Hello, week: we are here.
{a breath for being here when we get here}
Thank you, week!
This is FOUR HUNDRED weeks in a row we are chickening here together!
CAN YOU BELIEVE WE’VE DOING THIS FOR SO LONG?! I can’t.
What worked this week?
Starting the day with three minutes of down dog.
Looking for surprise good news.
And practicing rejoicing over the arrival of anxiety so I could deliver it to THE SECRET MINE where fear turns into jewels. This wasn’t always easy but it was definitely fun to say, “Ooooh! DELIVERY!” each time another batch showed up, which was basically all the time. Yet again, playfulness makes it easier to rewrite patterns.
Next time I might…
Oh, haha, wow, same as last week because I was not able to implement this at all:
Say no to anything that doesn’t sound absolutely enticing.
Naming the days.
This week was the week of welcoming surprise good news, and here were the days:
Powerful and steady. Surprise good news. Full speed ahead towards yes. So many miracles. Even more good news. Entry and ease. Bell views.
Upcoming biopic if it were based on this week…
Everything Ten Times More Complicated Than Necessary: the Havi Brooks Story
8 breaths for the hard, challenging and mysterious.
- Ohmygod it does not even make sense how much time I spent this week logisticking the logistics in various situations. How does anything get done ever? Why so complicated? I have the biggest headache and also the rigged game is ridiculous. A breath for this.
- I am in a situation that is very unfamiliar to me, and want support with it, and the person I thought would assist me wants me to figure it out myself, and this is reminding me of [Then]. A breath for me.
- Someone in my life was in their stuff and threw a shoe at me (said something hurtful), and even though I know in my mind it has nothing to do with me, it still hurt. A breath for ease and for trust.
- Too many decisions waiting to be made, and I don’t know how, and feel so out of my element, and I miss someone who is far away, and everything feels wrong. A breath for assuredness.
- Waiting on intel, and not knowing what my options are. A breath for the just-right solutions, and the home for me, may they find me soon.
- Getting to Seattle for this weekend has proven to be about a thousand times more complicated, frustrating and stressful than anticipated, and now having done all that work to get here, I’m not even sure this is where I want to be. A breath for ease.
- Hard stuff in the external world. Big anxiety and painful memories in the internal world. A breath for safety.
- Inhale, exhale. May all misunderstandings and distortions, internal and external, dissolve in love if not in laughter. May peacefulness prevail. Trust-more love-more release-more receive-more. Goodbye (and thank you), mysteries and hard moments of this week.
8 breaths for the good, reassuring, delight-filled.
- I asked for surprise good news, and I got it. So much of it! So many solutions becoming available, the grand return of hopefulness! A breath of joy for this.
- Feeling moments of big closeness with the beautiful far-away cowboy. A breath of appreciation.
- Had a day of Zoom where huge progress got made on everything. A breath of thankfulness and relief.
- Set something exciting into motion. A breath for this.
- Had absolutely fantastic dances this week, to the point where people were like whoa what just happened. A breath for wild panther prowess.
- Realizing that hey, actually Present Me of Right Now has ZERO PROBLEMS wanting what she wants and ZERO PROBLEMS insisting on the option that takes care of her sanity, even if that option is more expensive. Hurrah! A breath for Yes I Am A Badass.
- I found many lost yeses, and was able to hear my yes much more clearly this week, even had a yes delivered to me in a very obvious dream, which was a delight. And thanks to this, made it to Seattle in time to dance despite a thousand perceived obstacles. A breath of gratitude for my training.
- Thankfulness. Treasure in the form of all the right clues, knowing what I want to write about, saying yes to my yes and no to my no, Not My Bus, extra towels, second breakfast, learning new things. Everything is okay and so much is good. Nothing is wrong, even when I want to believe it is. Now is not then. All Timing Is Right Timing. Thank you for this grand adventure. A full breath of deep appreciation in my thank-you heart.
Sparklepoints, superpowers, salve, fake band of the week!
Current ops and forward movement!
I’m currently in Seattle for Operation Bell View Switch which might also be Operation Bell Views Witch!
Took some important steps on the Studio Op. Was so excited to work on The Fountaining this week, and then all my time gotten eaten up by logistics for Seattle. Reopened investigations into the Wild Wild Nest op, but this time rolling it out in stages. Operations Jubilation and Wild Montage ongoing. And putting The Wild Convening on back burner for now. Thank you, fractal flowers.
I am bestowing vast quantities of sparklepoints upon myself like a fairground stripper, and you are welcome to do the same for you.
