We have come to a time in our world culture where we all need to create a sanctuary for ourselves and get back to our creative essence.

We hear weekly about children, teens and adults losing their lives or being injured by someone who felt they had no sanctuary and had become detached from their creative self. As I was doing errands in our community just yesterday, there was a man yelling by the railroad tracks. And a few minutes later I spotted a women dressed cleanly and neatly in shorts, tennis shoes and a top – walking down the sidewalk just raging in full voice at some apparent slight or frustration. The outside temperature was nearing 100 degrees, so she was obviously hot AND bothered. Later in the evening, I attended a friend’s birthday party where an improv group was performing and we all ate well (pot luck) and laughed so much. It was a feel good, creative, supportive group. I left feeling as if I had been given a gift as well as bringing one for the birthday girl. As we were leaving, after dark, I heard a man’s voice, across the street near an closed auto body shop, yelling incoherently. There was an elderly couple walking out at the same time as me, so I told them, “safe home, we apparently have a yeller”. They asked if my car was near and I indicated that it was.
We also read every day about the death and destruction being caused by men who are waging war on others. So what’s happened to our society?

When my husband and I took a brief break last fall, before the holidays, to travel to the central coast to rest, read and visit interesting places… one of the places we visited was a monarch butterfly sanctuary. It was a wonderful visit, thanks to the well educated docents and their very powerful telescopes that they had trained on the clusters of monarchs resting in the trees. The butterflies had found their sanctuary. Finding some sanctuary in this devolving world is a critical first step toward sanity and unity. It gets harder and harder each day. And yet, we must keep trying to create sanctuary. I purchased a baseball cap to support the sanctuary and remind me of our good visit. It is in the photo at the head of this post, with a BIG monarch butterfly on the front on a natural green cap. You would not believe how many conversations with strangers this cap has sparked! People are so relieved to see something on a baseball cap other than a combative phrase or a self proclaimed stance. So I think it’s time we all reclaimed our own foreheads. Find a baseball cap that shows what animal or musical instrument, or lighthouse, etc., that interests you and wear it. You might find it opening connections with others rather than closing them immediately. Or sometimes the other kind of cap results in your connecting with a like minded person – but only to diminish someone else to make yourselves feel better. We all want to feel better. That, we have in common. Aiming for feeling better without attacking someone else – should be the goal now.

The next step, after finding your sanctuary, is reconnecting with your intuition and creativity. Yes, we all have intuition (not just women) and we are all naturally creative beings from birth (not just artists/musicians/poets, etc.) I listened to a good podcast that talks about intuition and creativity, on my morning walk, so I am sharing it here. Watch it on YouTube or Listen to it on your favorite streaming service on your next walk. Or take a break and instead of turning on the TV, sit on the couch with some water and a protein snack and listen. I really think it might help you tap into something that helps you feel better, feel inspired, or feel like you matter amongst the chaos and noise.

This update is well over a week delayed because I have been working on my own exercise, my extended family and my creativity. I was not ready to post last Sunday, so I simply didn’t. Yet I will always come back to doing this because I think creativity is what will redirect us all to a better place. Until next time my readers, listen to your intuition, follow it to your creativity and I hope you have a terrific weekend.