Second Life

Chillcasting to Re-Charge

I  have to admit that I'm not a particularly relaxed person. In fact, I can be a little anxious and on edge, especially when I'm working on something that has me completely engaged.

The good thing about trying to follow my bliss lately is that I feel more energized in many ways. I also feel like I'm at least doing work that matters to me more. Unfortunately, when I'm in this mode, there's no such thing as relaxing. Since I work from home, it's very easy for me to work 12-14 hour days and not realize that I'm doing it until I crash. I push myself hard, expecting my creativity to flow endlessly with no re-charging. If I do hit a wall, then I tend to just get pissed at myself and wonder why I can't keep delivering on what I've started. You'd think I'd recognize what I'm doing, but apparently it's always a surprise to me.

Anyway, as I was doing some research yesterday, I ran across this very cool site that provides "relaxation podcasting." For $6, you can download several exercises for your i-Pod or computer that have been designed to trigger the "relaxation response" in your body. According to the site:

The Chillcasts are a series of instructional audio recordings that guide you through breathing and visualization techniques. They are designed to allow your muscles to relax and to calm your mind. There is no chanting, no mantras, just simple, effective and relaxing recordings that you can listen to at work, waiting for a flight, or as you prepare for an important interview.

Simply choose the Chillcast that is right for you, and download it to your computer, iPod or MP3 player. The process is as simple as downloading a song, and the chillcast is yours to keep for as long as you want it.

I listened to a sample recording and I have to admit that it started to lull me into a semi-relaxed state. And frankly, for $6--roughly the price of the two Starbucks coffees I shouldn't be drinking anyway--it's definitely worth a shot.  So pardon me while I try to chill.

Michele

Re-Charge Wednesday: Get Thee to a Day Spa

A few weeks ago, I treated one of my best friends to her first spa experience. She's been through a lot in the past 9 months, including major surgery, the death of a close friend, the departure of her last child for college and the loss of her job. I hesitate to say that she's been through it all only because I'm afraid I'll jinx her in what has already been one hell of a year.

  At any rate, our birthdays are only one day apart (September 10 and 11), so we planned for her and her husband to come down to Philadelphia to spend a day and night with my husband and I. We began the day at one of my favorite places--Terme di Aroma, which I highly recommend if you're ever in the area.  Peaceful surroundings and wonderful people who provide guaranteed de-stressing. It was a great start to the day, although Mary and I probably could have used a nap by the time we were finished.

Periodic day spa experiences have become an important little luxury for me, although I only began going in the past few years after my husband treated me to a massage on my birthday. They are incredibly rejuvenating and for less than $100 (depending on what you select) can give you a new lease on life. Or at least make you less cranky.

If you've never done the spa thing before, you might start by checking out this article on how to select a spa and this article on how to make the most of your day.

When you're ready to find a spa, check around with people you know to see if they have any recommendations. Or use one of these spa locators:

Day Spa Association

Spa Finder

Spa Magazine

When you're selecting your spa, be sure to think through what you're looking for--what's important to you in that spa experience? What kind of environment do you want? Are you looking for something relaxing or invigorating? What part of your body needs some TLC? Or is it more than one? And do you want to go alone or do you want to share the love by bringing someone special along? (Last year my husband and I celebrated Valentine's Day with massages and too many martinis--I highly recommend the former, although not the latter).

A day spa experience can be a wonderful thing. I'm only sorry that I didn't discover them sooner.

Michele

Flickr Mini-cards

I was visting Mighty Goods (Maggie does the shopping so I don't have to) and found these. For $20, you can create a box of 100 minicards using your Flickr photos. What a great gift idea or way to share your art! And it looks like the process couldn't be any easier. The only hard part is picking out the photos you want to use.

Michele

Journaling in Second Life

When I was 14, it was called a diary. Now that I'm 43, it's a journal. There were a lot of years in between when I didn't have the time, energy, self-absorption or privacy to sit with a pen and a blank piece of paper. I'm kind of sorry about that. I think it could have helped me get through some of the harder parts of parenting, partnering and work, but that's water under the bridge. In Second Life, journaling is a pleasure I've come to really enjoy.

For me, it happens two ways. I have my writing journal in which I pour out my mostly mundane thoughts. Right now I'm working with a red journal that contains handmade paper, using my Uniball micropoint. I find that both the paper and the type of pen I use are important. I also need blank pages--no lines to hold me in.

I've tried Julia Cameron's Artist's Way suggestion to do Morning Pages, where you write for at least 3 pages no matter what, even if you're just writing "I have nothing to say" over and over again. But I find that I still lack the discipline to keep up with them. My computer calls to me and my pile of work and if I don't have some thing to wrestle with on paper, then the siren song of "get something done today" will often win out over the journal and cup of coffee ritual that is probably better for me.

My other journal is my art journal. With pen, pastel, paint, collage, chalk, etc. I record my world in more visual terms, which has been an interesting route into my soul and into greater understanding of myself. I use all different size and types of journals, mostly filled with watercolor or sketchpad versions. I confess to a brief fling with Moleskines, although I also admit to feeling a tad pretentious when using them and so my love affair is on again/off again, depending on the phases of the moon or some other mysterious force, apparently.  Right now I find myself lusting after these Fabriano Art Journals. 

My 18-year old college freshman daughter has inherited my love of journaling. We still have the video of her beaming 7-year old face as she tore through the birthday wrapping to reveal her first diary. "It has a lock and everything!" It's been her constant companion and certainly has preserved her sanity (by her own admission) during the worst of her teenage angst. I'm glad that she's found something this helpful this early in her life. But then again, she wants to be a writer so I'm not surprised that she's taken to it so thoroughly.

I think that Second Life is a good time to acquire--or re-acquire--the journaling habit. I encourage you to explore different journal varieties, different pens, different formats. Find what you enjoy, what feels good in your hand and to your heart. And then try making it a part of your daily routine. Come on, if you do it, I will too.

Here's some inspiration to get you moving:

• Teesha Moore keeps the most fabulous and beautiful pages. She does the art in her studio and then takes the pages with her to a favorite coffee shop to write. This is how she creates them.

• Keri keeps different kinds of journals--some are collage, some not. All capture her essence.

• While not a Second Lifer, Sabrina has made a name for herself through Spilling Open and subsequent books.

• If you love Moleskines or want to see how others use them, you may want to check out Moleskinerie where the most rabid fans explore their love of the journal in all it's forms.

• I also love Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art, which explores the various ways in which women and men of all ages have chronicled their lives.

• If you REALLY want to dig deeply into the journaling habit you can explore Ira Progoff's Intensive Journaling method, an approach that builds in part on the idea of writing in community. The Program is offered at locations throughout the world and is what hard-core journaling is all about. I have Progoff's At a Journal Workshop but have not been able to devote the time that I need to get it started. It definitely seems to require the kick in the butt of going to a workshop.

These are a few of my resources. Post a comment and let me know a few of yours and how you use journaling to explore your Second Life.

Michele