recentering

On Monday morning, I took a few minutes alone in the front yard to just breathe in the fresh air and watch the snow fall. We are in this stage where Ellie so wants to communicate with us but isn't using a lot of words we understand, so there can be moments of frustration and confusion on both sides. As I stood in the front yard with the snow crunching beneath my feet, I began to notice that I felt lighter and grounded and even peaceful as I listened to the birds and felt snowflakes land on my nose.

I took a short video because I want to remind myself how much a minute or two or three outside paired with a few deep breaths recenters me every time.

*****

As I gather a few new tools and stories for this next session of Create Space, I keep coming back to this idea that accessible practices become like handholds as we find our way. Each time I remind myself to get outside for just a minute or two and create space for my own feelings within my family, I practice self-care and am able to come back to the many roles I play from a more centered space. If you feel moved to have more conversations about how we can integrate making space for ourselves and all we experience into our day-to-day lives, consider coming along. Registration for Create Space is ongoing until class begins.

kind kindred

A quick little note to let you know I am over at Kind over Matter today with a guest post for the Kind Kindred series. Love this series and am so grateful to Amanda for inviting me to share.

The post is about acknowledging all this time of year holds for us and creating space for self-kindness as we walk through it. The post also includes a downloadable audio meditation that you can save and play when you most need to be reminded to sit in the quiet and let your mind rest within your breath.

May you give yourself the gift of being right here and noticing...

Blessings,

Liz

what is real (september 15)

you are doing it.
all of it.
you are stumbling
and laughing
and learning
and opening your heart more each day.
you are finding a rhythm.
you are remembering to breathe deeply
and sit inside truth and feelings and hope.
you are exactly where you need to be.

*****

::what is real:: is a mirror self-portrait photo + a few words series that began in july of 2010. the series started the first night jon and i slept for a few hours at the tree house while ellie was in the PICU. when i was by myself in that room for a few minutes, i turned and saw my reflection in the mirror in the room and had an urge to document the real face of that moment in my journey. looking back, i realize i wanted to feel seen by someone, and it turned out that being seen by myself was like a hand i could hold. 

as i continue to take these photos, i have noticed that the act of taking them feels like a meditation practice. before i take the photo, i stand in front of the mirror and think about what is real in this moment and let my face relax to wherever that truth lies. then i snap.

i document the series over on flickr but share them here from time to time.

try to...

let go of the running ahead, the wishing, the assuming it might. let go of the tumbling, twisting, turning thoughts that distract you from what is real. let go of how you thought it was supposed to be. let go of the lists, the shoulds, the whys, the please don't let it. try to let it go dear one.

take a breath. then another.

just be right here, and soak up all that is before you.

be right here

(light hunters day 1)

as you sit over there, in your corner of the world, i hope you will remember to breathe deeply and trust yourself as you get ready to take the next step.

but before you begin,
just be right here
and breathe in all that you know.

turning helplessness into compassion.

 

ganesh ready for action . manzanita, oregon . late february 2011

On a day like today, when I turn on the news and am simply in horror at what I see...when I am oceans away from devastation and visuals that look like they are from a work of fiction from a Hollywood studio, i find myself standing inside helplessness. Unsure of what to do.

Sometimes, in my overwhelm at seeing all these visuals, I can make it about my helplessness instead of focusing on what I can actually do.

Maybe you are there too. Perhaps we turn off the news, ashamed because we "cannot handle" what we see. The guilt of being worried about what to make for dinner in a kitchen full of food or the realization that what to wear doesn't really matter at all becomes a reality as we see houses swept away. Swept away.

I am trusting that concrete ways to help in the small ways we can will present themselves as we continue to see it all unfold, but this morning, I am lighting a candle of hope, strength, and love and gathering Ellie Jane up in my arms and turning to what I know. Sending out compassion and hope and strength feels like something almost tangible I can do in this moment.

Maybe you will want to join me. 

(If you would like to join in and listen to a guided meditation about sending compassion out into the world, head over to this page in the Find Your Center section of my site.)

in hope and light,

liz

a quiet moment

love candle and a few other good things

jon is down the hall working his baby whisperer magic and i am working away on etsy orders and filing state taxes and sorting through retreat registrations...but i wanted to just show up here to say thank you for holding the space for me as you read my last post. recently, a friend gently suggested to me that quite a few people in my life don't know many of the pieces of my experiences since i became pregnant in the fall of 2009 (or don't perhaps know the depth to which these experiences have affected me) and that sharing these pieces might be an important aspect of my healing (along with helping others to really see me and even to see themselves). i am hearing this invitation to practice what i believe and stand inside the words i have told others.

it is good.

*****

on another topic: over the last year or so, i have recorded three audio meditations, and i now have them listed in the sidebar under "find your center." (i created a section of this site where i will be housing audio meditations just so it is easy for people to find them.) note that you can download them and save them to your computer, ipod, and so on (my understanding is that the easiest way to download them is to right click and save). if you have any questions when you listen to them, just let me know.

i hope your week is full of so many good things and moments to simply soak it all up...

in this moment...

in this moment, give yourself the gift of one deep breath.

(and perhaps, if you have time, another and another and another and one more.)