The Battle of the Birds (part 2)

I’m pretty sure that my six year-old son’s love for Angry Birds has penetrated my subconscious by now.  (I think this is where the title for this post came from.  And the whole subject of my son's iPad love deserves a post of its own.)

(Another day.)

Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, there is no right way to be.  As long as you find time for yourself – creative, alert time where you can really be present with yourself – you can stay in touch with your creative voice.

In our home, we love to sit with our children when they’re going to sleep, a tradition that began in toddler-hood.   It’s a sweet time of day – one of my favorite times of the day – but I often + usually fall asleep when they do.  I call this “unintentionally going to bed early.” I wake up two hours later, feeling drugged, contacts to my eyes, clothes still on from the day.  Where does a mama go from here?  For me, straight to bed.  Ugh.

But – if my husband falls asleep with them, he’ll wake back up to continue the rest of his night.  For him, the late night hours have been his time for solitude, creativity, mental rest.  I’ve always been secretly envious.

I’ve tried to turn myself into a night owl, brewing pots of coffee after the kids go to sleep, trying to keep myself up to take advantage of hours of quite time.  This time is lovely!  But, the body still wakes up early.  I may be a little tired the next day - but those stolen hours are well worth it.

We women and mamas are often exhausted – and sleep is a necessity.  But sometimes, it pays to miss a little sleep to have some good, intentional creative mental time.  My late nights with some good coffee or tea at my desk, along with pens, markers, highlighters and clean, fresh notebooks – lights my creative soul.  The gift of a large block of time to reflect, explore, create – to tap into new life - is priceless.

“The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical.  It is the sower of all true science.  He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is good as dead.”  - Albert Einstein

One thing today:  Sometime this week, shake up your routine and steal some hours for yourself,  Morning or night - make your time intentional.  Plan for what you want to do with your time.

Lovely, creative things:

The Creative Call by Janice Elsheimer

Gadanke Journals

Anna Joyce Hand-Stenciled Notebooks