a guest post from kristin noelle

 

Kristin Noelle is a writer and an artist whose work illuminates trust as the antidote to all that ails us.

Find her at Trust Tending, where she blogs, draws, and listens deeply for the sake of trust-ward transformation. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, young kids, and 6 chickens.

 *****

A note from Liz: This re-entry after retreats can be such a tender time as exhaustion walks hand and hand with love. After everyone leaves, my own loneliness sets in as I experience what I tell retreat participants they might experience: You come home forever changed but no one at home has had the same experience you have had...so they might not get it (even if they really want to). At each retreat this year, Kelly and I are giving retreat participants "self-care kits" to take home to help them with this re-entry phase. During the retreat, one of the Pen & Paper participants asked me about how I practice self-care during my own re-entry. 

I didn't really have an answer.

Then I saw this piece of art Kristin created that is shared above. My heart felt like it literally expanded when I realized she had sent over a gift for me (for all of us really) in the form of a guest post. Looking at this, it is as though we sat in a cafe together and she peeked right inside me and then created this...but we've never actually met or even talked on the phone.

As I sit here in a mostly quiet house wearing my superpower mom cape over my owl pajamas while wishing for a nap, I am reflecting on all the truths and stories and creative play shared over the weekend and marveling at how these women found there way to a little cabin in the woods just because I said, "Wanna come?" And then I am looking at this gentle artwork Kristin has created, and I am simply struck at the exquisite beauty the internet can facilitate as it gives us a forum for the simple act of reaching out and saying, "Me too. Me too." 

My self-care during this re-entry time is going to be creating an altar with this artwork as the backdrop. It will be an altar to wholeness and home.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.