Hello Friend, It's Friday! The past few weeks have been challenging and I have felt all sorts of ways as I am sure you have as well. I promised myself not to tune into the news as much to keep myself sane. That was a challenge in itself since my husband kept me updated with an hourly snapshot while I kept telling him to turn off the news. We keep each other balanced and (in)sane. What has kept me sane is my daily practice of writing and keeping in touch with my creative community. It's inspiring to see others go about their lives from a perspective of abundance and approach life's challenges with curiosity. Being in such an environment is nourishing. I'm happy to live from a place where I know I have the choice to be in the kind of environment I desire. As NYC schools get ready to close down again, I'm thinking back to how my family and I spent our time under lockdown. The most wonderful moments have been when we created together. I'm sharing a story of when my daughter, Rihab, challenged me to a duel of portrait sketching. This act of sketching her portrait revealed many insights. It was a Mom moment where I was able to give my time as a gift and receive revelations in return. How do you spend time with your family and loved ones? What can you do together that will nurture your bond and nourish you at the same time? If you are far away from family, what can you do together creatively? I recall wonderful moments of playing Pictionary on zoom with my daughters' friends and their Moms. This past week, I noticed that I don't have furniture. We moved to a new house this summer. Our collective lack of decisiveness and delays in furniture deliveries (mostly lack of decisiveness) led to us having no place of gathering in the house. I did not notice it so much in the summer because the days were nice, warm and long for us to enjoy the outdoors. With the cold short days ahead and being cooped inside the house, I felt the lack of furniture. I did notice that we have a wonderful fireplace. Our daily ritual is to fire it up and gather round the fireplace for some nice family time. This weekend, I foresee ourselves drawing each other's portraits around the warmth of the fireplace. How will you spend your weekend? How will you give the gift of your presence to your family and loved ones? How will you allow this shared time to nourish you? I'm grateful for your presence, Friend. It's great to be able to connect. Until next Friday! With love and warmth, Sana | 
