What do you want to do today?
Watercolor painting of Porte Vecchio, Florence Italy
What do you want to do today?
In this season, I have more time on my hands. I sent my youngest off to college and now I am learning how to buy and cook less food. I also have more time because I am not teaching this semester - since I spent a couple of fabulous weeks in Italy.
So, every morning, I am greeted with that question.
What do you want to do today?
Sometimes, it sounds more like this:
What do YOU want to do today?
But my favorite version is this:
What do you WANT to do today?
In your season of life, right now, having “free time” might be just a dream. But are there spaces or ways you can squeeze out 15 minutes of time just to do something you want to do? Even if it is just a little bit of time? You may have to put down your phone, or turn off the tv, or close the door, in order to carve out some time just for you.
What is it you WANT to do? We can get overwhelmed with the demands of everyone else: boss, kids, spouse, aging parents. And society has its own demands about how we should look or how we should decorate our homes.
Those clanging external voices are relentless and can drown out your own still, small voice. The voice that tells you what you really want to do.
How can you honor that voice?
Your voice?
If only for 15 minutes today?
What is it that will nourish your soul?
What can you do that will scratch an itch that you have been ignoring for too long?
For me, creating something – making art – scratches that itch. For this month of October, I committed to making art every day. Except, of course, I didn’t make art when I had all my kids home for a delightful weekend because "there was no time." But, in fact, I did find the time to waste on social media. So busted!
There is always time. It becomes a matter of priority. What are you prioritizing?
I have a mug with this wonderful quote on it: “Art before Housework!” Maybe I need another one that says: “Art before Social Media!”
This month, I have been creating art by painting scenes in watercolor from my trip to Italy. The picture at the top is my version of the Arno River in Florence. I also decided that I needed to return to the basics and spend some time with tutorials for beginning watercolor techniques because I was using watercolor the same way I use acrylic paint, instead of letting the color flow.
I don’t want to encourage you to spend more time on social media, but if you are there already, you can look at what I have been painting. Follow me on Instagram at artful_spirituality or on Facebook at Mary Coffey or ArtfulSpiritualityCleveland.
So, what do you want to do today?
How can you honor that?
Let me know in the comments, or send me an email!
“Make visible what, without you, would never be seen.” St. Hildegard