What is pulling me towards it? What is begging to be created? What feels warm and bright and cosy, something that would energise me rather than deplete me? These are the questions that I am asking my January self.
To find out the answers I dusted off my Pinterest account and had a fun few days dipping in and out of creating a vision board for 2024. It kept me entertained when I was tired and had lost my centre in the wake of organising and rolling out Christmas but I reckon you can do this at any time of year.
These days my main parenting practice when I feel overwhelmed is to connect back to my sense of self.
Who am I beyond the tired mother role?
What does my body need right now?
What am I feeling in this moment?
And then...what would make me feel lighter and brighter?
What do I just love to do?
And this week...what do I dream of spending my time doing this year?
We were all a bit ill over Christmas and by the end of December as New Year's Eve loomed, I was feeling quite low. Creating a colourful collage of juicy ideas I want to explore perked me up no end. Things that will nourish me for the rest of the year.
January is a good resting place to me as I settle into winter.
Where do I want to place my attention this year? What will I use my energy to do or create?
It was a friend who suggested I made a vision board, cutting pictures out of magazines to create a page that sets the tone for the new year. The idea, she said, was not to think too much about why you are sticking each snippet on.
It's either a yes or a no, allowing your unconscious mind to map the way.
She further tweaked my curiosity and motivation by adding that everyone she knew who'd done one last year, had manifested many of the things on their board. It had been an effective way of setting intentions. And I love all that manifesty-abundance shit, so I was in.
I didn't have any magazines so for the first time in ages I logged back in to Pinterest. I must admit here that I kinda fell out of love with Pinterest years ago when I got into Instagram. That's where I feel all the creative stuff I love shows up.
However I do still use Pinterest from time to time to build up characters I'm working on in my fiction writing. It's a good online scrapbook page in a way that Instagram can't be, so I trudged back to see what sort of vision board would emerge.
Now, it's not as easy to lean in to your unconscious yes on Pinterest because your feed shows you things you have searched previously and you must make conscious searches to find shiny new things, but nethertheless, I made a board that I feel excited about.
I discovered; that I really want to make a linen midi dress, put together a ceremonial outfit for my more spiritual women's work, repaint a wall in my office that didn't turn out right last time around so that my writing space feels energising, get out in nature, wild camp, forage, experiment with indigo dye, embroider an echinacea flower on a jacket and focus on my fiction writing above everything else.
These are the things that will nourish me when I feel lost inside our household and I'm feeling quite cheerful to have a visual reminder of them all.
You're welcome to take a looksy at mine here but why not just get started on your own?
Can you get a sense of your soul self today? What is it crying out for? What would be on your Pinterest board for the year ahead and what's the first thing on it you'll explore?
For me it's the fiction. Then...the indigo dye? Or maybe the linen dress.
Stay cosy this month. Lou xx
Header image is Indigo Dreams, an indigo dyed and hand stitched piece of art by Hazel C Monte who you can find on Instagram. Her stitches are all magical stories.