one session is enough to create a miracle. But I think that happens when the client has already done a lot of work to help themselves before they came to me, and the energy healing helped to push through that last barrier to healing.

Doing the work to help yourself isn’t a one-and-done thing you can do and be done with. It’s more a commitment to taking small daily steps of self-care. Can you commit to doing a morning stretching or yoga routine, even if only for five minutes?  Can you promise yourself time to sit and read for pleasure for a half-hour before you cook dinner or go to bed? Even an Epsom Salt bath at night can create positive, lasting change. And each small change you make germinates the ground for more small changes to occur.

How can you move a mountain?

One tablespoon at a time, if you keep at it.

I hope this helps.

And let me know if you’d like to do a 20-minute Zoom yoga routine on a regular basis. I’m game if you are!

 

[Babette]

Looking forward to chatting on Zoom tomorrow!

[Babette]

@Isabelle I’ve bought and used the workbook before. I still have it, and I got it out to look back over it. I like the fact that the tasks and check-ins are listed, with plenty of room for writing, and unlined pages make it easy to draw or make diagrams etc. There is some explanatory text lifted from the book, and I think there is also some additional material included. It was helpful to keep me motivated and organized.

I like your idea of setting aside a regular time each week to do your Artist’s Date. Thank you for sharing it. I’m going to do that too, because while I’ve been doing morning pages (badly) for years, I deny myself the Artist Dates. Turns out that I’m much better at doing things that feel like work than I am at doing things that are fun.

Wednesdays are good for me, so I’ll choose Wednesdays too. I’ll make a new discussion thread about Artist Dates, so we can share our plans and experiences there.

[Babette]

@Krys I can’t thank you enough for giving me the idea of doing this course in the book club. The Artist’s Way course is life-changing, but a life-changing process is so easy to abandon if we don’t have the support we need to keep going.

I think that 30-minutes a day to write three morning pages is an aspirational goal I can’t attain, because I’m constantly dealing with distractions (including those introduced by my own monkey-mind), so it usually takes me an hour to get three morning-pages done. Sometimes I break the rules and write a little bit at a time during the day. Sometimes I tell myself that my notebook is big and the lines are close-together, so I can get away with only doing two pages.

But the truth is, no matter how big the page is or how far apart the lines are, the epiphany happens at the end of two pages, and the answer comes in the third page.

Make of that what you will. I’m being told I have to stop writing this because we’re late leaving for a play we have tickets for and I’m not dressed yet. So I’ve gotta go but I’m gonna post this and maybe write more later.

Anyhow, that’s it for now. Thanks for getting us al going on this life-changing thing we’re doing together.

~Babette

[Babette]

@Isabelle I know it’s exactly what I need too, so I’m so glad you’re on board! It’s not altruistic, it’s personal: I will show up for friends when I won’t show up for myself, so I need a group of likeminded people to keep me motivated. I know from experience that it’ll be transformational. Let’s do this!

[Babette]

Hey, Nancy. I’m so happy to see you here! I’m looking forward to reading Gabriel’s story and chatting with you about your books, your writing process, your cats…. Thank you!

[Babette]

Hi Isabelle,

Thanks for your question! I wasn’t thinking we’d Zoom on Mondays, but that we’d do all the discussion in the forums. (I’m going to post some writing / thinking prompts as we go along.) But your question has made me wonder whether we should also do some Zooming for Book Club members too. Let me percolate on it.

Thanks!

Babette

[Babette]

I haven’t seen him. But I’ve noticed lately that the dragonflies are so friendly and attentive! All I have to do is walk outside and hold up my hand, and a dragonfly will light on my finger and sit there for as long as I have time to commune. We’ve had some great conversations these last few days. I’ve also been given a long list of instructions to pass along to whoever buys this house.

[Babette]

I’ll do my best to post more often! Recently, I’ve chatted with a tiny gecko I rescued from the pool. He was no more than an inch long, and he clung to my finger, refusing to get off when I tried to put him on the ground. He let me know that he needed to be near water he could get out of more easily, so I took him to the koi pond but cautioned him to stay hidden in the pond plants so he didn’t get snapped up. I hope he listened!

[Babette]

Have you tried it yet? I had the opportunity to converse with a water moccasin last week. He was hanging out in the yard, because he had decided that the wood pile would be a great home for him. Since several of the dogs and cats had been a little too interested in him, I had to convince him to move on down the hill and find a new home in the wetland area below our house. He wasn’t happy about it, because as you may have heard, water moccasins are territorial, and he had trouble finding an unoccupied place to claim for his own. Unfortunately, he was adamant (he hung around for days) so I finally had to use the water hose to convince him that the woodpile and our yard were already claimed as well, and he’d have to take his chances with the other snakes already in residence. I checked in with him later in the day, and he wouldn’t answer, but now he has forgiven me, and shows that he didn’t have to go too far to find a nice niche under an uprooted tree stump.