Mysterious and Ordinary

#1 - A little over a year ago I attended my first support group, on the recommendation of a counselor - a mysterious new world.  Actually it wasn't that mysterious, it was pretty ordinary and real.  Today someone I loved made a similar step.

#2 - The two block walk home from my community ed fitness class, which this time of year happens right around sunset.  There was a break in the clouds to the NW for a splash of orangish-yellow.

#3 - I packed a yummi salad for lunch tomorrow - lettuce, red pepper, hard-boiled eggs, Parmesan and carrots.   I'll add avocado and dressing tomorrow.

#4 - Some place where I have a small amount of money was bought by another company.  I've had an email to log on and verify my info for a few weeks which I kept ignoring.  I finally got around to it today.

#5 - Beautiful
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg2LaYyHylu/?hl=en&taken-by=lewishowes

Spring Equinox

*Usually I try to find an event to attend (or create) to honor the Solstices and Equinoxes.  Today I'm not going to fit that in, but I am still going to acknowledge the day in a few ways.

First of all I started my day with four sun salutations.
Second of all I made a smoothie for breakfast which is a treat.
Third I plan to honor the day as an intention in a hot yoga class tonight.

*I finally filled out the check in questionaire for my annual physical this week.  I've had the email in my mailbox for a while and been meaning to get around to it.  I do think they need another option besides - "None at All, Several Days, More Days Than Not, Every Day".  A few of the questions I'd be lying if I said, "None at all" but "Several Days" was not accurate either.  For example, feeling anxiety, I can't say I felt "None at all" for anxiety or worry in the last two weeks, but several days was an exaggeration.

*Someone I care about had his first appointment with a naturopath today.  I'm grateful for his openness to try something outside the mainstream medical model

*After dinner my eyes felt a bit googly from looking at screens, I wanted to finish a couple things up, and I also knew it would be better to take a break.  In the living room the guitar was sitting beside a Bebe CD I'd been accompanying.  Because it was ready and accessible I sat down and played a song.

*Duolingo says I'm 51% fluent in Spanish.  I think that actually sounds about right.

You Can't Rush Your Healing

#1 - During lunch I had a question for a friend about a march at the capitol in a couple weeks in response to gun violence.  She is coming from out of town and instead of emailing her to coordinate, I just made a quick call and ended up talking for a half hour or so.  It was a welcome addition to my lunch break.

#2 - The most animated I became during our conversation was when I told her about the escape/puzzle room I did with friends for my birthday.  It was almost two months ago, but I could still hear the excitement in my voice.  She was surprised I enjoyed it and seemed interested herself.  I told her, "There's a good chance I'll organize it again next year, you are welcome to come if you'd like."

#3 - Speaking of which, I'm trying to arrange one in the near future for a 13 year old I care about.  Today my sister-in-law said they'd contribute which would make it possible for her to bring an additional friend.

#4 - I listened to a new Esther Perel podcast episode, I'm continually in awe of her compassion and empathy.  She is a shining example of strong spine and open heart.

S2 Ep. 1: You Need Help to Help Her

https://www.estherperel.com/podcast

#5 - I was having a hard time digging for #5 today.  So I decided to break and grabbed the guitar to play Wish Man by Trevor Hall, a new song I really enjoy the strum pattern for.  I played along with Youtube and along the side I saw the song I most connected with when I saw him in concert recently.  "You Can't Rush Your Healing".  I looked up the tab for that and it says it is for novice but I'd need to practice that a while.  I still really appreciate the chorus

 "You can't rush your healing

Darkness has it's teachings

Love is never leaving

You can't rush your healing

You're healing"

A Wrinkle in Time

My niece wanted to go to the top of the fire tower (we were at an environmental education center for the weekend).  The other kids wanted to go snowshoeing.  We ran out of time to do both.  I explained this to my niece and she agreed to snowshoe.  She didn’t actually know what snowshoeing was though and after walking for a few minutes she yelled back good naturedly, “What is fun about this?!”  

As we walked, we just happened to end up within sight of the fire tower and the group headed there walked right by.  So we joined them.  It worked out way better than if we had tried to plan it, and it’s such a good reminder to me that sometimes letting go allows things to happen, even ones that don’t seem possible.  (Kind of like a tesseract*.)

On the way back down from the fire tower the instructor said there was a snowshoe trail around back we could take to the building. 

 “Is it longer or shorter?” I asked.

“Shorter.”   

Great!  It was a fun and steep descent. 

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Earlier in the morning I led an informal yoga class for other people on the weekend trip.  One woman came up afterwards and said, “You have such a nice voice for this, so soothing.”  No one has ever told me this before.

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On the drive home I continued reading out loud, a Wrinkle in Time.  We got within 20 pages of finishing the book.  The movie comes out on Friday, if it lives up to its preview, I highly recommend it. 

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*The tesseract is a Wrinkle in Time reference.