With the turn of the calendar page, autumn is clearly on the horizon. Many relish the cooler temperatures as respite from the heat of summer; others of us sigh that it is only a matter of time before winter creeps in. Whereas summer seems light and breezy, autumn has a tone of heaviness and serious somber.

Several friends of mine have mentioned the duration of isolation and listlessness that seems unending. I can certainly understand…its been difficult for many of us. I have no answers to ease this fatigue…but offer a salve in the form of three P’s - pause, perspective and paste.

First of all, pause…just stop and take a breath. Sit down, if only for 10 minutes. With my back issues, I’ve learned the beauty of taking a moment and just sitting down. I do this several times during the day…it may not be feasible for everyone throughout the day, but at least 10 minutes out of your work day should be doable…its amazing how something so simple as taking a couple of minutes for yourself can be so effective in clearing your head.

Second, perspective…have a physical manifestation of a positive perspective. For me, that means changing whatever I have hanging up on my walls.

Here’s my wall in our library nook…aka the former dining room. I change up this display regularly…since it is visible from most of the first floor, I pass by it throughout the day.

I think of this as a mood board…a 3-D perspective of things that inspire me, bring me joy, spark my creativity. I usually choose a theme…in this case, “time flies” and then I just gather whatever works for me. And anything is game…artwork I love, check…dead branches from the yard, check…old clock gears hung on the wall, check!

A candle adds reflection…both literally and figuratively. Since this is a vignette I pass several times during the day, it is a more calming scene to glance at rather than a pile of laundry or dust bunnies in the corners.

Ok…this might not be a reasonable solution for you to create a calming perspective…but you could still create your own mood board…so this is where the third P comes in…Paste!

Get a piece of mat board…whatever size works for you. Don’t have mat board…any piece of cardboard will do…cut up an empty cereal box or whatever scrap you can dig out of the recycling bin. Now haul out a few magazines and newspapers…and feel free to add in the current day’s accumulation of junk mail (the insides of security envelopes are my favorite.) Start cutting/tearing out whatever pictures, words, shapes and textures that appeal to you…don’t overthink it…its like brainstorming…anything goes…there are no bad ideas.

Grab a glue stick and start gluing your pictures and words on the cardboard. You probably will find that as you sift through the papers that a theme or connections may bubble up…great…go with it. Once you have covered the cardboard, you can either stop…or layer on more, doddle or scribble on it, crop/cut it into smaller pieces. Now put this creation where you can see it everyday…on the bathroom mirror or on the fridge or next to your computer screen…somewhere where it will give you positive jolt whenever it catches your eye. Got kids? or a willing partner? - have them join you in creating their own individual mood board…might just learn something about one another.

Hopefully as the year winds down, we’ll learn to let go of the tiredness and weariness of the last 18 months and look ahead, not only to celebrations in the months to come…but to a stronger resiliency in ourselves.

Just to let you know…and to save the date…my Holiday Studio Sale is set for Saturday, November 6. You are invited to join me and my artist friends for a fun day of shopping and festivity…hope to see you there!