2022 Word of the Year

On January 27, 2022 By Widow BadassIn Goals & Dreams, Health Transformation, Mindfulness, WOTY77 Comments

Having a word to guide me and align my thoughts, goals, and dreams for an entire year has been good for me, for a few years already now. (In fact, my 2020 WOTY was Alignment and it really helped me to remember to make decisions both big and small that aligned with my values in that critical first year of retirement). I find having a single word to focus on works better for me than a list of goals or dare-I-say-it: resolutions. So I was excited to learn of Donna and her circle of Australian bloggie friends coming up with a WOTY Link Party. I’m in! I may not post on this topic every month but for sure I am joining the party this month.

My 2022 Word of the Year is Limber.

Inside cover of my 2022 journal with WOTY and sigil. Doesn’t it look like a figure flexing and balancing? Creating a sigil or symbol for your word or goal is another mental trick to help embed it and keep it in the forefront of your noggin.

I created a sigil from the phrase “I am lean, limber and strong”. Spoiler alert: I am none of those things…currently. Our brains can’t tell reality from fantasy, apparently…so if you say it is so, your trusting little brain believes you! This explains a lot, really. OK, OK, I am not going there even though I feel a huge rant about anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers et al coming on.

A-hem. Anyways, if you want to make something a reality you are supposed to speak and think of it as already being a fact. Hence the phrase. Which I have distilled down to one word: LIMBER. And for me, it is just as important to be limber in mind as it is in body. Especially in these trying times of lockdowns, shutdowns, and cancelled plans in general.

One of the things I do to help me with my LIMBER attitude is a daily practice of Qigong. My massage therapist introduced me to this practice, and I fell in love with what is does for my body and mind. I follow a practitioner on YouTube and am now at the point that my body craves a session every morning.

I track my progress in my journal.

From my January habit tracking spread in my 2022 journal.

I am also incorporating strength workouts in my routine, as evidenced in the above photo. My living room has become my Badass Anytime Fitness franchise, and I am loving it. I’ve also decided that this year I want to be able to do a primal or resting squat at some point….you know the one where you squat as far down as you can, and yet your feet are planted entirely on the ground.

At this point I can’t do it without my heels coming up but I have hopes that I can work on my…uh…limberosity (is that a word? lol) enough to achieve this in due time.

Got my February habit tracker spread already set up and ready to go!

And I am already busy working on increasing my hip mobility (one of the many mobilities I need to work on if I want to achieve this squat…sigh):

Look at me being all mentally limber and learning how to insert a photo gallery into Ye Olde Blogge!

Happy 2022 and end of January, fellow Badassians! Stay strong. Stay flexible. Be LIMBER. Off to join the Link Party!

Rock on,

The WB

2018 Intentions – Summer Solstice Update

On June 22, 2018 By Widow BadassIn Artistic Endeavours, Blogging, Goals & Dreams, Health Transformation, Mindfulness32 Comments

Celebrating the solstice with a new candle. The scent is appropriate for the first day of summer!

More and more lately I find I am aligning myself towards the natural world, and the changing seasons. I take great pleasure in and greet with wonder this marvelous planet I reside on, daily. And at regularly occurring natural events like solstices and equinoxes, I like to pause for a moment and take stock of where I am with respect to what I am trying to achieve for myself – my intentions.

It just feels right to me to do things this way, rather than according to a date on a typical paper or digital calendar. This centres me and reminds me of what is truly real, and what are only human constructs.

The world continues to turn; the planet makes regular revolutions around the sun – where am I with my turning in my journey around my life?

I first wrote about my goals for 2018 here, at Yuletide. I updated my progress at the Spring Equinox here.

And here is my assessment of where I am at now, and what has changed in the past 3 months.

Blogging – still managing to blog at least once per week. Hoorah for me! It has been a bit of a struggle, and more so now that the weather is finally hospitable and I am trying to be outdoors as much as possible. There was a ~~good~~ reason my blog went silent almost every summer and fall in years past. I have not yet perfected the art of outdoor blogging (although I managed pretty well in Barbados, I must admit).

