hello there

a very warm and cheery welcome to my wee blog!

i have had fill your well for a couple years now, and it's been fun to see how my blog {and myself} has changed in this space over time.  in the beginning i simply wanted a way to share all of my adventures with family and friends who lived far away, but it has morphed into a beautiful attempt at inspiring others to make the world a better place, as well as using what i've learned as a therapist to inspire all of us to make healthy choices for ourselves.  

connections.
adventures.
learning.
risk-taking.
joy.

i hope these are the things you can take away from your time spent in my little corner of blogland.

***

a few things that make me who i am in no particular order:

an artist, therapist, set designer, musician, teacher, swing dancer, outdoor explorer, traveler, learner, questioner of life, non-religious but greatly spiritual, much MUCH older than looks suggest, and overall a lover of life!

i'm a san francisco girl, recently transplanted in los angeles.
total californian at heart, but i spent my growing up years living in wisconsin, tennessee, & maine.

in september 2010, i committed to loving my best friend for eternity in a super non-traditional
picnic wedding, followed by the most amazing adventure of my life - a honeymoon to thailand, where we took care of elephants!
you can read all about our wedding & honeymoon in the "love & adventure" page.


***

where did "fill your well" come from?

fill your well is a concept i learned from one of my favorite graduate school psychology professors, and was the inspiration behind starting my blog in the beginning.  
we all have wells of love, happiness, and energy.  unfortunately, in many cultures {especially in the united states}, we feel we must exert an enormous amount of our energy, putting work first, and sacrificing our well-being to live a life of "selflessness."  we are told that to set boundaries, to say no to others, and to take the time to make ourselves happy first, is selfish and wrong.  the result of these notions is having wells that are all dried up.  instead of an overflowing well which we can use to give back to our loved ones and obligations, we are trying to wring out the last few drops of love, happiness, & energy that we have left.

sounds exhausting doesn't it?
it is.  and living this way is not doing you, your work, or your loved ones any favors.

instead, we should be filling our lives with so many things that thrill our soul, relax us, and re-energize us, that our well is overflowing into dozens of buckets outside our well.  it is from this overflow that we should be giving to others.  don't be fooled by that voice that tells you you're being selfish.  the well is yours - YOURS! and no one else's - and the buckets are for everyone else.  embracing this concept will be quite necessary for basic sanity & health, and i hope you have the courage to fill your well first.


so what is it that fills your well?  
and
are you taking the time to do those things which fill it?