Progressus

I started my day today with this surprise in my inbox, and it brought me so much joy!

I remember how much reading as a child brought me feelings of happiness, comfort, safety. and excitement at being transported into other worlds. My mother brought that love alive in me, with her love of reading books and poetry, her love of language and enjoyment of storytelling and writing.

Yesterday, as the Ethereal Foundation's directors shared how much they enjoyed the enthusiasm and explorations I encouraged around the book I read to their first group of children, I felt thrilled. But it actually sparked nostalgia and gratitude, so much gratitude for my mother's formative role in many of the things that actually spark joy for me.

I'll be telling my mom about this experience, and saying heartfelt thanks for giving me the ability to play through interaction with books. Some books brought lots of schoolwork and responsibility and even pressure, and she insisted on excellent performance at school, but she also helped me to carve out a transformative relationship with a second set of books. That second (but not secondary) relationship keeps me excited to wander into bookstores and ooh and aah around new books, to share my books with others, and to tell stories so I can see eyes light up and excited conversations spill out of eager mouths and hearts.

I truly hope reading was one of your childhood joys and has stayed alive in you. I invite you to follow the Ethereal Foundation and come join their activities, all focused on making childhood joyful for children from all walks of life. They're focused on creating more opportunities for children to play, laugh, create, read, and connect, though they say it better than I can on their website. For now, they will have virtual events, but they plan to expand to in-person events as well.

When you find yourself mourning declines in the love and connection we see in society, remember that there are regular, simple people who actually put long hours and their own funds into changing things for the better for people they don't even know (yet). These are the people we should be posting about, rallying excitement and support for.

You choose the society and world we live in through your actions. You decide what people talk about and you shape what is valued in society. And if you, like me, feel thrilled that this foundation is going to support children locally and all around the world through their works, please consider:

(1) telling them your thoughts and

(2) supporting their work by telling friends about their events, becoming a sponsor or partner (by sharing your time, donating books and materials, offering a venue for an in-person event, or even providing funding).

And today, find one person who shaped the best part of you as a child, and reach out to tell them thanks and how they changed your life.

Some days, we seem to be chasing life’s demands so hard but unable to catch up.

That’s the week I’ve had: handling work demands, seeing to the needs of my home circle, rushing from meeting to meeting, arranging for medicines and therapies, magically finding time to get the last minute things my son forgot he needed for his activities, and using every spare moment to tackle random demands that cropped up.

In the middle of the rush, I’d promised a few friends I would show up to support them and I did a pretty good job of doing that, but sometimes it happened by choosing my friends over what I needed in the moment.

That’s exactly what life’s about. Sometimes we give to someone else and it reminds us we also need to give a little more to ourselves. So, I’ve decided to give everyone (including me) a beautiful gift we all would benefit from.

I’ll be running a free 5-day meditative art workshop at 5-5:30pm EST (6pm Trinidad time) from Monday February 12 to Friday February 16. That’s the week of Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day around the world, and Carnival on top of that here in Trinidad and Tobago.

So many participants loved it when I ran it a couple of years ago that I couldn’t think of a nicer gift to give everyone in this month that focuses on romantic love and Divine love.

The Meditative Art workshop runs inside my group, The Thrive Collective. Just follow this link and ask to join us:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/ourthrivecollective/?ref=share&mibextid=S66gvF

Looking forward to welcoming you and enjoying some shared time to look after ourselves. The group brings extra opportunities for connection and sharing our art and reflections. If you don’t want to join the group, DM me so we can create a way to let you join the workshop.

STOP IT!…

…If you see someone who’s physically crushing it, and immediately inventory all the ways you fall short.

…if every twinge in your muscles makes you stress about the fact that you’re aging.

…if you’re comparing yourself to others and feeling shameor harshly judgmental of yourself.

Give yourself the gift of:
1) feeling gratitude for the wonderful things your body helps you do right now
2) loving your body
3) starting to allocate some time for loving and caring for your body in ways you haven’t been able to, recently.
4) looking forward to additional capabilities you will develop as you take more care of your body.

This is what I’ve been doing. And it feels good to be adjusting my relationship with my body in this way.