Reading – as predicted, I blew past my GoodReads goal of 50 books this year easily a few weeks ago. GoodReads tells me I am 36 books ahead of schedule at 59/50 books read. Next year, I have to at least double this way-too modest goal. Clearly.

Mindfulness – I have been doing a lot of what I call micro-meditations. That is, multiple daily pausings to draw my attention to the present moment and savour it. But not so much butt on the zafu as I was hoping. Still, I am pleased that I am practicing mindfulness on a daily basis.

Financial Security – oooh, doggie! There has been a lot of change in this area. In April, I made a life-changing decision that I can’t really talk about on ye old blogge yet, but it is one that is good for me and I am very happy about it. All will be revealed eventually but unfortunately not any time soon. This has necessitated a change in my financial goals for this year. I have stopped paying down extra on my rental business demand loan for the time being. I am finally heeding my accountant’s advice to not be in such a hurry to pay this down as this debt is very good for my tax situation, and my 2017 tax refund proved him right once again. So I am focusing on optimizing my future monthly cash flow by working on my line of credit instead. I used this credit line for last summer’s renovation – and I locked it in at a much lower interest rate so it was not a priority for paying off ahead of schedule. But not anymore ‘cos Mama’s got a brand new plan.

Intuitive Processes – I am getting better at listening to that still, small voice. My heart voice. The one I usually ignore in favour of my head voice. Using the Tarot is helping. A lot.

The question was money-related, about the future. The cards tell me to size up the situation, get to the point and be completely honest; that I will be able to make my dreams real; and that I am resisting change that is truly needed. Yup, I was.

Health – I have stopped trying to diet, and more importantly, fretting about the need to diet. I eat what I please, when I’m hungry. And guess what, my weight is still about the same – I might even be down a pound or two. But now I truly enjoy my food and I have more time and mental energy to think about fun stuff instead of feeling bad over what I am shoving down my pie hole (or not). So, hoorah for intuitive eating! Although I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I am tempted to go back to restrictive eating whenever I read a “success story”. Then I remember that those successes are just snapshots in time, and a year from now that person will likely have put all the weight back on (and more). I’ve seen it happen to people I know over and over again. Hell, I’m one of them!

I’ve also been very consistent on making sure I move my body – achieving over 10,000 steps almost every day for the past 2 months. My energy levels are nice and high, as a result. And my stamina has improved as well. I keep meaning to add a regular weight lifting routine to my week but haven’t yet made a habit of this. So that is an area that needs my attention during this next quarter.

Speaking of enjoying my food: getting ready to munch on a lovely “zakje patat” (sack of fries) with mayonnaise (Dutch street food) for din-dins after earning another medal for walking 5 km per night for 4 nights at the 4-Day/Evening Walk event, in Dundas. (I couldn’t finish it and chucked the bottom quarter in the waste receptacle. I was out of mayo by that point anyway 😉 .)

7 years of completing this annual event. Unfortunately this was the last year this event will be held.

Art – I’ve been roughing out a bunch of ideas in my notebook but not doing a lot on canvas. This weekend is supposed to be kinda rainy so I’m planning on painting. I got my weekly blog post done early so as to free up time for this. Wish me luck!

What about you? How are you doing with respect to your intentions (if you made any) for 2018, at this half-way point in the year?

Rock on,

The WB

2018 Intentions – Spring Equinox Update

On March 21, 2018March 22, 2018 By Widow BadassIn Artistic Endeavours, Blogging, Goals & Dreams, Health Transformation, Mindfulness18 Comments

Yesterday being the first day of Spring, I took stock of where I was at with respect to the intentions I set at the Winter Solstice. Seemed like an appropriate date, after all.

This is where I initially put them, on Ye Olde Blogge: here

So here is where I am at, as of this week:

Blogging – 100% at posting at least once per week (Yay!). I am having slow but steady success at connecting with other like-minded bloggers/readers, which suits an introvert like me just fine. Quality over quantity, I say.

