Yes, it is time to passage between months again.
Come in, come in, superpowers of easy transitions. Exit and entry. Passaging out and passaging in.
Let’s see what we know that we didn’t know that we knew.
Passaging out of November. What worked?
Canceling appointments. Curling up. Retreating. Getting quiet. Getting quieter. Not having anything planned. Undoing and undoing and undoing. Hermit-ing.
What really worked was not doing things the way I did last November (traveling and teaching and more teaching). I built in recovery time!
And, eventually, finding the funny.
So long, November. Things I might try differently next time?
Building in more recovery time. Basically take whatever I think I need and multiply it by three. Or by something. Multiply!
Having more of a plan for Hermitsgiving. That involves going away.
Passaging into December. Hello, December!
Hi. I am glad we’re here.
Qualities I want for December.
Quiet. Presence. Sturdiness. Steadiness. Sweetness. Simplicity. Pleasure. Resonance. Reverberation. Serendipity.
I am choosing two words that I want with me in December.
Gemütlichkeit.
Ah, the marvelous and vital German concept that combines all that is good from both coziness and comfort.
Think plush rugs soft under your feet. Warm sweaters. Warm lights and candles. Things that are snug and cozy and pleasurable to touch and look at.
I want to be the snuggliest cat this December. And I want my setting, both at home and at the Playground, to invite that kind of cozy curling up and turning inward.
Another thing that I love about making things gemütlich is that you do it both for others and for yourself. Yes.
Also joyfully borrowing from Aase the Norwegian superpower of Koselig (”KOOSH-lee”; = cozy/comfy/gemütlich), which sounds like exactly what is needed here.
Chanuka. In the sense of: Dedicating.
So yes, the holiday is almost upon us. But I am thinking about the meaning of dedicating a space. Dedicating yourself to something.
Making spaces new through rededicating them. Also experiences. And therefore yourself. Commitment through presence.
I’m turning the page in the Playground calendar.
Ahahaha. Of course the word for this month is presence.
I am loving the word PRESENCE. Which is also secretly the direction of east, for those of us who were at my Crossing the Line eight day retreat.
And then the secret message at the bottom of the page is:
Follow the rabbit holes. They’ll take you where you need to go.
That’s my plan, past-me. That is my plan.
December superpowers?
Ringing all the bells. Lighting all the candles. Watching all the barns burn.
Laughing and then laughing some more.
Trust. Retreating. Trusting in the retreating.
Al hanisim.
As always, remembering what is true. And what is also true.
The superpower of Nothing Is Wrong.
Things I’m working on and playing with in December.
The main project I thought I’d be working on, the design for the 2013 Floop, is already completely ready, so that feels really good. What?! Something is done ahead of time?! Take that, monsters.
Some big Stompopolis pieces.
And of course Emptying & Replenishing (password: compass).
Lots of napping. LOTS of napping.
Things I’m looking forward to in December.
Hannukah and having a bright and cheery kitchen full of colorful candles.
Closing things down. Opening things up. Clearing things out.
Not teaching!
I’m asking for and wishing for….
Peacefulness. Focus. And some peaceful, focused vacation time.
I want to stare at water and watch the horizon. Water and horizon, please.
I’m ready for…
The compass. The bell.
Flowers everywhere. This is important.
And?
I want to be here now.
Goodbye, November. Thank you for everything. Goodbye everything that is done. Thank you for being done. Mmhmm.
Hello, December. I am touching you on the cheek.
Come in, come in. Let’s cross. Over and through.
Play with me…
I mess around with entry and exit each month, going with whatever shows up.
2011: July / August / September / October / November and December. Or 2012: January / February / March / April / May. A love letter to June / July / August / September / October / November.
Feel welcome to deposit notes for your entry into December here, if you like. Or drop off some wishes. Or leave flowers.
As always, we make this a safe space by not telling each other what to do, how to be or how to feel. We make room for each other.
Wishing you a December that is pleasurable, supportive, and full of unexpectedly good things. And love. All the love.
Gemtlichkeit! I have loved this word for years. And now I have a new word to love as well — Koselig — thank you, Aase!
Hello, December. I am asking for the qualities of comfort, joy, peace, and beauty. And the word that has just tapped me on the shoulder, so to speak, and is asking to travel with me this month is: magic. That sounds good. I would like to remember to believe in magic. I would like to think about what that means to me.
Oh, and I am also planting wishes for holiday celebrations that are good and true and satisfying. It appears that we will be in no position to spend in the ways that we have in some recent years; we will need to find other ways to celebrate. I am opening myself to possibilities there. Comfort. Joy. Peace. Beauty. Gemtlichkeit. Koselig. Magic. Yes. Please. And thank you.
(Ah, well, I thought I had learned the way to make an umlaut in html, but it appears that I haven’t. I hereby grant permission to any kind-hearted website mice who would like to edit my comment and fix the problem — and if not, that’s okay, too.) 🙂
I love that you took quiet time/retreating/whatever you want to call it seriously in November. To be honest, I don’t think enough people put value in that. Me? I’m all about becoming a hermit when I need to! 🙂
Hello, December! Rabbit, Rabbit.
November, you were both a bitch and a beauty. I learned a lot from you.
December, you bring your own challenges of competing everythings, so I’m hoping for some kind of super power that let’s me give everyone/thing its due (including me!) to the best of my ability and then not sweat the rest. Really.
As for Rabbit Holes, well, I’m following them in earnest–literally! Much as you have Selma at your side, Havi, my Rabbit Rabbit character seems to think he/she has clearer ideas for my business than I do. Good times.
I’m leaving flowers – for you all and for me – impossibe to have too many flowers, especially in December.
