Artist Date

Since I have had cancer, mortality ia no longer an abstract concept for me. This morning I wrote to answer the question:
What do I still want time for?
1. An adventure trip or a pilgrimage with my daughter.
2. Some time alone with my daughter every year.
3. Plenty of time for restful, mindfulness days at home.
4. To write this blog.
5. To get back into shape.
6. To find and take my place in the Nonviolent Communication tribe.
7. To see my nephew well on his way in life.
8. To go canoeing with Dave.
9. To enjoy a long and happy retirement
10. To do more art- gather and set out my materials
11. A retreat with lots of silence built in.

Another way to connect with my soul is to nurture my inner artist. Yesterday I went on an "artist date" to do that. Artist dates are the one of the many brilliant ideas of Julia Cameron to unlock and nurture creativity. They are meant to be done alone, but I have a friend and kindred spirit who likes to do them too. We teamed up yesterday and went to our local museum and then out to lunch. This was a stretch for me to be out for so long, so I was glad to have the company. We saw some incredible stuff, including work by Brian White, a local man who uses found objects to create sculptures and paintings. Click here and scroll down a bit to see a picture of his seashell encrusted wedding dress. He had several other amazing 50's era dresses made of seashells and a life-size ram and a ewe made of seashells also. There was also a collection of paintings from the museum's collection that explored the effect of the rise of abstraction. I came away from there thinking, wow, creativity is alive and well. Creativity happens. I'm constantly surprised and grateful for the interesting and sophisticated cultural doings in our area. These exhibits were in the Jamien Morehouse wing of the museum. Jamien was a wonderful friend to many here and a wonderful mother, daughter, and wife. She died of breast cancer ten years ago in May and I still miss her. A granite fountain with a lovely quote from her touched me deeply. So I nurtured my creativity today and spent time with a soul level friend. What do you still want time for? How do you nurture your creativity?