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April 16, 2018

Simple Steps to Self Empathy <3 Love note #17

By Tamara Laporte  |   in love notes  | Tags: steps to self empathy , love notes , willowing  


♥ Willowing Love Notes to Inspire Self Love & Self Care ♥


Hello sweet friends,

I hope you know how much you matter. How important you are. That I know how much you can sometimes struggle and try your hardest, your bestest to ‘do it right’. I see you. I hear you. I understand.

Today, I wanted to share some Simple Self Empathy Steps with you that I hope might help you when you feel upset, overwhelmed or stressed.

In times of upset, we often try to ‘push through’ and ‘get on with our lives’ instead of paying attention to what our body is trying to tell us. Feelings need your attention and love. Unmet needs, need your attention and love.

It’s absolutely important, if not imperative, to make space and time for feeling/ hearing/ understanding your feelings and needs and be with them, if only for a moment, in a compassionate, empathic way.

Bonus: when you actually pay attention to your feelings, even the negative ones (especially the negative ones!) they dissipate more quickly! An interesting paradox for sure. Pushing them down keeps them firmly sitting stubbornly inside your body waiting to be heard!

So, ready? Here are some simple steps you can take when you’re feeling stressed, upset or overwhelmed. Hope it helps you. I have a high res version of this poster too, you can print it out and hang up to remind you of the steps if you want to.

When you look for feelings, look for ‘sensations’ & ‘feelings’ in the body, they are different from thoughts (though it’s fine to notice those too!) Sensations could be: tingling/ heaviness/ emptiness/ tired. Feelings could be: sad/ scared/ frustrated/ worried/ weary/ panicked/ angry etc. (Check out a comprehensive feelings list here).

When looking for needs, go deeper and look for needs that are essential to life such as: to be understood, love, connection, belonging, for your intention to be seen, respect, care, consideration, rest, freedom, play, beauty, spaciousness, etc. (Check out a comprehensive needs list here).

Download the high resolution version of this poster here. You can print out for personal use. Feel free to forward to friends. <3

Much love,
xoox
Tam x


PS. If you want to work more on self love & self acceptance AND develop your creative skills whilst having tons of fun, please consider joining Life Book 2018. We started in January but you can absolutely still join us!

Life Book has been joined by over 19,500+ people since it first began in 2012. It’s had roaring success through teaching participants creativity and personal development skills.

People send us daily message expressing their gratitude and how much Life Book has helped them both creatively and personally. :) I  feel so blessed to be able to host such a powerful and life-enriching course each year! This year has started with an incredible BANG and YOU can still join now problem. :) It’s not too late, you get access to all previous content, get life long access AND you can download everything too, so you have the content for year to come! :) Hope to see you there!
xoox

The Willowing Love Notes Series aims to send you a love note every 1 – 2 weeks.
Its mission is to support you on your self love and self care journey.
I hope you enjoy it. <3

From my heart to yours:
you are truly loved.

Big hugs!


You may also like:

  • 💜 Free resources for staying home.

  • Free Spirit – Painterly Play

  • Self Love Gift for You <3

Comments:

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Tamara Laporte

willowing

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Mixed media artist, teacher and author. I don’t see all IG msgs. For enq pls email hello@willowing.org - Join A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales:

Posting this one again now that I`ve properly scanned it! --> I’ve been playing with chiaroscuro lately — that dramatic dance between light and dark you see in old black-and-white portraits. Never painted just in black and white before (well, a little indigo crept in 👀). I love how moody it feels!

Open
Posting this one again now that I've properly scanned it! --> I’ve been playing with chiaroscuro lately — that dramatic dance between light and dark you see in old black-and-white portraits. Never painted just in black and white before (well, a little indigo crept in 👀). I love how moody it feels!

For my next Year of Light lesson we are exploring `chiaroscuro` (which is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition). I`ve always loved the black and white photos of people like Marlene Ditriech and wanted to try achieve that type of effect in a painting! I don`t think I`ve EVER painted just in black and white before, but really loved doing it! (Well, I say black and white, but this also contains indigo blue and paynes gray). 😊 Really pleased with it, it has such a `vibe` (as my teen kids would say haha). ♥️♥️♥️

Open
For my next Year of Light lesson we are exploring 'chiaroscuro' (which is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition). I've always loved the black and white photos of people like Marlene Ditriech and wanted to try achieve that type of effect in a painting! I don't think I've EVER painted just in black and white before, but really loved doing it! (Well, I say black and white, but this also contains indigo blue and paynes gray). 😊 Really pleased with it, it has such a 'vibe' (as my teen kids would say haha). ♥️♥️♥️

The wonderful Jennifer (@therapistsanctuary) and I filmed another episode for our series on the tubes (up soon!). Here are some of the pages that came out of that session for me. 😊 Loved working with fluorescent pink and in the end adding in the teal! 😍😍😍

Open
The wonderful Jennifer (@therapistsanctuary) and I filmed another episode for our series on the tubes (up soon!). Here are some of the pages that came out of that session for me. 😊 Loved working with fluorescent pink and in the end adding in the teal! 😍😍😍

Art Oasis! Another fun free art event!