Reading – Thanks in no small part to 2 glorious weeks reading on the beach in Barbados (A book a day, people. A. Book. A. Day.), I am already at 30 books. My goal for this year is 50 books. Should be a slam-dunk. (I’m WidowBadass on GoodReads, in case you want to connect there.)

reading on the beach — Looking up from my day’s book. This year I burned through Canadian mystery author Louise Penny’s series on Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Recommended.

Mindfulness – I’m not meditating as much as I think I should be/could be doing. Since my winter holiday, I have fallen off the daily meditation wagon. This will be corrected!

Financial Security – I have a goal for this year to pay down an additional 10% of my humongous demand loan, on top of my regularly scheduled payments towards it. As of this week, I am 27% of the way towards that 10% number! Which is right on track for this quarter – even a tick ahead! How am I achieving this money mastery, you may be asking? Well, let me tell ya! By logging all of my discretionary spending (to gain awareness and accountability), and by the old cowboy trick of doubling my money by folding it in half and sticking it back into my pocket instead of spending it. Oh ho ho. Also I gave up cable (I don’t watch enough TV to make it worthwhile) and I no longer go to the salon twice a month to get my (once acrylic) nails done. Yep. I am au naturel – a veritable woodland goddess. And I’m back to scrutinizing grocery store purchases instead of throwing whatever takes my fancy (looking at you, cherries in winter at $9.99 per pound!) into my cart. And I’m brown-bagging it almost daily. Like in the bad old days. Little savings that really add up. Every payday I go to the bank and make a lump sum payment on the demand loan – and that, my friends, is satisfying beyond belief because it goes directly against the principal.

Intuitive Processes – become proficient at Tarot. Like Mindfulness, I’ve let this go a bit since coming back from Barbados. I was working with the cards daily but then I stopped and can’t figure out why. Something else to improve upon.

Health – Oh boy, I have been doing a lot of thinking about this one. Also plenty of moving around (Yay!). I exceeded 10K steps most days despite all that ~~laying around like a beer drinking slug~~ reading I did in Barbados. My blogger friend Karen, of Profound Journey, made an excellent post about Intuitive Eating a few weeks back. I remembered that I used to own a copy of that book when it first came out. Since dieting has not worked for me (*cough*anybody*cough*), and I’ve been exemplifying the definition of insanity for many years, by doing the same thing – dieting – over and over again, and expecting a different result, I was moved to repurchase this book AND the workbook. I’m working through the exercises in the book and allowing my body to tell me what to eat and when to eat it. I can’t fail at this any worse than I have failed at dieting, I figure.

Elevenses — My body has been telling me I want this. I’ve rekindled a long-lost love for “elevenses” – specifically, hot milky tea (or coffee) with a couple of these (OK, OK…sometimes four) biscuits. Damn fine, I say. Which carbs-watching, grains-scoffing, dieting me would never have allowed myself to have. At least not without a shit-ton of guilt.

I’m also still doing the mindful yoga and the Jessica Smith YouTube videos. I’ve recently added her workouts with free weights and also some balance work. This may sound a bit strange, but I’ve always loved working out with weights. And like most things I enjoy, I rarely make time for them. WTF? Why??? See also meditation, and tarot, and…

Art – I have to mark myself as “needs improvement” for this intention, too. I even brought a small sketchbook and pencil with me to Barbados but never so much as doodled the whole 2 weeks I was on vacation. See “A. Book. A. Day.”, above.

So there it is. I’ve taken my inventory and given myself good marks for blogging, reading, financial security and physical activity. I need to step it up with respect to mindfulness, tarot and art. Health is a mixed bag. Good marks for exercising. Still weigh the same as I did at the Winter Solstice.

Next check-in: Summer Solstice.

Rock on,

The WB

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Home – The Changing Seasons for February 2018

On February 25, 2018February 25, 2018 By Widow BadassIn Good Times, Mindfulness, See the Beauty14 Comments

I flew back to Canada on Friday evening, my 2 weeks in Barbados having come to an end.

I have to say that 2 weeks was the perfect amount of time to be away. Last year I felt that 1 week was just too short but I wondered if 2 weeks on the beach would be too much.

It wasn’t. It was perfect.

