H(a)unting for Joy in all the Usual Places
How have you been? It's already mid-October, and the holiday haze is descending on us. It isn't just the merchandise and shopping that can be draining, but also the increase in events in which you are asked to participate, show up, or provide your child to participate (nay, compete) in these things. It sounds like I am criticizing the hustle and bustle. I guess I am. I am in favor of slow meanderings and non-competing. Much of what we rush toward has something to do with our instincts that require us to prepare for the coming winter. There is preparation and celebration. I am just not ready for either, lol. All of this busyness saps my energy. I have had to increase my efforts to restore balance this month and exercise more. Even though that feels counterintuitive, exercise does increase energy. I have begun a regular qigong practice to build up energy as well. My favorite qigong practitioner on YouTube is YoQi – she often combines yoga practice and qigong and does so in a beautiful landscape. I have no affiliation; I enjoy her offerings, which also exist outside of YouTube.
Since the last time I sent the newsletter out, I have had to do some emergency h(a)unting for joy. Where has joy haunted you while you hunted for it? This is my question today.
A shortlist for me:
- sunrise
- bookstores (especially new ones)
- baking for others
- writing this missive
- strolling down the hot rod lined street on a slow weekend
- or strolling down the street and sitting on a park bench
- painting a little whimsical watercolor
Giving up the Ghost/s
This watercolor was inspired by reading the NPR post (below) and because I am addicted to Andrea.Nelson.Art's easy tutorials. Again, I am not an affiliate, just an enthusiast of things that bring me joy. And these little ghosts bring me joy. 😃
I like this NPR post so much that I am considering using the skills on an advisory choice board for my students.
But the truth about the ghosts is that I am also enrolled in a writing program, digging up my past hauntings (metaphorically). It is fun and scary. Well, it is October, so it fits. All the ancestors come out to play at the end of October, greet us, and walk with us until Epiphany (Jan. 6), or so my grandmother would say.
And all I can think about is Ray Bradbury's opening in October Country:
“That country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain.”
Friends, I hope you enjoy the end of October and all its remaining dusks and twilight. Maybe each of us is an autumn person. To quote another of my favorite (fictional) people, Anne of Green Gables, "I am so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."
Be Well,
~Bridget
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