How to Be Happier, Step 7: Resilience

This month my posts have been following a list from the blog of psychologist Jeremy Dean of ten habits that science has shown make people happier. Today I examine the seventh of these, resilience.

This has been one of my favorite sayings since I found it on a Salada tea bag tag. Those words really spoke to me, and I kept that tag pasted up over my desk for years.

I believe those words, and I’ve experienced that strength in my own life at times when I had no idea where it would come from.

From 2008 through 2012 I lived through the five worst years of my life. In January 2008 my brother passed away suddenly from a massive stroke. From then on my ninety-five-year-old mother began to deteriorate. Her mind and memory failed; she was diagnosed with dementia; she could no longer live alone. And I was the only remaining child; the responsibility for making decisions about her care was all mine.

I was blessed to have my husband and sister-in-law, who could share some of the burden and give me support, but I was the only remaining child; it was on me.

As anyone who has had to care for an aging parent knows, these decisions are the hardest ones of your life. You know that a parent with an ounce of independent spirit left will fight giving up control of his or her life. He or she will resist any suggestion of leaving the home, will swear up and down “I’m not going anywhere. I can take care of myself.” You know they will do this even when it’s obvious to everyone else that they can’t take care of themselves. Somehow you, the caregiver, have to find the strength to do what’s right while fighting your own sense of guilt and betrayal.

And so eventually, after months of trying different solutions, months of pain and heartache and fear and “What am I going to do?”, we came upon the best solution for us, to move into a new house with my mother.

This solution eased my mind about her physical safety, but it didn’t eliminate the worry. Along with worrying about her, I began to worry about my own mental health. Most nights I would finally retreat to the sanctuary of our apartment on the second floor, exhausted, stressed, and distressed, able to think only another day is past. Another day that would bring us closer to the time this would be over, when we could return to our own home. And although a certain amount of guilt came with that thought, I believe I needed to think it in order to keep myself going and to preserve my sanity.

And gradually I learned to do all the things caregivers are advised to do for themselves. I stayed in contact with my friends. I worked at maintaining my freelancing career, though it needed to be curtailed a bit. I kept my love of reading. I prayed. My husband and I continued to attend mass every Sunday. Each night I thanked God for getting us through another day. And I began to relax and to enjoy my mother’s company again: her sense of humor was still there, reminding me that my mother was still herself. We could take her out for dinner or grocery shopping and be happy that she could still enjoy those small things.

She passed in 2012. We’re back in our own home, our own life resumed. I’ve healed. And now this is what resilience means to me: to hold on; to think transcendently, lifting yourself above whatever is happening and looking ahead to a better time; to take comfort and satisfaction from the things you enjoy; to call on and be grateful for the support of friends and family. And to have faith.

There’s a line from the great Stephen Sondheim song about resilience and persistence, “I’m Still Here,” after the singer has detailed everything she’s been through in her life: “I got through all of last year/And I’m here!”

Maybe having the ability to say that is what keeps us going.

How to be Happier, Step 6: Direction

 

On January 2 I posted a list from the blog of psychologist Jeremy Dean of ten habits that science has shown make people happier. For the next several days I’m posting individually on one of these actions/states of mind in hopes that we can all learn to make them habits.

Today’s topic is direction.

Okay, how many of us have direction in our lives? How many of us know exactly where we’re going and how we’re going to get there?

No, not me, either.

Remember in It’s a Wonderful Life when James Stewart tells Donna Reed, “Mary, I know what I’m going to do tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that”? It didn’t work out that way for George Bailey, and most likely it doesn’t for the rest of us, either. Life has its own way.

Nevertheless, having some sense of a direction in which we want our lives to go can make us happier.

I think I see direction as an overall bent of our personalities. It’s what we want to build our lives around, the things that are important to us. For some people it might be success in business—a good job, regular promotions, large salaries. Others might tend toward the sciences, or sports, or adventure. For me it’s been spiritual and aesthetic things—literature, arts, humanities. I’ve spent my working life in nonprofits because I prefer the more relaxed atmosphere, the relative absence of competition and pressure.

