Hello First name / friend , On retreat last weekend, I left my phone in my room, or off when I was using it as a camera around the property. We greeted our mornings with smiles, coffee and silence until after our first yoga class. Up at the crack of dawn with the bird calls and light filling my room, I spent the mornings on the sundeck, reading and writing. I wrote myself my own prompt (you can do that you know! I highly encourage it!). At the top of my page I wrote, “Where does your brain get to go in the morning if it doesn't go scrolling?” |
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I listed things I had already been doing, as well as things I could be doing. It was a quick brainstorm, not written in stone as prescription for the weeks and months to come. In writing we can notice what comes up. We don't necessarily have to attend to all the ideas that come, but there on the page, we give them space to exist and can give them time to percolate. Here's what I jotted down: looking at the landscape listening to the birds thinking of my coffee wondering what family is doing could meditate dreaming future plans sensing my body noticing nature reflecting on yesterday slowing, not rushing breathing noticing no comparing taking photos listening to the loon on lake |
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I love the sundeck and morning rituals at the retreat so much that I also journaled a list of all the things I could add to my sundeck back home to create a ‘sundeck sanctuary’. I've brought home my deck rituals in previous years, but with a long, cool spring this year, I was dreaming up ways to enliven my deck space and re-invigorate my practices. My ideas include: a comfortable chair pillows, blankets evening lights journaling supplies books of poetry yoga mat plants water feature - sound sculptures tables - driftwood bird feeders bird bath outdoor rugs for sitting and stretching couch wind chimes baskets I also noted that I want it to feel: cozy, expansive, comforting, energize the senses, personal, natural, nourishing, sacred and layered. |
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On my way home from retreat, I spent the night at my brother's home and I enjoyed drawing his cat and a sunflower on the deck in the morning! |
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Back home this week, I've spent some cold mornings on the deck. Not quite the same as a warm morning on Kootenay Lake. But I wrote, I listened to birds (and traffic!) and drank coffee. And yes, I totally read emails and scrolled a little. But I'm leaning into more mindful mornings. The first step - even when we are taking it again, and again - is to notice. To notice. To pause. To acknowledge. To consider. To possibly change course. If you'd like to use my prompt to write this week, please do! “Where does your brain get to go in the morning if it doesn't go scrolling?” Or perhaps you'd like to create a deck sanctuary or tweak your morning routine on a particular day of the week. I don't have ‘shoulds' or prescriptions for you. I simply invite you to notice and discover. If you'd like to share your list or a photo of your deck or other space, please do in our online community. Sharing our questions, ideas, struggles and success in community, met with nods and sighs of understanding is so powerful. I encourage you to join us. |
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Above photo: a selfie at Kootenay Lake, nature journaling bliss! |
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