Hello, week: we are here.
It is good to be here.
{a breath for being here when we get here}
Thank you, week!
This is the 410th week in a row we are chickening here together!
What’s been working?
Being near water. Trusting my gut. Listening.
I might try…
Headphones in sooner. And/or change location sooner.
Naming the days.
This week was the week of wild into wonder, and these were the days.
Permisison to hide. I am safe and free. Learning about sanctuary. Wild and free. Full of awe and wonder. Magnificence. What do I really want.
Upcoming biopic if it were based on this week…
My way makes less sense but it’s also more fun.
8 breaths for the hard, challenging and mysterious.
- Now is reminding me so much of Then, in ways that are downright eerie. A breath for remembering that really and truly now is not then.
- Oh everything takes longer than I think and is more expensive than budgeted for. A breath for spaciousness and plenty.
- Too many balls in the air. A breath for doing less, choosing ease, and a new metaphor.
- The thing where people try to work through their stuff using me, instead of turning inward and figuring it out. It is so exhausting and unnecessary and it gives me migraines. A breath for peacefulness.
- Going my own way is important, and sometimes it is also lonely. A breath.
- I said this last week, still true. Craving sanctuary, ease, a place for me to write and take care of myself. A breath of steadiness.
- I just want a home that is my home. A breath of trust and safe passage.
- 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.
- Magnificence. A breath of expansiveness.
- A fun night of dancing in Astoria, and three private lessons with my teacher. A breath for grace and play.
- I trusted my instincts and extended my holiday on the coast for four more days. A breath for certainty.
- It is supposed to be 102 degrees (39 celsius) this weekend in Portland, and I am not there. A breath for escape.
- I know what I want and I know what I don’t want. A breath of quiet trust.
- It used to take me a very long time to remember that Shit Is Not About Me when other people are in their shit and trying to make it about me. Now it is so clear and so easy. This is their stuff, I can wish them love and luck and ease with their stuff, and I don’t have to take it on because it has nothing to do with me. A breath of presence.
- Feeling awake, inspired, excited about adventure and possibility. A breath for the open road.
- Thankfulness. Treasure in the form of the softest drizzling rain, the best view, surprise ease, surprise playmates, surprise staircases, surprise surprises. So much treasure. 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.
Superpowers I had this week…
Last week I asked for the power of knowing how great I am, shining a light, taking space for myself, combining wildness and wonder. And this ended up being the theme of my dance lessons with my teacher, so I got to experience this both on the dance floor and beyond. More please!
Powers I want.
The superpowers of deep rest, I want to be so well-rested and peaceful that I do not miss any internal intel about how I feel, what I need and what needs to change in my environment. And I want beautiful sweet surprises.
The Salve of The Deepest Rest and Replenishing.
When I was seventeen and eighteen, I worked in the orchards on the kibbutz, rising at 4:45am, stumbling my way to coffee and tractor, climbing trees all day. My afternoon naps were the best naps I have ever experienced, quite possibly the best naps in the world, but the Friday afternoon naps at the end of the work week surpassed them all. The most indescribably blissful healing sleep, sinking into a state of softness beyond dreaming, waking up feeling gloriously restored, vibrantly alive.
This salve is the distilled feeling of both the nap and the waking. It is made of flowering, cat-like stretching, joyful aliveness, spreading roots, drawing power from the earth.
Playing live at the meme beach house — the Fake Band of the Week!
This week’s band is:
Claw Foot Rub
Their latest album is Always Water, and this band is just one guy.
Announcement time….
More to come soon, but I left the monster manual in the place that used to be the the shop. So if you missed the closing of the shop, there is still something beautiful for you!
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!
Offered in the spirit of play, adventure, and being one’s own (odd) self, after reading the VPA, I wrote a poem using mostly words from that post and the one before.
I strongly feel like I should share it, even though I know the whole thing is weird.
{The unusual capitalization is because it’s a double acrostic.}
Hello my boundaries resonating through rituaL
A body of work with power and presence reflects detaiL
Visiting Astoria makes sense of river treasurE
If breathe shifts to breeze, can job savor aplomB?
~Mea
DOUBLE ACROSTIC!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 + thank you
I love it!
Playful poetry YAY!
Oh, I *want* to talk about my week, and yet I also want to tap-dance around the stories that aren’t mine to tell. I shall take shelter in secret code.
Hard stuff:
Operation Fresh Prince is stalled, horribly stalled, and I don’t know what to do. There may be little to nothing that I *can* do, aside from extreme self-care.
I keep hearing songs of Doom and Gloom, and I do not want to sing along or even clap my hands.
Now that I have my sea legs, I still wonder about our fragile craft. Can we make this voyage?
Good stuff:
Operation Queen Latifah is lighting up the sky!
I have just decided to act as if extreme self-care is the solution to everything. It may well be!
Sending love and fair breezes to Chickeneers everywhere…
Ohhh double acrostic!
Also ohhh “I strongly feel like I should share it, even though I know the whole thing is weird.”! I know that feeling, and I love how you acknowledged it!
Sparks about “Shit is not about me”, and turning inward instead of trying to work through stuff using innocent bystanders, which is a lesson I am learning-forgetting-relearning (as lessons go) in particularly intense (and sometimes ouchy) ways.