By this point of view, direction is more something that we choose to align with our deepest selves rather than something we actively plan and work toward. For that, goals may be a better word.

Goals are things you want to accomplish, things that are important to you. These are the things that take planning and thought. For me, because I’m lazy, I need to expend more effort into really thinking about what I want and how I can get it.

Because I’m not good at these things, this year I splurged and bought a fancy new planner (the InkWell Press LiveWell). As you can see, each month has a “Mission Board” in a honeycomb pattern on which you can spontaneously write whatever you want to accomplish that month.

 

 

My overarching goal this year is to (finally) finish the second draft of my novel, then take an online class to help me to shape it and get it ready to submit for publication. That’s a pretty big goal. I’m hoping that by breaking it down month by month it might be more manageable. This month I’ve written down on the mission board my participation in the UBC, as well as continuing my 100-day writing challenge (goals that happen to overlap this month). Next month maybe I’ll be more precise and write something like “write at least 100 words of novel each day.”

Small steps, like tea leaves, conglomerate into something wonderful.

 

 

How to Be Happier, Step 5: Trying

On January 2 I posted a list from the blog of psychologist Jeremy Dean of ten habits that science has shown make people happier. For the next several days I’m posting individually on one of these actions/states of mind in hopes that we can all learn to make them habits.

 Trying. Learning.

Continually learning and trying new things all throughout your life is one of the best ways to stay healthy and keep your mind active.

I will admit that I’m better at learning (book learning) than at trying (actually going out and doing things). Often when I’ve tried something new it has stayed there: as a try. Okay, I tried that. Not for me. (See here for my thoughts on being a “beginner”.)

Still, I believe in trying things that interest me. I tried skiing. I tried to learn to swim. I tried horseback riding and jiu jitsu. I even tried belly dancing a couple of years ago. I’m glad that I tried all these things, even if they didn’t stick. Some of them I may even go back to try again some day.

And some things I tried have stuck: crocheting, running, bowling. And all those things I tried have kept my life interesting. I know there are things I still want to try in the future, including yoga and tai chi.

Learning in itself is something I expect to keep on doing my whole life. I want to learn more history. More about art. I want to relearn French. And who knows what new interest will come my way in the future?

One of the so-called Big Five personality traits in psychology is openness to experience, and scoring high on this trait is considered a sign of being a well-adjusted and happy person (as opposed to scoring high on neuroticism, which I think I would…one reason I pay attention to staying open to possibilities!)

New opportunities to learn, new things to try, are always in our path if we’re alert for them and open to them.

What things have you tried in the past? Do you stay open to new opportunities to try and to learn?

How to Be Happier, Step 4: Appreciating

On January 2 I posted a list from the blog of psychologist Jeremy Dean of ten habits that science has shown make people happier. For the next several days I’m posting individually on one of these actions/states of mind in hopes that we can all learn to make them habits.

Today’s topic is appreciating.

Here are a few of the little, ordinary, but beautiful things in life and the world that I appreciate:

 ☼ A cup of hot tea and a sunbeam shining through the steam from the cup

☼ Lighted windows at dusk

☼ Kindness and generosity

☼ Colors and patterns

☼ Birds chirping in bare winter trees

☼ Spontaneous conversations with strangers in public places

 

☼ That a gray sky has its own kind of beauty

☼ My dog sleeping on her blanket in my office

☼ Strawberries and blueberries

☼ Smells: vanilla and cinnamon, lilacs, onions cooking, pine trees, fresh wood, a library

☼ A clean, fresh, dry towel after a shower

☼ Snatches of music that just enter my head out of nowhere

☼ Sunlight reflecting off the windows of tall buildings

 

How many more can you think of? What ordinary things do you especially appreciate?

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Be Happier, Step 3: Exercising

On January 2, I posted a list from the blog of psychologist Jeremy Dean of ten habits that science has shown make people happier. For the next ten days I’m posting individually on one of these actions/states of mind in hopes that we can all learn to make them habits.

Today’s topic is exercising.

 

Uh oh.

