Creativity requires courage to take risks but it is well worth it. Your creation, your art, may uplift and inspire others to be courageous as well.

Creativity requires courage to take risks but it is well worth it. Your creation, your art, may uplift and inspire others to be courageous as well.

Although this is a festive time of year it is absolutely ok to not feel festive. Sometimes the holidays can dredge up all sorts of things. Make sure to take time for self care and to allow yourself to feel what you need to feel.

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. In fact, if you live above the Arctic Circle, there will be an entire twenty four hour period of endless night! For some spiritual beliefs, today marks the beginning of the Yule, and in some ancient traditions the solstice represents the birth of the sun from the Moon goddess. Perhaps many of these traditions were absorbed by later Christian groups that invaded Northern Europe. For many, this is day is a wonderful day to turn your attention inward, take stock of things, let go of what no longer serves you and prepare for the transformation to the new year. If you are reading from the northern hemisphere, don’t worry, beginning tomorrow there will be a few more moments of sunlight everyday for about six months.

Today we descend into winter, but don’t worry, wonderful things are on their way.
There are only TEN DAYS left in the entire decade? Can you believe that? Where did the time go? Think about where you were ten years ago and take in all your accomplishments and leave the rest – enjoy the last ten days of the last ten years!

In ten days, 1980 will be forty years ago.
One foot in front of the other keep chugging away keep moving on, sometimes that is all you can do. Live in the moment and move towards the future.

Hold the space for the people you care about – always be open and present to your friends. Stand beside them without judgement and give your support freely and unconditionally. I hope you all have someone in your life to hold the space for, and most likely they are holding the space for you too.
Consider this holiday to hold the space for our caprine friends at The Haven Zoo. There is still time to sponsor the herd, including super pals Bernie and Angela (below). Your small and generous donation will support the herd through providing necessary veterinarian check-ups, a healthy diet and comfy shed, PLUS, you will receive quarterly updates and a certificate of friendship.

I hope you are all having an amazing week and enjoy some holiday treats.

Art is in the eye of the beholder, or in this case, the eye of the horn holder. That is right, our friends at The Haven Zoo created some fantastic paintings of the horn imprints of Boone, Otis and Bernie’s horns. The Haven provides a wonderful place for rescued animals including a herd of goats and now offer the opportunity to sponsor the goats and ensure their high quality of care is maintained. Help keep the Haven goat herd happy and healthy and if you sponsor before Thursday (December 19) you will be entered in prize-draw to win one of the paintings created by the goats seen below!

Go blue for Bernie

Fiery red by Boone

A chill imprint from Otis

Once upon a time there was a famous general who shared her wisdom with a friend. She said “take your broken heart and make it into art.” From any heartache or setback, there is always hope that things will get better. Make amazing things and practice radical kindness and you never know you might just change the world.

Only thirteen more shopping days until Christmas! I say, if you celebrate Christmas, don’t worry about getting the shopping done. Focus more on how you are going to best spend the time off with people you care about.
