Restore your spirit.

Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing. — T.S. Eliot

As I write this, a banditry of chickadees (that’s their plural noun!) is ravaging our bird feeder. They fly back to their little hollows in the trees, storing piles of food for later, because they know they’ll need this nourishment to sustain themselves.

This year has stripped us bare and brought us into our depths. Now we’re in the season of stillness: the time after things have ended, and before things begin.

What has sustained your spirit this year?

It’s a good time to make a list of what nourishes your soul, and make sure you have enough of it.

Here’s my list:

My writing group, and our daily Zoom church

Voxer and Whats App chats with friends

Mary Lattimore on Spotify

The Enneagram

The teachings of Ruth King and Resmaa Menakem

Taking really, really good care of my plants

This podcast with Jonathan Goldstein

Removing the Instagram app from my phone

This beet, oat, and prune smoothie by Anna Jones

Non-linear time

Lemon zest, in everything

Jillian Michaels’ fitness app

The OA (on Netflix)

Canoeing and camping

Sparkly fountain pen ink

Paperblanks journals

Stickers

Talking and listening to trees

Getting reading glasses

My tarot deck

Watching and mapping the moon, the stars, and the planets

Tasting and appreciating new varieties of these locally-roasted coffee beans

Cooking with the wild herbs and weeds that grow in my yard

Reading N. K. Jemisin, Naomi Novik, V. E. Schwab, Charlotte Wood, and Nnedi Okorafor

This song by Toni Jones

My word of the year: acceptance

My wish for the new year:

That we have time and permission to feel quiet, even for just one part of every day. That we learn how to accept stillness, so we can rest, release, and restore our spirit. And that we all receive more of what sustains us.

love,

Photo credit (top): Ellen Jantzen, To Time and Life, from eyebuyart.com

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