This is on a list of how to be happier—that doesn’t make me happy.

This is one thing I do not do well, at least not as well as I should.

Does anyone—other than my husband—really enjoy exercising?

Those who preach about exercising tell you to find an exercise you really enjoy. Really? The only exercise I really enjoy is turning the pages of a book.

Nevertheless, and surprisingly, I am better at it now than I was when I was younger. I remember even as a child that I couldn’t run very far without getting a stitch in my side. When I became an adult, and suddenly running (by adults) was all the rage, all I could think was, Are they nuts? What’s the point?

Now I do enjoy walking. When I was growing up my mother didn’t have a car or a driver’s license, so we would walk into town or take a bus to go longer distances. Now my husband’s and my favorite vacations are to great cities, where we can walk all over.

But running? Never gonna happen, I thought.

Until.

My husband is a runner. He competes in races. After we were married I began going to races with him as a spectator/cheerleader. He often ran with people he worked with, nice, intelligent people who didn’t seem crazy at all to me. In fact, they were enthusiastic and happy to be on the race course. Gradually I started to feel twinges of envy. What would it be like, I wondered, to be able to actually run three miles?

Then I decided to walk in a few races. Having enjoyed that, I started thinking, Hey, maybe I could run just a little bit. From one tree to another. To the stop sign on the corner.

That’s how it started. Just like they advise you to do. Start out slowly. Run for one minute. Then gradually increase your running time. Eventually I was able to complete a one-mile race, and later my first 5K—without walking! It was a thrill.

I am not by any means a good runner. I’m still slow. I don’t do it as regularly as I should. Especially in winter. Every spring I start all over, thinking that this year I’ll run several times every week. I’ll get in shape. I’ll do the ten-mile race in July. I’ve done that race exactly twice, and certainly not running all the way.

But I remember when I first began being able to run that three miles and the “runner’s high” I got. The feeling of yes, I can do this!

I still fight my own core of laziness. I still look for excuses when my husband asks if I want to go to the gym. (The very word gym reminds me of high school horrors in gym classes.) I prefer to say the Y—YMCA doesn’t have as many negative connotations for me. Sometimes I distract myself by putting on HGTV while I do the treadmill. Love It or List It has managed to keep me going for an hour.

 

I know I need to do more. Maybe sign up for a yoga class. Do weights or stretching at home. Lose that extra five to ten pounds that seemed to come up on me out of nowhere.

But this nonexerciser at least tries. Does it make me happier? Maybe. I know  there’s at least one part of every run that’s happy: when it’s over and I walk back in the door of my house, knowing I did it.

 

 

How to Be Happier, Step 2: Relating

On January 2, I posted a list from the blog of psychologist Jeremy Dean of ten habits that science has shown make people happier. For the next ten days I’m posting individually on one of these actions/states of mind in hopes that we can all learn to make them habits.

 

Today’s topic is relating: connecting with other people.

I have to start off by admitting that this is something that doesn’t always come easily to me.

 

I am a shy introvert. I’ve never been very comfortable in social situations. For most of my life I’ve had very little self-confidence or self-esteem. And it’s hard for me to open up with people and to let them get to know me.

 

I don’t have a large social circle. I don’t like hanging around in groups. I’m not a party person. I’ve never had a lot of friends.

 

What I do have is a small circle of really good friends, most of whom go back to my college or early work days. And these are people I treasure.

 

I treasure them because they have stayed with me all these years. Somehow they saw something to like in me when I didn’t like myself so much. They were patient enough to want to get to know me and to let me take my time in revealing myself to them.

 

And they help to make my life happy.

 

As I’ve grown older I’ve come to be more relaxed and open with people. Having the support and love of my husband has helped me be more confident in myself. I’m no longer afraid to talk to people. I’ve learned to accept myself as I am (see step #9) and to accept that, although I don’t need a lot of socializing to be happy, I do need and want to be social.  

 

I also accept that I still have trouble forming new friendships, but I do have a pretty good group of acquaintances, through church, the neighborhood, and other avenues, and meeting and talking to them on various occasions fills a need for me. Maybe some of them will develop over time into something more. If not, I enjoy them as they are.

