Registration is now open!

$31 and 5 minutes a day is all it takes to sparkle!

Register between March 22nd and midnight EST on March 24th for a chance to win amazing prizes. Keep reading for more!

To be eligible for the prizes, please indicate in your payment “notes to seller” what country you are sparkling in!

What is Sparkles…

Sparkles is a creative e-course. For 31 days, you’ll go on an adventure designed to awaken your creative spirit and fill you and your days with sparkle. Each day, you’ll receive a quick-to-read, quick-to-do inspiring creative exercise in your inbox. Lessons come from an amazing array of creative guides from a wide range of disciplines (e.g. photography, writing, painting, sound, dance – even food!) They’ll show you how to get creative, even when you feel like you have no time at all!

How the Sparkles e-course works…

• Register whenever you are ready to begin.
• You won’t need any super-special supplies. Just something to write on, something to write with, some way to play music and a camera. So, with a journal, some markers, pens and crayons, an MP3 player and a camera, you’re all set.
• Within a couple of days, you will start receiving a Sparkles lesson in your inbox every day for 31 days. Each sparkle is a creative prompt (an invitation to dance, write, scribble, imagine etc.), a quick and easy exercise to awaken your creative spirit in 5 minutes or less.
• Dive into each new sparkle and let the magic begin!

And the magic doesn’t end when the course is over. With Sparkles, not only will you infuse your month with creativity but you’ll also walk away with fresh tools in your creative toolkit. You’ll be able to come back to your favourite sparkles again and again and continue to fill your life with creative joy.

Meet Your Teachers…

The most amazing creative teachers have come together for Sparkles. They are here to inspire you and to help light your creative fire! You’ll receive lessons from: your host, Jamie Ridler, Goddess Leonie Allan, Jennifer Louden, Leah Piken Kolidas, Mindy Tsonas, Carmen Torbus, Patti Digh, Fabeku Fatunmise, Kimberly Wilson, Jennifer Lee, Chris Zydel, Jenn Gibson, Ken Robert,  Madelyn Mulvaney, Claudine Hellmuth, Chris Kay Fraser, Tracey Clark, Rachelle Mee-Chapman, Christine Claire Reed,Danette Relic, Amanda Oaks, Suzie the Foodie, Kate Swoboda, Christen Olivarez, Annabel Fitzsimmons, Susannah Conway, Connie Hozvicka,Andrea Schroeder, Christine Mason Miller.

Learn a bit more about all of your instructors here.

Launch Party & Prizes!

We are so excited about the launch of Sparkles that we wanted to celebrate it right – and we’re doing that with some amazing giveaways from your Sparkles instructors! Register between now and midnight EST March 24th and you will have a chance to win…

