What are you doing this weekend? I hope whatever you have planned, it involves time for self-care, love and compassion, whatever that looks like for you. As for me, I’ve spent weekends walking, spending cherished time with friends and family (social distancing of course) and listening, reading and thinking about many things. I’ve curated a list of them below, in case you’d like to check them out too…
Avid Reader – West End, Brisbane
Books I’m reading…
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
There is a cartoon I saw recently. Two teenage fish are swimming and are passed by a much older fish. The senior fish asks, “How’s the water boys?”. The smaller fish look puzzled, “What water?”. We grow up in a society that feels so incredibly familiar we don’t even realise what needs to be questioned. This book so exquisitely asks us as women what we want from our lives. What is our most authentic calling to create a story which is more beautiful, more deep and more true. A deliciously warming feminist memoir that shows us that there is no such thing as one-way liberation.
Art I’m contemplating…
Kitty & Me by Amanda Lutvey
I have a gorgeous friend, Amanda, which I seconded in a previous career. Despite having a demanding corporate career, she had always loved in her spare time to innovate through art. I remember her paintings as textured layers of bold colour that usurped your mood. Over time the things that bring us joy are often gently and oh-so-quietly pushed to the corner by the responsibility of families, careers, and well, life. I’ve been watching these lasts months as Amanda has re-energised her passion and started to paint again. It has inspired me to dig into my own creativity. As Brene Brown teaches us, “Unused creativity is not benign. It metastasises. It turns into grief, rage, judgment, sorrow, shame.”
If this isn’t a time the world needs our art, then really, I don’t know when. I love this piece by Amanda, it’s called Kitty and Me, a celebration of the relationship with her beautiful daughter, Kitty.
Poem I’m pondering…
Wait without Hope, T.S. Eliot
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
Oh God! When I heard this poem by TS Elliot repeated by the beautiful Liz Gilbert on a recent podcast It grabbed my core and hit me like a tonne of bricks. How much does our 2020 mind and body hate doubt, delay and ambiguity. The Waiting, The Uncertainty, The Darkness – Lessons 101 bought to you by COVID-19.
For me, this poem has conjured so many things. In a world where control is at the heart of so much, the discomfort of sitting in the silence and leaning in on faith without pushing for an outcome feels almost foreign. Surrendering to uncertainty is not a trait I’m renown for! Many of us still sit in that uncertainty. And while the outcome is often yet to present, and while I I continue to struggle, what I have seen revealed in others and the hope for myself, is the gift of resilience resourcefulness and gratitude.
@austinchanning | Twitter
Podcast I’m listening to…
Austin Channing Brown – The Good Life Project and Unlocking Us
Austin Channing Brown’s anti-racism work is critical to changing our world, and her ability to talk about what is good and true about love, about our faith, and about loving each other is transformative. She is a writer, a speaker, and a media producer providing inspired leadership on racial justice in America. In this episode, we connect on her book I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, and talk about her online television show, The Next Question.
What made me laugh out loud…
Netflix: The New One by Mike Birbiglia
@mikebirbiglia | Twitter
I’ve learnt that laughter really is the best medicine! If you’ve watched to the end of Netflix, Mike Birbiglia is someone I enjoy watching over and over. He is a beautiful irreverent and honest story teller drawing on his own personal and sometimes vulnerable experiences. He leans into comedy on a most human level. He has made me laugh so hard and sometimes cry. I really enjoyed watching this honest and often hilarious account of becoming a new parent and I hope you do to.
Weekend ritual for my skin…
Is there ever a more important time for rituals of self-care? Taking time to create a ceremony to nourish and supercharge our skin with nutrients, nurture and love isn’t just about aesthetics. I think of it as a physical meditation. Time to connect to your body, time for reflection, time to sustain our largest organ, our skin.
My go to skin ritual is always (always!) a masque. One of my favourites for home is the Recovery Masque. Forget that it smells like a bouquet of roses, vanilla and Turkish delight; this is a professional formulation (that’s right, created for intense dermal treatments) to really get results.
A delectable pink French clay cream mousse layered with actives to stimulate collagen to plump firm and tone skin.
Our hero here is Heptapeptide-7, a smart peptide to activate new collagen production at a deep dermal level while protecting existing connective tissue. Anti-ageing vitamins and antioxidants protect against oxidative stress and inflammation, the precursor to ageing. Infused with omega rich serums and pink French clay to re-mineralise skin, this is a multi-tasking skin preparation ideal for all skin types. Finished with lashings of hyaluronic acid to deeply quench thirsty skin to moisturise and replenish hydration. I like to apply over our Super Proof B3 Serum to intensify results than cover my eyes with a cool eye pillow and listen to a podcast favourite.
What about you? If you have a minute to share your favourite poem, book, or weekend ritual I’d love to hear…