 

I do try to nurture the relationships I do have. My friends and I make a point of meeting regularly for lunch or dinner. We realize that good friends, people who’ve been with us through good and bad times, are irreplaceable. Finding people you really connect with is a rare blessing.

 

Many people come and go in our lives, and they all bring us something. The ones who stay, the good friends, bring us joy and enrich our lives. We need to nourish them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Be Happier, Step 1: Giving

 

On January 2 I posted a list from the blog of psychologist Jeremy Dean of ten habits that science has shown make people happier. For the next ten days I’m posting individually on each of these actions/states of mind in hopes that we can all learn to make them habits.

Today’s topic is giving.

We all know how to give. We give to our families, friends, loved ones on special occasions or just spontaneously, and doing so makes us happy. But it’s possible to become even happier by giving to people we don’t know, who we’ll never meet, who can never repay us, simply because they need our help.

 Yesterday I read in our local paper that our new mayor-elect, who’s being inaugurated Monday, called for a three-day “celebration”—but not the usual indulgent, overexpensive inaugural party that most politicians mount. Instead he asked for the people of Providence to do something good for others over this weekend. As one example, several locations around the city will be collecting food for our state food bank.

This is only one example of how every one of us can do something to help others.

 

Giving doesn’t have to cost a lot. We don’t need to be millionaires endowing schools or museums or making huge donations to charities. We’re all capable of doing something, no matter how small. Small things add up.

 

Do you have a cause that means something to you, but you can’t afford to make large donations? My primary cause is mental illness, particularly research on Alzheimer’s and other dementias. I’ve supported the Menninger Hospital, and a few years ago I began to donate regularly to the Alzheimer’s Association. I set up an automatic donation of a monthly amount of $25 to be charged to my credit card. This gives the Association an assured amount every month, and truthfully I barely notice the difference, and I don’t have to think about what and when and how much to give. You can donate any amount that’s comfortable; even $5 or $10 a month spread out over many donors can be great help to an organization.

 

Another example: Someone wrote to Carolyn Hax’s advice column a few days ago to share the story of how her family—not a rich one by any means—set up a college scholarship at the high school they’d all gone to. They got tax-exempt status and funded several $1,000 scholarships through small events like golf tournaments and garage sales.

 Small things add up!

 Of course many things other than money can be given. Time spent with adolescents or elderly people in nursing homes. Teaching adults to read. Getting involved in church activities. Anyone who can knit or crochet can donate handmade items to numerous charities. Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity; you can be valuable even if you don’t know how to hold a hammer. Pick up an extra can of food or box of pasta when you go to the supermarket. Collect them over a few weeks or months, then donate to your food bank.

 

We all want a better, more caring world. What if every one of us made a commitment to do something for others this year? Not only would we make ourselves happier, but we’d be contributing to the happiness of others. Is that a win-win situation or not?

How to Be Happier

What things can you do to make yourself happier? And can you make each one a habit in your life?

 

My favorite psychology blogger, Dr. Jeremy Dean at PsyBlog, regularly shares findings from the latest psychological research. In one post, he discussed ten actions that have been shown to make people happier.  

 Today I share his list in hopes that all of us learn these habits of mind and action.

 

1. Giving. Doing things for others.

2. Relating to other people. Making and maintaining connections.

3. Exercising. Taking care of your body.

4. Appreciating the world around you.

5. Trying,  learning new things.

6. Having direction, goals that are important to you, things to look forward to.

7. Resilience. Being able to find ways to bounce back from misfortunes.

8. Emotion. Taking a positive approach to life.

9. Acceptance. Being comfortable with who you are and what you have.

10. Meaning. Being part of something bigger than yourself.

I would make my own addition to this list: having a pet. Sharing your love with an animal and receiving their devotion can make your entire day happier and add meaning to your life.

Over the next ten days, as part of the UBC January challenge, I’ll post on each of these ideas individually, relating my own experiences and hopefully helping you to make these things habits in your own life.

