Category: Fill Your Well

Tending to Ourselves when Suffering Is All Around

Fire and Ice
When my mother was dying, it was exhausting in every way imaginable, despite the great support we received from palliative care. I remember one conversation with the support coordinator where I passionately outlined my concerns for not only my mom but also for my sisters. She offered solutions and then looked at me and said, “You know, we’re here for you too.” I blinked. For a moment I didn’t understand what she was saying and then my eyes filled with tears. There was support for me too?

Sometimes when all around us there is strife and need we forget that we are a part of the healing equation. Tending to ourselves is important though it seems like the least reasonable thing to do.

How can I sleep when my loved one is suffering?

How can I take time to write, when there is a crisis?

How can I have my own feelings when clearly this is not about me?

We human beings are social animals and we live and love and work in constellations. What happens to others in our world happens to us also. We are not separated, isolated or alone, which means we are not free from shared suffering or support.

Our lives are intertwined with the lives of others and how we care for ourselves makes a difference for everyone.

I often say that a garden is a gift to all of us. When I walk through the neighbourhood and pass by a well-loved patch of land, it nourishes me. I say thank you not only to the Universe for creating tulips, peonies and tall grasses but also to the hands and hearts that turned the soil and tended the plants.

Each of us is a garden. When we are fully resourced, strong and blooming we are better able to bring light, love and care to any situation.

Here are the things I found most important for tending myself while supporting others:

Eat Well. For me, this is always the greatest challenge. In tough situations, I find myself just wanting to eat something fast and comforting but I’ve learned that taking the time and making the effort to focus on fresh foods, particularly vegetables, and mindful eating makes a difference.

Rest Well. Take naps. Go to bed early. If you can’t sleep, close your eyes and power down, even for 10 minutes. Your body, mind and soul are in overdrive. They need recuperation time. Give it.

Move. Just as we need rest, we need movement. Stress, intensity, crisis, challenge, all of it puts immense demands on your body. Moving our bodies helps the built-up energy burn up and pass through. Movement helps us let go and release things we might not even know we are holding. Moving our bodies helps us stay healthy, free and agile, ready for the tasks at hand.

Journal. Conflict, stress and strife bring up all sorts of feelings. When someone else is in crisis or need, we often push down our own feelings, dismissing them as trivial, selfish or inappropriate. It may be true that your loved one doesn’t currently have the capacity to respond to your feelings but that doesn’t mean they aren’t valid or don’t need expression. Turn to your journal and express yourself fully, completely and without judgment. Let it be a safe place for you to let out what is in your heart and on your mind.

Take “Me Time.”  Even if your caretaking responsibilities are heavy, (especially if your caretaking responsibilities are heavy) you need time that is just for you. Give yourself quiet moments away from the crisis so you can refill your well, remember who you and breathe.  You may also find that you need some time with other people, time to express your heart or to have fun and remember the light and love that exists in the world.

Create. As creatives, our souls settle when we use our hands, hearts, minds and bodies in the act of creation. Write poetry. Knit a scarf. Dance your feelings before going to bed. Play with plasticene. Cut paper and collage. Not only will these practices give your energy somewhere to flow but they will also remind you of the power and possibility of creation even in the midst of the hardest of times. This does the heart good.

As Best You Can, Tend Your Life. It’s hard. It’s hard to show up to work, to pay your bills, to plan your meals, to clean the kitchen. Sometimes it is the last thing you want to do but when everything else is out of control, it can be grounding to keep regular life going, to keep daily activities flowing. Plus you won’t add the layer of worry that inevitably comes from letting things slip or have to throw yourself in with the furious energy of catching up when things finally settle down (if they ever do). You may even find a new sense of meaning, joy and gratitude for everyday, normal things. That certainly happened for me.

No matter where this message finds you today, may these practices serve you well. May they support you when all is well and when all is trying. May you and all your loved ones be free of suffering and strife. May you trust the knowing that tending your soil is a gift to the world.

Find Inspiration: Agnes Martin, Studio Space & Honouring the Work

Paintbrushes

“You must clean and arrange your studio in a way that will forward a quiet state of mind. This cautious care of atmosphere is really needed to show respect for the work. Respect for art work and everything connected with it, one’s own and that of everyone else, must be maintained and forwarded. No disrespect, carelessness or ego [and] selfishness must be allowed to interfere if it can be prevented. Indifference and antagonism are easily detected — you should take such people out immediately. Just turning the paintings to the wall is not enough. You yourself should not go to your studio in an indifferent or fighting mood.”  Agnes Martin, Artist ( Click here for more and to discover one of my favourite sources for inspiration)

How do you feel about the atmosphere of your studio? What cautious care is needed to show respect for your work?


This month many of the regular offerings at the studio are on hold, particularly the BTS and Creative Living with Jamie. This is the time between seasons when I am tinkering away in the studio, working on classes and offerings for the season ahead. While I am hard at work working on spring/summer nourishment for your creative life, I thought I would fill the studio with inspiration for your creative heart!