Boardwalk, South Coast Barbados — Sunrise skies as seen from the Boardwalk

I was and still am so grateful to be able to take a winter vacation to somewhere warm. Even though this was my 3rd year to head south to Barbados, I still pinched myself daily during my sunrise strolls, at my good fortune to be outside in sandals, tank top and skort…at 6 am, in February.

Barbados sunrise on the south coast — The beginning of another beautiful Bajan day on the south coast.

By week 2 my friend and I were ready to get our relaxed butts off of our beach loungers and do some island exploring. We booked a half day tour of Hunte’s Gardens and St. Nicholas Abbey (with a stop at Bathsheba and the Morgan Lewis windmill).

towering palms Hunte's Gardens — Veranda view of the towering palms of Hunte’s Gardens

gorgeous foliage Hunte's Gardens — Gorgeous foliage – Hunte’s Gardens

flowers Hunte's Gardens — Hanging flowers – Hunte’s Gardens

St. Nicholas Abbey is not an abbey at all, but a beautiful and historic English house surrounded by a working mahogany and sugar cane plantation.

Seashell Chandelier at St. Nicholas Abbey

An actual Thomas Crapper…er…crapper. At St. Nicholas Abbey. Yep, I go to a historic home and take a picture of the toilet. 🙂

View from Bathsheba – on the rugged east coast of Barbados. Not safe to swim here, but the surfers love it, apparently.

The Morgan Lewis windmill. Still used to crush sugar cane.

Our half day tour ended up being closer to a full day, thanks to traffic and being on island time. We kinda figured that might happen so we had packed snacks, figuring we might be an hour or so late getting back. Instead of returning at 12:30pm, we didn’t get dropped back to the hotel until after 4 pm. Next time we are packing a full lunch! Just in case.

sunset dining at Champers — Sunsets and Sangria at Champers, while the sea turtles frolic in the waves below. We ate at this nearby ocean-front fine dining establishment 3 times during this trip. Worth making and eating ham and cheese sandwiches for our beach-side lunches so we can splurge here in the evenings. Always a treat.

At the end of the trip, on the flight home I reflected on how happy I actually was to be returning to my home, and how for so many years this wasn’t the case for me. Home used to be a place I dreaded entering. Towards the end of my first marriage, coming home meant returning to my verbally abusive, controlling husband and his often-drunk, miserable mother. In my last marriage, coming home meant returning to Crazytown – a place filled with clutter, dirt and disorder – and all the other OCD-related shit I felt I had no choice but to put up with, from my last husband.

I don’t know if I can express in words how grateful I am now, to be able to say that returning home is pure joy. Home is my refuge, my sanctuary, my little corner of the world that is safe, warm, clean and welcoming. That is finally and truly mine.

And I came home to mild weather! Sunny skies and 9 degrees Celsius! Amazing!

Can this be really be the view from my rooftop patio in February? Where is the snow and ice?

This is my Changing Seasons post for this month.

Rock on,

The WB

Sunday Update

On January 14, 2018 By Widow BadassIn Artistic Endeavours, Goals & Dreams, Health Transformation, Mindfulness, Read Books11 Comments

Things have calmed down a lot since last weekend’s unexpected appendectomy for my daughter. Mizz J is getting a bit better each day, and is ready to resume normal life again as an MSW student, after a solid week of recuperation. And I’ve been able to pay attention once again, to what I want to achieve for 2018.

Health

I am so excited to report that I’ve been able to resume working out again! Last spring, I had a bit of trouble with my thyroid, that kept me unable to exercise. The few times I did try left me feeling exhausted, dizzy and nauseous. (The last time I felt nauseous, I was about to have a TIA, so understandably I was nervous and wanted to stay away from anything that incurred this feeling.)

This week I got up the courage to try a few online workouts (with Mizz J only a couple of rooms away, in case I got into some sort of trouble…hehehe). Nothing too challenging – a 10 minute weights workout and a 16 minute walking workout. Having achieved these with no issues, I attempted AND completed a 36 minute cardio and strength workout last evening. Woo hoo!!!!