• From Christine Mason Miller: A signed copy of her delightfully inspiring book Ordinary Sparkling Moments plus a set of 12 “You are…” postcards.
• From Jennifer Louden: A copy of her brilliant Satisfaction Finder, a digital kit of enoughness and deep comfort that will help you tame the hounds of “more, more, more.”
• From Fabeku Fatunmise: A 200 year old Himalayan singing bowl, personally handpicked by Fabeku for its gorgeous sound and deep mojo, is perfect for saying buhbye to creative blocks and dipping deep into the flow.
• From Fabeku Fatunmise: Remembering Through Resonance CD(download or physical CD). Remembering Through Resonance is an uber special recording chock full of aural awesomeness to help you remember who you are, do what you love and make room for MORE! in your life.
• From Goddess Leonie: The Creating Your Goddess Year Workbook & Planner, a whopping 72 pages of worksheets & a printable calendar to help you dream, manifest, set your intentions, plan & cultivate your amazing new year.
• From Annabel Fitzsimmons: Clear space to sparkle by calming your mind and balancing your body with audio podcasts by Annabel Fitzsimmons. Find your zen through two ClearSpace podcasts on CD: Gentle Morning Yoga and Breathe and Meditate. (Open to North American sparklers only)
• From Rachelle Mee-Chapman: Win a one month stay in Flock’s cozy nest, where expert Soulcare providers and friendly Flock members offer you the support for your soulful journey. Ask an Expert  a question, stay focused with Monday Intentions, or join in a monthly Group Coaching Call with spiritual director and life coach, Rachelle Mee-Chapman of Magpie Girl.
• From Leah Piken Kolidas: You get to choose which of Leah’s beautiful prints from Blue Tree Art Gallery will be coming home to you. (Open to North American sparklers only)
• From Chris Kay Fraser: A spot in her Love Letters Aren’t Just for Lovers e-class. Is it time to clear some space in that big heart of yours? The “Love Letters Aren’t Just For Lovers” e-class will gently guide you through writing seven weeks of brand new, personal, heart-expanding letters.
• From Kimberly Wilson: A copy of her book Tranquilista: Mastering the Art of Enlightened Work and Mindful Play. Tranquilista offers everything you need to bring balance and bliss into your everyday life.  (Open to North American sparklers only)
• From Tracey Clark: A spot in her Picture Inspiration course. Picture Inspiration is your place to connect, click and create. Consider it an online coffee shop — a warm, inviting creative space to gather with other women who are traveling a picture path.
• From Tracey Clark: A copy of Expressive Photography. From portraits to landscapes, still-lifes to documentary shots, Expressive Photography will not only show you why certain images sing, it will also teach you how to create your own compelling photographic images–one click at a time.
• From Andrea Schroeder: Sleep Well, Wake Refreshed, Enjoy Your Day Meditation Kit, a meditation kit for creating Totally Awesome Days. The kit contains nine different meditation mp3s and a workbook for getting the most out of your meditations. These meditations can help you bring more joy and positivity into your days – even if you have never meditated before!
• From Chris Zydel: A 20 minute mini-astrology reading that focuses on how your creativity expresses itself through your astrological birth chart. I will be answering questions like  “What is your natural creative style?”, “How can you best support and encourage your authentic creative expression?”,  and “What are the challenges that come up around your creativity?”  as well as tips and strategies to help you work through those difficult spots. (recording included)
• From Mindy Tsonas: A $25 wishcertificate for product or workshop at the ever-inspiring Wish Studio.
• From Connie Hozvicka: A spot in 21 SECRETS is an online art journal playground where 21 talented artists share their inspiring techniques, approaches, and secrets to art journaling through informative videos, pdf’s, personal feedback, and scheduled online chats! The playground is only open April 1st to August 1st–don’t miss the fun!
• From Danette Relic: Danette’s Expression-Inspired Artwork, three pieces of colourful 6×6 acrylic portraits of dancers at an outdoor music festival. (Available to North American sparklers only)
• From Madelyn Mulvaney: A scholarship to ‘the art of living cheerfully‘. This e-course explores ways to live a creative, extraordinary and impassioned life by realizing creativity extends beyond our art into the very way we live our daily lives.’
• From Carmen Torbus: A signed copy of her upcoming book, The Artist Unique, which provides inspiring  insights, tools and techniques to empower an artist to find their own signature style and stand out from the crowd. (This prize will be shipped as soon as print copies are available)
• From Jamie Ridler: Soul Reflections, an at-home collage and journaling workshop designed to connect you to the deepest stirrings in your heart. Perfect for figuring out what’s next on your creative journey.
• From Jamie Ridler: A vibrant collection of inspirational interviews from wildly creative women (including many of your teachers!), Your Creative Spark is filled with tips, strategies and stories sure to bring your creativity to life!

So, are you ready to Sparkle?

Registration is only $31!

To be eligible for the prizes, please indicate in your payment “notes to seller” what country you are sparkling in!

Lead us from the unreal to the real~ Hindu Invocation

When I was just getting started on my life path, my career, my vocation, my calling to be of service through working with peoples hearts, so many moons ago, one of the things that I  created almost immediately were weekend workshop retreats.

I co-led these workshops with a close friend and fellow seeker on the path of personal growth at various retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

At most we would schedule two of these retreats a year and we were business partners for around 6 years, so all told we organized and facilitated 12 or 13 of these gatherings.

And at the end of each workshop we would drive home together and talk about the weekend, sharing stories, going over what worked and what didn't and giving each other feedback on our roles as facilitators.

But mostly what we were doing as we rehashed the event was basking in and savoring the deliciousness of the post retreat high.

And we would invariably say that what we wanted more than anything was to be living our life on retreat.

Here it is,almost 30 years later, and I am STILL on the path as a seeker of wholeness and a life of grace, while creating circles of creative transformation and inner growth for anyone else who wants to tag along.

And.... this year ....  *drumroll please*....  I will be leading a grand total of 14 retreats ... many of them 5-7 days long. So at long last I have achieved the dream and vision of practically living my life on retreat.

Of course I have a very full and active life that is not about being on retreat where I run errands and do the dishes and deal with traffic and whatever else I need to do to keep my relationships and home and business and body in good working order.

