Make something beautiful in June: Week 2

What kind of creativity brings you joy? Gardening, cooking, drawing, writing? Maybe it’s baking or woodworking. There is something, beautiful someone. And you know what? Maybe it isn’t a traditional creative pursuit. Making something beautiful doesn’t necessarily mean creating art or having a unique idea.

Maybe you lose yourself solving a problem at work. Or resolving a dispute between two people in your chosen family. Making a difference in your community is creating beauty. So is trying a new, out-of-the-box solution to a annoying problem. Or encouraging someone who’s feeling despair…all these and more create beauty in the world.

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Make something beautiful in June

“And since all this loveliness cannot be Heaven,
I know in my heart it is June.”

– Abba Woolson

June comes bearing many gifts. Here in the northeast, it’s finally sunny and warm again. Roses and peonies are blooming and strawberries are ripening. We’re planning vacations and sitting poolside.

Surrounded by this gorgeous bounty, I hope we’re inspired to create something beautiful ourselves.

Maybe we plant a single rosebush. Or an entire garden.

Cook a beautiful meal for people we love with unique dishes–in colors, textures, and tastes we’ve never tried before.

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Gratitude is hope

So I wanted a car to replace my 15-year-old Honda with more rust than body, with failing springs (which feels like driving with cinderblocks for wheels), and not one but two broken taillight covers. When I shared this with a cruel narcissist from my early life, I was told to be grateful that I had a car at all.

“You could be riding your bike everywhere or buying a bus pass every month,” he said.

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Courage to create

Please enjoy this excerpt from Braving It, one of my absolute favorite books. You gotta read the whole thing…there’s so much in here about living boldly and freely! This post is from the chapter: “Create your joy”

“Creativity takes courage,” said master French painter Henri Matisse. It definitely does take courage to dance and sing and paint when we feel like we can’t. We don’t know how, and even if we do, we’re not “good” at it. One look at the stores on Etsy, at what people are creating, or anyone whose work is on display at a gallery or museum, or dancers online or on stage is enough to stop us. We could never…

But, beautiful someone, we can.

Yeah, we can

We can move our feet to music. We can open our mouths and make sounds to musical notes. We can put pencil to paper and draw lines. We can look through the lens of a camera, find a gritty urban scene, and capture it in a compelling composition. Read More

“I am beautiful”

Please enjoy this excerpt from my new book,
You, Beautiful: Getting gorgeous from the inside out…Coming Soon!

“I am beautiful.”

What would it feel like to say this to yourself — and really mean it?

Most of us would feel silly or even cringe looking in the mirror and saying these words. We’d think first, not true. (Says who?) Second, that’s so vain. (Again, says who?)

Valuing ourselves this way — as inherently beautiful and by implication, worthy of love and respect — is a radical act Read More