I really like Jessica Smith and her approach to exercise. I love her walk and talks…and I especially love Peanut, the French bulldog. That dog snoozing through her videos is what drew me in, in the first place! Peanut makes me laugh and want to keep going.

So that’s where I am at, at working on my Health goals for 2018. A very good start.

Financial Security

I made my first lump sum payment on my building’s demand loan this week. Unfortunately this is not something I can do online so I guess I’ll be heading to TD every payday to do this in person. It wasn’t a huge payment, but it goes directly on the principal and over the course of a year, it will certainly add up!

I also created a discretionary spending log, in Excel. With a tab for each month (and a line for each day) and spending targets for each category, to keep me on track. I LOVE data, and actually enjoy capturing it in this format. I especially love the days where I spend NOTHING. Not sure why I haven’t done this sooner….oh wait, maybe because I was too busy rebuilding my life for the past 4 years? Yeah, pretty sure that was it. 🙂

Art

Current Art Projects — What’s on my desk in the studio at the moment

I was inspired by a quote I received in a newsletter from Jessica Smith this week: Begin with the end in mind. Karen, from Profound Journey, a lovely blogger friend that I follow, says it’s from Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Which I do have a copy of, somewhere in Chez Badass. I shall put it on the Re-Read list!

So, to begin with the end in mind means to me it’s time to draft an idea for a painting to represent what I want to become by the end of 2018. Since the Queen of Wands filled that role in my Winter Solstice tarot spread, it seemed natural to me to work on a painting of that grand dame.

sketch of Queen of Wands — Close up of first shitty draft of sketch

You’ll see from the previous photo, that I took my inspiration from an Alphonse Mucha illustration I found on the internet. I have loved Mucha since I first discovered his works as a teenager. It took me a moment to realize his model was giving the viewer the finger (intentionally or not), which made me love it even more and need to incorporate into my hasty sketch.

My Queen of Wands is saying “Oh, do you not like what you are seeing? You can’t handle my self-assuredness, strength and vitality? I’m done with trying to appear small to coddle insecure fools and their egos. So, fuck you very much.”

Obviously I have a lot of work to do with this before I can transfer it to a canvas. Those 4 scrawly things surrounding the circle are supposed to be sunflowers, for instance. But it’s a good ~~therapy~~ shitty first draft. 😉

And, also because I have my upcoming (less than a month away!) vacation trip to Barbados on the back burner of my mind, sea turtles keep popping up:

Sea Turtle on Watercolour Paper – as yet incomplete

Mindfulness

I’ve been focusing on mindful yoga and stretching this week. And mini-meditations, and pausing to notice.

Reading

Borrowed 2 books from the library this past week and finished one: Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman. Now working on Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. Three books completed already towards my 2018 goal of 50 books read!

Intuitive Processes – Tarot

I’ve been pulling a card every day and interpreting its meaning for me, before I look it up in one of my Tarot books. An enjoyable part of my morning routine.

And, looking for inspiration for my Queen of Wands painting led me down the Alphonse Mucha Google rabbit hole. Which led me to the Mucha Tarot. Which is speeding it’s way towards me, as I type, via Amazon.ca.

Looking forward to receiving even more artistic and intuitive inspiration, from these cards!

How was your week? I’d love to hear all about it.

Rock on,

The WB

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Back to Real Life with a Wrench Thrown In

On January 7, 2018January 7, 2018 By Widow BadassIn Artistic Endeavours, Hmmm?, Mindfulness16 Comments

Happy 2018! May all your intentions come to pass.

I had a plan for this weekend and it was a good one! I am trying hard to get at least some of these things done.

However Friday was spent at the hospital with my daughter, Mizz J, who was sent there forthwith after her early morning pelvic ultrasound. She was sick over the holidays (we thought it was the flu) and despite a course of antibiotics for a presumed bladder infection, was still feeling uncomfortable.

Well, no wonder. She was walking around with a burst and abscessed appendix. Go figure! Only the antibiotics for the non-existent bladder infection were keeping her from being violently ill.

After a long day in Emerg with a doctor who didn’t believe the ultrasound’s tech findings, she was ultrasounded again and immediately whisked upstairs. Surgery took place Friday evening.

