October 1, 2012

In Defense of Vanilla: Owning What’s Ours

image by Sister72 – click photo for more info

I don’t like semi-sweet chocolate.

But I feel like I should. I mean, it’s semi-sweet. That semi gives it an edge. Some bite. It’s darker and more mysterious. More grown up. But I like milk chocolate. Milk chocolate doesn’t compete with other flavors that chocolate should hang out with, like peanut butter. But isn’t that what kids eat? Peanut butter cups with milk chocolate? I like chocolate for babies.

I don’t like olives.

I wish I could. Olives are one of those foods that when people like them, they really like them. You can put them everywhere! On pizzas, in salads, in bread, or even fancy drinks. People who like olives must have such sophisticated palettes. I think I’ll go have a cucumber.

I don’t like coffee.

Now, take out the caffeine and add some sugar, cream, and hazelnut syrup and you’ve got yourself a deal. But at that point it’s hardly coffee. Coffee is just the vehicle for a sugary liquid morning-dessert. Don’t people who drink their coffee black seem so bad-ass? “I’ll take my coffee black,” said the most bad-ass woman ever. Maybe I’ll have some peppermint tea.

Maybe I have simple tastes. Or maybe, as I told my parents when I was a kid, I don’t like all that stuff because my tastebuds actually work and yours are old and broken down.

Or maybe, just maybe…I appreciate subtlety.

I love vanilla ice cream.

A fine vanilla ice cream. Quality. Purity. Vanilla bean, french vanilla, tahitian vanilla. Infinite, intricate varitions on creaminess, coolness, iciness, flavor. The taste of comfort and clean and elegance. Lightness. No distractions. Just like I
like it.

Do you do inner monologues about your taste? Defend your favorite flavors in the comments.

Filed Under: Plot Notes Tagged With: , , 6 Comments
January 26, 2012

Creating Congruence

Last week Tara Gentile shared a thoughtful post here on Scoutie Girl all about creating a lifestyle that is authentic to you.

It spoke to me, because I’m there. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about authenticity, harmony, congruence. About whether my values, desires, and what I want from life actually match up with my..yeah, life!

The one I’m living. Right now. Not the one I’m almost living, planning on living, or thinking about creating.

So, like Tara, I’m looking at the larger picture, the lifestyle picture. The location. The home. The jobs. The relationships. While there are so many foundational things perfectly in place, there are many things that just don’t fit.

That’s what happens when you start to take a close, close look at congruence.

What is incongruent inevitably rises to the surface. And floats there.

It’s been uncomfortable to sit with that knowledge.

If you’re like me, trying to wrap your head around how to bring congruence to the most massive aspects of your life might be overwhelming.

My head was spinning with all of it. And then I had an insight.

I can find congruence right now. It’s in each moment.

I’m not talking about making small, incremental changes toward your large goals. I’m not talking about saving up to buy the home that feels right in the right town, or methodically working toward your dream job. That’s another post for another time.

I’m talking about finding congruence, harmony, authenticity right this second, not only in what you’re doing, but in the how.

I may already be doing something that’s part of my life design, but am I going about it in a way that supports my values and desires?

It’s in the tiniest of daily choices (which apple should I buy? what book will I read?) and also in the attitudes, qualities, and awareness we bring to each interaction.

How I listen to my husband. How I speak to my children. How I brush my teeth.

How I practice yoga. How I prepare food. How I meet new people.

How I make art, or write. How I treat myself. How I clean my house.

I do these things every day. I get to choose how. I get to take a deep breath, and ask myself:

Am I doing this thing in a way that is congruent with how I want to create my life? If not, can I find a way to create alignment?

Am I bringing openness, patience, love, and expansiveness to these interactions? Or tension, hurriedness, aloofness, self-punishment?

The moment is right now, the moment is what is happening, the moment is something I can’t put off until the future. This moment is the time for me to be authentic. To find harmony. To create congruence.

Here’s to you finding congruence, right now, in this moment.

xoxo, Maeg

Filed Under: Creative Call to Action, Plot Notes Tagged With: , , , , , , , , 4 Comments
January 25, 2012

where craftiness comes from: your creative calling

blue light disco blue agate and sterling silver earrings by mich vanetta - click image for more info

Throughout this column I have explored the idea of craftiness and where it comes from. It has allowed me to realize that craftiness and creativity are within all of us, no matter what upbringing we had.

These often show up as part of our personality and the way that we live our everyday lives, in the way that we create for our families, or the way that we prepare food, or even in our careers. Craftiness is something that can be nurtured from childhood, or something that we choose to pursue without that familial support.

Your creative calling will find you.

This is not to say that you don’t have to work to make dreams come true, but that there is creativity and craftiness within you, no matter how much you see it as something that other people do. It is in the way that we think and the way that we problem solve our day-to-day lives. It is the common ground that brings us closer with others, something that we share in common.

Maybe we just need to change our definition of creativity to see that it is just part of us, rather than something only a special few have.

Some people aren’t ready to see their creative side until later in life and others know what they love from the time they are children. Sometimes you stumble upon it when you think you’re looking for something else.

From writing this column I have learnt that it is all about being true to who you are and the rest will come. Don’t write off your creative strengths just because it’s not traditional, or it doesn’t make you money. Creativity and craftiness are so much more than that.

Don’t you think so, too?

Filed Under: Read & Play, Where Craftiness Comes From Tagged With: , , , , , 1 Comment