This was a beautiful read, Janelle! I totally agree with you and I'm forever working on accepting the ebb and flow too. Thanks so much for the lovely mention too - I'm so glad you found a little comfort in that piece. Always helps me to know we're not alone with these things, y'know?! Here's to keep the inner critic at bay and going along for the ride of it all - ups and downs included. 💗
What a fantastic read. You summed up an itch I've been trying to scratch so succinctly and beautifully. I dwell way too much on my ebbs. This is a fantastic reminder.
SO relatable. Life isn't linear; it's all circular. I'm definitely going to start ebbing more. (Err, does that sound like a gross euphemism? None intended.) I love that you were able to discredit your inner critic by pointing out you HAD done a lot. Too often we take our thought as fact. Thank you for writing this <3
Beautiful. The greatest gift I excavated from art school was the value of white / negative space. Not just in the piece itself - the empty spaces hold everything together - but in the making of work. So much of my 'productive' time as an art major was sitting in my studio, sipping coffee, listening to Miles Davis and staring at my wall of sketches, quotes and source material. Anyone watching me would have said I 'produced' nothing - but actually those quiet, still, often uncomfortable days were were all the good stuff originated. The actual physical production of the work was simply a culmination of many days or weeks of stillness - the external flow after the internal ebb.
This is something that I have consistently struggled with as someone who worked in the corporate world for 20 years and has been on a sacred journey of awakening since. I do believe that I find the most peace when I accept that sometimes I am ‘on’ and sometimes I am switched ‘off’ and to wrk with this natural ebbs and flows as you so beautifully put it. It’s a work in progress! 🙏💫
Fantastic post. Thank you. Been in an ebb for so long (literally years) and now I feel the flow is starting but I want more, more, more! This post is a good reminder not to basically waterboard myself!
Very wise and helpful post thank you - you are SO right about our inner critic's voice and how it shifts perspective from the truth - each day we are often achieving so much of value yet barely notice as we can be so caught up in what we have not done. I love the idea of being nourished so that we can then grow again.
A doorway to acceptance! What a beautiful turn of phrase Janelle, I'm so glad the book found you at the right moment — and is there for you to dip in, and dip out! Here's to our fecund days x
Really here for creating more permission, acceptance and even celebration of the inevitable flow! Like you say, so much of nature is cyclic - including us! It's so violent and counterintuitive how capitalism creates this expectation of continual forward momentum and growth - thank you for modelling that we can create other ways to be and attend to ourselves! Beautifully written and wise as always, and I'm definitely gonna check out the book.
I love the flows, hate the ebbs. I can be very hard on myself during the ebbd and I end up filled with worry that the flow will never come back. But it’s always come back before! Thank you for sharing a wonderful, relatable post, Janelle. X
I felt this today. I’m also in an ebb. I have the want, but not the capacity. It’s hard to let that flow go, or admit that we need to take a break from it. I hope you find some rest and peace, so when your flow does come back, you are ready for it again :)
This was a beautiful read, Janelle! I totally agree with you and I'm forever working on accepting the ebb and flow too. Thanks so much for the lovely mention too - I'm so glad you found a little comfort in that piece. Always helps me to know we're not alone with these things, y'know?! Here's to keep the inner critic at bay and going along for the ride of it all - ups and downs included. 💗
What a fantastic read. You summed up an itch I've been trying to scratch so succinctly and beautifully. I dwell way too much on my ebbs. This is a fantastic reminder.
SO relatable. Life isn't linear; it's all circular. I'm definitely going to start ebbing more. (Err, does that sound like a gross euphemism? None intended.) I love that you were able to discredit your inner critic by pointing out you HAD done a lot. Too often we take our thought as fact. Thank you for writing this <3
Love these quotations you’ve pulled. Definitely makes me want to read the book. Love the notion of productive vs fecund!
Beautiful. The greatest gift I excavated from art school was the value of white / negative space. Not just in the piece itself - the empty spaces hold everything together - but in the making of work. So much of my 'productive' time as an art major was sitting in my studio, sipping coffee, listening to Miles Davis and staring at my wall of sketches, quotes and source material. Anyone watching me would have said I 'produced' nothing - but actually those quiet, still, often uncomfortable days were were all the good stuff originated. The actual physical production of the work was simply a culmination of many days or weeks of stillness - the external flow after the internal ebb.
This is something that I have consistently struggled with as someone who worked in the corporate world for 20 years and has been on a sacred journey of awakening since. I do believe that I find the most peace when I accept that sometimes I am ‘on’ and sometimes I am switched ‘off’ and to wrk with this natural ebbs and flows as you so beautifully put it. It’s a work in progress! 🙏💫
Fantastic post. Thank you. Been in an ebb for so long (literally years) and now I feel the flow is starting but I want more, more, more! This post is a good reminder not to basically waterboard myself!
Very wise and helpful post thank you - you are SO right about our inner critic's voice and how it shifts perspective from the truth - each day we are often achieving so much of value yet barely notice as we can be so caught up in what we have not done. I love the idea of being nourished so that we can then grow again.
A doorway to acceptance! What a beautiful turn of phrase Janelle, I'm so glad the book found you at the right moment — and is there for you to dip in, and dip out! Here's to our fecund days x
Really here for creating more permission, acceptance and even celebration of the inevitable flow! Like you say, so much of nature is cyclic - including us! It's so violent and counterintuitive how capitalism creates this expectation of continual forward momentum and growth - thank you for modelling that we can create other ways to be and attend to ourselves! Beautifully written and wise as always, and I'm definitely gonna check out the book.
I love the flows, hate the ebbs. I can be very hard on myself during the ebbd and I end up filled with worry that the flow will never come back. But it’s always come back before! Thank you for sharing a wonderful, relatable post, Janelle. X
I felt this today. I’m also in an ebb. I have the want, but not the capacity. It’s hard to let that flow go, or admit that we need to take a break from it. I hope you find some rest and peace, so when your flow does come back, you are ready for it again :)
Ah I feel this. I've just read something that discusses the ebb and flow of creating. And when we force things it can make it worse.