I realized today that I’ve strayed from my daily delights. They bring me so much joy because it can be anything from the sunlight in the room, your job, your partner, your child or fur baby, a recent perfect meal you had. It forces me to refocus my attention and after steady, routine gratitude practice such as this, I feel much more content. I aim to write more about simple joys rather than ones I buy at Target. So here we go:

A recent free event we went to at the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center at Colorado College delighted me but in a way that did not bring me joy. Eiko Otake’s “I Invited Myself II” performance art has been revered since the 1970s. She came to America from Japan many decades ago. In her work, she shows her struggles for bodily autonomy, peace, acceptance, and belonging. Her performance was full of exquisite pain. She wrote “body” on a wall and then repeated the Japanese word for “no” several times, like a mantra. It brought me to tears.

I highly suggest visiting the exhibit if you can. It will be open until March, and she said she’d love to speak with each and every one of us about her performance. She will be floating around the exhibits and doing her performance art a few times again. You can reserve free tickets here. I was so grateful to her for sharing her art and her experiences with us. The exhibit is deeply personal, almost sacred.

xMae