Me, Exploded (A Memoir).... plus, a Sparkle Mirror Practice
When I first envisioned this book, I intended to make 52 recipes “for a year of love and beauty”, thinking folks could pick one recipe per week to focus on. Well, the process quickly showed me that it would take me 52 weeks to finish just the recipe part of the book (you would be AMAZED at how long it takes to color in each page!). And then there’s the making of the actual book!
While it’s totally normal for a book to take AT LEAST a year to write/make/draw—often MANY more—this book wants to be born NOW. SOON. It’s been gestating my whole life in a quiet way, and for the past five years in a much more earnest way, and for the past six months in an active way. I made a commitment to myself to finish it by the beginning of the summer, and I’m nearly exploding with excitement about making this something physical I can share with the world! Whether or not it’s perfect.
It’s NOT perfect, and it’s never going to be.
I am accepting imperfection. My own and my work’s and everybody else’s. I could have chosen to apply this acceptance of imperfection to the timeline… to delay my goal by six months and pound out the 52 originally conceived recipes. But I’m not willing to wait.
Or I could have chosen to work on this project 2-3 times as much as I have been. But that would mean less of other things: walks in the hills, seed planting, potion making, time with my Woodsman, time with friends, sleep, food, balance, sanity. And if I’m writing a book about a life of love and beauty, about balance and self-care, then it is my obligation to live that story.
And so here I am, May 24th, 22 recipes complete, four to go! Yesterday my friend Angie told me that my book could also be called Me, Exploded: A Memoir. And that’s exactly what appeared to have happened all over our quilt this morning when I laid out all the pages for the first time. Cardamom chocolate chip cookies and mountains and anatomical hearts and stars and colors. Me, exploded!
I also finished a recipe this morning I want to share: Sparkle Mirror Practice. It’s got two main parts:
1. BE a Sparkle Mirror.
2. Let the Beauties of the World be YOUR Sparkle Mirror.
This is one of my favorite practices in the world!!! It may already be a part of your repertoire, consciously or not. And if so, here’s an invitation to step it up a notch! Or to focus on the second part… I find that a lot of us are really good at reflecting others’ light, but not so good at receiving the brightness coming OUR way. Here it is. May you find and be the source of many sparkles this weekend!
Love, Nymphie
SPARKLE MIRROR PRACTICE
“Mirror, Mirror in my hand, who is the sparkliest in all the land?”
“Why, you all are, silly humans! You are ALL made of stardust and scarlet sanguine seas. You are bound by your super-sparkly common ancestor, The Cosmos, and you each reflect its magnificence in your own distinct ways. If only you will stop gazing so fiercely at your own perceived flaws and instead FOCUS ON YOUR GIFTS AND GLORIES, you might just have time for things that really matter, like connection. With beloveds. With your creative fires. With your dreams. And you may just find that the more attention you bring to your shiny places, the more readily you notice the brightness of others. And the more you help others see they ways THEY shine, the more intensely your own light gets reflected back to you in a sparkly hall of mirrors.”
Much love, your eternally honest Magic Mirror
be the light
take in the light
share your light
So here’s your job for today, this week, and forever:
Be a sparkle mirror.
When you have a good thought about someone, TELL THEM. When someone touches you deeply, SHOW THEM. When someone achieves something awesome—even if makes you kinda jealous—CELEBRATE WITH THEM. The successes, skills, and beauties of others do not negate our own. Rather, they reflect them. Which brings us to your next mission:
Let the beauties of the world be your sparkle mirror.
Everything you admire, love, lust for, long for, adore, and appreciate in others in in you, just waiting to be seen and known and claimed and nurtured into fullness by your fine self. Yes, admire the gold in others and let them know it, then look inside and see where that treasure lives in you.