Month: May 2020

Overwhelmed? Have faith.

Overwhelmed? Have faith.

One of the few relics of my childhood is a silver charm bracelet my grandmother gave me. One of the charms is a tiny sphere containing a single mustard seed. My grandmother used to tell me that if I had faith–even if only enough to be contained in that tiny mustard seed–anything was possible. Although she wasn’t particularly religious, she was referring to a Bible verse. And although I’m also not religious, the image of the mustard seed and its symbolism came flooding back to me this week.  We are in shadow times. It has been a shadowy week for […]

Holding space for each other

Holding space for each other

By now, we are used to standing six feet apart as we encounter each other in public places. Using the invisible barrier of space, we protect each other from getting sick, and that’s one thing our world needs at the moment. But I wonder what kind of world we could create if we could learn to metaphorically hold space for each other. I first encountered the term “holding space” when I began practicing Qoya, although the idea is certainly not particular to that practice. Coaches and therapists do it all the time. Holding space means consciously being present with another person, accepting […]

Trusting the space between

Trusting the space between

I spent last week in the garden. It’s not something I normally do, but I’ve been in Texas helping my elderly mother. This morning as I was admiring the neat rows of bright yellow and pink flowers I’d planted and visualizing how lush they would look when I next visited, the neighbor brought over some gorgeous purple sage from her garden, perfect to fill an empty spot.  She noted that once transplanted, the sage would be droopy for a few days and then begin to perk up. By afternoon, it looked a lot worse than droopy—it appeared near death. And […]

Happy Mothering Day

Happy Mothering Day

Happy Mothering Day While I am so grateful to have been treated like a queen yesterday, I have to admit, I have never been a big fan of Mother’s Day. It just doesn’t seem inclusive enough. The act of mothering is something we are all called to do, whether we have birthed a human or not. It’s a disbursement of feminine energy, although I don’t believe it is particular to women. To me, mothering—and what should be celebrated—is the creation and nurturing of relationships of all kinds. The tenderness, the giving, the care, the sacrifice…the unconditional love. It’s expressed in so many ways, […]

Re-entry

Re-entry

I’ve often wondered how it feels to be an astronaut returning to earth after a long space mission. I’m sure it takes them a while to adjust to gravity and get their land legs.  But aside from that, do the sounds of everyday life seem loud and grating? Do they have any trouble relating to family and friends? Do they have a weird sensation of their home feeling extra spacious compared to a space capsule, but at the same time the world seeming tiny compared to the cosmos they have been floating around in? I’m betting whatever it feels like, […]

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