21 Days of Turning Inward: Day Seven
A few years back when I was attending an Expressive Arts conference, someone drew my attention to the word 'anaesthetic'. If an anaesthetic is something that numbs you, that dulls you to experience and takes you out of presence, what is the opposite of that?
Aesthetic.
As you choose your action for today, be aware of the power of beauty. Taking the time to arrange your breakfast on a tray with a branch of pine needles might seem superfluous or silly, but it might be exactly the touch of kosmetikos necessary to bring your inner and outer aesthetic into alignment. Allowing yourself to walk home the long way around, and more slowly, may create a relationship to the moments of the day that changes your perspective. Aesthetic brings us alive, wakes us up. Where do you allow yourself to walk in beauty?
If you are inspired to offer yourself the gift of sacred, slow rejuvenation, you may want to look into the retreat we are offering this February. $50 reserves your spot and there are less than 10 places left! Learn more here.
For a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
-John O’Donohue
I'd love to hear in the comments what you chose to do for yourself! All of us are creative in unique ways, so the action you share could be the spark that inspires someone else to follow through in taking action.
May the rest of your day be filled with radical self-love. See you tomorrow!
21 Days of Turning Inward: Day Six
Welcome to Day Six! Take a little time to brew a cup of tea, or get a cup of coffee if you prefer...it's going to be the basis of our meditation today.
If you are feeling brave and want to share the action you chose, or how it made you feel, please do so in the comments.
And if you talked yourself out of it....I'd love to hear how you did that, too. It's all good information!
See you tomorrow; may the rest of your day be filled with warmth and ease.
21 Days of Turning Inward: Day Five
Welcome to day five of our winter solstice journey!
*In the interest of time and simplicity, I have decided to stop transcribing the audio. Please do comment and let me know if the transcription was important for you, and I'll add it back in.
After you've listened to the audio, take some time to commit to the action you chose. Write it down, set an alert, or even just do it right now!
Here are some ideas, if you feel stuck:
If your word was joy, perhaps you can text a friend a link to a video that always makes you laugh.
If your word was abundance, maybe you can anonymously pay for someone's coffee, or send a care package to a friend.
If your word was freedom, perhaps you can call a friend with a baby or child and offer to give them the afternoon off.
If your word was love, perhaps you could send a postcard of gratitude to someone who changed your life.
As always, feel free to email me or comment below if you have any questions or want to share your experience.
Here's the link to the retreat.
Red Brocade
Naomi Shihab Nye, 1952
The Arabs used to say,
When a stranger appears at your door,
feed him for three days
before asking who he is,
where he’s come from,
where he’s headed.
That way, he’ll have strength
enough to answer.
Or, by then you’ll be
such good friends
you don’t care.
Let’s go back to that.
Rice? Pine nuts?
Here, take the red brocade pillow.
My child will serve water
to your horse.
No, I was not busy when you came!
I was not preparing to be busy.
That’s the armor everyone put on
to pretend they had a purpose
in the world.
I refuse to be claimed.
Your plate is waiting.
We will snip fresh mint
into your tea.
See you tomorrow!
21 Days of Turning Inward: Day Four
Welcome to day four of our winter solstice journey!
Pour yourself a mug of tea, light a candle, settle into a cushion, and let's get started...
Begin to pay attention to your breath. Imagine that every exhale is hollowing you out completely, starting at the base of the spine.
Hollow out your belly, your chest, your lungs. When all of the air is completely squeezed out, let the inhale come naturally and fill you back up again.
Allow yourself to fall into this rhythm, concentrating on the emptying-out of the body on the exhale, the filling-up on the inhale. Notice the moments of stillness in between the exhale and the inhale, when there is no air, just stillness.
When you feel ready, gently open your eyes. Notice any subtle shifts that have taken place in the quality of your attention or the sensations in your body.
Have you given any thought to yesterday's question?
This one gets me every time.
For example, I've been saying this year that I really want to be more present with my family and friends. But I tell myself I can't because I'm way too busy.
Which sounds more compelling?:
I cannot be present with my friends and family because I am so busy.
Because I am so busy, it is imperative that I be present with my family and friends.
Ouch, right?
But they aren't all that simple. What about this one:
I can't take myself on a vacation because I don't have enough money.
Because I don't have enough money, it is absolutely imperative that I take myself on vacation.
Well, yes, financial stress is incredibly exhausting, but how are you supposed to take yourself on vacation if you don't have any money?
What if you put your intelligence and creativity in service to your desires instead of in service to explaining why you can't have them?
Remember Mary Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life, and how she made a honeymoon out of travel posters and singing neighbors?
Do you have a friend going out of town who needs a housesitter? A family member who can stay with your family while you take a one night camping trip in the mountains?
One of the best vacations I ever had consisted of a friend's borrowed bathtub, a mug of cocoa, and three hours of guaranteed solitude. I still tear up when I think about how necessary and perfect that vacation was.
I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this.
Get out your journal and look at the five words you wrote, describing how you want to feel this winter.
Choose one of these words, and write. Write every possible way you can think of to experience more of this in your life. Write every single idea that comes up, no matter how silly or trivial. Write stream-of-consciousness for one full page, and then stop.
If all of your reasons-why-not crowd into your consciousness, choose to think of them as reasons-why instead!
That's all for today. Just let your word, and all the ways you might be able to experience it, percolate through your head. As other ideas sift into your consciousness, jot them down. You don't have to act on anything yet. Just let yourself dream.
I'll see you tomorrow!
21 Days of Turning Inward: Day Three
Welcome to day three!
Light your candle, pour your tea, get out your journal, and let's start with a brief meditation.
Close your eyes, and imagine that as you inhale, your breath travels from the soles of your feet up the bones of your legs, upward through each vertebra of the spine, up the base of the neck, around the back of the skull, and up through the crown of your head. Each exhale pours the breath down the front of the face, past the throat, down the center of the ribcage, through the navel, then separates and flows down the fronts of both legs, pooling into the ground below the feet.
Breathe several times in this orbit, pulling the breath up the back of the body and exhaling it down the front of the body. Let yourself feel the circulation of the air. Notice any places in the body where the breath hitches or catches, and see if you can smooth out the breath on the next cycle.
When you feel present and connected, open your journal and look at the writing you did yesterday.
For every feeling, taste, scent, and desire that you wrote about wanting to experience this winter, make a list on the next page of reasons why you cannot have it.
For example, if I wrote yesterday that I want to feel warm and well-rested, my list might look something like this:
I want to feel warm and well-rested.
I can't be warm and well rested because I live in the mountains and it's cold and heating the house costs money.
I can't be warm and well-rested because I work too much and there's never enough time to sleep.
I can't be warm and well rested because everyone wants a piece of me and I can never relax.
I can't be warm and well rested because I have insomnia.
I can't be warm and well-rested because I gave all my best blankets to my son for his blanket fort.
You get the idea...really go to town here and get everything that stands in your way down on paper.
When you have all of your lists completed, review them and circle the three reasons that pop up most often.
They might be lack of time, lack of money, relationships, losses, important roles and obligations, lack of motivation, or even a physical or mental condition. Whatever they are for you, circle the top three.
Now look at these three things and ask yourself this question:
Are these three reasons convincing proof that you can't have the feelings you want this winter?
Or are they more convincing as proof that you SHOULD create the feelings you want this winter?
Sit with that for the next 24 hours and I'll see you tomorrow!
Please feel free to share any questions or comments below!