The Sun Returns!

Every February seed catalogues pile up. Folks start posting photos of themselves buying their seeds and I get a little panicked. “Wait, I’m not ready yet!” I don’t even want to see the catalogues.

Truth be told, I have already purchased a few packets from our Co-op, so who am I kidding? 😜

Yes, to quote my wife, “Many things can be true at one time.”

Energetically, this time of year I want to stay in the nesting/dreaming phase and burrow under my blankets a little longer. I’m not ready to start planning the garden yet. I NEED this quiet inward time to balance the energetic output of the growing season.

This year is no exception, especially given the large scale upheaval we are experiencing & witnessing.

Yet, the wheel of the year still turns and today we celebrate Imbolc, the first brightening towards Spring. Before we move towards birthing a new year, let’s dive a little deeper into the hidden realms and what they might be asking of us.

I would love for you to get comfy, snuggle up with a warm blanket and a nice cuppa something that makes your heart happy. Think of this as our tea time together. ☕️

33 years ago I read this quote in Starhawk’s, The Fifth Sacred Thing, that has become one of my foundational guiding principles.

“There’s a place for you at our table.”

I’ve been asking for years, how can I become a person so grounded in fierce compassion that I would stand to protect people while at the same time, offer this statement?

Today.

To an ICE agent?

What would it take?

What would the path look like to get me here?

First step, find someone who already embodies this fierce, grounded compassion.

Find a role model.

Can you think of anyone modeling this for you?

People who come to mind for me: Vandana Shiva, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Pema Chödrön, Ram Dass, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Jesus, Buddha, Wonder Woman.

Why ponder this now? Because, the grounded “no, not on my watch” boundary, seated in compassion and lacking shame/hate/violence is what is called for right now. If we want to move out of the 10,000 year power-over cycle we’ve been in, we need to learn to hold our “no” and our compassion at the same time.

It is a skill we can develop and it requires deep intention, inner reflection, and practice.

It requires a different way of walking through the world.

How do we say no and “There’s a place for you at our table.”?

Yes, the first priority is to stand up and care for our friends & neighbors who are being targeted with violence right now.

No! This is not ok.

AND can we move towards doing it like our role models?

My wish & prayer is we do it in a way that doesn’t perpetuate the belief systems that got us here in the first place. That we move through standing for each other like our role models would ask of us.

I know it’s a big ask, and maybe too much for you stumbling across this article or, maybe, it’s just the right sized nudge?

The process is not about perfection. The change won’t happen overnight. But what would happen if it becomes our collective North Star?

“There’s a place for you at our table.”

“How do we get there?” “How do we embody this wisdom?”

Wow, that’s a lot.

Not to worry, I’m not going to leave you hanging in this deep change work without leaving a few things to try.

My Best Thinking So Far.

❤️ Metabolize the feels.

One of the new questions I’ve been asking myself when I start to feel off is, “Do I need to cry?”

Yep, remedial cryer over here. 🙋‍♀️

Guess what? Crying works. There’s too much going on in the world to hold all the emotions inside and act “regular”.

Because life is not regular.

Gratefully we have a built-in physiological pressure release button called emoting. One of our emotive superpowers is crying. Crying reminds us:

We are alive.

We care.

If you’re paying attention to what’s going on in the world right now, please, for the love of all that is Holy, give yourself room to cry. Teach your children.

Actually, they already know this. The correct statement is allow them to cry.

Normalize crying in your friend circle. 🥲

Another emotion bubbling up in the collective is rage. Metabolize the rage you might be feeling by walking/running, screaming, throwing heavy objects (appropriately please), lifting heavy things.

Move your body to move the energy.

Fear? Well that’s a whole other hidden adventure for me. I’m taking time this winter to explore the sneaky little emotion called fear and working hard to give it a seat at the table.

What’s your hidden/not so easy to feel emotion?

Does it have a seat at your table?

❤️ Connect With Humans.

We are pack.

Sorry, not sorry.

It’s true.

We need each other to regulate our nervous systems, to hunt for food, to protect against predators, to celebrate, to survive and thrive. The 10,000 year experiment currently crumbling doesn’t compete with the 3,000,000 years of community-based thriving & surviving of our ancestry.

When I say connect with, I mean really connect with what is happening for you right now with your people. Find your inner circle of people who will ask “How’s your heart?” and then will listen with their full heart to your answer. We don’t always need advice on how to fix it. We do need to witness each other as we make our way through our feelings which naturally leads to action.

🌀 A simple practice for connecting: when you head into public, set an intention to look people in the eye, beam love at them and smile. Almost everyone is struggling right now. Reach for people.

Your kindness matters.

🌀 Try making space to be able to ask your close people, “How’s your heart?”

❤️ Connect With the Holy.

Regularly.

However you experience him/her/them/ki.

❤️ Tend Your Nervous system.

Treat it like the small feral woodland creature it is. We are constantly stimulated into Fight/Flight and for our long term health, we need to balance our Nervous system by cultivating Nest & Rest.

The ability to go back and forth between these states is the very definition of resiliency.

Develop a practice to settle & comfort this little creature every day heck, multiple times a day.

🌀 Simple practices: Breathing exercises, Mindfulness meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Therapy, books that educate & uplift.

❤️ Be A Helper

Mr. Rogers was spot on when he advised mothers and children to “look for helpers” during scary times. Our Nervous system needs something to do with the violence we are experiencing and witnessing. Find a place to be helpful in your community, however you can.

Bring your gifts.

We need you.

❤️ Mind Your Consumption.

Mind your consumption of anything disrupting your inner Rest & Nest system. Yep, that includes shows you watch on t.v., the News & Socials, stimulants & depressants (pharma and herbal), and foods that degrade your health.

Prioritize your emotional & mental well-being right now.

🌀 Simple practices: Uplifting shows; I love Shrinking & Ted Lasso. Strict Social media & News diet of one viewing per day (set a time limit). Maybe consider the middle of the day. You’ll have time to metabolize what you learn and still prioritize sleep at the end of the day.

❤️ Move The Body.

For the love of god, get outside and move your body.

“Please don’t make me cite the science again!”- said in my very best non-shaming Mom voice!

🌀Simple practices: Move the body, every day, at least 45 minutes, preferably outside with or without a friend.

❤️ Prioritize Sleep.

Like Nike says, “Just do it.”

8 hours.

Every night.

❤️ Mycelium As Role Model.

Start creating or plugging into your local networks. Mutual aid (Yes, they even have them on facecrack.), Community Supported Agriculture (CSA farm shares), Community gardens, Herb circles, Craft circles, Skill shares, Singing circles (It’s all about the Circles peeps!).

Don’t have one? Start one?

We need each other.

We need to be in each other’s physical presence.

❤️ Engage Delight.

We’re scared. We’re angry. We’re alive. We also dance, sing, play, laugh, create and delight in the world. Delighting helps resilience.

Can’t find it in you to do any of the delightful practices?

That’s ok honey.

Sit with some non-human kin. Give them your full attention. Keep coming back to attending fully in the moment. Daily.

I spend hours watching the birds out the window. I even open the windows in the winter so I can hear them chatting with each other. (Did you know that when the birds sing, your Nervous system recognizes that the world is safe? Yes, we co-evolved to read the safety cues given by our friends, the birds).

Bundle up and visit your favorite trees. Get to know them in the winter.

We are in this together. Let’s reach for each other. Let’s reach for helpful practices.

Together.