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Filtering by Category: yes.
These are a few of the things we found when we headed to Point Defiance Park on Saturday.
Really good stuff.
And one of the most accessible practices to help you get out of your head and back into your heart.
Try it for a few moments today. I dare you.
(And if you want to gather with a group of kindreds to practice this simple but profound act of getting outside for a few minutes every day, come along and join Hand to Heart this month.)
Hand to Heart is a soft space for you to land daily as you listen to the wisdom within you and practice what you know. When you join, you become a member of an ongoing community of kindred women who will be exploring a new soul care practice and theme each month. These practices will light the way as we find the YES in our beautiful, messy lives.
We’ll begin with diving deeper into a few of the practices found in my “Yes, This” program, exploring them for a month at a time instead of just a day. In March, we'll pause to find the stillness each day as we take five deep breaths (including capturing that stillness through our cameras) and look at how this practice can ground us and give us the space to reboot in the middle of our day.
Practice Notes: A PDF at the beginning of the month with guidance and inspiration about that month’s practice. This might include stories, an audio meditation, printables, worksheets, and so on. There will also be 1-3 additional emails per month with encouragement and love from me to you right in your inbox.
Monthly Spreecasts: In monthly video chats on Spreecast, I’ll share stories and thoughts around the month’s practice and other ideas we’ve been focusing on in our Facebook group. You’ll have the opportunity to ask me questions and connect with others using the chat feature. You’ll also be able to submit questions ahead of time and watch the Spreecast later if you aren’t able to join in live.
Monthly story releasing ceremony: Once a month, I’ll send out a love letter via email with an invitation to reply with a story or words that you need someone to hold space for. I’ll gather up the stories sent and through a small ceremony release the stories into the Pacific Northwest woods.
A private Facebook group that will include:
Other good things: You will be the first to know about my future offers, there will be shop discounts just for you, and so many other beautiful goodies that will reveal themselves as Hand to Heart grows and teaches all of us.
By becoming a member of Hand to Heart, you will receive ongoing connection from me as your guide and from a circle of like-minded souls. I truly believe that this is the group you've been waiting for.
Membership: Introductory price of $39 a month
Learn more, read the FAQ, and become a member right here.
It's a taking five deep breaths in the midst of the fog kind of morning.
A Hall & Oats followed by The Cars on the "Oldies" station kind of morning.
The sort of morning where you drop your daughter off at preschool and see her run up to her teacher and her friends and tell them all about her weekend and you think about how every single person in her life is shaping her in the best kinds of ways.
The sort of morning where you realize there isn't a lot of space for the guilt when you really pay attention.
The sort of morning where you make the choice to feel compassion toward the person driving a car full of bumper stickers that are everything you are not that just pulled out in front of you causing you to quickly brake.
It's that kind of morning.
The kind where you feel the blessings deep into your bones when you think about the work you get to share with the world.
Where you stand in the intersection of all that you know and all that is possible and treat yourself to a chai tea latte + chocolate croissant.
Where you know you have to pause to write it all down so you can remind yourself that these mornings exist on those days when nothing seems to go right.
Yes.
It is exactly that kind of morning.
I’m letting the simple moments surround me right now.
The finding half and half in the back of the fridge when you ran out of soy creamer moments. The need for vitamin C and remembering the orange in the bowl on the kitchen table moments. The still growing on the pot on the counter Thanksgiving herbs inside a “why not add prosciutto and Gouda” omelet that somehow all stayed together and looks like it was made at a Mother’s Day brunch years ago moments. The curling up with a good escapism sort of book and just leaning into rest moments. The laughter in the most unexpected stories moments. The sitting as a family and reading winter and holiday books with hot cocoa by the tree moments.
I’m letting the exhale of “yes, this” found in these moments lead me right now.
Because inside there are moments of overwhelm when I realize I still have gifts to buy. Because inside I’m having moments of grief. Because inside there is a joy blooming each time I see my daughter’s face when she gets home from school and runs to look at the Christmas tree.
And the simple moments help me find my footing again. The daily practice of just noticing gratitude and how things went just right and the opening up toward beauty light my path even when I forget to bring a flashlight.
If you are feeling a bit lost or in the overwhelm or just needing a hug, let the simple moments...the simple pleasures...the “yes, this” moments guide you.
A prompt: Consider capturing some simple moments with your camera and tagging them with #yestothismoment so we can find one another on Instagram and Twitter (or even sharing them over on my Facebook page). We can light the path together.
***
I'm so grateful for companions on this journey and for those of you saying "yes" alongside me. This post above was part of my "adventures in creative self-care" newsletter that I sent out last, and I thought you might want to join in and pause to find the simple moments in your day. (And if you'd like to receive reminders like this in your inbox, you can sign up here.)
This week has held sadness right next to joy. It has held laughter and disappointment. It has held conversations that open one's heart just a little more alongside unexpected grief.
And today, we cook. And we feast together. And we nap. And we laugh. And we miss deeply. And we remember.
Through it all, I keep feeling this infinite yes. Even in the moments with tears. Even in the moments of toddler exhaustion. Even in the moments of unstoppable giggles. Even in the moments before coffee.
Especially in the moments cooking side by side. Especially in the moments where Ellie Jane runs to her grandparents. Especially in the moments where deep breaths are remembered. Especially in the moments where gratitude arrives unexpectedly.
I just keep thinking:
Yes, even this.
