My Summer of Choosing Joy

I am currently taking a class from the fabulous Kelly Rae Roberts, called "The Wear Your Joy Project." When I signed up, I thought it was about finding your own unique style in clothing, something I had wanted to explore ever since I became a full-time artist and found that my outside no longer matches how I feel on the inside.

Well, the class is about that, but about so much more. It's about connecting with what brings us joy on a daily basis, starting first thing in the morning with how we treat our bodies and how we choose to get dressed so we feel good about ourselves all day.

That got me thinking about the rest of my life and how I often don't choose what brings me joy, but rather what is practical or what I think I should be doing. But there is no reason why things can't be practical and joyful at the same time. Or why those things I really need to be doing cannot somehow be infused with something that also brings me joy.

So, with that in mind, I have decided make a practice of that this summer and am calling it My Summer of Choosing Joy (everything seems more fun and official when you give it a name...). Making that decision already prompted a few changes that I am implementing right now:

1. I am taking the pressure off my blog and am turning off comments. It's not that I don't love hearing from you (I do!), it's because with every comment I feel guilty that I don't visit your blogs more often and that I don't usually respond back to you. No more guilt. I am going to keep blogging because I love how it helps me think and how it keeps track of all the important moments in my life.

2. I will no longer do commissioned paintings. I will finish the few I have lined up and then I will delve into the joy of allowing paintings to surprise me again. While I have loved working on commissions, I find that I stop doing my spontaneous paintings and that is where they joy lies for me. Daniel and I are planning a joint exhibition toward the end of this year (yeah!!!) and I want to paint my heart out between now and then.

3. I will do some major weeding out this summer. There will be a sorting out of my clothes in conjunction with the Wear Your Joy class - everything that doesn't bring me joy or makes me feel bad in any way will be sorted out and donated if it's still in good shape or gotten rid of if it's not. I have a feeling that this will spill over into other areas of my life.

4. One major source of joy for me lies in the kitchen - cooking, baking and good food in general. The same goes for Daniel, so I am foreseeing us making some excellent meals this summer with him being on summer break. I will share recipes here of the really outstanding ones as we try new things.

5. Of course, I'll continue to share photos of our garden, the wildlife around here, and anything else that inspires me. A lot of my joy is found in the daily photos I take and share here, on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you so much for your visits and I hope you'll continue to find something of value in my ramblings about my life and the photos and art I share!

With much love and always in joy,

❧ Silke