 

One Word 2015

 

Two years ago, January 1, 2013, was my first blogiversary, and I marked it by participating in an Internet “One Word” challenge: to choose just one word that you hoped or planned to make the focus of the coming year. Now this has become a tradition I look forward to each New Year’s.

 

So today, on my third blogiversary, I reveal the word I chose for 2015:

 

 

Create has special meaning for me now, because this past year I began to feel that I wanted to try to tease out whatever creative abilities I might have and work to enhance them. Now I’ve never considered myself a creative person, so it’s required some mental shuffling for me to take on this challenge. But I’ve come to believe that I can find and nurture that tiny spark through work and practice and belief.

 

This past year I had a flash fiction story published and had another story accepted for publication, as well as two haiku. And after a year of being amazed at the work of Zentangle artists on the Web, I finally decided to try to learn the art myself. As you can see from the above drawing, I’ve made a start, but I still have a great deal to learn.

 

And now I think I’m in a position to make creativity a priority in my life. I plan to continue my 100 Days of Writing self-challenge. My novel draft has been brought back to life. The possibilities of Zentangle excite me, and I look forward to learning more and developing my ability at it. And I’m sure if I look and keep my mind alert, I’ll find many more occasions to practice creativity.

 

 

I am also planning to participate this month in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Over the next four weeks I’ll be sharing with you some things that make me (and can make you!) happy, as well as a few "themed" weeks, such as Book Week and Learning Week. I hope you'll join me.
 

I’m looking forward to it.

 What about you? Do you have a word for 2015?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Friday—or Black Hole?

 When Black Friday comes,

I’m gonna dig myself a hole,

Gonna lay down in it

Till I satisfy my soul.

                —Steely Dan

 

For the past few weeks, when I open my email in the morning, I see a long, long list of messages with subject lines containing the words “Black Friday”—from department stores I shop in, from online businesses I’ve bought from, even from nonprofits (e.g. the Metropolitan Museum). No one, it seems, is above the hucksterism that’s taken over the day after Thanksgiving. To me this has become second only to (the month of) Halloween in overhyped, excessive, self-indulgent manufactured pseudo-“holidays” for the sole purpose of making money. The day has become a black hole that sucks the gentle gratitude of Thanksgiving and the good feeling of Christmas into it and grinds it into sawdust.

 

It has not always been like this. There was a time when most people—anyone remember?—actually worked on the Friday of Thanksgiving week. Even people who didn’t work in retail.

 

And truth be told, I was an early adopter of this shopping day—way back when, before it was given a name and an almost religious status.

 

When I was growing up, we usually had company for Thanksgiving. One or another set of aunts, uncles, cousins would drive up from New York or New Jersey to stay with us here in Rhode Island over the Thanksgiving weekend. On Friday my father went to work; school was out; and my mother, brother, and I would go shopping with our guests. My aunts especially enjoyed seeing stores they weren’t familiar with (before the days of cookie-cutter malls).

 

The day was a little busier than ordinary weekdays, but nothing like the near Gotterdammerung it is now. We browsed, maybe got some ideas for gifts but bought very little, looked at the decorations (which back then were not put up at the beginning of November), had lunch, visited another store or two, and went home to hot turkey sandwiches. It was a pleasant day and part of our own Thanksgiving tradition.

 

So what’s happened? When did this day explode into chaos? Was it the Cabbage Patch doll craze that first got people standing on lines through the night? Was that the first falling domino that led to stores opening earlier and earlier, until now many are opening on Thanksgiving itself? Is that what led to the crazy onslaught of advertising starting around Halloween?

 

I don’t know. Not having children, I was never under overwhelming pressure to be sure they got the absolute newest and most popular (i.e., most heavily advertised) toy every year. I never felt the “need” to stand sleepless and shivering in a line for hours before dawn. I remember a few other fads like that one, if not as crazy. I don’t think there’s been one in a long time, but the genie is out of the bottle now and can’t be put back.