Inspiration Well: Michelangelo Pistoletto

“You can, with art, change your vision but also, change the reality.” Michelangelo Pistoletto at Blenheim

Do you believe in the power of your art to change not only your vision but reality? Imagine for a moment that you do.  How would you use that power? What would you change?

This month many of the regular offerings at the studio are on hold, particularly the BTS and Creative Living with Jamie. This is the time between seasons when I am tinkering away in the studio, working on classes and offerings for the season ahead. While I am hard at work working on spring/summer nourishment for your creative life, I thought I would fill the studio with inspiration for your creative heart!

Find Inspiration: Quick, Draw

Quick Draw

Quick, Draw is a Google A.I. experiment that is a ton of fun. Here’s how Google describes it:

“This is a game built with machine learning. You draw, and a neural network tries to guess what you’re drawing. Of course, it doesn’t always work. But the more you play with it, the more it will learn. It’s just one example of how you can use machine learning in fun ways.”

Your drawing attempts help teach the network plus I found that playing helps me hone in on the core aspects of visual meaning making. What must be present in a doodle to transmit “bear” or “pizza” or “moon”? (I totally failed with broccoli!)

Give it a try here.


This month many of the regular offerings at the studio are on hold, particularly the BTS and Creative Living with Jamie. We’re between seasons and I am tinkering away in the studio, working on classes and offerings for the season ahead. While I am at work on spring/summer, I thought I would fill the studio with inspiration for your creative heart!

Find Inspiration: 20 Feet from Stardom

“My life has been all about trying to make a success of the gift that I have.” Darlene Love

Every two weeks I get together with my sisters, Suzie and Shannon, for Art & Netflix. We grab a sketchbook or our watercolours, some crochet or knitting, something to create while we dig in and watch a movie together. This week we watched 20 Feet from Stardom and it rocked my creative heart and mind. This Oscar-winning documentary shines the light on the gifts and struggles of backup singers who have contributed so much to the world of music.  This film invites us to explore many significant creative questions, from the nature of talent-driven industries to what it means to stick with your passion, no matter what.

I was moved by the extraordinary gifts and fortitude of these women and struck by the complexities of each of their stories. Go on a journey with these amazing women. See what their music, their passion, their truth have to teach you about living a creative life.

“I felt like if I just gave my heart to what I was doing, I would automatically be a star.” Merry Clayton

“I reject the notion that the job you excel at is somehow not enough to aspire to, that there has to be something more. I love supporting other artists.” She added: “Some people will do anything to be famous. I just wanted to sing.” Lisa Fischer

This month many of the regular offerings at the studio are on hold, particularly the BTS and Creative Living with Jamie. This is the time between seasons when I am tinkering away in the studio, working on classes and offerings for the season ahead. While I am hard at work working on spring/summer nourishment for your creative life, I thought I would fill the studio with inspiration for your creative heart!

Find Inspiration: The Conscious Booksmith Podcast

Christine Mason Miller has been inspiring me for over a decade, from the blogging days of Swirly Girl to her recent compelling memoir, Moving Water.  Since then I have had pleasure of calling her friend, the privilege of contributing to her book Desire to Inspire and the delight to have Christine as a guest on Creative Living with Jamie.

Recently, I have felt like I have had the pleasure of hanging out with Christine daily as I binge listened to her new podcast, The Conscious Booksmith Podcast. Here’s how she describes it:

Inspired by The Conscious Booksmith – Christine’s online course for aspiring authors – and the experience of writing Moving Water, her memoir, The Conscious Booksmith Podcast explores the question What does it mean to write your life story? Every week, Christine will explore a different aspect of her experience writing her memoir, a years-long journey with twists, turns and plenty of surprises. After covering the basics in The Conscious Booksmith, Christine will take an even deeper dive into one of the most daunting and fulfilling creative pursuits of her career.

If you are an established or aspiring writer, be sure to check The Conscious Booksmith podcast out. Christine shares both the practical and the philosophical aspects of her own journey writing a memoir and interviews creative gifts about their own experiences sharing their stories and finding healing through art.

Christine Mason Miller has a gift for combining vision and practice. I know she will inspire you too.

This month many of the regular offerings at the studio are on hold, particularly the BTS and Creative Living with Jamie. This is the time between seasons when I am tinkering away in the studio, working on classes and offerings for the season ahead. While I am hard at work working on spring/summer nourishment for your creative life, I thought I would fill the studio with inspiration for your creative heart!

Find Inspiration: Judith Salomon

“If you really want to be a practicing artist, you are really never done.” Judith Salomon

This month many of the regular offerings at the studio are on hold, particularly the BTS and the podcast. This is the time between seasons when I am tinkering away in the studio, working on classes and offerings for the season ahead. While I am hard at work working on spring/summer nourishment for your creative life, I thought I would fill the studio with inspiration for your creative heart!