Worked: Smiling. Such simple, powerful magic. Also laughing yoga.
I had a week of “Bring It! I am ready and steady.” A very weepy and intense week in which I felt challenged and kinda crumbling fraying at the edges. And then I remembered to breathe and smile, and how to find my edges. And then I still felt challenged but also supported at the same time. Strong. Thank you, week.
Revelation of the week: I am the captain. I am also the ship. The captain’s job is to make sure the ship is seaworthy (or spaceworthy, depending on what sort of ship it is).
The hard:
– referendum vote coming up and all the fear and hostility that’s been stirred up
– so cold! it’s June!
– forcefield in shreds, will I ever be fit for anything beyond a very short joyride around the harbour
– working when I said I wouldn’t work, captain needs to enforce some orders here
– that stuckness that a project gets at the 15% complete mark, when all you can see is how much hasn’t been done, and start mistaking ‘incomplete’ for ‘not very good’
– fretting about this in a non-work week
The good:
– a divine dark chocolate with apricot in the middle
– singing feels so damn good
– feeling like I’m beginning to get there with money, sort of
– recognising patterns like a boss, and not feeling guilty any more
– making beautiful things, and recognising beautiful things
Things to try:
Talk to me who is the captain. Talk to me who is the ship.
The Hard:
The No Friends monsters are warming up off stage. I can hear them clearing their throats and singing scales getting ready for the chorus.
The chorus is so boring.
The Good:
Kayaking swimming and skin that isn’t just pure white anymore.
There is just enough rose’ left.
Spent time with actual friend yesterday.
The chairs in the front yard are calling for me to come and sit and read.
Saturday chicken! Cluck!
What worked this week: Sobriety. Sticking to the purge list: no sugar, soda, gluten. Praxis.
The suck:
-total lack of focus at work
-lack of follwo thru and some driopped balls
-the contraction after the expansion.
-weird games
-the husband’s unrelenting bullshit, including his
Lst summer i gave up Friendly Dogs forever. I wanted something better, in all ways, somethign more authentic and real and safe and sacred. Something better has shown up. i dont know what is to come of all this swirling energy of transformation, but sometimes its exciting and sometims it just makes me angry that i am missing things that i should be able to count on. I am trying to let go of dead certainties in order to embrace new possibilities but it is so hard.
the sparkle:
-the writing is GOOD, it is mo’betta
-i am getting solicited for writing, swooon
-i’m feeling that NRE and i love it.
-i wore my Crown and it felt so good
-new adventures
-heart felt prayers
-June. June!
Hello, Monday and Hi, all. I’m smiling to you
Hearing weird stories in my head this week that I’m not sure what to do with. On the downside, recognizing them as precursors to guilt/self sabotage/many negative patterns. On the upside, RECOGNIZING them!!!!!!! Wanting to Own them, in the sense of Stewardship. Wanting better language of ownership.
Recognizing so many things, watching patterns arrive and vibrate and morph and dissipate and reappear. Dancing with Very Old Patterns, drifting, nudging kindly when I can. The best: Listening. Noticing.
Yuck when brain doesn’t X… Recognizing needs for Patience and Rest.
Operation T. moves at a glacial pace.
I wish for Superpowers:
Creating Spaciousness.
Softening Body.
Resting In Trust.
Being Who I Am.
Yes@different ways yet there being magic (or fun) in that!
And my, I’d like to gently smooth some of your sweet balm over all of me.
The Grim:
~ keening badly for C
~ family members who need to be avoided/contact minimised because they drain energy
~ Everything plays out in my Body (sweet body)
~ Grief, and finding a million different ways that this Is *sigh*
~ horrid cold winter weather
The Magical:
~ precious exciting news, AND delivered in the most sweet and loving way
~ solar powered string lights that switch on at dusk, glowing unexpected magic
~ misty mornings with muted sounds
Superpowers:
~ I was the Plant Whisperer this week *beams*
~ I wish for the magic of Everything Falls Magically into Place
Gentle wishes and the Glow of String Lights to all,
Magic x
Cluck-cluck-flap-flap…
What worked? Taking flashcards to the bar.
Maddening:
* Paying for lettuce and then forgetting to take it to the car.
* Bug bites
* Diphenhydramine sfx
* Mouse in the dog food bin
* Passive-aggressiveness
* Reading and hearing about the rage-inducing cluelessness + entitlement rampant among friends and family of a convicted rapist
* My state legislature
* The “why not me” wahs
Delicious, delightful, reassuring…
* It was the lettuce I left behind, not the eggs. And I can afford to not go back for it.
* Class-action settlement checks larger than I expected.
* Spending my lunch hour on a graphic novel.
* Quodlibets.
* Wham-boom times three!
* Fun pants for .99 –> compliments.
* Plants I planted bearing fruit.
* Treating the intern to lunch; in doing so, feeling connected to the terrific editor who was my boss/mentor when I was in college.
Warm wishes to all y’all.
Mmmmmm that salve of deepest rest & replenishing is just what I need.
I had the most amazing week on Retreat but I did not sleep very well or very much and so coming home I was looking forward to sinking into my bed for much needed replenishment. And yet even here I got fitful sleep and much wakings. I need to get quiet and see if there’s some intel for me on how to get that deepest rest to happen.
-o-o-o-o-o pebbles and hearts for all