 

I can’t help but imagine what people in other, poorer countries think of us when they hear about this insanity. Wonder why they don’t like us? Here’s one good reason. While they struggle every day for food, we fight each other to throw our money away on the latest completely unnecessary luxury item. They wait in lines for something to eat; we wait in lines for the newest tech gadget.

 

I’m afraid there’s no way to turn the clock back on this. “Buy-Nothing Day” has barely made a blip on the radar. I hope at least that people will listen to the message of “Small-Business Saturday” and save some of their money to spend in local shops. For my part I intend to stay right here in my warm, comfortable home, going nowhere, just crawling into that hole with Steely Dan and finding other ways to satisfy my soul.

 

 

 

 

 

Microblog Monday: Aid for the Injured Crocheter

  

I want to share this little tool that has helped me get back into crocheting after my wrist surgery:

 

 

This is a Boye ergonomic crochet hook handle. It’s soft and easy to hold and work with. It opens up so that you can insert several sizes of crochet hooks, each with a washer to match its size. I can hold it lightly and it keeps me from having to close my fingers tightly around a thin hook. I got this from Annie’s catalogue, but I’ve also seen them in Michael’s and Jo-Ann’s. If your fingers tend to cramp or ache when you crochet, this is a perfect tool!

Note: This is simply my own opinion. I have no connection with Annie’s or Boye. Just sharing what might be a helpful tip for others based on my experience.

My First Colored Zentangle

Since I mentioned my interest in coloring my Zentangles yesterday, I'll share the only one I've colored so far.

This is actually a ZIA (Zentangle-inspired art), as true Zentangles don't use color and I put in some lines that aren't part of any official tangles. I'm sharing the black-and-white version and the colored one.

The coloring was done with pencils. I had already shaded the original tile, so that affected the color somewhat. Also, if I had done this originally in color, I would've used blocks of color instead of those of black.

I really enjoy doing the color and hope to get better at it and try different methods!

 

Gratitude and Happiness List—November 3, 2014

 

My gratitude list this week is all about beauty and poetry, and who could not be grateful for those things in our lives? Linking up with Laurel Regan’s AlphabetSalad today to share gratitude and happiness.

 

♥ That an old, abandoned amusement park from my youth has been opened as a city park on 120 acres on the shore of Narragansett Bay.

 

♥ For local arts programs like the one we saw at a historic mill: poetry readings from Poe and Tennyson interspersed with chamber music from a live group.

 

♥ Finishing the first work project I took on since my wrist surgery.

 

♥ Having not one but two of my haiku published online on the same day.

 

♥ Lunch with a friend and a tea date at a lovely tearoom with two other friends.

 

♥ Joining a couple of Zentangle groups on Facebook and feasting on the beautiful work posted there.

 

♥ Buying some colored pens and pencils so I can try coloring my Zentangles!

 

♥ Rediscovering my love for poetry. While my husband was bowling the other night, I read Louise Gluck’s Averno and half of a collection by Mary Oliver; now I want to go back to my poetry collection and read more!

 

♥ Spending a cold, rainy/snowy Sunday afternoon practicing and learning some new tangles.

 

♥ Buying prepared lasagna at Whole Foods and having an easy dinner in front of the TV and watching “Columbo” and one of my favorite “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” episodes on MeTV.

 

Beginning Zentangles, Part 2

Earlier this month I posted the first few Zentangles I did. Here are a few more.

Tornado (done with Isochor, Printemps, Shattuck, and Tipple)

Forest Primeval (done with Mooka, Flux, Amaze, Tipple, and Printemps)

Beehives (done with Isochor, Printemps, Shattuck, Flux, Poke Root, Festune, Tipple, and Fescu)


I like these, and I think I'm making slow progress, but I clearly have a long way to go! Onward to learn new Tangles!

 

Microblog Monday: Re-Hooked!

For months before and after my wrist surgery in July, I was unable to even think about crocheting, so my poor WIPs (works in progress) just lay around mournfully, neglected and getting dusty.

Now, finally, my hand is well enough to let me get back on the hook—moderately. I’m taking it slowly and carefully for a while, but am psyched to pick up my supersoft bright red Malabrigo merino again and get back to work on the sweater pattern I bought especially for it!

