Creativity Circle

I find it interesting that two of my favorite female friends decided to spend their birthday parties making art with other women. One party was a back yard sketching bee, and the other was a book-making party. Part of my work has been very social and the other part isolated and almost anti-social. I have a split personality that way. I love the team spirit of working with a company to put on a play or a community art event, but I also need time alone to feel grounded and to re-charge my social batteries. I am very lucky to have two very creative friends and neighbors who have generously agreed to share their creative dreams and deadlines with me. We will get together every three weeks to check in, chat, and do something fun.

This first time we met we discussion our New Year's Resolutions and some tactics for getting them done. We shared what we'd like to give to the group and what we'd like to receive. We brought some old magazines and made resolution collages with scissors and glue sticks. It's good to have something for your hands to do. It creates a rhythm in the conversation. Rip, snip, glue, chat. We drank rooibus chai and ate C's homemade cherry squares. We talked about clearing the clutter and getting healthier. J says she read about a technique for achieving your resolution: visualize an image of what the reward will bring you. I see myself singing and dancing in a sexy black dress with a fringed hem. How about you?

We set goals and deadlines and agreed to share soup recipes. I headed home with a feeling of hopeful responsibility. I'm lucky to have such great neighbors.

I celebrated Art's Birthday by cleaning the house. I vacuumed for hours and I was up and down the stairs several times doing about five loads of laundry. Moved furniture and vacuumed up acres of dead skin and mouse poop. I am visualizing a beautiful clean house that I can invite people to without feeling embarrassed. I love the smell and feel of fresh duvets and sheets. My wool duvet has a wonderful sheepy lanolin smell after it's been laundered. I am imagining the fresh smell of lavender and newly painted walls. Clean. Zen. Calm. Ohm. Happy Birthday to Art.