When I think back on the past two years, I can honestly say that the largest ‘joy-sparkers’ were those that piqued my interest and curiosity. It all started with getting still and quiet enough to listen to my intuition. One of my favorite quotes is from Ursula Le Guin- “The creative adult is the child who has survived.” As a child, I loved to paint, make pop-up cards, perform tap dance in front of relatives during family gatherings, and write letters to summer camp pen-pals and my teachers. Recently when I was designing a custom pop-up card for a friend, I felt so incredibly joyful. It was so visceral- and at that moment I realized I was tapping into my childhood love and bliss of making things. Namely, 3-D art.

I get it. Life is busy. As a Type 3 Enneagram, it’s never easy to break my habit of putting aside my to-do list and cultivating more space to just tap into solitude. But I am learning how integral and necessary solitude is for happiness and well-being.

Solitude is necessary for deep creative work.

Solitude is necessary to hear what your heart is telling you in a quiet, subtle way.

Solitude is necessary to strip yourself from the ‘shoulds’ of your life and tap into more things that feel like play. Things that bring you joy. Things that feel like bliss.

For now, bliss means brush lettering, composing on my keyboard, learning new chords on my ukulele, closing doors to certain opportunities in order to make room for exciting coaching plans in 2019. It means deep-diving into digital art, surrounding myself with mentors, and booking retreats for 2019. I am excited and ready for all that already is, and will be, in 2019. How will you cultivate more deliberate space and solitude into your life? How will you follow your bliss in 2019?