Oh Autumn! You've been intense. Refreshing so.
You've taught me about bravery, vulnerability + authenticity. And that's seen me take a chance + embrace change. Ever so gently. Slowly. Slow enough to feel the letting go that change beckons, yet not be swept up + overwhelmed by it's current.
But mostly, this season has reminded me to carve out more time in nature to breathe and be. And in those breaths, I've been reminded why I create. Why I write. Why my heart needs it. Why writing is the key to my balance.
And so, this winter I will take time to delve within. In stillness and in heart. I will take moments of time afforded between mothering and make them mine. From here, I will write. And with my autumn-found courage, I will share.
xx
As the season changes to winter here I'll be turning to these reads:
-
The Way of The Happy Woman*
by Sara Avant Stover {inspiration, yoga + gentleness for the season's rhythm}
- Only Love Today* by Rachel Macy Stafford {seasonal reminders + inspiration as I parent with heart}
- And I'll be most likely playing with this Love Notes card deck* by Kris Carr + Lori Portka all year {bringing awareness to my body, self + situations with love}.
xx
How has this season been for you? Does your rhythm change as the seasons do? Any recommended reads?
I'd love to know. Elisa xx
*affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase these recommendations, a tiny percentage of the price comes back to me.
Before I gave birth to Ruby, I noticed my body calling me to slow. And the week before her birth, slow was just about all I could do. And I chose {what I felt at the time was a conscious decision} to stay present with my baby and maintain as much of that slow for her first few weeks.
But that slow has lasted so much longer. Almost four months in, and I'm just emerging. In slow, I found myself meditating before sleep, waking to practise yoga before the baby fed and reading so so many books. And I found that when rushing presented itself {hello school mornings} I could deal with it much more effortlessly than before.
I have found myself so full on love, and with so much love to give. And that boundless love has surprised me so much. Not that it wasn't there before, but because it seems here more often, and love is my first response so often right now. And because it's shown me a second time what I know to be true - that when another baby comes into your world, that love we share as a family evolves - expands, increases, heightens, grows stronger with every experience we share.
Today I picked up Sara Avant Stover's The Way of The Happy Woman, which I find myself doing as the season's change. And I realised that my desire and need these past few months to retreat from the world, nurture my nest, and write just for me were in line with winter's calling. And my readiness to write for here again, to venture our with friends and be outdoors has arrived just as spring emerges. And I'd say it's no coincidence at all.
xx
Have you read The Way of The Happy Woman? And do you find yourself moving with nature's rhythms too? xx
I stewed over my guiding word for 2014. At first I thought it would be intention. But out of nowhere, and then appearing seemingly everywhere, came the word honour.
And then I realised to honour {my heart, my body, my emotions, my creativity, my soul} was my intention.
I want a year that's filled with more slow, more savouring and more leading from my heart. More finding the rhythm of nurture that works best for me, making that my days, and moving with intention from there. Which really is more of this year, minus the moments where I came a little unstuck...
But honour tells me it was in those moments I learnt my greatest lessons, and walked away a stronger version of me.
Honour is where I want to lead from {a sense of honouring what's right at any given time for me}, follow from {honouring my heart's direction} and from where I will connect with all the parts of a happy and whole me {honouring my body, heart and mind with my choices, activities and time}.
My word is most definitely inspired by my reading of the book, The Way of the Happy Woman. Every word of Sara's resonates with me.
But it also stems from a lesson I know well. Honour {and witness} are a big part of the yoga I practise. Perhaps even the part of yoga I am called to the most right now. In my weekly classes, our teacher reminds us to honour our bodies, and honour where we're at and what we can do on this given day - remembering that our limits {needs, flexibility/balance, emotions, desires} change from day to day.
And so as I move through a sequence and after, I honour and witness my body, thoughts and emotions. And with that comes acceptance, sometimes insight, always presence. But first comes honour.
So this honouring - keeping it as my guide in all I set out to do and achieve - it feels most right for me now. And it feels as though I chose it as much as it chose me.
xx
~ Sharing my one word with Maxabella Loves here xx
Have you chosen one word to guide your 2014? x
