Wednesday At The Well, 5/8/24

Wednesday At The Well, 5/8/24

Wishing Well oil painting by Vlaho Bukovac, Croatian painter, 1855-1922

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Dear Friend,

This past week has been full of activity, with my two kids visiting for several days. I wrote a prose poem about our time together on Substack that you can read here

We also set up the pool. Yes! My husband and son bought me a pool, the kind you set up in the spring and take down before it gets cold. And I swam in it for the first time last evening and smiled the whole time. I LOVE being in water.

Do you feel the now-ness of Springtime? The sense of urgency that NOW is the time to weed and mulch and plant and do a host of other things that can really only be done during this time of year? Everything is flowering and green, bursting with new growth and energy, and I feel this way too. That it's time for change, for new beginnings and experiences, for personal, spiritual, and business growth, for a different exercise routine, for challenging myself to meet new people and try new things.

Become a Patron: Why?

This is where I create all things wellness-related for you and where we can interact through comments, chat, and live online events.

Here's what I offer currently: live and recorded yoga classes, meditations, herbal tea recipes, New Moon Challenges, healing book recommendations, Wheel of the Year resources, and I'm always creating or trying something new.

You can join for $10 a month to access everything except live yoga or you can join for $20 to access everything including live yoga classes. I would love to have you in the membership. Try it for free for 7 days!

Choices For Our Human-Sized Lives

 In light of all the activity in Springtime, I’ve been thinking about attention, focus, and commitment a lot lately. Molly Remer of Brigid's Grove recently shared how she has to make choices about what to give her time and attention to in a given season and what things have to go.

She said that often on social media we’ll see memes that talk about pruning things from our lives that are unproductive or unhealthy and that sounds pretty easy to do. In reality, though, a lot of times we have to make hard choices between things that are good, healthy, and worthy of our time and attention. Because we cannot do them all at the same time. She reminded us of our “human-sized lives”. 

Our human-sized lives require us to make choices about what we want to nurture and grow in this season. For example, it wouldn't be wise for me to join three different yoga teacher training programs, two different book clubs, and take up three new hobbies in the same season. Why? Because I wouldn't be able to sustain the levels of energy, attention, work, and time required to be present and engaged with all of it. I have to choose what I will actually be able to focus on and put the rest aside.

Commitment seems to be about as popular as self-discipline. We seem to be a culture whose anthem is “don’t fence me in” and I know because I tend to rebel against rules ( at least internally) and enjoy a sense of limitlessness or being unbound by convention.

We want to feel like we can do it all, go to every party or participate in every group. When we take time to reflect quietly with our goals and planners, though, we may find that certain activities or hobbies or events make more sense than others. At least for this particular season.

So I encourage you to pause before signing on to everything coming your way, before saying yes to it all and to crowding your life's garden, as well as the garden in your backyard, with too much. Leave space in your life, leave a part of your garden free for possibility.

Book I'm Reading This Week

This week I’m reading Gurdon Brewster’s memoir No Turning Back: My Summer With Daddy King about his summer as a seminary student working with Daddy King (MLK Jr.’s father) at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Sometimes I find memoir dull, but Rev. Brewster takes the reader with him on his adventure as a northern, Episcopalian seminary student who travels to the deep South to stay with the Kings during the Civil Rights movement.

Within the first day of arrival, his eyes were opened to the horrible way that Black people were treated by whites, at the outward hostility and hatred of local whites and the genteel, Southern prejudice of the leaders of white churches. He shared his own feelings of anger and hatred rising up toward these white people and how MLK told him that they were not fighting the people, but the evil systems that had made society what it was. He taught Brewster to love instead of hate and to practice nonviolent resistance. I am halfway through the book and I am riveted!

And a side note: for many years until 2017 when he passed away, Gurdon Brewster was the priest at the Episcopal Church I just started attending. I only visited the church twice while he was there, but was impressed by his kindness, his ability to listen well and the interest he showed in my life.

Cookie Recipe I Love

Deep Dish Cookie Bowls for Two from Pinch of Yum is a recipe I make whenever I want a gooey chocolatey dessert. I’ve made them instead of birthday cake for our birthdays one year and they’re one of my son’s favorites when he comes to visit. I sub gluten free flour and vegan butter for the regular flour and butter and they’re still out of this world. I also often will sub a quarter cup of a chopped dark chocolate bar for extra rich chocolate-ness. Try them if you want a quick and delicious treat.

A Favorite Poem for Midlife or Other Times of Change

Read May Sarton's "Now I Become Myself" here.

All the Products/Sets I Recommend as Giftables

Lavender Essential Oil

Dear Heart Set

Spring Seasonal Box w/Pink Opal Tower

Spring Seasonal Box w/Unicorn Tower

Spring Seasonal Box w/Natural Amethyst Lace Agate

Full Moon Flower Essence, Aromatherapy & Crystals Set

WomanKind Diffuser Blend

Aromatherapy Diffuser Mushroom Charm Bracelet

Flax & Lavender Eye Pillow

 

That's it for this week, friend! 

May you find refreshment and delight in this day.

-Kim

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