*I want to say a special hello to those who come here week after week and maybe just silently read on, never commenting, but nevertheless are tuned in. I was scrolling the Substack app this morning and saw someone say that we should acknowledge and thank our lurkers. While I don’t know that this is the best way to label humans, I am so cognizant of the people that are maybe too shy or intimidated to say anything, but enjoy this corner of the internet that I am cultivating. Thank ya’ll.*
“It is no ordinary thing to undertake the assessment of one’s life, to take the backward look over the way that one has come, and to remember. To remember how it was with oneself a year ago-with what hopes and enthusiasms and visions one greeted the beginning of the year. Or to remember how one dragged one’s feet into the year, and how as the months moved into view many things changed so that there is in some of our hearts quiet rejoicing that life has fallen for us in easy places. For some others there is the simple anguish that comes from the frustrations which were unanticipated, which had to be endured, and there is left a residue of weariness and heartache for which there does not seem to be any solace or any comfort.” Howard Thurman
On my white board that hangs above my desk I have a question that grounds me:
“What can I move around for peace?”
This question is a reminder to slow down and think. To take a deep breath and cease the constant activity that life demands of me. What things can I modify, move around, or delete altogether so that I can make peace my portion? Over a decade ago, a wise woman challenged me to make space in my life for real life to happen. She painted an every day scenario in which we go from one task and one appointment to another. Hurriedly rushing from the bank, to the grocery store, and to other errands with no moments to breathe. “If you are rushing in this way, how will you have time to talk to someone you might meet at the grocery store? In all that rushing, how will life happen.”
And so…she asked me to consider creating a buffer of even a few minutes to allow life to run its beautiful, natural course. I need to be reminded of this. Daily. My body is not immune from fatigue. I am not a beast of burden, but rather a human being with needs and desires. (I would argue that the animals we make beasts of burden do also.) So. this week, what can you and I move around for peace? Is there a bedtime ritual that you can enact that might give you some joy? Is there something that you can add in the middle of your day or week that would bring you comfort? Is there someone that you are missing that you would benefit from connecting with? Our lives are before us and though the gravitational pull seems to be to center around the mundane and productivity, we can choose to infuse our days with something different. We deserve it.
In honor of Black History Month, I want to share this post from
:*Thank you all for journeying with me*
mmmm I needed this reminder and your musings. thank you. I think I discovered how easy it is to rush through the day (and so life) and started getting clear on what slow living means to me. i like the idea of buffers. recently, i’ve started organizing my day so that the afternoon is screen-free and set apart for as much analogue resting as possible. this feels like the needed peace for me right now.
also, your opening is so true!
This is so real. Thank you sharing this with us.