Superpowers I had this week…
Last week I asked for the powers of thinking that everything is good news, or at least seeing the possibility for good. That was a good thing to ask for.
Powers I want.
I want the powers of taking exquisite care of myself, more than I think I need, and doing this first.
The Salve of Taking Even Better Care Of Myself, Before I Need It.
This salve is big magic, even for a salve. As I massage it into my skin, I can actually feel what it is like to be someone who does this, almost like a distant memory returning.
Slowly I remember that this is how I want to live, because this is the only way that makes sense. Slowly I remember that the perceived cost — financial, mental, emotional, physical — of taking care of myself, even when it scares me, is actually so much less than the cost of recovering from not having taken care of myself. Slowly I remember that the more I do this, the easier and more joyful it becomes.
I find ways to be sweet and gentle with past-me and with present-me, and this allows me to access resources (internal and maybe also external) I didn’t know were available. I relax into taking care of myself, glad that I am also doing this for future-me. Who knows, this might even become a habit.
Playing live at the meme beach house — the Fake Band of the Week!
This week’s band is:
Extremely Grumbly
Their latest album is called Thirty Hot Seconds, and this band is just one guy.
TWO ANNOUNCEMENTS!
We are doing some reconfiguring and Congruencing, and the shop will disappear VERY SOON, so if there was something you wanted to buy, go ahead and do that before it’s gone. More explanations about [reasons] to come, but it’s all good stuff, and if something is speaking to you, this is a good time. And if you’re not on the list, get on the list because I might tell them first…
And this is the last chance to acquire a pack of stone skipping cards because I’m moving out and won’t have anywhere to store them or the shipping materials, so get them this week! And while you’re at it, sign up for the not-exactly-a-course where we embark on establishing a loving playful practice of self-inquiry, to access previously-hidden gems of internal wisdom and whatever else we might need. Dates coming soon!
How was your week?
Come play in the comments. Share something from your week, take a breath, or just say hi! No rules, my format doesn’t have to be yours, we’ve been doing this every week for years now and there still isn’t a right way.
Everyone belongs. We let people have their own experience. We’re supportive and welcoming. We lovingly refrain from giving advice.
And of course it’s always okay to comment under a made-up name, whether for play and delight, or in the interest of Safety First.
Wishing you a glorrrrrrrrrrrrious day, a restful weekend and a happy week to come.
It’s fine if it’s not Friday anymore. There’s complete chicken amnesty — jump in whenever you like. Blowing kisses to the Beloved Lurkers too!
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Hello friday and cluck!
What a wild week! On Monday my husabdn and i tool an unscheduled mental health day. It was sunny and warm. On wednesday a massive blizzard moved in and dropped 2 feet of snow on us. Schools and my offcie were closed for TWO days. omg! i had been wishing for more time, and huge chunks of it got put in my lap; what a gift!
So much time, I was able to do some much needed congruencing. There was enough time to rest deeply, to work on rpojects, to follow the drift of my thoughts, to sit at the altar and make plans. It was a much needed break for the whole family. So grateful
I am feeling very blessed, all week.
sucks:
-feelig stressed and really, really wanting more time and more rest
-limitations of time and talent
so much sparkle:
-excellent calls with friends
-much progress on everything
-good food
-Sailing!
-i did yoga and shiva nata for a nice long time, joy
-gifts and flowers
-cunning plans
Cluck cluck cluck
The hard:
– brain slugs
– I think I have been ground further down this time round than I have in a while
The good:
– here begins two weeks of holiday
– Star Trek
– planning things! I can see further than the end of my own nose and it’s great!
– planning the Camino Inglés
– planning a labyrinth herb garden (not for this house, because I don’t think the landlady would appreciate my digging up the lawn, and also I don’t think we’ll be here long enough for it to grow, but SOMEDAY)
– in the meantime, I moved the rosemary to a bigger pot, and moved the sweet pea seedlings to the pot the rosemary was previously in, and tidied up the bay tree, and am thinking about getting some sage
– the Annunciation and Good Friday falling on the same day; it won’t happen again until 2157 even if they don’t fix the date of Easter and is hugely important to me because of the Incarnation
– also somebody reminded me that 25 March used to be New Year’s Day. Let’s go with that. (Why shouldn’t I have three new years every year, anyway?)
What worked:
– I got a dispensation to not feel guilty about missing such church as I needed to miss over the Triduum from a friend who is a priest
– taking Thursday off sick (let us be honest: I should probably have taken Wednesday too)
– reading comments here from Last Year Me, and remembering that Operation DELAY (Drop Everything Look After Yourself) worked beautifully and I got lots done the rest of the year
To work on:
– remembering that depression is an actual honest to goodness illness
Love to you all.