That is my prayer today.
(for you, for me)
Yes, even this.
****
To receive little reminders and love notes like this one in your inbox, sign up to receive my (almost) weekly newsletter here.
Tonight, I'm thinking about the "yes" moments I've been collecting over the last week or so...the moments that gently pushed me to be really present and notice the beauty in the midst of the crazy and the hard and the real.
When Ellie Jane came out of her bedroom for about the tenth time after she went to “bed” to tell me one more thing but instead curled up on my lap for a few minutes and put her hand on mine, and I made the choice to just be right here instead of worrying about what tomorrow might bring if she didn’t get enough sleep.
Yes, this.
When I stuck with it even though I wanted to run.
Yes, this.
When I realized he needed a hug more than he needed me to tell him how to do it right.
Yes, this.
When I paused to just listen to the rain fall on the roof instead of checking my email, then Facebook, then Instagram for the hundredth time.
Yes, this.
When I picked up the phone and burst into tears as the words tumbled out and she said, "You aren't alone."
Yes, this.
When I decided to make biscuits for breakfast even though I was the only one home (and I ate four of them).
Yes, this.
When I had an upside-down sort of day but remembered what I know. And what I know is Barbra Streisand's Broadway album, a scarf made with love by my mom, lipstick + mascara, and reaching out to Jon to say, "Can you come home soon?" all help me feel loved and not alone.
Yes, this.
When the deep missing caught me by surprise, and I closed my eyes to try to remember every detail of the guest room in my grandmother's house and suddenly I heard her voice but then it was gone and I wondered if I'll ever remember how it sounded when she'd say my name.
Yes, this.
When I let myself really hear you say, "You really are a good mom." And I tucked our conversation in my pocket to pull out on those days when I forget.
Yes, this.
What "yes" moments are you collecting over in your corner? Give yourself the gift of noticing.
*****
Water Your Soul is an invitation to see the beauty and the mess and making the choice to say "yes" to all of it (even on the days that feels impossible).
It's about realizing you are not alone in feeling whatever this time of year brings up for you.
It's about making simple moves in December that will help take away from the chaos, not add to it.
It's about being right here giving yourself the gift of replenishing you even as you also give to others.
We begin gathering in our private Facebook space this Wednesday. In that space, we'll share stories, connect, and just be present with one another. We "officially" begin our time together December 1.
Click here to learn more and join us.
Please email me any questions you have.
This morning, the house was quiet. I found myself slipping into the overwhelm about the to-do list, about the blog post ideas I had yesterday that I forgot to write down, about so many other things. I took a deep breath and decided getting in the shower would clear my head.
But instead, the ideas and "you should do it this way" thoughts started swirling. My shoulders were hunched and I could feel my face frowning.
So I turned my face toward the water and let it fall over me. Breathing. Noticing.
And I started to just make a list of gratitude in my mind. For this warm water. For the time I have alone in this moment. For the warmth of my home. For the strength I feel in my body today. For the ways I know how to take care of myself. For the kind voice Ellie used this morning. For the sound of my mother's laughter after Ellie handed the phone back to me when they talked before school. For Millie, curled up on the floor outside the bathroom door. For the way the soap lathered in my hands and felt on my body.
When my mind would start to wander, I would pretend I was in a meditation and greet the thought (literally saying, "hello over there. I see you. I'm coming back to gratitude.") and take a breath and begin listing again.
As I got out of the shower, I just kept practicing.
For this favorite sweater and shoes that help my feet not hurt while I stand in the shower. For the notes my customers have been including with their Soul Mantra orders. For the warmth of this favorite brown rice tea. For the smell of this raisin bread as it toasts. For the silliness of licking the last bit of peanut butter off the knife. For the sound of the rain on the patio roof as I walk to the studio. For this sacred place of my own.
And I didn't want to stop. I felt lighter. I started to cross to the computer to check email, but decided I wasn't ready to come back to that abyss of "to do" and instead took out my gratitude postcards and got to writing.
Letting this lightness I was feeling transfer to notes that will be sent across the miles. To an uncle I haven't talked to in years. To a friend who was such a kind listener while I was pregnant. To a new friend who teaches me with her open-hearted ways. To the friend whose known me for more than 20 years and still sticks around.
And I felt rebooted. At home inside. Ready to be open again, stepped in gratitude, self-kindness, and love.
Yes.
A Gratitude Prompt: Consider spending an hour or even just five minutes steeped in gratitude. Noticing the truths of this moment. Noticing what you hold in your heart. Noticing the light that comes from paying attention to what makes your life so full of beauty (even in the messy times).
*****
I'm using artist Lori Portka's A Month of Thank Yous Gratitude Kit to send these notes of gratitude out into the world this month. There are 30 different postcards in the kit, so you are actually getting 30 small prints on gorgeous, thick, easy-to-write on cardstock.
Lori's offering my readers a 15% discount this month with the code THANKFUL (just put the code in right above your order total on the shopping cart page).
*****
This November, I'm exploring the idea of saying YES to gratitude in all its gorgeous, sometimes confusing, heart-expanding ways. And I'm inviting you to come along on the adventure here on my blog.
Throughout the month, there will be a practice in letting others know I'm grateful for them, a few stories, a collaboration or two, inspiration from others, some giveaways, a special Etsy sale for my newsletter subscribers, and a few other good things.
You can find all the YES to Gratitude posts right here.
