Skip to main content

Warm Messages from the Chill

All Occasion Card by Stephanie Bird

This morning I heard we had snow in 48 states. Snow on the ground - 48 states? Amazing. No need to go into it too far. It's cold. The plains states, super cold. What to do? What to do?
Collage on Paper - Stephanie Bird



Snow and cold are daunting. There's shoveling to do and many other practicalities to tend to. It could seem as though many activities are halted. Replaced with dull or exhausting tasks, like clearing paths. I'm not discounting the necessity of clear paths, just suggesting snow may open paths once dormant in several ways.

We have the opportunity to travel to so many different places, through the arts. My way has recently been through renewing my studio activities, picking up my brushes, canvases and paints. I've also picked up my novel manuscript. Day by day I'm breathing new life into it. I knew those CPR lessons would come in handy some day! I've taken flight from what is dismal situation outdoors and headed inward into the realm of imagination.

Music has been a great facilitator.  Before heading off to dreamland, I enjoy listening to nature sounds. Sounds--particularly those at the beach, reminding me of the warmer days to come, thaw my imagination. From there ideas flow. 

I have an assortment of sounds spliced with music for bedtime listening. Now, I'm using this vehicle well while writing. It stays in the background just enough not to get in the way, yet it offers gentle support. There are hundreds if not thousands of such albums. Here's one you might enjoy listening to this morning as you embark on a new day. particularly my compadres who also work from home: Paul Addams - of Peace and Compassion 


Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. Chrys FeyFebruary 25, 2015 at 8:35 AM

    I love listening to music for inspiration, but I don't listen to anything before bed. I should try some soothing sounds like the beach. Maybe that'll help me fall asleep fast.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stephanie BirdFebruary 26, 2015 at 5:53 AM

    Chrys, I was the same way as you. I don't like any electronics in the bedroom at all. My husband thought the music was a good idea. So we play the music and/or nature sounds on my laptop near enough to the bedroom to hear. There is an entire genre of music dedicated to healing and meditation, which includes insomnia. I learned of this through an art therapy type of art class I took called Art for the Soul. Try looking for some renditions of this music on Pandora or YouTube. It's helpful.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Go ahead. Make my day by leaving a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Tree Whispers

Tree Whispers Shinrin-yoku is a complementary medicine modality, designed to up-lift sub-par health conditions, through lifestyle changes that involve immersion in nature, specifically the wildness, we call a forest, where the senses, including our intuitive sense and ability to heal ourselves through it, is ignited. Forest bathing, as Shinrin-yoku is popularly called, has come to our attention, at a time when the scientific community is abuzz about the ability of trees - be it in stands, groves, or forests, to build community. This, at a time, when we as humans, struggle hard to build and sustain healthy in-person communities, in the face of Online communications. Books like “The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they Communicate Discoveries from a Secret World,” (Wohlleben 2016) by Peter Wohlleben is a Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post bestseller. It makes readers privy to trees’ communication skills and social networks, that is, it helps us entertain...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art of Motherland Herbal

 Motherland Herbal is my latest book, set to be released June 11th by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins. It is a cross-genre work, primarily an herbal guide, with elements of memoir, and creative nonfiction. It encompasses my passion for folklore and mythology, from the African diaspora. I’m back here to begin a series of posts built around the art within its pages. Today, I share my inspiration for the book cover art. One of my favorite houseplants is our Money Tree. Rich in lore, intimately connected to abundance, prosperity and luck, I adore this plant. It is plentiful, in its growth habit, beautiful in its variety of green leaves and becomes luminous in the morning, when it catches light, hence the yellow-orange negative space around the leaves on the cover.  I enjoy the playful way the art director at Harper, inserted the text, showing the title, subtitle and my name. The cover was a wonderful collaborative effort. It is designed to be inviting, informative and lumin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Press Release: New Moon Collection

  SRB Botanica Announces New Moon Collection December 15, 2020 Noted Author, Artist Stephanie Rose Bird Teams Up with Actress Daughter to Craft Healing, Responsibly Sourced Body and  December 15, 2020  - Herbal product company SRB Botanica, led by mother-daughter duo Stephanie Rose Bird and Olivia Bird, has announced the release of their New Moon Collection of body and hair products, timed to coincide with December’s new moon. The products in the collection make fabulous holiday gifts!  Loco for Coco is a simple, old-fashioned handmade cold-processed soap handcrafted from chocolate, cocoa butter and coconut oil with distilled water and lye, and featuring a patchouli lavender scent. Cacao has many phytonutrients and minerals that are great for the skin. Hair potion Palm-made was crafted with four words in mind: modern, healthy, strong, hair. Palm-made yields better hair health through the skilled combination of venerable essential oils such as ylang ylang and rosemary...
Post a Comment
Read more