But while on retreat I often found myself joking around with my participants about my life not on retreat as returning to the "real world".

Now this is not an uncommon sentiment.  The rarefied atmosphere of the retreat space... that place where you have total license to be yourself, to rest, to play, to create without judgment .... is not what most of us are used to. It's certainly not business as usual in our frantically busy and fear based world.

But one day as I was making that statement yet again, I really heard what I was saying. And instead of just going on automatic pilot and unconsciously agreeing with an idea that I wasn't even sure I even believed anymore I stopped for a moment and thought about what the heck I meant when I said those words.

The question that I began to ask myself was "What was I actually referring to when I talked about the 'real world'?"

Now granted, when I'm on retreat someone else... namely the folks running the retreat center .... are doing all the food shopping and cooking and cleaning up afterwards. As well as making my bed. And scrubbing the toilet.

And in MY world these things do not happen without a lot of energy output on my part. So that aspect of being on retreat is definitely in the "unreal" category.

But there are a whole host of other things that happen on a retreat that don't require any physical elbow grease that people do for themselves. Because there's plenty of time and space available and they are also being encouraged by the group and the process and the facilitator to go ahead to do them.

Things like taking the time to explore what it means to be completely self expressive and out of control creative. Or listening to your inner voice of wisdom and risking trusting your inner guidance. And to then make choices based on what you hear.

It's being in a place where you have the authorization to fully feel ALL of your feelings without holding anything back. People on retreat laugh louder, cry harder and stomp around when necessary.

On retreat people share the deepest longings of their heart and the dark wounded places in their soul. They allow themselves to be seen and valued and appreciated for ALL of who they are.

On retreat people shine with the many amazing gifts and talents that they normally hide away from fear of being judged or ridiculed. And they own up to and take responsibility for where their shadow is holding them back from shining even more.

In other words, the reason that I love being on retreat, the reason that I crave it and it feels so magical and nourishing and like I'm on some kind of trippy mind altering drug is because when people are attending a personal growth, creativity and spirituality retreat they are given the permission and encouragement to become MORE real. To become more authentic. And more themselves.

And it was then that the lightbulb in my brain started flashing. And I realized that in my mind ( but not of course my heart... which has known better for 30 years) , I have had it completely backwards.

The unreal world is the one that most of us live in every day.

It's that place where wars happen and people shoot each other for money or pride... It's the place where they drive too fast and eat too much because they don't feel safe enough to feel their rage or their grief.

It's the place where people walk around with a plate of armor over their heart keeping them from letting anyone in. Or letting themselves come out.

It's the place where being yourself is often not appreciated or valued. And sometimes it's even dangerous.  So it only makes sense to shut down and close off and pretend to be someone that you're not.

Because I know what's real.

When people are given the chance and the safety and the support to be themselves they are funny. And sweet. And unfailingly kind. They are deeply and wildly creative.

And full of so much light that I sometimes feel like I need to be wearing sunglasses when I look them in the eye.

Love is real. Courage and compassion are real. Heartbreak and grief and teeth chattering fear are as real as it gets. As well as endless curiosity and the boundless capacity to experience wonder and awe.

And the hunger to grow and learn and change and be fully alive is way more real than a solid state protective attitude of either disconnection, snarky cynicism, mind numbing denial or happy all the time positive thinking.

And I'm a big fan of reality. But not the so called reality that life is just hard and disappointing and people are crummy and not to be trusted.

Living my life on retreat has taught me that reality is not what we have been led to believe.

I've learned that BEING real is something we can do anywhere.

That life in the retreat zone just makes the capacity for that kind of realness more possible and accessible.

And that this new version of "reality" is much more fun, satisfying and life affirming than the current definition and something I would be happy to sign up for any day.

**********************************************************************

I also have a couple of exciting creative announcements to share with you all!

One of my favorite online creative peeps is Goddess Leonie, who is a powerhouse of creative juiciness hailing from Australia. She is on a white hot mission to encourage women all over the world to reclaim the bountiful and beauteous goddess nature that is our birthright. And she just developed a free e-book called  
How To Be A Morning Goddess: A Free Goddessfesto!

It's a a GORGEOUS book... complete with photos. What she did was to ask a number of creative goddess types ( including yours truly) to describe their morning rituals as a way to inspire other creative goddesses ( Like YOU!) to start their day off in a nourishing and nurturing way. Check it out!!!

