What are yours?
If any of the themes below resonate with you, I’d love to hear from you.
with love ✨, CATHERINE
Observations on moving, breathing and being. These are mine.
I’ve been writing them down since 2020.
I took a long pause. I’m back now.
On balance
Our bodies are very smart. They’ll spotlight A LOT for us if we just accept the invitation to look inwards and observe.
Are we (or are we not) sleeping well?
Are we eating more (or less) than we normally might?
Are we getting headaches more frequently than before?
Beginnings (part 2)
It is a hard and beautiful time to be alive. These words could likely be written, read, spoken, heard at any time in history to accurately represent life, yet they seem particularly fitting in this present moment.
Many of us right now are likely angered, saddened, anxious. As if we didn’t have enough already to carry, we bore witness earlier this week to an incomprehensible act of sedition and insurrection at one of the foremost symbols of democracy in the world. We are shaken.
…
It is during these moments of incomprehension that I am even more grateful for my self-care and well-being practices that are so strongly anchored in yoga. It is through these disciplined practices that I can still attempt an inner calm despite all that is with respect to work and love and life.
So as we enter into week two of this new year…what might we implement today to nurture and foster this inner stillness and influence our perspective on life?
A reflection on uncertainty
I have a super power. We all do.
Mine? It's my strong work ethic. It always has been. I'm a believer in discipline and hard work, and I enjoy the focus, persistence and motivation that my work ethic both requires and nurtures. It’s no wonder, then, that a strong yoga practice is the foundation of my self-care and well-being rituals, as yoga itself is a disciplined, driven approach towards transformation.
However...my relationship with my super power hasn't always been the healthiest. I’ve oftentimes over-prioritized it at the expense of its opposite—that being rest, relaxation, “down time”. This has sometimes (read: often) resulted in overwhelm, disappointment, frustration.
More times than not, I've directed my work ethic towards externally, productivity-driven “expectations"…
A reflection on the Earth as medicine
I’ve been learning about koans—paradoxical riddles of sort in Zen Buddhism on which students meditate in order to uncover knowledge, intuition, enlightenment. This morning’s lesson was particularly relevant, as though the koan purposefully presented itself to me. Of note, I happen to be in Vermont for the week to ruminate more deeply on this past year-to-date and what I might (continue to) learn from it moving forward. So…you can likely see how this particular koan being the meditation of the day piqued my interest.
Other translations of the koan include:
Medicine and disease (or sickness) exactly correspond (or correspond to each other).
The whole Earth is medicine.
What is self? (Or what are you?)
There are many types of disease…
A reflection on the power of a mantra or the breath
I apologize for sending this note so late in the afternoon. I experienced a few minor distractions this morning as I was leaving Harrisonburg (VA) after a mini two-day, self-care retreat. Having lost power unexpectedly at my Airbnb, I then experienced connectivity issues at the local coffee shop. As I felt my nemesis, Stress, start to invite herself inside, I looked up and saw the sandwich board outside the cafe.
On one side, it read:
In the midst of the chaos lies opportunity.
On the other side:
Your worth is not measured by your productivity.
A reflection on a sunrise
I couldn’t sleep last Wednesday night. Unfortunately, I don’t sleep well many nights, but that particular evening was especially challenging. Eventually I threw in the proverbial towel and decided to do something I don’t do often enough—watch the sunrise.
A reflection on unplugging in order to work again
Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. ~ Anne Lamott
When my employment unexpectedly ended two months ago, a near and dear friend implored me to unplug from my normal modus operandi and rather plug into a totally new way of being. She challenged me to do everything counter to what my hard wiring would otherwise have me do—such as immediately updating the resume, calling the headhunter, reaching out to my network, finding project-based work, etc. Instead, her challenge required an acknowledgement on my part that the only way to start back up was through a total system reboot.
A reflection on a hurry-up culture
Recently, someone very special to me shared with me the above quote. Since, I’ve ruminated on it night after night, recognizing it to be what it is—the perfect lesson for this perfect moment.
Life has slowed down—for most of us, myself included, not necessarily by choice but rather by necessity. Being recently single and newly unemployed, I find myself with time on my hands unlike any other period of my adult life. And, against the backdrop of a global pandemic, this time has seemingly multiplied.