All is well now. She is receiving mega-antibiotics by IV and we are hoping she comes home today.

Between hospital visits, I was able to put away Christmas:

Tree ornaments 2017 — The tree was beautiful and enhanced by some special ornaments from special friends

And finish off the Aged Eggnog, which was delicious and will be made again next year. At least a double batch, this time!

Alton Brown's Aged Eggnog — The absolute last of it. So good!

While at the hospital, I noticed this on the wall outside of the ubiquitous Tim Horton’s coffee shop (really, every hospital has one now. How did that happen?):

mindfulness exercise at the hospital — Mindfulness is the new black, apparently.

Mindfulness and Mandalas seem to go together like kids and puppies; like pie and ice cream; like socks and sandals (hehehe…just kidding. Threw that in there to see if you were still paying attention).

I was able to resume some mindful yoga this morning. Holey moley, was my body tense from all the goings-on of the past couple of days!

My Mandala Days art course begins on the 16th. Eager to see what’s involved!

Hope your new year is off to a blazing start!

Rock on,

The WB

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2017 in Review and 2018: My Intentions

On December 31, 2017December 31, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Artistic Endeavours, Badassery, Goals & Dreams, Good Times, Health Transformation, Mindfulness, Read Books, Tarot15 Comments

2017 Review

2017 was a calm and pleasant year in my personal life (as opposed to an exciting yet challenging year in my work life), for which I am so grateful. I wish every year could be 2017. I didn’t lose anyone this past year. (Not in 2016 either, although my mother’s death in late December 2015 was so close to that year that I felt its reverberations throughout those 12 months anyways.)

2017 was the year of REACH (my word). This applied mainly to my creating art. This was the first year that I applied a great deal of focus and effort in this area since I was a teenager. And reach I did! It was difficult to push past my insecurities and inner critic, and just start laying paint down on canvas. It was a reach to allow myself to fail over and over again. This painting in particular (which I can reveal now, as it has gone to its recipient) was very uncomfortable for me to create, and thus a definite REACH:

I went to Mark Grice’s studio in Alton Mills to create this painting. I chose it because I knew it was going to be difficult for me to paint a horse AND in non-horse colours. I’m not good (yet) at so many things artists need to know and excel at, but with Mark’s guidance this painting came together. And Mizzus J loves it. She said it looks like Gavin, one of her two horses. What more can I ask for?

I finished out 2017 with this painting, completed yesterday:

Painting of Sunset on Lake Okanagan — Kelowna Sunset, based on a photograph I took on my last night there.

2018 Intentions

My intention for 2018’s art is to continue on my artist’s journey. I met an artist whose work I admired, at her studio in Bayfield 2 summers ago. When I asked her how to become a better painter, she said something that has stuck with me every since: “Just paint. Everyday.” Simple, no?

I have signed up for another online Mandala art course, hosted by Julie Gibbons: Mandala Days. Unlike Mandala Magic (the course I participated in, in 2017), this course is for creating actual pieces, not art journalling. Which is just up my alley, as I discovered this past year.

Other intentions involve:

Blogging – posting at least once per week on Ye Olde Blogge; find other like-minded bloggers/readers (my tribe, as it were) to connect with
Reading – increase reading for pleasure – my goal is 50 books. (I’m WidowBadass on GoodReads, in case you want to connect there)
Mindfulness – increase mindfulness in my life through activities such as meditation
Financial Security – becoming intentional about rapidly paying down the debt I am carrying on Chez Badass – debt I incurred by investing in much-needed improvements over the past 4 years
Intuitive Processes – become proficient at Tarot, because:

I believe that it is a good tool to help one develop and strengthen intuition and lead to insights – and help get in touch with yearnings/feelings that are buried deep within one’s self. So I performed a Celtic Cross spread at the Winter Solstice this year, to help me in planning for 2018:

Winter Solstice Tarot Reading 2017 — Celtic Cross Spread, for guidance for the coming year

I was really surprised when the cards told me that:

