We all know that colors can impact our moods. We have colors we’re fond of, ones we like to dress in, ones we like to surround ourselves with, ones that bring fond memories back to us. Color, much like music, is capable of resonating much deeper with us than words can explain. It comes as no surprise that colors often create patterns around us, encouraging different emotions, energies and reactions.
When we’re considering how to change the way our environment feels, we might look at aesthetics, colors, space, or light. It might not occur to us to consider how big a role scents play in our everyday lives. Smell is one of our most inherent senses; scents can define eras, places, people and even vivid memories for us. I can remember what my childhood home smells like, the forest scents
First of all, if you are practicing social distancing right now, I want to thank you. This is the simplest step you can take to protect others during the outbreak of COVID-19, and your actions right now may very well save the lives of our elders or people who, like me, are made more vulnerable to the virus because of autoimmune conditions. However, knowing you’re doing the right thing doesn’t
Living in a crisis as extended and intense as the COVID-19 outbreak isn’t something the average person is prepared for. As anxiety and isolation have weighed on us for weeks, it only makes sense that we’d be exhausted. We know it won’t be like this forever, but it can be hard to remind ourselves of that while we’re in the midst of this pandemic. We’re becoming aware of our own
There is so much value in making our living spaces comfortable for ourselves. Being able to feel like ourselves at home is an act of self-care. This doesn’t always have to mean rearranging furniture or making new purchases. It’s not necessarily the first thing we think of, but sound can be an easy way to make our environment more peaceful. I’ll often have music on in the house to help
It’s interesting to me how much of our modern culture serves to control and separate us from nature. We spend so much time inside buildings we’ve constructed, walking on pavement we’ve poured and driving ourselves from place to place with our windows up. We’ve made it so that we aren’t really exposed to nature in our day-to-day lives; many aspects of nature, like the weather, pollen, insects and pests can
I’ve written and spoken before about my invisible illnesses, about the importance of self-care, finding a community, and settling into a new normal. Recently I’ve had a lot of people writing in to ask me what my routine looks like, and what I do to soften the impact of my autoimmune conditions on my happiness and health. Figuring out how to work with autoimmune conditions can be an uphill battle;
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” Kahlil Gibran Let’s talk about art and suffering. The archetype of the tortured artist has probably existed for as long as art itself. The idea that a person’s pain accelerates their artistic potential, or makes their art more significant, is one that seems to persist in creative communities. In some contexts, this could be
We’re already a month and a half into 2020, and I can’t believe how fast things are moving. I’m currently working on getting a new project up and running with a new partner, and it’s a lot of work. It feels like I never get enough rest. To create something from nothing requires a lot of energy, but that’s part of the price I have to pay to write my
When I was young, I had a condition that made it difficult for me to speak in a normal register. I would often speak in either a high pitched tone or a low, frog-like voice, and it took time for me to learn how to adjust the way that I spoke so that others could understand. Having to work to be understood granted me a lot of the empathy and
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