Depth year update

Six-month check in: my depth year update

Six months into 2019, and I think it is the perfect time to pause, check-in with my intentions for the year, and course correct as needed.

At the start of this year, I happily embarked on a depth year {you can read more about what a depth year is here and my depth year framework here}, aiming to go deep in a couple of areas that are important to me.

Exploring artistic avenues

My decision to not buy any new art courses didn’t quite go to plan. I did end up buying two – one of which I’m working through right now. It’s quite a unique take on binding an artist’s book, or maybe calling it a book with a story may be more apt. {see, unique!} The second course will start next month, and is from an artist I’ve long admired and includes components that align with my spiritual path, so it felt like an almost immediate yes to sign up for it. Overall, I’m calling this a win – just two courses in six months, both purchased with careful consideration. I’ve been a lot more successful with my goal of purchasing only replacement art supplies, though, so yay me!

In terms of art styles I wanted to explore: whimsical figures and abstracts. I’ve realized that I’m not very interested in pure abstraction. While I love some abstract artists, I don’t really enjoy painting abstracts myself. This is one of the benefits of a depth year – taking the time to explore and experiment, and really find out what lights you up and what doesn’t. While pure abstraction doesn’t float my boat, I do like figurative abstracts, and that is something I will explore during the rest of the year. Where my heart really lies, though, is in intuitive painting – I absolutely love approaching a canvas or journal spread with no idea of what will come through, and allowing my impulses to take over completely. Whimsical figures have taken a back seat to intuitive painting, but is still on my radar.

Focusing on spirituality

Looking back at how I mapped this area out, wanting to dedicate a couple of months or a quarter to a particular spiritual modality, makes me laugh! Sometimes I really don’t learn at all! So yeah, that didn’t happen. But what did happen was pretty darn cool.

I’ve gotten pretty much into the groove with the astrology and the moon cycles. This includes a juicy astro-tarot forecast complete with a tarot spread and journal prompts, which I’ve been sharing on the blog. This is part of the work I do every new and full moon too, along with a painting at each of the moons.

I’ve also experimented with various daily rituals, and have allowed those to become more fluid too. I spent a few months doing morning pages, some months I did a quick tarot draw in the morning, and more recently, I’ve shifted it to an evening ritual with oracle cards and some meditation or journaling.

One thing that the depth year has taught me is that I work best with fluidity – rigid structures and me just don’t work together. Instead of wondering if there’s something wrong with me, I’m just embracing it and allowing myself to flow with what’s unfolding. It’s been a sweet, rich experience.

Bookish news

I’ve had a pretty good track record here too. I did buy one new fiction title {Magical Women, edited by Sukanya Venkatraghavan}, but had I known about its release beforehand, it would have been on my exceptions list, so there’s that. I had allowed myself to buy spiritual books, and here I’ve got quite a few – all related to Carl Jung. {Yes, he was a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst…one of the most influential psychoanalysts in my humble opinion. And yes, I do put his books into the spiritual category, because for me, deep inner work from an analysis framework is part of my spiritual practice.} After almost a decade my interest in all things Jungian has been piqued and how! I have a few books by Jungian analysts that I’ll be reading over the coming months and perhaps years {these are slow reading books, people!}.

Blogging matters

The key points here were YouTube videos, art + soul ecourses and SEO. I’m happy to state I’ve made some progress in all of these areas.

I’ve stuck to my YouTube schedule of posting a new art related post every alternate Saturday – except for one Saturday in May due to ill heath.

I’ve completed filming for my next art + soul ecourse, now I need to work on the soul portion of the course.

And on the SEO front, I’ve looked closely at Pinterest, which is starting to have a small impact on traffic. It’s something that takes time, though, so I’ll be working on it some more and see how it develops. I tried looking for an SEO course on Udemy, but there are so many that I couldn’t figure out a good course to take. The search continues – if you have a good and free or reasonable SEO resource, please share!

Overall, I’m quite happy with how this year is progressing. I’ve gained some valuable insights into some of my patterns and struggles, and have found ways of working with myself rather than setting myself up for failure. And that is always a good thing!

So tell me, how has your year progressed so far?

I received this tag from Balaka and I am passing it on to Sunita

24 bloggers have got together to celebrate six months of 2019 from June 17-19. In their own unique ways, they will share what the last six months mean to them. In these 24 posts, you will find a lot of joy and hope. Not to forget, some humor and stories too. So don’t forget to read all of these stories and share some love.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


Posted in Soulful living.

Modern Gypsy

View posts by Modern Gypsy

I’m an artist and art educator, podcaster, tarot reader, and writer. I share my discoveries along the path to inspire you to live a more creative, soul-centered life. Receive my love letters for more of my musings on life and creativity. P.S. I love Instagram - join me there?

38 Comments

  1. Wow, it has been an amazing year for you, Shrinjini. I wasn’t aware that you were an artist. Glad to find that out about you. Best wishes always.

  2. You know how much I admire you, Shinjini, for your dedication to your passion and how effortlessly you seem to create not just your art but products too. Wishing you nothing but the best always.
    About SEO, I use the Yoast plugin – the paid one for now, though I’m not sure if there’s a real difference.

    • Thank you so much, Corinne! This year has been slow in terms of creating the courses that I wanted to. I hope I can get to them in the coming months.

      I’m using the free version of yoast, but I wonder if I can optimise better or find better keywords that will make my site move visible. My page views are pretty abysmal.

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  4. I can only imagine how thrilled you must be to do what you are doing. I think I am going to finally bite the bullet and pick up the brush once the little ones go to school this July.

  6. Hi, I never knew about your YouTube channel. Could you please share the link, would love to watch. I guess you achieved quite a bit in last six months,,am proud of you. Hope you spend the remaining six months in the same manner,

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  9. Aha! The first 6 months have brought such interesting and inspiring beginnings for you, Shinjini! Great going! Wishing that the next six months are equally exciting and enriching for you! Cheers!

  10. Fell in love with your clarity of thought Shinjini! You are so sorted and work so steadily, with great dedication on the areas of your calling. A lot to learn from you.
    Wishing a peaceful progressive year ahead.

  11. Shinjini, I just loved how you’ve immersed yourself in art. Exploring new things and even letting go of what’s not working for you is the best way to live life. You’ve inspired me to try out morning pages. ?

  13. The best thing I like and admire about you and this space is everytime I visit I know a lot is happening here but quietly in a state of calm. The work you have been doing would cause anyone to take to the rooftops and do cock-a-doodling. I have watched your YouTube videos and find your art creation process quite meditative for me.

    • Wow, this made my day, Anamika! Most often I think I’m not doing enough and just wasting time. I’m glad you enjoy watching the videos; really appreciate the feedback. Thank you. xx

  14. I like your artworks, YouTube videos and writing. You are an all rounder, Shinjini. I’m happy to know that 2019 is working in your favor. 🙂 Wishing you a marvelous time ahead. 🙂

  15. I like how you went into the depth of each of your passions and found what is working for you.It takes a lot of discipline to make so much progress.Best wishes for the launch of the courses.Very inspiring indeed.

  16. Every time i stop by your blog I feel inspired by your creativity and amazed at the new insights you always share! So glad to see that you are delving deep into your art projects and discovering your inner joy in such a calm and reflective way! I love your art, Shinjini and how intuitively you bring out your best. May the rest of 2019 bring you more such moments to bring joy to the artist in you! Best wishes

  18. Firstly I have to say I always feel comforted by coming to you blog or youtube, you have a way of making me feel a sense of peace. I am glad you are overall quite happy with how the year is progressing, I love your intuitive work and for me it is how I love to create art too. #ABloggingGoodTime

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