And of course, when these fabulous things show up in my life, they always happen all at the same time. Another one of my magical, creative internet friends, Jamie Ridler of Jamie Ridler Studios has created a wonderful digital product called Sparkles:Bring Your Creativity to Life in Five Minutes (or less) A Day!

Which pretty much says it all!!

She has asked 30 people from the very diverse online creative community to develop fun and unique creativity prompts that you can easily fit into your daily routine to keep your creative juices flowing. And I am excited to say that I am one of the contributors! If you sign up you will have one of these Sparkles delivered to your inbox daily for 30 days. For more information about Jamie's work please Click here to visit Jamie Ridler.

At the end of one of my most recent Painting From The Wild Heart workshops I was thanked by one of my students for not being, as she put it, a "woo-woo wackadoodle."

Which I actually take as a high compliment.

I know what she meant. Like her, I greatly appreciate the qualities of being down to earth and grounded.

And even though I live at the center of the woo-woo wackadoodle universe ... the San Francisco Bay area... I am originally from the heartland of the United States.

I grew up in a working class community of Pittsburgh PA where what is valued are things like being practical and pragmatic, level headed and matter of fact.

I'm less of a Law of Attraction person... which is the belief that we can totally create our reality through the power of our thoughts alone..... and more of a Hard Work Miracle kind of a gal .... which is the belief that I can sometimes influence the course of my reality based on my willingness to take certain actions to attain a hoped for outcome.

I have gotten pretty successful in both my business and my life and I attribute that to my ability to stay focused on a goal and consistently persistent in my attempts to achieve it.

I can also be kind of ridiculously optimistic... believing that no matter how dark the day may be at the moment, around the next corner the sun will start shining again... and I have a blessedly short memory... especially for hard and difficult things.

And as much as I live my life as an intuitive person I am pretty clear that there are a lot of situations where cause and effect play a very big role.

It's plain to me that If I don't do my ongoing marketing efforts no one will come to my classes and workshops or if I don't maintain my friendships they will slowly drift away. I know that if I don't pay my phone bill in a timely manner I soon won't be making any calls at all or if I continue to eat too many chocolate chip cookies I'm not going to be able to zip up my jeans without some serious external assistance.

The great thing about cause and effect is that I can very obviously see the results of my actions. It is something that allows me to feel like I'm in control. It makes me feel strong and good and like I have some power in the world. Like my choices and my actions matter. Which is a really good thing. I LIKE feeling that way and I recommend it highly.

And yet... there are still those very inexplicable times of mystery and magic where I have a clear sense that something is going on... where I'm in the flow of some kind of energy that allows things to come into being .... but it's not anything that has a clear trajectory from A to B.

For example, right before I got together with my husband, I had just ended a long and unsatisfying intimate relationship with another man. I left because I wanted to be with someone who was capable of being open to love.

But I was 42 and was having visions of those ancient Time magazine articles that stated that a woman was more likely to get hit by lightning than she was of finding love and getting married after she turned 40.

As I made this move I found myself preparing internally for a long siege of singleness. I already had all the sad country music picked out for the grieving process that I anticipated I would be engaged in for at least a couple of months.

And yet, my sweet love turned up and unexpectedly declared his love for me not 10 days after I had moved out and was living on my own again. He was exactly the kind of man I was hoping to find .... kind, funny, open, creative and he completely adored me ... and his showing up when he did completely turned my life around.

More recently, at some point in the middle of last year I decided that I wanted to write an ebook to give as a gift to new subscribers to my mailing list. I set a tentative deadline for completion of this goal of early January 2011.

However, my life took some interesting and unexpected turns in 2010 and though I came up with an idea for a book and even started working on it, progress was spotty at best.

I was hoping that at some point during the year I would find the energy and motivation to complete it. But time ticked away and the ebook idea continued to stay in stalled mode.

As the end of the year approached it was getting pretty clear that this thing was just not happening and I had pretty much resigned myself to not having the project completed by January .... or even any time soon after that.

Then totally unexpectedly I was contacted by the lovely Laura Hollick of Soul Art Studios on December 27th. She said she was organizing a venture where she was going to interview a number of people who she saw as creative spiritual revolutionaries for an online TV program she was creating. And she wanted to interview me as one of these revolutionaries.

However, the only catch was that she wanted me to have some kind of gift to offer to folks who signed up for her offering. And she needed my gift as well as my interview by December 30th. I asked for a bit more time and she generously gave me until January 3rd.

I now had three elements that had been missing up until that point which were a motivating force, external accountability to another person and most importantly a deadline.