I have to focus on my health or ignore at my peril (5 of Pentacles) Having failed at this many times in the past 4 years, I didn’t want to write it down or even think about it as an intention for the coming year!
I have the inner resources to do this. (Ace of Swords)
I can come up with solutions, and to believe in myself and focus on success. (Page of Wands)
My past is full of grief and regret and the belief I made wrong choices. No, duh. (5 of Cups)
Renewing health; creating harmony and balance is the goal. (Temperance)
Unresolved factor affecting my success – my inner “carb monster” (bondage); doubts that I can succeed. (Devil)
I need to delve into why I haven’t been able to get any traction towards improving my health. (6 of Pentacles)
Be the person others see you as: Adept, Reliable, Steady, Supporting. (King of Pentacles)
Guidance, Hopes and Fears, Beliefs, Values – I am afraid of attracting attention from men as I lose weight and become fitter. I don’t want to have to deal with this. There. I said it. Valid or not, it is a fear of mine. (The Lovers)
The outcome (when I am successful in achieving this goal) – Vibrancy, Energy, Cheerfulness, Self-assurance. (Queen of Wands)

So, an added intention for me for 2018 is to improve my health through self-caring activities including strength, flexibility and stamina-building activities, and nutritious food choices.

My word for 2018 is PERCEIVE. To understand, to become aware, to become conscious, to use intuitive judgement.

How about you? Care to share your thoughts?

Rock on,

The WB

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Just Wait and Yule See

On December 21, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Artistic Endeavours, Badassery, Blogging, Goals & Dreams, Mindfulness, The Great Outdoors12 Comments

I think I may have mentioned on Ye Olde Blogge a time or hundred that every year I struggle with our North American commercialization/celebration of Christmas. It has become much too materialistic and in-your-face for yours truly.

This season has become instead a time of reflection and review and planning for me as the nights get longer and longer. And I love this time of year for that!

TRIGGER WARNING: If someone holding a different opinion than your own could lead to you turning into a Judgey McJudgepants and leaving a nasty comment, please skip over this next section. If you feel you must take a tone with me, your comment may or may not be deleted, depending on how much of a chuckle I get out of it.

Oh sure, I partake in some Christian Christmas rites. It’s part of my upbringing and my history. I put up a tree. I send out cards to friends and family. I re-watch old Christmas movies and sing along to carols. I even do the gift thing, although more and more I am giving gifts that are homemade – gifts of my time and intention. I love to wish people a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year AND I mean it. I do these things because I enjoy them and I like celebrating this season (this month, especially) of long nights and waiting for the sun to return.

I am not a Christian, so there is no religious meaning to my celebration. You won’t find a manger scene at my house. But I will haul out the Seashell Jesus, because I find it amusing. I think I’ll put it next to the picture of Krampus my talented son made for me. For balance. Someday maybe I’ll add a representation of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to the mix, and my triptych of mythical beings will be complete. Ramen!

If you are reading this and a practicing Christian/Jew/Wiccan/Pagan/Hindu/Zoroastrian/Muslim/WhateverReligion, great! You do you. Whatever gives you comfort and meaning is cool with me. Please return the favour.

TRIGGER WARNING OVER.

What I am celebrating at Chez Badass is this: the end of the darkness and the return of the light. Because the longest night – tonight – the winter solstice (the official start of Yule or Yuletide) – is something I can get behind.

I do so love this rock we live on – the natural world – and the turning of the year, and I like to acknowledge this event. And this is the time and the season for me to pause and reflect and set intentions for the next spin around the sun that I am lucky enough to be a part of.

This is nothing new. Humans have been celebrating the solstice since well, we first noticed it was “a thing”. And these Yule celebrations have been co-opted into Christianity and have become integral to the Western celebration called Christmas.

For my particular celebration of the longest night, I will lighting (many, many) candles and finalizing my goals and intentions for the coming year. These include, in no particular order of importance (because they are all important to me):

more artistic activity
more mindfulness
more writing – specifically, more blogging
more reading
less spending – in order to knock down the demand loan on Chez Badass

I’ll be going into each of these goals in detail in upcoming blog posts. Yule see, hehehe!

I will leave you with this thought – at this special time of year why not remember to:

Keepin’ it real. Keepin’ it Yul, y(ule)-all!

