French, Strength Training & Marcus Aurelius

by Ariane Zurcher | May 31, 2022 | Art, creative process, youtube | 6 comments

My sister-in-law sent this to me this morning and I was so moved by it, particularly given all that is happening in our world, especially here in the United States, that I thought I’d share it with all of you.

I’ve mentioned before that my husband and I start our day reading from the The Daily Stoic.  Often it’s a quote from Marcus Aurelius or Seneca or Epictetus, but it’s always thought provoking and interesting.  We then discuss, each taking turns to share our thoughts and intentions for the coming day.  It’s a really beautiful way to connect and begin the day.

The thing is I’m an early riser so I am often up several hours earlier than him and that’s when I practice my french, do a workout (yes, I’m still working out on my FitOn App, which I love and now do anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes of strength training, cardio and whatever else I can manage! I even have dumb bells that I use! Gasp!  I know, I know, but at my age I really cannot let this slide…)

So when I went to answer emails this morning, while waiting for my husband to arise, I loved seeing this link to Peace Train.  I teared up within the first few seconds, it is so beautiful.  And I kept thinking about something we read the other day from The Daily Stoic about how it’s just as easy to be kind as it is to not be and takes just as little time.  Added plus, kindness is a gift to everyone who receives it, regardless if they’re able to return it. The return isn’t the point.  It’s the practice of it, the commitment to it, the act of doing it on a daily basis, that’s really the point.  At least that’s the case for me.

Yesterday I did a livestream over on Patreon for my patrons, celebrating my 1st goal met, 100 Patrons!  How amazing is that?  I live-streamed from my summer studio. It was a lot of fun.  During that livestream, I had the idea that I might start doing a prompt in my Facebook group: Ariane Zurcher Stitching Circle  And  then, as I was saying that, I thought it would be really fun to make an even more detailed prompt for all my Patrons over on Patreon.  So I’m going to be thinking about that today and seeing what I come up with.  But I already have some ideas that I think could be really fun.

There are 5 spots left in my upcoming Finding Your Voice Workshop.  I did a short video explaining how that workshop came into being, a very short pictorial history of some of my other work when I was a fashion designer and jewelry designer and then came to stitching and how improvisational stitching was a major turning point and then going to the artist’s residency in France this spring was the next major turning point and what the workshop is all about.  You can watch it, if you like, below.

And finally there are still spaces open in the Dorset Button Stitch Along and just 6 spaces left in The Basics Workshop, which I will NOT be teaching again for awhile, so if you’re new to all of this, please sign up now!

Have a peaceful day!

❤️