Today try to notice how you get dressed. Are you rushed or relaxed? Do you feel chaotic or put together? I like to think of getting dressed as my first art project of the day. It’s a creative act to choose how you want to present yourself to the word today. How you style your clothes and put together an outfit says a lot about who you are. If you’re clothes are thrown on the floor, sweaters shoved in your closet, no order to anything, that energy flows into everything else you do in your day. That one task put off, crumbled into a draw quickly just to be able to check it off the list. I’ve been there before so I know what it’s like. As humans we fall back on the systems we created. We created that chaos. So we can also choose to create order. Starting with your closet. First off make a pile of clothes you haven’t worn this last year and put them in a bag. Or any clothes you put on and just don’t feel like your next level self in. Put them in the bag. Then I want you to organize your shirts & sweaters by color. Hang all your black tops together. Hang all your white tops together. And so on. Any jeans just don’t fit you right, right now. Just put them in the bag. You don’t have to give away the bag yet, but just get them out of your closet. Option 1: keep the bag of clothes in the basement for 6 months. If you haven't thought about it or those jeans still don’t fit you. Donate the bag. Or give them to your cousin or friend. You might be thinking, What does this have to do with art?? First off, you need to start to see your entire life as a work of art. Everything you touch in your day you create. Your closet is the perfect place to start. Once you create order in your closet, you can create order in another part of your kitchen, then each other room of your home. Order creates peace. Peace creates space for your ultimate creation to happen. When your mind is truly at peace, it shows up in how you draw your lines. How your hand glides across the paper.

A doodle a day, a few minutes of silence. You'll be bad at it, at first. and day by day you will get 1% better. Your small daily efforts will begin to accumulate. You'll start to feel more peaceful in your other daily activities. You'll start to slow down, when you would normally panic. You'll catch yourself drifting off into space a little more throughout your day to simply think. You'll let your hands wander on the page, coming across new creative solutions. Your creativity that oozes out from your doodles, will ooze into different parts of your life. Creativity will teach you that there are always more than one right answer. There are infinite possibilities if you dare to dream them up! So this weekend, i challenge you to prepare. Get your supplies ready. Clear space to create in your home or office. Ideas for where you can set up your creative space: If you drink coffee every morning at your kitchen table, leave your sketch book and pen at the table. If you watch tv before bed, put your sketch book and pens on the side table by your remote. If you eat your lunch at your desk at work, leave your sketchbook and pens in your top drawer of your work desk. If you doom scroll on your phone in bed every night before you go to sleep, leave your sketchbook and pen on your night stand. When you are trying to start a new habit, it's important you make it so stupid easy for yourself to be successful. Leaving your sketchbook out in plain sight and stacking this new habit of doodling with a habit you already do, will make your success rate go up so much! Starting a new habit is hard enough, so make it easy for yourself. Weave in your doodle time with the habits you already have in place. Be gentle with yourself. Its ok if you fall off one day, but remember WHY you're doing this. You're doing this to create purpose and peace in your life. I encourage you to take a moment right now to free write to yourself.... WHY do I want to be an artist?? Foreshadowing for Tuesday, what to expect:

I hope you have that one person in your life that smacks you around and tells you to “get your priorities straight” They love you so much, and just want to remind you of your morals, your values and who you are. We all need this person in our lives that whip us back into shape when we’re falling off track. For me in my life there’s an order of priorities that I align my daily actions to. First off being God. Immediately when I wake up I thank God for this day. Now it’s a default setting in my brain. Took me two years of the 5 minute journal practicing gratitude daily to retrain my thoughts to default to gratitude. Prayer and silence is so important to me and I treasure those small moments with God everyday. Even if I’m busy running around. I’ll take a few moments while I’m driving to say a little prayer in my mind and talk to God. I need His help in everything I do. And I know all the blessings I’ve experienced in this life are His doing. So reminding myself daily to pray is top priority. Plus it’s a bonus that creating art is time in silence. Therefore time with God. Creating Eudaimonia in your life means Making time in your day for what you value. And if you say you value your relationship with God, then make time to talk to him. Creating art is a win win 🎨🌞 And in doing this you are taking care of yourself. Filling up your spiritual cup. So that you can nurture, give and serve others throughout your day. My next personal priority is my physical health. I make sure I carve out time to cook meals from scratch using Whole Foods. I train my body to build muscles by going to my La Gree Pilates classes. (I did mat Pilates at home for years before this) I go on long walks outside in the sunshine. I rest as much as my body needs to. This is huge for me, not only for myself to be fit and healthy but so I am able to serve my family for longer. Obviously the next priority in life is family. Quality time with the people you love. This can be challenging in a society that is so individualistic. We all work a lot and prioritize our work over our time with loved ones. Not because we want to, but because that’s what our world demands.

Audacity means you are not scared to be seen trying. You are courageous. But your courage didn't just magically appear over night. the courage came from inside of who you are at your core. The fearless child you once were. The child that didn't care what anyone thought of them. The child was didn't care if they embarrassed themselves in front of a room of people. Looking back at my own childhood, I remember moments when I pushed myself to do some crazy things. I jumped up on the table in preschool and danced in front of the entire class. The teachers yelled at me and told me to get down. When I did get down, I so vividly remember thinking, "well that was fun while it lasted!" While all my friends giggled in the background. I was three. how the heck do i remember this?! I think I remember it because of the feeling. I did what I wasn't supposed to. I went against the grain, and did something my friends would be too scared to do. And I remember it to this day. And this skill has stuck with me throughout my career as an artist. I've been jumping on a table waving and screaming, showing my art, been willing to get made fun of, giggled at, laughed at. Becuase at the end of the day I know in my heart that making art brings me joy, just like dancing on tables. And those people giggling at me being seen trying, actually are too scared to try it themselves. So I want you to sit with this story. think of a time in your childhood when you showed AUDACITY to do something crazy. Something brave or out of the ordinary. And write about it. Remember what it felt like. And get ready to channel that little girl again. And bring her back. Go look at some childhood photos if you need help jogging your memory. You can also sit down and ask your grandparents or parents to tell you a funny story they remember about you being a little crazy and going against the grain. You're going to need to remember who you were in order to get to who you need to become.

You don't need someone outside of yourself to force you to create. You simply need to find that desire to create within your own heart. Today I challenge you to sit in stillness for 5 minutes. No music, no phone, nothing. Look out the window and notice the trees waving in the wind. Observe the wold like an artist. Once your mind is still and calm, take out a piece of paper and a pen and doodle whatever you want. Little squiggly lines, little hearts or flowers. Whatever your hands feel like doing. Try not to think too much. Turn your brain off, and let your hands go wild! Get in the habit of taking a moments each day for your creative self to come out. It all starts with a doodle! Feel free to comment on this post with the doodle you drew today.