Honoring the Process

Week eight of exploring the writing affirmations of Eric Maisel with Kelly, finds me racing around to get ready for a week long vacation.

“I will honor the process”.

I stop to examine the little droppings of half done projects and stockpiles of rusty old things waiting for their stage. I feel a little bit crazy.

Short vacations are challenging. The energy required for prepping barely gets replenished before it’s time to dive back into routine again. Perhaps this weeks’ affirmation can shift something.

I decide to wander up to the studio and end up taking a half hour to lovingly place my raw materials in a shadow box of sorts.

The simple act of slowing down and paying attention to placement produces a sense of calm… a tiny giggle of delight. I begin to wonder how many processes I can honor…

Why not all of them?

Not at the same time, of course, but in their moment.

“I will honor the process of packing” turns the frenzy into a moving meditation… creates small altars to the art of travel… invites delicious anticipation.

“Honoring the process of working” means more acceptance of limitations. My ambitious plans will need to be adjusted for sanity… a course correction with self care at the helm.

And when “I honor the process of cleaning house”, I decide to move the gathering of encaustic experiments from the mantle and arrange a beach themed collection to honor summer. The centerpiece charcoal drawing is reminiscent of my days on Henderson Bay during my childhood and my initiation to the wonders of the sea.

I have a twelve hour drive ahead to get to Montana and I see that honoring that process will give me time for deep thinking… time for evaluating where I am in the creative journey… time to review again the first seven affirmations. They are not isolated thoughts. More like individual notes of a well crafted symphony… notes that get repeated over and over again in different order, in different intensity and intervals.

Some time ago, I wrote about wanting to inhabit my life more fully. Honoring the process seems to be just the words I needed to slow the pace. What does honoring the process evoke for you?