Author: takeawalk44

This year our winter solstice shared the stage with the planet conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. It was a beautiful sight; the sunset, the moon, the stars and the hygge inside our homes aligned for much of the world this time of year. Hygge showed up in our home through a fire, a warm drink and the intention of releasing something that is no longer serving us daily. Each of us had a slip of paper and wrote something down. These releases can be physical, emotional, a verbal habit, a place…whatever you want to bring light to. Then it was burned and let go with the knowledge that this step is only the beginning of letting go.

Let these slowly longer days flow IN and the longest nights slowly flow OUT just like our calm winter breath. Historically, this has been a time for humans to repair clothes, tools, slow cook and hold deep gratitude for food that was harvested and saved to get you through.

Peace. Light. Hygge.

Ever-changing skies are the perfect symbolism for this world and the life within it. They are treacherous, confusing, expansive and even soothing.

Ever-changing. Moody but not self destructive. Faith in this.

Living out an honest existence of evolution that leaves us wondering, yet again, if we truly grasp anything fully.

Faith in the constant change.

Mid May of 2019 I miscarried at home with the permission of my Doctor and Midwife. I was a little far along for what many doctors prefer for ‘at home miscarriage’ when it is to be medically induced. Medically inducing miscarriage is a kind way, in my opinion, to not live ‘held hostage’ to a hard day within a month’s time of your life. So I set myself up for the mess and sadness and let it flow. What no one expected was the hemorrhage to come. I could speak on many events of this 24 hours, but my emphasis here is simple and clear.

I passed the fetus and figured the rest was fairly smooth sailing in the devastation of the day and week. Within minutes I realized that an enormous amount of bleeding was continuing and not showing its end or ebb. It came to a point when sitting up, by myself, I all of the sudden went numb. My eyes closed and I saw a bright light flash calmly and heard my children laughing in the front yard. I saw them in my mind running in circles gleefully as if there was a sprinkler but it was just sunshine, green grass and our collective joy. I felt immense peace, complete calm and simplicity seeing them and realizing that this was my life. The sadness and dramatic hormonal shifts had swiftly left and it was all absolutely simple – there was joy.

I write this to say that life is stressful and sad. That day and week was anything but happy as I grieved and watched my family grieve. Yet in that moment of bleeding out and leaving this world – as I know it – for just a moment, there was pure, undefined joy. Is it possible, can we entertain that THAT is real and the rest – illusion.

I mean to remember this is the hardest times as a human in this physical world that we run through.

Presence does not have to look a walking meditation or a lotus position at a mindfulness retreat. Presence is a way of life that captures you many times each day, maybe even many times each hour!

I was eating lunch when the purple cabbage slaw juice met my cantaloupe. That’s all it takes for me! The colors individually and together. The little universe that lives within just that moment on my plate. That’s all it takes.

Beauty

Awareness

Be there, IN it- With it

Breathe

We have life cycles just life a frog.  Different seasons, phases and times that signify it is time to learn, work, pause, swim, leap!

We cannot BE everything a lifetime has to offer all at once.  We can read the biography of an inspiring figure and quickly feel inadequate if we don’t soak in that one simple fact.  Your biography is playing itself out one season at a time.  The final draft will be quite impressive, entertaining and inspiring.

Cheers- until ‘The End’.

  I am finding that mindfulness begins with allowing there to be time and space to watch.  Just watch.  It does not come from sitting and problem solving, searching for hidden meanings, contemplating the cosmos or even ‘trying’ to love yourself.  Mindfulness begins with watching.  Find something simple to watch.  This is healing to your nervous system that is ruled and run by a chaotic world.  It is an act that momentarily draws us away from our own natural obsession with self.

Did you know that bubbles do not pop when they meet a pond?  Did you know that the skim and surf and skip even in reckless wind?  I didn’t.  Did you know they can make it 50 yards by the wind across a pond and meet cat tails? I didn’t.

Bubbles can live quite along life of interaction if you just watch.

“It is the worst kind of extravagance, the way some people spend their chances.”  -Hope Floats

I remember how this struck me from a sweet Sandra Bullock movie in high school.  I thought it was so important to soak in that I printed it, popped it into a zip lock and tacked it up in my shower bathroom wall.  I believe I had it there for about a year so as to fully leave an impression on my life-STYLE.  Reading this brought forth a combination of gratitude and fearlessness to grab and relish the moment.

 

Today is the Full Moon! Known under these several names; Strawberry, Honey, Mead and Rose Moon.

Strawberry Moon originated from the Algonquin tribe as a sign to pick wild strawberries and fruit.  All names were symbols of what nature gives at this time of year.   How will you recognize and move with the cycles in nature?

What can you gather, enjoy and share?