These Sacred Days

Hello you with the gentle spirit in a hard world. How about if this year you hold some sacred space for yourself? How about if this year you vow to carve out time to rest, to feed your spirit, to replenish your soul?

Hello you who is a caregiver, a friend, a manager, a business owner, a planner, a volunteer, a parent, an employee, a person who gives so much to those around you. How about if this year you start giving a little bit of that energy back to yourself so that you can serve those around you with a glad spirit rather than maybe feeling resentful and stressed?

 

How about if this year you make space in your life for a sacred day or afternoon or hour? 

What if you got up a little early or stayed up a little late? What if you told the people in your house and life, that on Sunday afternoon you will be doing something just for you? Or if your life allows it, what if you join me on Wednesdays, or chose Fridays or every 3rd Tuesday, to do whatever it is that makes your soul take flight? When you do it doesn't matter. That you do it, makes all the difference.

What if today you promised to take better care of yourself by doing what makes you happy? That is your job and nobody else’s. What if you stopped waiting for someone else to do it?

What if you did this very small, but not small at all thing for yourself?

Start where you are and do what you can according to the stage of life you are in right now. Spend your time guilt free doing something creative or practicing yoga, napping, writing, reading or staring out a window, daydreaming, baking bread, meditating or tending your garden...anything you want to do for the sheer sake of enjoyment and not because it needs to be done.

What if you create a space for yourself that feels special whether it's a room, a desk, a cozy chair or a basket full of things that delight you?

Instead of listing all the reasons you can’t, why not list all the reasons you should fortify your spirit in difficult times? This is not a selfish endeavor. This is doing the important work of nurturing your soul. 

Dear you with the weary spirit and the endless to do lists that will never go away and never be finished, what if this year you created a practice that could change the way you view your life? 

I hope you will. I started this practice more than 7 years ago and it has been life changing for me. It has given me comfort and peace during cancer, covid, renovations, loss and any number of very hard moments in my life. It has been the thing I look forward to every week for so long that I cannot imagine my time without it. It has deepened my creativity, gratitude and joy. I guard it fiercely and everyone around me knows that I am unavailable on my Sacred Day. I found that when I started taking myself seriously and respecting my time and energy, those around me followed suit. It has quite literally changed my life. 

I plan to come back later in the week with a bit of a recap of the last 8 months but I need to muster the energy (it has been an exhausting year both mentally and physically) and I am still firmly planted in the hush of the post Christmas season where my days consist of the bare minimum of homekeeping, lots of making, reading, movie watching and pretending I'm going to make dinner only to choose leftovers or takeout instead 50% of the time. Happiest New Year! May this year be kind and gentle to all of us.

Village Diaries

Hello friends. I must be honest with you. Over these last months I have felt myself feeling overwhelmed and helpless at times. This is not a new feeling and If you have read a headline this past decade or so you might understand. I realized that it's very important to limit my intake -especially of angry, screaming headlines, talking heads who benefit financially from scaring people and politicians who are money hungry and trying to gain power by wielding fear. So I've stopped and asked myself what I can do, how can I contribute in any way to make my little world better. I've decided that is just by being kind: to strangers in a store, to servers at a restaurant, to the person I'm passing on the street, to my friends, neighbors and to myself. 

I wanted to pull myself out of the anxiety that I feel when I feel helpless. I got quiet. I again started noticing the beauty all around me. I started reading things that make me happy. I take walks or sit on the porch with my pup. I'm focusing on my health. I work in the garden taking time to talk to neighbors who are walking by. I notice how amazing something as simple as a bleeding heart flower is. I mean look at that. It's an actual miracle.

And then I've begun writing it down- collecting my memories of this amazing Village that has given me joy every day for the last 13 years because, I want to remember these simple, seemingly unimportant details about by life here. After picking up one of Gladys Taber's books about Stillmeadow, my first but definitely not my last, I was inspired to share some of it here. Maybe it will lift your spirits when you need something more gentle, to share in my Village days. 

Wednesday

Today is a beautiful day in the Village. It has warmed back up a bit, we are headed to a high of 59, but most importantly, the sun is shining brightly. One of my favorite things about living in the Village is the vast number of trees. After years of living in new neighborhoods with minimal mature trees, I recognize it for the blessing it is. As I look out the window onto Maple Street from my perch in the studio, I am drawn to the sight of the dappled light dancing on the road as a gentle wind ruffles the leaves of the trees above. 

This morning I watched two squirrels play tag, round and round Don's big maple tree. This is not an unusual sight and never fails to make me smile. I am beginning to think that tag must be high on the list of a squirrel's favorite activities. Some time later I looked out to find one of those frisky squirrels having a nosey in the studio garden bed. He was unfazed by my tapping on the window to get him to look elsewhere for tasty bulbs to thieve. It took me going onto the front porch and loudly clapping my hands for him to decide to move on. I sometimes wonder what the neighbors think. I can often be found in the garden, deep in conversation with a squirrel and now it would appear that I am standing on the front porch giving them a standing ovation.