Soulshine Boutique

Squirrely by nature, yesterday’s trip to NY NOW at the Javitz Center in New York City was sensory overload.  East to West, North to South goods, sights, sounds, smells, tastes as far as the eye can see and a thousand spots in between. Speed walking thru the wide aisles, filled with equally urgent buyers, looking for that next best thing to surprise and delight our customers. Considering what I have, remembering what nearby stores carry, cohesiveness of my own brand, price point, minimum orders, it’s enough to make a brain implode.   My favorite thing is making connection…but it’s impossible...

Just finishing The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Comer and found myself immediately heart struck by the chapter on Sabbath.  He compared it to those yummy Christmas morning moments when all the presents are unwrapped, the first cup of warm tea (or coffee) has settled and you have the linger time to enjoy another.  Christmas mornings at our house always include naps, reading, yummy food, soft music, cozy clothes and slippers.  Why should only one day each year be acceptable for lingering?   My sweet hubby agreed to a half day trial (mostly because there was a football game scheduled). ...

I have bad days…sometimes a no-good-terrible run of several days. Funk sneaks in unwelcome and quickly compounds, building incrementally until it’s all-consuming, heavy, opposing and thick. The minute I realize the funk is upon me, I’m already knee deep and when funk settles in, it brings along it’s annoying friend ‘Idontwanna’. You should walk… ‘Idontwanna’.  You should call a friend…’Idontwanna’.  Get up and get moving…’Idontwanna’.  She wines that you deserve this break, that you aren’t qualified, authorized, or equipped to do a single thing. But no. It’s not the truth. It’s a big, fat unadulterated lie to keep you hidden,...

There it is, the spiraling thought process that creates an anxious heart. My mental to-do and where to start often increase to a paralyzing place. For daughter,  fears of an unknown future echo and increase within. Whatever the origin, these are the top tricks I use to chip away at anxious thoughts:   Brain dump: Every Sunday evening, I empty my brain of all the to-dos that will inevitably bounce and echo until they are on paper, and even still. Let it all out…through the ink, onto the paper and out of the brain.  On paper they no longer bounce...

Heading to Hershey Spa for the day and Mom Guilt is starting to creep. Mom Guilt is yucky. Mom guilt says we aren’t deserving, it whispers that there are better, more effective things to do.  And yet, the need to rest is so restorative… time with good friends is good for the soul.  I work hard, differently than others but hard still, and the rest that comes from being with a good friend while being completely pampered is so necessary. Today, I say no.  I’m not wearing that itchy shawl of guilt.  It doesn’t fit well anyway…it’s frumpy and dumpy,...