So as I began to restructure this blog to support the kinds of things I need to write about in a framework that inspires me, I realized I’d left a “writing about myself” section off the list.
How weird.
And then I came to realize that the blog category “heartside” – which is about relationships– friendships, family, pets, children… also includes relationships with yourself. Because really, heartside is about stuff you nuture, and dear gods, we need to focus more on nuturing ourselves too.
So this isn’t a mental-health tip or a blogging tip or anything like that… just a documented realization that when figuring out what I want to write about, I actually forgot to include myself. And what I learn about myself. And my personal growth. And what I want to do/be/inspire/cherish. And for a pagan to forget about the direct inclusion of those things… well, it feels like a wake-up call to remind myself about Things That Matter.
Some of you may follow Carol Tuttle’s Energy Profiling system. For those who do, I’m a type 4. For those who don’t– it’s a system that works for me, and after years of looking for a system that made sense to me for both myself and the people around me, this one just seems to click. I’m not saying it’s the only truth, or that it’s a truth that will work for you. But since it does for me, it’s offered a framework that supports the things about myself often considered ‘flaws’.
One of the things I don’t do well is scatter attention among a wide variety of different things. This is basically heresy for a Gemini sun sign to admit, but there it is. And when I consider what has been nurturing me over this past year, one of the really critical themes is that I’ve been content to be supported by a relatively limited number of online sources (aka blogs & sites). From the interwebs, that seems to be pretty seriously frowned upon. In a world of *more* — more likes, more follows, more sites, more information, more… I really prefer to select less.
So for 2016, there are exactly four sites that have been offering up stuff I am really enjoying. They aren’t pagan, or even really themed. But they’re real, live sites, and they deserve some recognition for all the support they hand out regularly to a whole host of folks… one of whom happens to be me. For my own notes, in the future…
2016 saw me checking, loving, and learning from the following:
Carol Tuttle’s energy profiling sites
This isn’t one site- it’s a whole system of sites, and most are for-profit. (You’ve been warned). I don’t actually mind for-profit sites, and I do pay for content when it makes sense to me to do so. I also do my best to support companies that support content I enjoy.
In this case, Carol has a whole host of content designed to support her system of energy types… and I really enjoy this framework. It works for me, it works for me when I’m thinking about my partner, my mom, my siblings… and it works when I’m thinking about what really supports me (read: simple, clean, direct stuff…).
This blog is a check-daily kind of thing for me. I love reading about her approach to simple living in her itsy-bitsy apartment in New York. So much of it doesn’t make sense for me (I have a house, for starters, which spans a whole 1700 sq ft and I cohabitate with a hardcore maximalist… and we don’t live in the USA), but it’s refreshing and inspiring, and I enjoy reading it even when our perspectives on things differ.
I am such an amateur crochet hooker it almost doesn’t bear mentioning in association with my name. I can’t knit to save my life, and I can’t sew. I can darn holes, fix seams, and sew on buttons… if I can find what passes for my “sewing kit”… but I don’t count as a true maker in any sense. Nevertheless, I read Fringe Association every day. I absolutely love reading about her wardrobe planning, and her queue updates, and her super-cool improve top-down sweater knitalong… there’s no real reason I should read this blog, let alone regularly, but I do, and I love it. Go figure. Her for-profit store, associated with the blog, is filled with absolutely gorgeous stuff.
Not being a social-media-maven, I don’t retweet, repost, or even “like” Danielle’s posts… but her site is inspiring, and so I check in every week or two to see what she’s written recently. I also use her Desire Map Planner (for 2016) and I’ve gone so far as to purchase the workbook and Desire Map Planner for 2017 already, because I loved the 2016 one so much. I first read her Desire Map book in 2015 (after reading the Fire Starter book in 2014) and have been insanely inspired by her approach to re-orienting yourself to your days, weeks, and all goals. Obviously also mainly a for-profit site, but also again worth it, for me.
Stand of Pine 