Hello First name / sweet human,
Happy New Moon! Happy (slightly belated) Vernal Equinox!
Last new moon I was writing to you with snow tumbling down and today the sun is shining. I see spring buds on my neighbor's lilac, tulips popping up around our chicken coop, violets dotting the front yard and clusters of snowdrops and daffodils everywhere. One of my favorite early spring bloomers, daphne, is flowering and it smells good enough to eat - like a lemon cheesecake, all the way down to its graham cracker crust. So much has changed in just these past few weeks! As much as I love hibernating in the dark of winter, I'm ready for the light that comes with spring. How about you?
This time last year I spent weeks following the flowering path of a nearby Royal Star Magnolia. I did this in the middle of a long and difficult family crisis. Turns out, paying attention to the slow and steady trajectory of a flowering tree offers more than just the gift of its blooms: It can be a profoundly grounding experience. The simplicity of habitual observation, the familiarity and predictability of the tree (Is it still there? Yes! Has it changed a little bit? Yes!), and of course, simply being in nature can soothe us.
A smaller gift from that study? The illustration at the top of this letter! It's a simple drawing from a simple practice that helped keep me upright when my world had turned upside down. I've made a print of it for you (w/ an added surprise, for fun). I imagine you sitting down to color or paint the flowers, finding your own quiet moment of stillness and peace. I hope that's what happens. Then the gift continues.
"For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.”
— Mary Oliver, Upstream
And now we've come full circle: New buds on that same little magnolia have already begun. Are you feeling a change in your energy with this seasonal shift? Do you have any special seeds (literal or figurative) you're planting and tending to? This is a wonderful time to pause and consider where we want our attention and energy to land in the coming months. I've made a map of what what I feel needs my attention and I've laid out clear goals and plans of action. Here are some places my attention will be in for the next little while. I love that many of these actions support multiple goals:
- Nurturing: My creativity
- Nurturing: My physical health
- Action:
- Reading Heal Endo by Katie Edmonds and implementing many of the advised practices (Btw, it's National Endometriosis Awareness Month. Let's all work together to bring awareness to this devastating, underfunded/understudied and all-too-common disease!). Fellow endo babes (and lovers of folks with endo), this book is a game changer. I can't recommend it enough.
- Practicing daily deep breathing exercises and making time to move my body in nature.
- Nurturing: This small business of mine!
- Action:
- Product development - Things are in the works, y'all! I'm excited to share them with you so soon!
- Prepping for an Etsy shop re-opening - I've been closed since this time last year. Eager to get up and running again and share what will be on the shelves!
Do you have a similar process for fostering personal growth and well-being? Please share if you do and feel free to ask for more detail about my own practice if you're curious. And please share what you're working toward if you feel so inclined! I'd love to hear from you!
Until the next new moon!