Merry Christmas and Rock on,

The WB

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Painting Reveal for Mindful Monday

On December 11, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Artistic Endeavours, Mindfulness12 Comments

Yesterday my good friend and Barbados buddy, Mizz C, came down to Chez Badass for a visit so I was able to present her with her (May) birthday gift. OK, I know this sounds bad. But we are the kind of friends who still feel close even though we haven’t seen each other in months. I was also able to re-give her last year’s Christmas present, which was left behind in my vehicle last February when I dropped her off, after our trip.

We’ve been friends for over 50 years now…the kind of friends who can spend a whole afternoon sitting beside each other, noses in books and tea mugs in hands, and barely speak and think we had the most marvelous time. Because we did.

Anywho, she asked me to paint her a beach scene…someday.

Vision Beach – first try at using a palette knife

I do like how this painting turned out. I wanted it to represent any beach, anywhere. Mizz C lives in a beach community a couple of hours north of the Village. I chose a beach scene without any details that could convey a certain geographic region and didn’t make the water too overtly tropical in hue. I think I will have to repeat it for myself some day. I think something like this would be perfect to hang in my bathroom, so I can look at it while soaking in the tub.

I followed a painting tutorial by Angela Anderson to create this beach painting.

And because this is a Monday post, I want to speak a bit about mindfulness, as well as and related to art. When I am in my studio (aka laundry room) working on a piece, it is almost a meditative activity for me. I am so intensely focused on what I am trying to convey with my paints, that all other thoughts are emptied from my mind. It’s a nice break from the mind chatter, to have those almost unrelenting pop-up thoughts fall away momentarily.

Four weeks in, I think the meditation that I am practicing is helping me physically. I have less neck and shoulder pain lately, even when spending more time than usual hunched over my computer at work – like I was last week when my right hand person was off and I had to take over some of her duties besides my own. Last time she was off, I needed to apply a heated bag to my neck and shoulders during the day, to help ease the tension. This time I didn’t feel any pain.

I have a massage therapy appointment this week. I wonder if my masseuse will notice a difference. I feel different, on the inside.

I used to think that creating art was a very free-flowing, emotion-heavy, intuitive and spontaneous activity…when I wasn’t doing it. But I find it mostly to be about careful planning, design, and problem-solving…just like real life. And it is a mindful activity. All of which I like. All of which I can get into. All of which I am working on getting better at.

Rock on,

The WB

Mindful Monday – Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

On December 4, 2017 By Widow BadassIn Artistic Endeavours, Mindfulness12 Comments

What time is it? It is always now. Ordered this “watch” at a time when I really needed to remind myself to stay in the present.

A few weeks back, when I got serious about meditation and incorporating mindfulness into my everyday life, I was searching for some guidance.

I contacted a local-ish instructor of MBSR (mindfulness based stress reduction) via email but she never got back to me. Not too surprised by this as her website looked like it was state of the art…for 1995. I could have called her, but while I was waiting for her to respond, I did some surfing and instead I found a course I could take online.

I am now on Week 3 of the 8 week Online MBSR/Mindfulness course, hosted by Palouse Mindfulness. This learning is free and available to all (all with internet access, that is). Like yoga used to be – before it became mainstream – when it was hosted in church basements for the few and the curious. (At least, that’s how I was introduced to yoga, back in the 1970’s.)

So far I am impressed with what I am learning – the readings and the videos are from well-known practitioners in the field. The guided meditations and yoga videos are clear and helpful. I recommend this whole-heartedly if you are interested in learning about and practicing mindfulness. There is also an online community for students taking the course, to discuss what they are experiencing. I didn’t sign up for that, so I can’t comment. But if that interests you, it’s available too.

In between meditation sessions and work, I have been busy creating. I finished the piece I showed in-progress a few posts ago:

Let that Shit Go – the figure was traced from an image I found on the Interwebs. The rest is my own design.

I’ve been thinking a lot about art lately, as I reflect back on 2017. It’s something that has been helpful, enjoyable, and thought-provoking for me this year. More on that in another post.

Rock on,

The WB

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