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I fill my journals with reminders, secret messages, and pep talks, so that one day in the future, I will read them and know I am not alone as I keep finding my way.
(This is a journal page from my ecourse Tell It, which you can read about here.)
I made a trailer of sorts for my October ecourse - HERE: Touchstones.
Here’s the text of the audio I share above:
My journals are filled with gathered evidence of how I’m living - the beauty, the grief, the hope, the messiness, the joy. I collect images, stories, the words of others, reminders that I am not alone as I find my way.
Journaling can become a way to pause and listen to the wisdom within. A way to gather the thoughts, feelings, longings and put them on the page so they don’t stack up inside but instead become a map leading you back to yourself.
In Touchstones, we explore what poet William Stafford calls “the thread we follow” as we get curious about what guides us, inspires us to stay anchored to our work in the world, to the reasons we’re here. Through prompts and letters and lists and stories, we will create a journal that becomes a living, breathing companion reminding us how to get back home in the moments when we feel untethered from our thread.
I hope you’ll come along as we dive into this journey. Side by side.
I used to make these lists all the time here on my blog because it is just so fun to share the things that bring a little joy or delight, the things that make life easier, and things that inspire me or even take my breath away.
Here are five current favorites:
1) One of my favorite things about being part of One Little Word as a guest instructor is getting to know the other women who are teaching throughout the year. And one of these magical people is @azzarijarrett. She takes incredible photos (with film!) and creates beautiful things. I ordered the stickers and postcards above, which are now in my “current favorite things to inspire journaling” basket on my studio table. Thank you for the light you shine, Azzari.
2) This poem and this poem and this poem.
3) The comments on this Instagram post are (very very) worth reading.
4) Megababe Thigh Rescue has changed my life this summer. Hello dresses and skirts, my thighs are happy to feel you against them again. (If you’re looking for a layer to wear under skirts though, I also recommend these and these.)
I'm thinking about you over in your corner in the world. Things are hard right now. Knowing what to do next is hard. And I thought it might be helpful to share four mantras I'm finding supportive as I move through my days at home here in the Pacific Northwest.
Courage, dear heart is a phrase CS Lewis wrote in his Chronicles of Narnia books. It helps me feel less alone. Always. It feels like a whispered prayer that so many before me have said. It is a hope I have for you, for me, for all of us. I hope it helps you remember that from parenting to partnering to feeling lonely to worry to grief to wishing things were different, you aren't alone.
Just do the next right thing has helped me for several years. And I love that Anna from Frozen has made it an even more mainstream mantra to use. I have it on my list of talismans to create in the studio because I want to keep it close. We're also talking about it in my new Water Your Soul ecourse* and using it as a guide for our days. When I feel the overwhelm hit, I'm whispering these words to myself.
Mother Teresa reminds us to "Do small things with great love." And right now is our opportunity to connect in very small yet impactful ways with our fellow humans. From texting someone a check-in to sending a card in the mail to getting groceries for your elderly neighbor, we can show up with love and hope in our daily lives one tiny action at a time.
As we experience this truly unbelievable world we're living in these days, the phrase Side by Side help me to remember that we aren't alone. Every moment, someone is helping someone else. Someone is listening, giving a glass of water, opening their arms, teaching, sitting beside someone in joy and grief and hope and uncertainty. Even if we're doing all of this virtually. We are here for each other.
What words are helping you over there? I'd love to know. Please leave a comment and share.
I'm over here spending a lot of time with my daughter EJ and the other members of our little family, Jon and our dog Lyle. We're finding our way through a month filled with personal grief after two deaths in our family. And we're playing Bananagrams, watching The Good Place, taking space from each other when we need it, learning a whole lot about decimals, and baking.
I am still getting into my studio and making Soul Mantras, and I'd love to send something you're way. I am happy to create custom items for you right now, so if you don’t see something in the shop that captures the mantra or intention you need (or want to send to someone), just get in touch.
Every order is getting some extra love tucked in through words of encouragement and other little things. If you want to send a gift to someone, I'll include a note from you and add in extra love. I'll also be washing my hands a lot as I package things up.
All the orders help us stay afloat over here in these uncertain times, and I'm so grateful.
Side by side,
Liz
*I've kept Water Your Soul registration open for at least another week. The pay what you can option is still available. And this isn't the kind of course where you get behind. You just move through it at your pace, using the ideas, prompts, and stories in the ways that support you.
During our recent trip to the coast, I started a new art journal and I’m loving it. It’s a little bit of collage, a little bit of watercolor, some photos, some words, and lots of current stories I want to capture on the page. I’m also opening up Pinterest and looking at the quotes I’ve gathered there and giving them a place to land in this journal.
I’ve been sharing peeks in a new series of IGTV videos that you can watch right here.
Lots of the prompts and techniques I’m using in this journal are ones I share in Tell It: Collage. And you can use COLLAGEFUN to take 20% off right now.
My biggest hope is to make journaling feel accessible, doable, and fun for you. Remember, you don’t need much. Just start.
I'm so excited to share that registration for the TELL IT SPRING RETREAT is open!
