Artful Living

Being an artist means living a beautiful life.  Art making is not all about paintings, sculpture, or photos.  Sometimes art making is jelly from the yard's plum trees and grape vines.  The color alone is enough to send me off into heaven.  The taste, well the taste is brimming with fat sweet Concord grapes and plump red plums waiting to burst out of their skin.  Put them together and apply them to home made buttermilk pancakes, and we are living a life fit for royalty.

Staying Balanced

I can't remember the exact day, but one day late last summer I realized something:  I was over-committed and not only had I signed up for more than I could handle, I was not enjoying running from "hurry-up-and-get-this-done" so I could do "the-next-thing", but my whole life felt out of whack.  Call me obsessive compulsive if you like, but I like it best when my house is somewhat orderly and clean.  I like to sit down to eat my own cooking and not have to leap up and go on to the next task at hand. I also like to open closets and not be overwhelmed by what I see.  If I want to bake some cracked wheat berry bread, I want my schedule to allow me to do so. 

What I decided on that day in late summer was that I would fulfill my commitments, but learn from my zeal to be fully engaged as an artist.  I vowed to be mindful of what I signed up for in the future, and as time permitted, dig myself out of my hole. 

I made my To-Do List in January.  Yesterday I crossed off the last item. 

Some of the items on my list were not simple.  Reformatting two books so I could publish them on various book sites as ebooks took months of work.  I finished a quilt I gave as a gift.  Some were one day projects, like wash and wax my living room and dining room floor.  In the meantime, life kept flowing by, and I kept working on getting caught up. 

Voila!  The list is done; my life is manageable once again, and I am one happy woman.  Until I forget the lesson learned, I am going to continue living a life in balance:  work a little, play a little, do nothing a little, socialize a little, cook a little, and enjoy every second of this precious life.  I don't have to do it all, nor do I have to do it right now.  I'm going to do what I can, what I love, and live in the moment.

Nothing better than a finished To-Do List