My Promise to Myself

Happy 2019 everyone!  I hope you've set aside time this past month to enjoy some moments of beauty, as I have.  Time spent enjoying natural beauty is a balm for our souls and an essential element in self-care.  Last week I had a chance to do so while I engaged in an activity I love ~ playing flute.

The image of the sunset above was taken on Monday, January 28, 2019.  My daughter and I arrived home from errands and I decided to keep a promise I made to myself ~ play flute for an hour.  I found that while I was warming up and playing, the sunset outside my living room window grew more vivid by the minute.  I hollared up to my teenage daughter, who was watching the same sunset from her bedroom window.  She urged me to capture the sunset with my phone, and I did.

Messages from the Center of the Labyrinth

In addition to being a musician and an artist, I am passionate about walking labyrinths.  The messages I received from the spirit world at the center have been about the importance of taking time to notice and communicate the beauty I see around me.  As I returned to my everyday life outside the labyrinth path, I often thought of ways I'd love to communicate the beauty of nature through my art and writing. 

My husband gave me a beautiful pen and an online course about essay-writing for Christmas.  He gave me a choice between that and other writing courses, but that one spoke to me immediately so I chose it.   I've listened to a couple of the lectures and have been impressed with the level of engagement and inspiration the course offers.  The title of the course is "Becoming a Great Essayist," by Jennifer Cognard-Black, one of The Great Courses available through Audible.  One of the reasons I chose it is the breadth of the skills the course covers.  I knew that the descriptive skills I'm developing through engaging in the suggested exercises will serve me no matter what genre of literature I decide to write: literature for young readers, fantasy novels, poetry and essays.  I look forward to the time I carve out to listen to the lectures and practice.  I am determined to finish the works-in-progress I've begun, and my practice essays will likely show up in my future articles. 

Have a great and beautiful year of writing everyone!