Hello my friends! Exciting news!

I know we’ve literally just finished the tasters for A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales but I wanted to let you know about another amazing free art event I’m sure you’d love to join and it’s starting in only 2 days! 😊

So, I’m super excited to let you know that I am part of Art Oasis, a FREE online creative retreat starting October 18 2025. Yay! 🥳🎉🎊 (organised by the amazing Jessica Swift).

For 7 days, artists (including me!) will be sharing lessons, stories, and creative inspiration to help you slow down, refill your creative well, and remember how good it feels to make art just for YOU.

Here’s what you can expect each day:

💕 Fresh, inspiring art lessons (all levels welcome)
💕 Cozy Conversations – real, heartfelt chats with artists about our creative journeys
💕 Daily creative prompts to keep your ideas flowing
💕A friendly, global, online community of fellow creatives

How It Works

🎨 Watch online – anytime, anywhere, at your own pace. Watch one lesson or all of them – there are no rules and no risk. It’s completely FREE!
🎨 Fit it into your schedule however works best for you!
🎨 Grab inspiring free gifts from the featured artists.
🎨 Want to extend your stay in the Oasis? Grab the VIP Pass!

I’ll be teaching a session on ‘play and the inner child’! Attached is the painting you`ll make with me (or something like it) 😊

… and I’d love for you to join me! ♥️

To join click here:

https://bit.ly/ArtOasisTamx (or find link in story/ bio/ linktree)

This event is all about permission; to play, to explore, to create without pressure. If you’re craving that kind of creative joy, I hope I’ll see you inside the Oasis!

Much Love,

Tam 💕

PS – After you sign up, you’ll have the option to upgrade to the VIP Pass – this gives you forever access to every lesson (including mine!) and some incredible bonus content. If you grab it during registration, you’ll get the lowest price.

Open
Art Oasis! Another fun free art event! 

Hello my friends! Exciting news! 

I know we’ve literally just finished the tasters for A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales but I wanted to let you know about another amazing free art event I’m sure you’d love to join and it’s starting in only 2 days! 😊

So, I’m super excited to let you know that I am part of Art Oasis, a FREE online creative retreat starting October 18 2025. Yay! 🥳🎉🎊 (organised by the amazing Jessica Swift). 

For 7 days, artists (including me!) will be sharing lessons, stories, and creative inspiration to help you slow down, refill your creative well, and remember how good it feels to make art just for YOU.

Here’s what you can expect each day:

💕 Fresh, inspiring art lessons (all levels welcome)
💕 Cozy Conversations – real, heartfelt chats with artists about our creative journeys
💕 Daily creative prompts to keep your ideas flowing
💕A friendly, global, online community of fellow creatives

How It Works

🎨 Watch online – anytime, anywhere, at your own pace. Watch one lesson or all of them – there are no rules and no risk. It’s completely FREE!
🎨 Fit it into your schedule however works best for you!
🎨 Grab inspiring free gifts from the featured artists.
🎨 Want to extend your stay in the Oasis? Grab the VIP Pass!

I’ll be teaching a session on ‘play and the inner child’! Attached is the painting you'll make with me (or something like it) 😊 

… and I’d love for you to join me! ♥️

To join click here: 

https://bit.ly/ArtOasisTamx (or find link in story/ bio/ linktree) 

This event is all about permission; to play, to explore, to create without pressure. If you’re craving that kind of creative joy, I hope I’ll see you inside the Oasis!

Much Love,

Tam 💕 

PS – After you sign up, you’ll have the option to upgrade to the VIP Pass – this gives you forever access to every lesson (including mine!) and some incredible bonus content. If you grab it during registration, you’ll get the lowest price.

Haven’t done any abstract in a while and it called me this evening! I’m loving the combination of red and teal! 😍😍😍

Open
Haven’t done any abstract in a while and it called me this evening! I’m loving the combination of red and teal! 😍😍😍
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