Intentionality
Greetings lovely one,
Usually, I’m all for planning the year. You know, vision board workshops, journaling, and even coming up with that one-word intention, but I’m just not feeling it this year. Well, not like how I used to view these kinds of things. I’m tired of how I’ve complied with the productivity experts, the minimalists, or whatever else I was trying to keep up with to be the best version of myself. And I’m not even sure why I was trying to run that race anymore. Don’t get me wrong; I am a dreamer, which often results in me making plans to see those dreams come true. But I’ve wondered if I could live with intention without basing my life around lists of accomplishments I thought I should achieve or a picture frozen in my memory of what my life is supposed to look like once I’ve finally become all of the things I thought I should be - finally convincing me that I am enough.
Earlier this month, I walked a beach park and witnessed the sunset on my way to dinner. I count it a blessing to be someplace I never imagined at this point in my life, especially in my socioeconomic circumstances. But here I am, an invited pilgrim, I realize, on one of the islands that make up Hawaii. As I sat and watched waves crash against the stone wall, I paused and savored the sacredness of the ocean and her call to my soul. I prayed my gratitude. I swallowed deep breaths and centered down as taught by the contemporary mystic, Dr. Howard Thurman. "This. I need more of this." I thought. And I didn’t need to "take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea” to have it. (Psalm 139) One moment to rest my feet, my flesh at peace felt more important than the tradition of hurrying, rushing, and hitting the ground running.
Covid and all the loss it brought have taught me to slow down, pause, listen, to be more contemplative. I'm digging deeper into what a spirit-led creative life looks like for me as a writer and a healer and that day, that moment at the beach park felt like a way to practice living into that possibility.
So, that’s where I’m at, I’m being more intentional about living the questions around what it means to be well and whole and letting the goals and all that jazz flow from that place.
We talk about healing and transformation, but what does that really mean to you, dear ones?
Peace, Love, and Wellness,
Lynette
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What’s the Buzz? Here’s what’s happening
March: “Testimonies to Mercy” is a seven-part traveling series based on the lecture Better Than Good: Seven Testimonies for Quaker Caregiving, by Quaker practical theologian and public minister Windy Cooler. The series invites participants to reconnect and rebuild their lives together through education, the time to be tender, emotional separateness and openness, equality, truth, lament, and hospitality…I’ll be presenting on Lament on March 10th and 11th. Learn more and Register here.
Available now: I’m a contributing writer to the latest edition of Illuminate — the only Bible study curriculum written by Friends (Quakers). Faith groups and communities all over the US and some in other countries will be using this study guide in March, April, and May. So can you! You can purchase a print or digital copy of Illuminate here.
Ongoing I’m co-creating stigma-crushing, mental health awareness merch for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Wear your support!
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Community Member Kudos
Congrats to Mentor and Fellow Love Agent, Dr. Kesha Moore who is the Research Manager for the Legal Defense Fund’s (LDF) Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI). She has been selected to the second cohort of the Culture of Health Leaders Institute for Racial Healing (CoHLI), a program of the National Collaborative of Health Equity. Read all about it.
Tales from the blog keepers
We mean well. But sometimes we can cause more harm than good when intending to comfort someone grieving. There are simple ways to support those who are grieving if we know what to say and what to avoid.
Having trouble writing? When was the last time you encouraged yourself to follow your own hunches, explore, and discover what interests you?
Did you know that writing can help heal trauma? It’s true! Research backs up what some of us intuitively know, “emotional writing” can improve people’s physical and emotional health.
Muse of the month
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Blerd’s the word
Oldie but still goodie…Cloudie McDoom posted an updated version of this and I wasn’t sure if I ever shared the original… so here it is. (Seriously, my nerdy heart loves this stuff!)