Feeling stressed?

Not sure if you're coming or going? Join the club, you're in good company.

Sarah McLachlan has been singing Love Come in my earphones as I wrote this. The lyrics are likely written about loving another person. As I study them, though, I can envision an alternative perspective regarding self-love, hungering for your own tenderness regarding what you require of yourself. I’ve included a few lyrics throughout this post and will include them all at the end.

Ever feel like you aren’t sure whether you’re coming or going?

Nature is feeling the same this year. The photo above is from my garden a week ago. Our magnolia tree is beginning to bloom, having just lost its leaves weeks ago, and winter is still 13 days away. What???

I take comfort from Mother Nature. If she’s confused, then it’s reasonable that I might feel the same from time to time.

Love has taken me in, lifted my load

And in this empty space a wonder grows

A dream of some kind of peace, I could hold up as true

---

Monday night at the end of my yoga class, I read a passage from The Yamas & Niyamas by Deborah Adele, which turned out to be an excellent choice given the conversation my students and I were having before class about feeling the need to slow ourselves to alleviate the overwhelm we were experiencing as of late.

Because we have not taken the time to “catch up” with ourselves, we are living on the leftovers of where we have been or the preparations of where we are going. Deborah Adele

The stressful feelings we discussed in class may result from the seasons changing and winter approaching, encouraging us to decompress, slow, and rest. Or it could be that many of us still pile way too much on our plates… (in the background, the sound of the gavel striking wood), guilty as charged.

You call and I come running

I can sense the flood before it breaks

And I'd do anything to dry your tears

To let you know you're safe

These lyrics speak to me. How often do I neglect myself and turn away from calm to patch the dam or even my perceived notion that the dam is in trouble? What if I trusted myself as well as the universe surrounding me? What if I didn’t respond with a knee-jerk reaction feeling the need to rescue?

Sharing more of Deborah’s wisdom from her chapter, Saucha: Purity, Gathering the Scattered Pieces of Ourselves— even that subtitle resonates.

Not only does purity ask us to subtract the illusions we impose on the moment, but it also asks us to gather ourselves together so that our whole self shows up to the moment.

The practice of purity asks us to slow down and do one thing at a time.

Hurrying, multi-tasking, and busyness, all symbols of success in our culture, are killers of purity.

What constitutes a full plate? The question elicits different responses from each of us.

Perhaps purity will stand behind me in the coming year, alerting me when I’m scattered and giving less than my full attention; or better yet, maybe I’ll not look for outside guidance and rely on my instincts, making them-- making me the priority. It’s still a big ask, even at 68.

Love come, light up the shadows

Let the beauty of you enter in

I have hungered for a (my) tender touch

A long and lonely time

---

Wishing you all a calm week amid the holiday rush. Remember to breathe. Seriously, breathe deep while standing in those holiday lines. Take three deep breaths if you are feeling stressed, wherever you are. People aren’t really paying attention to you. They are wrapped up in their own stress. Breathe on… and own it. That glorious oxygen is magic.

Next week I’ll be chatting about year-end intentions, my last post of 2023, a break for me and a break for your inbox. But I can’t promise I won’t at least send a holiday greeting or two. Oh, and be sure to scroll to the bottom of the lyrics below… there’s a little something new. It only took me two months to figure out how to do this. I’m pitiful when it comes to tech. Thanks be to my dear neighbor/friend who is also a writer, Deborah Garner, for helping me learn how to use Canva. Check out her website for her newest Christmas book Evergreen Wishes at Moonglow.

If this post strikes home and you have something to share, please head to the comments.

Love Come, Sarah McLaughlin

Love come, light up the shadows

Let the beauty of you enter in

I have hungered for a tender touch

A long and lonely time

I've seen, much more than I want to

So much anger, so much pain

A line is drawn and lives are torn apart

The wounds too hard to heal

Love has taken me in, lifted my load

And in this empty space a wonder grows

A dream of some kind of peace, I could hold up as true

Never knew anything about love before you

You call and I come running

I can sense the flood before it breaks

And I'd do anything to dry your tears

To let you know you're safe

Love has taken me in, lifted my load

And in this empty space a wonder grows

A dream of some kind of peace, I could hold up as true

Never knew anything about love before you

Love come, light up the shadows

Let me drink the beauty of you in

For I have hungered for a tender touch

A long and lonely time

Love come