Self-Compassion - theHumm March 2021

By Glenda Jones

I saw this on a sign last week: “Be kind, Practice self-compassion”.

Well now, that sounds like a regimen I can adopt pretty easily, ridding myself of guilt and angst all in one step. Someone is giving us permission to indulge in inner pleasures. Don’t go crazy languishing on the couch with chocolates and pulp novels, or become a hermit watching old movies and eating popcorn. You still have to keep up some modicum of decent appearance and health. However, a teensy bit of self-indulgence won’t hurt either. ONE novel, HALF a layer of chocolates; ONE old movie and ONE bowl of popcorn. Otherwise, you’ll be beating yourself up the next time you walk past the scales and the mirror.

We’re all being encouraged to “find a hobby”, but for many of us, a hobby might indicate wasting time. For instance, if your hobby is jigsaw puzzles, you need to find the rationale for the hours bent over that darn thing. Here’s what you can say: you’re working on eye/hand coordination and spatial recognition. Further, you won’t feel any guilt if instead of sitting for hours you stand for, say, ten minutes (which rounds up to an hour), and work on it. When it’s complete, you can pat yourself on the back and declare you’ve increased your brain power no end. That’ll work.

What if your hobby is quilting? Well then, you’re working on many skills: colour identification and coordination, mathematical skills, dexterity, accuracy, hand strengthening (that’s a lot of cutting and stitching), and of course supporting your local textile shops because quilters never have enough material. The fact that your home is piled six-deep with quilts only adds to the beauty of this hobby, creating a warm and cozy nest for your precious family. What’s the harm in all that?

If you’re lucky enough to have a work room, you’re fortunate indeed, because you can indulge your hobby while allowing yourself some personal space and time. I’m not talking about putting a lock on the door, but if your space is cluttered with your hobby to the extent that others see it as chaos, or if you have tools that defy proper use by others, or even if you simply tune the radio to some station the rest of the family doesn’t enjoy, you have carved out a hobby room just for you.

When I carted a few odd plates home from the Hub years ago, I intended to cover one flower pot with mosaics. It looked pretty straightforward: break the plates with a hammer, slap on some glue and the chunks, do some grouting, and Bob’s your uncle: new flower pot, something useful and decorative.

Here I am years later with a five-shelf unit stacked with china, a work table and tools encrusted with glue and grout, and a little hobby area all my own. I go down there, light the woodstove, turn on CBC, and I can spend hours with the tile cutters clipping plates into tiny pieces to fit into whatever project I’m creating. I’ve made many birdhouses, and yes, there’ll be one in the April Birdhouse Blowout auction (see how I worked my commercial in there?). There’s no problem justifying the hours I spend on these things. Would you deny the birds a pretty place to live? Would you deny the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists an entry that will raise money for their bursary? So there is no guilt involved here whatsoever.

We’re fortunate to have found this great whack of time that we’ve never had before. Although, I will admit a whole year of it is getting tedious. I can look back and tote up the hobbies that have filled many hours: I’ve got several pairs of new socks, many jigsaw puzzles completed, a pile of books read, some bead work started, and now some birdhouses finished. I’ve also found patience I didn’t know I had; I’ve learned to slow down my expectations for filling a day; I’ve taken more time to walk and ski and stand in the forest and listen.

It’s self-compassion, and it’s all good. When you need a treat, have it and put it down to increasing your energy level. Make your hobby your main source of pleasure that energizes you and completes your day. It doesn’t matter that we have more socks than we can wear in ten years; they were a pleasure to knit and a balm for the soul.

The Birdhouse Blowout is coming up quickly. My house is nearly done, but you still have time to get yours done too. Maybe you can cover a house in jigsaw pieces; maybe you can quilt a house; maybe you can build one out of Lego, or… well, you have a hobby, use it to good advantage! Entries for the Auction must be in by April 9, and the auction will be online for two weeks beginning on April 12. Go to mvfn.ca to find information on how to enter.

Katherine Muir Miller — Falling in Love with Art - theHumm March 2021

By Sally Hansen

Art… and Soul

Landscape artist Katherine Muir Miller’s brilliant paintings tap into the same subject matter that inspired Canada’s beloved Group of Seven artists — the great northern Canadian landscape in all its seasonal glories. This is where she finds her inspiration — rooted in her mother’s deep love of trees and fostered by her own and her five children’s passion for the magnificent and wild Canadian outdoors.

Many Canadians can’t look at a painting of stark pines outlined ag......

Self-Compassion - theHumm March 2021