the cup I made
I know it’s Monday. I wanted to wait and write this after my pottery class and after my check in call with Randi.
This week has been a time for reflection, creating self care habits and drinking from my own cup.
One practice I put into place this week was the one of noticing, in the moment, my anxiety. I have a writing booklet at work and when I’m stressed, or anxious, or upset I write down in that book what is making me that way, and how I’m feeling right in that moment. Then I close my eyes, and spend one or two minutes breathing deeply and feeling the breath go all through my body. I also think the thought “it’s not personal.”
Because I tend to take slights (real or imagined) personally. I think the person who is riling me up is doing it on purpose to upset me. When in actuality, that is not true. It is simply their response and it’s all about them. The only thing I can control is my own response, and anger or anxiety or fear are not my chosen methods of response. Love is. Taking a minute or two to realize that and acknowledge what is going on is a form of self care.
This weekend I spent in a class learning how to throw pottery, make pottery, raku fire pottery and just having fun. The cup in this picture is one I glazed. The colors on the left are where the cup was burned by the fire, the colors on the right are where the cup received more oxygen. Both sides are beautiful but each represents a reaction to what is around them. There is beauty in the burning and in the breathing.