Consciously Connecting To You And Those You Love — How Do YOU Do It?

 

Morning Patterns — Connecting With YOU

Creative people often speak of their morning road map, their routine or practice, that familiar pattern of activity that stirs the creative juices and catches ideas when they begin to flow.

Artists mention meditation, a morning beach walk, or spending time alone.

A creative warm-up routine could be something as simple as “I get my coffee, and walk outside to greet my morning. I stroll and look at the leaves, listen to the birds, or feel the rain or falling snow. Then I come back inside and pick up my morning pen to see what it has to say.”

Poet Mary Oliver goes for longs walks every day in nature.  And look what she comes up with.  Pretty good stuff!!!

Stephen King gets a cup of tea and water, turns on music, and sits down between 8 am and 8:30 every day, with all his papers arranged in the same way, at the same desk. He said it is a routine that lets his brain know that it should begin dreaming.

Winston Churchill woke up about 7:30 every morning and remained in bed for a substantial breakfast and reading of mail and all the national newspapers. For the next couple of hours, still in bed, he worked, dictating to his secretaries.

A well-known composer friend in Los Angeles, now in his later years, has had breakfast every morning in the same restaurant for the past 25 years. After his morning meal, he goes back home and works in his studio, writing music (mainly jazz) or works on a sound track for a movie.

These are examples of how creative people connect with themselves.  They have a tradition, a pattern that works for them.

Connecting with OTHERS

In your  family, how do you connect with your partner?  Your kids?  Extended family?  Family relationships can surely use this kind of intimate check in.  Do you have any traditions?  Any patterns of activity that make connection with each other easy?

In my Mom’s family, for as long as I can remember, there has been a family letter.  You write your letter, add it in with all the other letters, and send it to the next person on the list.  Sometimes you add photos.  With a large family, the letter pack gets pretty fat!   There were times when one person would forget to write and hold up process.  Sometimes the letter would take a whole year to get around to all the families.

A family of three started the tradition of leaving sticky notes to each other on the door from the garage to the house. It is a door covered with love notes and notes of appreciation and acknowledgement to each other.

They collect them for a month or so and then start over.   Either that or, I don’t know, maybe they will have to build a bigger door.  You know what I mean…

(I wish I had a photo to show you, but she just took all the sticky notes down to start over….)

Another family created what they fondly call a “wall of fame.”  It is a really long wall in the hallway of their home covered with photos of the family, like a visual timeline of their life together.  It is tastefully arranged, very inviting, and  it draws you in.  Instead of words, they use images.

Eric and I started a tradition recently. We have a small book with a beautiful cover that we pass back and forth to each other.  I like the size of it — not too big, not too small — and it has a ribbon for a page marker. The book travels from his pillow to my pillow with messages of appreciation to each other.  Every time I see the book on my pillow, my heart skips a happy beat. I love reading what he says and the opportunity to write back.

We say things to each other in this book that we don’t seem to say verbally.  It is a treasure.

What are the express-your-love traditions in your family?  Feel free to state your tradition(s) in the comments section.  Maybe you’ll inspire someone else!