The Wisdom of the Body

Raunuclus, taken April 2009

I spent most of today resting, as I woke up with a hot and sore throat.

And whenever I have something going on with my 5th chakra, I always start looking at what needs spoken or named in my life.

After I did an energy healing on myself this morning, I checked in with what I needed to give voice to and found that I was screaming for some space, comfort and quiet.

Which is exactly what I did today. (Thank you, body, for the reminder of what it is my soul craves!)

I'm not surprised my body felt un-well today.

On Tuesday, I was very much in the "I'm behind" story. (An old story that I'm committed to rewriting!) All I could see was email inbox again filled with messages, the upstairs to our house in chaos as three rooms get switched around, and all the things on my to do list that didn't get done.

And today my body gave me the pause to slow down and be more present.

It amazing how much more there is — more time, more space, more focus, more joy — when we are in the present.

Going forward, I'm committed to being a good listener to my body, who for several days has been nudging me to enjoy some rest and relaxation. I'm grateful for the pause I was given today to do just that.

Tell me, what is your body telling you and how can you honor its wisdom?

P.S. My good friend, Jamie Durner, is a BodyMind coach with amazing distinction around learning to listen to your body. Check her out here.

The Thread of Motherhood

Pear blossom from daughter, card from friend, taken with iPhone

Now That I Am Forever With Child

by Audre Lorde

How the days went
while you were blooming within me
I remember each upon each--
the swelling changed planes of my body
and how you first fluttered, then jumped
and I thought it was my heart.

How the days wound down
and the turning of winter
I recall, with you growing heavy
against the wind. I thought
now her hands are formed, and her hair
has started to curl
now her teeth are done
now she sneezes. Then the seed opened
I bore you one morning just before spring
My head rang like a fiery piston
my legs were towers between which
A new world was passing.

Since then I can only distinguish
one thread within running hours
You, flowing through selves
toward You.

Wishing everyone who has birthed something new into the world and loved it fully a happy Mother's Day!

Flowering Fridays: Being with the Natural Order

Taken in Atlanta in April 2009

Everything that we want is downstream... And you don't have even have to turn the boat and paddle downstream, just let go of the oars, the current will carry you. — Ester Hicks here of Abraham-Hicks

In late March, I finally received clarity around my next writing project.

Part of my practice around this project is to do a bit of meditation in the morning and then journal, receiving whatever wisdom comes from my muse/guide/spirit.

A frequent theme that shows up in my journal is around ease, trust and flow: "All will be revealed in perfect time." "...this will unfold easily for you." "It doesn't have to be all work, it can be fun." "Just trust and be."

On a deep level, I know this is truth. This is how life works, how nature works.

When I look at a flower, I just marvel at what a miracle a flower is:

How the flower transforms from seed to stalk to bloom. How its seed-body knows to create many small yellow flowers and just the right shape of leaves. How it trusts it has the support of the sun, the rain and the planets for every step of its journey.

I know that this new project offers me the chance to be like a flower.

But my old way of working is just that, work. Driving, pushing, hard, stressing, forcing. It's exhausting to be like that. And so very contrary to how energy and the universe works.

So I'm viewing this project as an opportunity for my spiritual growth: To trust that this seed of an idea has its own wisdom and right timing. To know that I don't have to do this all on my own. To drop down my oars and allow the current to carry me downstream.

I'm reminded of these lines from one of my favorite Mary Oliver poems, Wild Geese:

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me, how you can trust the nature order of life to carry you today?

P.S. Speaking of working with the forces of nature, I bought a wonderful gardening calendar this year, Gardening by the Moon. And it shows through tuning into the lunar phases and astrological signs, the best times to sow, plant and harvest. Highly recommended.

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Flowering Fridays is a weekly look at flowers through the lens of what they might teach us about flowering fully in our life. Past editions are here.