Keep Watering Yourself.

“Keep watering yourself. You’re growing.” ~E.Russell

'Tis the season. Romance is in the air and love is in bloom. Facebook is bursting with new relationship status updates and glowing selfies of couples delighted with their new-found fortune. On the flip side, there's an undercurrent of break-ups, twisted hearts and folks left to pick up the pieces of their shattered dreams. As a creative midwife helping women give birth to their creative ideas, it breaks my own tender heart to watch talent take a back seat to a new main squeeze as my client's creative juices play understudy to raging libido. Partners in long-term relationships can get lazy, too, and turn a blind eye to their muse waiting patiently in a corner. As satisfying and wonderful as your new (or old) relationship may be, it is not your masterpiece. It’s just one flower in your garden of life, and you have many more varieties waiting to bloom. But your garden needs tending. You’ve done the tilling, the planting, the coaxing—-don’t stop watering it now! The fruits of your labor are ready to burst forth.

When’s the last time you took an artist’s date, ventured off alone, without the security of a partner in tow, without the safety net of a companion, charting your own course, deciding where to go, where to stay, what to eat, what to do with your time, your life, letting your mind wander and roost? If you answered, “Just yesterday,” or “Last week,” or “I have an overnight planned,” then you can stop reading.

Each time you relegate your creative life to the bottom of the laundry heap, your muse lets out a deep sigh. Like all relationships worth maintaining, this one requires nurturing. Your muse won’t ghost you, she won't leave you high and dry, she won't question your judgement, she won’t waste your time.

Embrace your beautiful self and the gifts you were born with. It's time to  tend to your own luscious, colorful, fragrant, magical garden.