Every year on my birthday, I visit the Art Institute in Chicago. I cancel all meetings and take a mental health day. While roaming around the Art Institute, I take my time wandering around the museum absorbing all the colors and the beautiful artwork. The museum invigorates my spirit and stimulates my creativity.
Every summer a married friend of mine travels by herself to different cities all over the world. One summer it was Venice, Italy and another summer Paris, France. She remarked how she felt the day-to-day challenges of being the perfect wife and mother were suffocating her spirit.
She discovered that by simply spending time alone and recharging her spiritual batteries, she was a better mother and wife. She also said, going away strengthened her marriage.
As my husband likes to say in his caveman voice, ʺMy wife happy, me happy.ʺ
Your spirit is your essence and your core. Like love, your spirit expands and is endless. But, every now and then you need to exercise your spirit and take it for a walk outside of its comfort zone.
The main ingredient here is to do something you have never done before and do it by yourself. This activity is ʺme-time.ʺ
Here are some tips to express your spirit through creative means:
• Take a flamenco class or hula class. (Check out Groupon, Living Social, Amazon, DealChicken for great discounts)
• Take a flower design class
• Take a class at Home Depot
• Take a vacation by yourself
• Get a massage
• Treat yourself to a romantic lunch
Here are some other things you can do to invigorate your spirit especially if you are on a tight budget:
• Hit the dollar store. Buy some water color paints, crayons or markers and a white pad. Pretend you are your favorite artist and paint away.
• Invade the book store during your lunch hour. Buy one book --
o Visit the travel section and buy a travel book on a city you would love to visit one day. Read through all the places (museums, restaurants, parks, etc.) you would like to visit.
o Buy one book you always wanted to read but never had the time or a book you’d like to reread. Put the book on your nightstand or bathroom. Read one page per day or week. Eventually, you will find the time complete the book. It may take a year, but you will have eventually completed reading the book.
o Buy the book ʺThe Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Creative Recoveryʺ by Julia Cameron. OK, maybe your creativity doesn’t need a life preserver but Cameron’s book offers some great tools to expand your creativity.
As the late Elisabeth Kubler-Ross said, ʺThere are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from.ʺ
Edited by Jody Smith