My friend Kitty posted this meme a few days ago, and it's cool, so I thought I'd participate. She gave me five words that remind her of me and now I have to explain what they mean to me...
creativity -- This is a HUGE part of my life, and the act of being creative is a necessary thing, like water or air, for me. It's interesting to me how the definition of 'creative' has changed and shifted over the years. At first, it applied to my ability to dance, but since then, it encompasses everything from baking to art glass to sketching to sewing to daily life with my children. I try to find some time in every day to make something, even if it's just something small. Without that, I truly feel aimless and agitated.
I think everyone is creative, and I know there are SO MANY people out there that think they are not, but it's a basic human instinct to create. Most people have learned somehow that 'being creative' only applies to what you can do with art materials, and that's So. Not. It.
Maybe my second career will deal with helping people recognize and learn to embrace their own personal creativity.
yoga -- I'm finding out these days that moving is another necessary thing for me in my daily life. I love the way a daily practice of yoga makes me feel. I eat less, I feel stronger, calmer, and more beautiful. My joints don't hurt, my back is painless, my various tendinitises (is that even a word?) don't bother me. So why don't I currently have a daily practice? Because I think I am inherently lazy sometimes. I fall off the wagon, and lie there on the ground bitching about how old and crappy I feel, and the memory of the peace and lightness of yoga seems so distant. Ugh. I get trapped by the misperception that I don't have time. I do have the time. Ineed to get back to it.
Misconceptions abound with respect to yoga....it IS a great total-body AND cardio workout, if you practice a certain way. You don't have to embrace the spiritual aspects of it to reap it's benefits, but if you choose to, you find even greater reward. It doesn't matter at all if you are not especially flexible or if you can't fully express each pose...yoga is accessible to everyone, all the time, and a skilled teacher can always help you.
green -- Well, my favorite color. So restful and reminiscent of the natural world. It's also the color of my eyes, and one of the colors of our SCA household.
I don't consider myself as particularly ascribed to the current vogue meaning of the word, as in 'environmentally conscious', but I do try to incorporate some sense of stewardship for the environment into daily life around here. Plus, 'being green' even a little can be a money-saver. Right now, we are growing a lot of our own vegetables, composting the leftovers, and using and re-using whatever we can. I adore the lush landscape we are creating in our backyard, and the sight of our garden just absolutely bursting with growth is awe-inspiring. Being able to eat something yummy that I grew is just blissful.
competitive -- Yep, that's me. For better or worse, I am a competitive person. Most of the time, I wish I wasn't, but sometimes it serves me. I push myself because I want to be better. Better than you? Maybe, but it's rarely that personal anymore. When I was a dancer, it was definitely personal. It was that way for all of us, all the time. It was important to be thinner, stronger, have better extensions, be able to do more multiple pirouettes...you get the idea.It's hard, after so many years of that type of conditioning, to let it go and relax about stuff, but I try. And I think for the most part, lately, I am succeeding.
Comfort -- For me, comfort embodies a number of different concepts. Comfort food is a biggie...yummy goodies that are delicious, remind me of home and family, and make me feel good. I love to cook and eat, and I love to feed the people I love. I also consider comfort in the context of being comfortable in one's own skin. Mentally, spiritually, emotionally, I am usually pretty comfortable....but physically, I can't say that I am, always.