I'm hosting this retreat here in the Pacific Northwest in my town of Tacoma, Washington. It's an art journaling + self-care and mindfulness retreat from April 29 - May 3. There are just 10 spots! Click here for all the details, or read on for a bit more info.
This retreat is about gathering tools to help you tell your story through art journaling. We will begin to fill a journal with stories and secret dreams and the words you most need. We will explore collage, write, poem, take photos, play with watercolors, and even use my vintage typewriter. I will share peeks into my journals, give you lots of prompts to play with, share my journaling supplies with you, and spill all my journaling secrets.
This retreat is also about slowing down and noticing the world around and within you. It’s about gathering in community with like-minded souls to connect and listen and hold space. It’s about playing and recharging as you put color and words and photos onto the page. It’s about dancing with the poet inside you, practicing listening to your inner wisdom, and opening your heart to what’s next in your world.
You can read all about it and sign up right here.
Please note registration just opened today! There are just 10 spots (and 8 spots with lodging in the house where we'll gather).
Happy New Year to you! I hope this year is already unfolding with some ease, some joy, some time to just breathe. And if not, that you'll have moments full of these things throughout the month.
I want to share a bit about my 2019 word before I set it down. Yes was my word 2019. A year ago, I thought it would be a year of growing my business. Hosting more retreats. Teaching more in-person workshops. Saying yes to a few dreams.
Instead, things began to turn upside down in late January, and as a family, we had a pretty tough and at times heartbreaking winter and spring. As a result, I started saying yes to different things. To showing up. To healing trauma (and calling it trauma). To boundaries. To saying no. To rest. To noticing the smallest of miracles even on days that felt really really hard.
Yes became like a pinky swear with myself: You. Will. Get. Through. This.
My business had to take a backseat to parenting and healing. It may not have looked like it from the outside, but it all took its toll. And a piece that is hard to talk about is how financially last year was a rough one. I’m hoping business continues to pick up and that there is some growth or even just getting back to where things were. My little family needs that. I need it. And feeling the joy of all the word of the year orders that come in this time of year feels like a beautiful way to hold hands with “yes” and trust that this hard, quiet, healing year has created a foundation for what’s next.
Thank you for being part of that.
I had my last therapy session of the year on Monday, and I was thinking about how the healing I’ve done stretches forward toward what is to come but also stretches back toward those who came before me.
And as I turn toward this new year, I want to say yes to choosing that healing and that love and that belief in myself.
Thank you for being beside me as I've walked through this past year. I will share more stories as I keep moving through them and understanding more about them. The toughness of this last year is a big reason why I started Everyday Tiny Miracles. Gathering up the littlest of joys, delights, truths, stories, miracles was a big way I got through it all.
The practice of choosing a word (or mantra) creates an intention as you reflect on how you want your next year to unfold. Practices like this anchor us and remind us to think about how we really want to live and reflect on what we want to invite into our lives.
Having a word or intention to focus on gives me a sense of rootedness throughout my day. It connects me to the sacred and to the everyday moments and often becomes part of me, like a trusted companion that walks beside me.
When I’m choosing a word to be my guide for the year, I think about all that could happen in a year. I want my word to bring me back to center amidst whatever challenges, beauty, and uncertainty await. For me, this isn’t about choosing a word or mantra that will invite me to have unrealistic expectations for myself or my daily life.
Rather, it’s about choosing a word that lifts me up and is a safe space to land even as it may often challenge me.
Spend some time journaling about what you want to invite into your life. As you're writing, think about the words or phrases that feel most supportive. Write them down. And then over the next few days, keep your heart and ears open for other words and mantras that might be the right companion for you. Jot them down.
Sit in the quiet for a few moments each day and just notice what comes up, coming back to this idea of thinking about what would most support you. Then, revisit your journal and write a few more thoughts about what you’ve discovered. Read over your writing to see if your mantra might be waiting for you. You can even fill a page with possible words and phrases.
What often happens to me is that I'll start to notice a word - in quotes on Pinterest, in conversation, in articles and books, and it won't let me go. It just keeps tapping on me. Sometimes there's a "YES! This is my word!" internal response. Sometimes there is resistance. I sit with it. I check in with myself. I start to tell a couple of trusted people. And then I journal about it and usually admit to myself that it is just what I need.
You can also let yourself try on a word or mantra for a while. This is a “choose your own adventure” kind of practice, which means you can choose to move on from a mantra at any time. You aren’t choosing a tattoo design, at least not yet, but are instead simply working with words in a powerful way.
As you work with this practice, begin to notice how it gives you an access point to presence in the midst of whatever a day hands you as you slow down and deeply connect with you.
I'll share my own word later this week and how it found me. And if you've chosen a word or intention, I'd love to hear about it.
If you'd like to wear or hold a Soul Mantra to help you stay even more connected to your practice, I'd love to make one for you. All the word of the year designs + the This is My Year manifesto and bundle can be found right here on the Soul Mantras site.
This year, I’ll also be following along with Ali Edwards’ One Little Word project like I do every year. It’s an online class to help you stay connected to your word throughout the year. Updated to add: Excited to share that I’m one of the teachers in Ali’s 2021 and 2022 One Little Word classes. Come along and join us!