This is wonderful idea! You always have such good ideas. Thank you. I’m leaving a special moon daisy for you all.
Luna
Hello December!
Welcome month of my birth, bright shining star in the dark, dark, dark… I could keep writing dark for a while here. Looooooong nights and short, orange-tinted days.
I’m playing with releasing, which is appropriate in this last month of the year.
Releasing guilt over not being perfect and releasing the need for praise. Releasing tension from my shoulders and releasing the need to thwack myself around.
I am playing with planting seeds. A strange thing to do in December, but the ground is not yet frozen… and even if it were, I could plant seeds in egg cartons and leave them in the windows to catch the late-afternoon dregs of light.
I am dabbling my toes in rest and renewal, and making little moats for that water that protects my castles.
I am also adopting Gemutlichkeit like a cat that I don’t know what to do with. It could start with a cup of tea. A candle.
Goodbye, November.
What a funny month you were. All I wanted to do was write, and I started to… and then all that creativity turned into painting. Which is exciting, and I wonder when the writing will happen. And unexpected futures all sprung into being.
Hello December
I hope you’re a month of magic. I want to spend you gently dreaming of the new year, of new plans and paths. I wish for ease, and trust, and lots of time to play. And coziness and comfort sound like delightful things. More of that please.
I think I will just curl up on the rug and take a nap. It’s cozy here.
Thank you.
November, you were kind. You let me sleep. You let me set the bar superlow and gave me permission and amnesty to not even reach that. You made me stop and be grateful. You were full of unexpected support and gifts of love and help. You agve me the time to sink into Repose, and to feel Enchantment and Replenishment.
In November I went dark.
December, you began with gentle reminders that I need to Show Up. You showed me I had disappeared from several communities, that my lil window on the world had goen inexplicably dark. You have goven me numerous opportunities to figure out what serves, what can be let go finally, what I can ccpmmit to and what I can’t. You have called upon me to state those commitmets. You did it with gentle love and concern.
You showed me again and again ALREADY that I’m working thru an old pattern and I need to Commit and tend to these things. You want me to step into the light.
December I want you to be full of Joy and Koselig and growing Light. I want you to have rest and repose, plenty of that, but also engagement with the warmth and light of the season. I want there to be play and fun, and lots of candles. i wnat more Exiting the Day, and I want wrapping things up with humor and gentleness and ease. I want to Set A Course for 2013, with all the many voyages I’m on. I want deeper cnenction to my Pirate Sloop, and all the systems that keep it afloat.
Oh, December! You sure are glittering, you seductive thing, you.
Let’s enjoy each other this time. And all the people! Let’s fill up on society.
But no January hangover. Let’s set up for a peaceful transition to January by emptying, and knowing there will be emptying.
And glorying in the emptying.
@Kateness: Gemütlichkeit, Gem for short, would be a fabulous cat name.
Regarding “koselig”: I don’t know the person who wrote this, but it’s pretty darn accurate.
http://netanya.wordpress.com/category/norway/page/2/
November. Hmm. A little less hard, overall. More movement, more impulses, internal and external. Theme Days. NVC. Being as kind to myself as I can stand. Noticing and asking for what I need as clearly as possible. Writing a lot.
December. Not a month I’ve been very good friends with in the past. Sorry about that, December. What could be your good qualities this time around?
Light, lights, lightness. Warmth. Fire! Solidity, balance, grounding. Freshness. Bracing…ness? Courage (again). Expansiveness? And the HOW, always.
I think December will also be about Interacting with Actual Live People more. So lots of sovereignty needed. Oceans of sovereignty. Galaxies of sovereignty! Remember: “Self-empathy until you feel curious.”
I am increasingly hungry, starving, *aching* (read: embarrassingly needy) for the coming Year of Floopishness. Surprising intensity there.
What worked in the moon of connection:
-sleeping, specifically at 9:30
-related: habit of waking just before the wretched alarm (yay, time for Shiva Nata–still sparkly to me)
-jokes with the special guy, even after tough conversations
-when in doubt, look for the bird
-accepting and making invitations — with new people
-mainintaining the “I’m new, I can ask anyone anything” policy
-dabbling with new rituals is OK
-planting bushes and letting the rain do the rest (yeah, maybe that’s a metaphor–and that poor transplanted maple seems shocked and haggard, and the rain is dreary looking but necessary work structure)
Next time for November:
Lower expectations? I’ve spent all year websurfing. Really. Why would I suddenly have become a work-robot?
Also, more outdoor time. Just for fun, not out of scarcity mode.
Good to see you, December!
I was a little worried about what you signify. Turns out, all you signify is time for a tooth cleaning (not a proxy, but actually I do need to floss out things left from past nourishments!–I have a year-in-revue outline for that!)
+Qualities
enoughness
brightness!
peace
filled up, satisfied
competence with ease
rest
quiet
creativity
starting immersion
+Superpowers
To leap over tall buildings, even when no one is around to watch.
To leap over really, really small buildings (sheds, maybe, for a dollhouse) and feel just as peaceful…ready for the next one.
November. Such a sad month for so many people around me, but you brought intense beauty too in allowing the trees to keep their leaves for so long and shine in all their autumn colours. Beauty and sadness … and busy-ness. Oh my, I need to rest now.
December. Hello, birthday month (happy birthday Kateness, too!) Thank you for bringing the snow today, it was a beautiful present. I’d also like comfort and ‘KOOSH-lay’ and magic and sparkle. And a hermit’s cloak (with added Invisibility).
Leaving flowers of all kinds for those who’d like them, and (like Aase) hungry to join the Floop crew next year.