 

 

It’s been a long time!

 

 

 

 

Microblog Monday: My Writing Challenge (17 Days)

 

I previously posted my personal Writing Challenge and goals. I pledged to check in on my blog periodically with my progress, and this is my first report.

First of all, I have to say that I did not write every day, but writing on consecutive days was not part of my original challenge—just to write on 100 days. I took time off for our weekend trip to Baltimore and again to attend my father-in-law’s funeral in Florida. Nevertheless, I did write for seventeen days, and I have written almost every day, so I feel successful.

The results: over seventeen days I wrote approximately 4,900 words. This works out to an average of about 288 words a day, well above my self-chosen minimum of 100 words a day.

For the most part my writing was on the second draft of my long-held-in-abeyance novel, “A Certain Shade of Blue.” I also have to admit that not all of it was original writing—I took some parts from my first draft and some from my voluminous files of notes for the second draft. Nevertheless, I did actually get the words into the manuscript, so I’m counting that, because after all that’s where the words need to be! I also wrote a few blog posts during that time, and all writing counts.

All in all, I’m very pleased with what I’ve done in my self-created challenge so far and am looking forward to pushing ahead in the next eighty-three days.

 

 

 

 

Struggles of a New Zentangle Learner

Over the summer I decided I would finally start to learn the wonderful art of Zentangle after seeing so much lovely work displayed on the Internet.

I've always longed to be an artist and never had the slightest iota of drawing talent. But this looked like something even I could learn, and the testimony of Zentangle artists I followed was encouraging.

I was scheduled for wrist surgery in July, so I knew I’d be disabled for a while, but I couldn’t resist the urge to bring this beautiful art into my world. With a Christmas gift card, I went to Barnes & Noble. I bought two books: One Zentangle a Day and The Joy of Zentangle. As I looked through them I was chafing at the bit to be able to start learning.

When my hand was well enough I began. Before buying the official tiles, I wanted to practice a little. I had a sketch pad, and I measured and drew the 3 ½” by 3 ½” squares that mimicked the tiles. I started drawing a few individual tangles, some one at a time, some together with others in one square. Some I was pleased with; others made me feel like a five-year-old trying to draw with a pencil for the first time.

Nevertheless, I kept on going, and I began to discover some favorite tangles, as well as those I needed much more practice on. And soon I did buy those tiles and began making my own official Zentangles. They were rough, to say the least.

This one was my first attempt.

String of Pearls

 

This uses three tangles, Crescent Moon (on the left and right edges), Static (probably self-explanatory, in the middle sections), and Tipple (the different sized circles), which quickly became one of my favorites. Because I so much liked the way the thin band of Tipple looked crossing over Static, I decided to name it String of Pearls, and since then, just for fun. I’ve been naming my Zentangles according to what they remind me of.

(Note: in these early tangles I haven't yet experimented with shading; there's a little more in later ones.)

The next two incorporate Poke Root (the ones that look like cherries with stems), Festune (the flatter ovals), and Hollibaugh, the crossing bars. To my surprise, because I usually prefer curving designs, I really liked Hollibaugh. It reminds me of the kind of spotlights you see at the Academy Awards, and the black areas give dramatic interest to the design. The other two, though, I’m not satisfied with. I need to practice them more, especially Poke Root.

 

 

 

 

In the following I used Tipple and Hollibaugh again, along with Jonqual (the black-and-white squares), Nipa (the bubbles and wavy lines), and Shattuck (the “bulb” in the center).

 

You can probably see why I like Tipple so much: it’s wonderful for filling in wherever you have empty spaces, its mixture of large, small, and tiny circles is pleasing to the eye, and it can look like many different things, from bubbles to stones in a stream.

 

Thus began my Zentangle “journey.” In a future post, I’ll share a few of my more recent attempts.

And, like other Zentanglers, I definitely encourage anyone who’s interested in creating art to try this. It’s fun and challenging and very satisfying. I love looking at my completed Zentangles, and I’m eager to go on learning and improving.

What more can you ask for from a hobby?