I like Operation DELAY, Kathleen. Thank you for that helpful reminder!
Oh I LOVE Operation DELAY! Brilliant!
*cranks up “Thirty Hot Seconds”*
Samedia shalom!
Hard, frustrating, etc.
* Schedule constraints mean time with family/friends in KY and Japan are unlikely to happen.
* Being too damn tired each night to be done with tax prep.
* Dog and I both have leg issues, and I dither on whether we should be doing more to address them.
* Oh, North Carolina.
Good, reviving, etc.
* Friend surprising me with Secret Agent array of nail polishes this week.
* An assessment was greeted with amusement instead of defensiveness.
* The “for quick sale” Anaheim peppers staying fresh for nearly two weeks.
* The slices of Christmas stollen I put in the freezer in January are reheating nicely.
* The trip to Japan can’t happen because I’ll be wrapping up a project on Japan. That amuses me.
* Jennifer Roberts, mayor of Charlotte.
* John Dingell.
Warm wishes to all y’all.
Hello Havi and all!
I will be taking some of that salve and remind myself to use it in about 7-10 weeks when my quarter implodes as school quarters invariably do. I’ve been experimenting with that superpower all year. Taking care of myself is like five of my hundred things list and one of my big goals. I’ve been working on journaling and unplugging after 7pm and taking long quiet baths and prepping my food and going to bed early and painting.I don’t always feel as if I have the time, but I always feel better when I do make the effort. I hit the wall last year as they say in sports… Smashing into walls hurts. So… I’m trying not to smash into my walls and approach them nicely this year.
The hard:
• I finished writing my proposal.
• I’m totally freaked about not having feedback for said proposal.
• My code for the online classroom of the course I’m teaching this quarter expired… and I only found out Friday because I only tried to set up the site Friday, but it shouldn’t have, so now my students can’t access the site until I get a new code.(It should have been good for a year from the middle of last June… it not being June… why my code isn’t valid idk).
The delightful, and the joy filled:
• I turned in my proposal!
• I had one whole week of vacation and rest and recovery and naps.
• Long walks and cuddles with furry babies.
• Massage
• Spa time with friends
hard: Horrible Death Plague
good: very much practice with getting even more rest than I think I need, due to Horrible Death Plague, but also it is helping Horrible Death Plague go away & thus my monsters are going huh, wait, that actually works
upshot: I still want my lungs back but overall I’ll take it
It really *is* the only way that makes sense. Thank you.
400!
Hard: I am feeling angry and sad and hearing monster stories right this minute. It’s no fun at all.
Good: I have support and a gorgeous array of resources, both external and internal.
I think I’m going to take some deep breaths now, and meditate on the phrase “gorgeous array.”
mmmm gorgeous array!
Chicken joy … bouncing 400 memorial bounces of chickenish bounciness!
This week’s hard:
– An embarrassing moment
– Judgement by my HOA … could be expensive
– Nothing in writing about a project approval
– Computer equipment issue, can’t solve til at least next week
– When decluttering, the clutter always gets worse before it gets better (neverending source of monster complaints)
– Want to do yard work, but it’s too cool again
– Can’t get car seat repair job done til end of April, due to workload at the upholstery shop; must continue to lean while driving
This week’s good:
– Luckily, I covered my embarrassment pretty well … we all laughed. Monsters are grumbling but subdued.
– Luckily, I was expecting this judgement and the HOA knows I intend to deal with it.
– Luckily, at least I have verbal approval and it is safe to proceed with the project. I can ask for the written approval next week.
– Luckily, my cousin has recently been through the same computer issue and is cheerfully coaching me through it.
– Luckily, the more-clutter-than-normal is clearly part of an improvement project that I am actually working on solving.
– Luckily, while it’s cooler I can stay inside away from the pollen, plus I remembered to get some allergy medicine.
– Luckily, there is an auto upholstery shop nearby, plus I will not have to replace the car seat.
Wishing a fritzillion sparklepoints for the next 400 Chickens!
Luckily! So much good. And my monsters also are appalled by clutter getting worse before it gets better, never remembering the “gets better” part! <3
The Hard:
Too much traveling meant skipping easter and probably making my mom sad.
Too much asphalt out the window.
The Good:
Got to do lots of chopping with axes and wood this weekend and discovered the joy of getting better at shaping things with my hatchet.
Time with friends when i came home.
Lots of time with Maine with lots of land to tramp about on.
Phone calls from potential new clients.
A quiet day that is all mine.