And within that 7 day window I wrote, designed and formatted an ebook.

It wasn't the one I had originally intended to write. But it was an ebook nonetheless. And by some holy miracle it was completed by my original target date of the beginning of January.

In both these instances I had a wish for something that I could not imagine at the time coming to fruition. And yet mysteriously, my wishes were granted in both cases.

Did I "manifest" my hubby coming into my life or Laura Hollick showing up when she did? I don't really think so. At least not in any obvious ways. In all of the books about the law of attraction you are advised to visualize what you want and to direct positive messages toward what you desire.

But when I was moving out of the place I was living with my not-working-out boyfriend my mind was filled with thoughts of nothing but doom and gloom for my future romantic life.

And when I was thinking about the ebook, my internal chatter was along the lines of " Oh crap. Look how the time is just disappearing. If you don't do something soon, you're never going to finish that damned book. What are you waiting for? God, why did I even set myself up to do this? This is never going to happen... I don't know what made me think I could get this accomplished. Where in the heck is my motivation?" and on and on.

Not exactly what I would call positive thinking.

Now yes, in certain ways I set the stage for these miracles to occur. Back when I was 40, I had made a decision that I wanted more in my love life than I was currently getting and was taking steps to at least move away from what I didn't want.

And when Laura approached me  with her project I took the opportunity and grabbed it by the horns by finally buckling down and writing the damned ebook. So my participation was definitely required in order for these desires to come into existence.

But this is also where the woo-woo comes in.  This place of serendipity and synchronicity, of blessing and holy windfall, where I feel I have no control at all revolves around this unanswered question.

How could the circumstances arise so perfectly to allow my longings, which were there but buried under all kinds of fear and anxiety, hopelessness and despair, to actually materialize?

I truly don't understand how it works. I can't even BEGIN to say that I have a secret passkey to making this force of bounty bend to my will.

I don't have a technique or a strategy that can guarantee a beneficial outcome every time I want one.

What I do have is the knowledge and direct experience that grace is a real thing. And the willingness ... most of the time...  to say yes when it DOES show up.

And apparently, uncannily, and what often feels like undeservedly.... that seems to be enough.

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You can see my Creative Spiritual Revolutionary Interview with the amazing Laura Hollick about creativity, community and the power of creative support by clicking here.

And... if you would like to get a free copy of my new ebook:

7 Heart Centered Principles, Spirit Based Practices and Simple Action Steps For Leading A Wildly Creative, Deeply Authentic And Magically Intuitive Life

all you need to do is to sign up for my bi-monthly Creative Juices Arts newsletter. Which you can easily do by clicking here.

I am currently in the middle of my yearly January Painting From The Wild Heart retreat in the wine country of Northern California, and I'm feeling pretty good.

Usually, by this point in the workshop I'm starting to get kind of fried. I'm still enjoying what I'm doing but I can feel myself fraying around the edges. But this time it's much better because I went into this retreat in a very different way.

These painting workshops require a great deal of organization which means actually BUILDING a painting studio ...from scratch... every time I hold a retreat.

Unlike yoga or writing workshops, where the facilitator only needs to bring a yoga mat or a laptop and some handouts, I have to cart bins full of paint and lights and all kinds of art supplies to my workshop venues. And easels. And tray tables. And on and on. And then put all those things together to create a functioning art studio.

And I HATE doing that stuff. It's not just that it's hard, time consuming work. The worst part for me is that keeping track of the thousands of details like "How many bottles of paint do we have?" or "How do we get the lights in the best position?" just makes me want to cry.

Faced with those tasks I collapse internally into a space of overwhelm and inadequacy. I get anxious and insecure. I'm not confident and at my best. I know it sounds ridiculous, but negotiating all those concrete and spatial particulars is something that I just don't feel very good at.

But I have continued to do it anyway because I love the workshops so much and this was just one of those necessary evils that allowed the retreats to happen. So I did it.

Which meant that I always ended up beginning the workshop feeling drained and stressed. It set a tone of cranky depletion. Which only got worse as the week went on.

Over the years I have gotten more and more help from students and trainees. Which has been great. But I have still always been involved in the set-up to a certain extent.

Part of it was guilt. I felt like setting up the studio was the menial dirty work and I didn't want to put that off on someone else. It didn't seem fair.

But lately my husband has come on board and has been helping me out with growing my business. And he sat me down one day and confronted me around this issue by saying " Listen honey, you have to just let this part of the job go and do what you're good at... which is creating the sacred magical space that allows people to have the experience of growing and healing through the creative process. This is your gift. And you are the talent. People are not paying you to put the lights up in the studio. Mick Jagger does not drag his own amps onto the stage before a concert."

Unfortunately, I mentioned that little conversation to my students at the retreat and now they are calling me Chris Jagger.

But what this got me thinking about was the concept of energy leaks.

Because forcing myself to do something that did not play to my strengths and put me in a state of stressed out worry made me feel like that soul sucking critter from the Alien movies had jumped on my face and wouldn't let go.

The idea behind energy leaks is that even though on some level we are connected to unlimited divine and spiritual forces we are also trying to channel all that wondrous goodness through a finite human body.

Which means that we have limits to the energy that we can actually use. And it is important that we conserve that energy. That we create containers that can hold that energy. And that we respect and steward that energy.

We can always make choices to do things that raise our energy levels. Like my favorite energy booster which is creativity.

Dancing, painting, writing, drumming, singing are all things that we can reliably count on to fuel us. These activities feed us and give us juice. Which is one of the reasons that I love being creative and I am constantly supporting others to create.

Taking care of our bodies through exercise, plenty of rest and eating our organic veggies is another way that we can keep our energy levels high and humming.

So is taking time to meditate and to play, hanging out with people who love and support us and getting plenty of hugs.

Being out in nature, just simply having fun and doing what we love are also sure fire energy pick-me-ups.

And then, of course, on the other side of fence are those things that drain our energy reserves. And that list looks like the exact opposite of the energy revitalizers.

Lack of sleep, too much sugar and no exercise will pull the plug on our vitality quicker than you can say "couch potato."

As can spending time with people who are always critical or demandingly high maintenance. And not making the space for our creativity to thrive can leave us feeling all droopy and wilted, like a plant that gets left in a windowless closet without any sun.

One of the biggest energy sucks is stress of any sort which can include things like being stuck in traffic on long daily work commutes to dealing with a chronic illness. As well as making ourselves do those thing we are just not naturally wired to do.

And of course all those huge life changes like buying a house, moving to a different city, changing jobs - willingly or unwillingly - getting married or divorced, having a baby or the death of a parent are always energy draining even if those changes are something we want and chose.


I think of of our internal energy system like a pool of water that expands and contracts like the tide going in and out.

So when we have been giving ourselves the good stuff we are filled to the brim with clear, lovely liquid, just sloshing around and bathing our insides with sweet and holy sustenance.

When we are in this state of fullness we feel all plump and permeated with juicy goodness which means we have plenty of reserves and even an overflow to give out to others. It allows us to be relaxed and satisfied at the same time as we are bursting with our own inner sparkle-ness.

But when the pool begins to drain our energetic system starts to get all shrunken and dried up.

We get puckery like a prune. Instead of sweet sloshing there is much internal creaking and lots of dust flying around. We find ourselves feeling wheezy instead of whizbang. The sparkle has shriveled and the plumpness becomes parched.

Of course, this energy pool is something that is never static or stable. Be definition it is "fluid" which means it is constantly rising and falling.

Stress and unpleasantness, doing things that we don't necessarily want to do, dealing with difficult people and other things that might drain us are just part of being alive.

We aren't supposed to keep ourselves filled to capacity at all times. That would be unrealistic to expect.

But our baseline energy levels ARE our responsibility and maintaining them at a reasonable elevation is a basic part of self care and self love.

The problem is that most of us run around pretty much on empty a great deal of the time. And then wonder why we feel so grumpy and exhausted.

We somehow assume that it is normal to be depleted. That we are superhuman beings who never need to rest or eat well or play. That being stressed out is our lot in life. And that this way of being is actually sustainable.

We forget what it's like to feel nourished and content. To be overflowing with our own succulent aliveness.

Or even like there's gas in the tank at all.

So I want to gently challenge you today to take an energy inventory of your life. To tell the truth about your stress levels and your tiredness. To really admit to yourself how long you have been in what you have been calling a fleeting bad mood that has now become more of a lifestyle choice.

If you come out pretty high on the ornery end of the scale, if anxiety is your middle name or you are constantly in "ass dragging" mode, you might consider checking in on that inner energy pool.

And if all you can see is a rapidly drying, mud filled puddle... please... Take a nap. Or a walk. Get a hug. Put on some music and dance.

And maybe even practice being the star of your life for awhile by asking for help in carrying your own version of those pesky amplifiers up on the stage.