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
Yesterday I had a conversation about how having a ritual {or a nourishing something that's just for us} that we do each day can be the one thing that keeps us feeling filled, not just going but going happily, with that little bit of extra energy (even when sleep alludes you). Of course, we can go quite wonderfully without that little nourishing rhythm in our day too - but it can make all the difference on some days.
My time by the sea with my camera, notepad and pen has been a weekly dose of nourishment for me this year. It's most often meant solo time too, before I begin work. And lately it's been just a handful of minutes that it's taken to fill my heart and soul, to recharge and take stock. Perhaps I needed more time in the beginning, but lately it's been so much less - and I think that's because this has become a ritual; helped by the fact that I now effortlessly {no guilt} grant myself this time each week to just be. Just as you get better at something when you practice it, I think you get better at tuning in, letting go, relaxing and reconnecting by creating a weekly/daily space for it too.
xx
Do you do something each day or weekly that's just for you? Something to nourish your body or heart or soul?
{~ Finally catching up on sharing this year's photo project - weekly images by the sea. Above are images 26-33 and one extra! Elisa x}
As winter dances it's way into our days, time by the sea almost certainly equates to windy, cold and sprayed by water from crashing waves...
This week I arrived early enough in the morning to surprise myself, and stayed long enough to watch the sky's colours change majestically. All the while the sea remained its dark and moody self.
I was reminded of the many changes happening here right now, some inevitable, others chosen... and I kept thinking just how easily I could get swept up and rocked into a rhythm of looking ahead at what most likely will be, at changes expected... how easily I could be filled with anticipation, so much so that the here and now isn't fully felt at all. I can feel the pull in that direction right now... but that's very much not where I want to be.
And so I witness the changes, and give thanks for what is... for the love I have to give, and the love I readily receive; for full nurturing breaths; for minutes alone by the sea; for little feet that run, dance, tip-toe, stomp and follow me along the floorboards; for the sound of laughter that graces our house every single day.
I choose to not be swept up with anticipation, instead to honour the now and these very moments, all the while trusting in the next.
xx
{So very many reasons I love the practice of gratitude - it brings me back to my core - to the essence of me; it keeps me mindful; it reminds me to stop and just be; it reminds how my happiness almost always comes from the simplest things; and it always shows me beauty and wonder in the everyday. Elisa xx}
{Images 22/52 in my by the sea series.}
What are you most grateful for today?
I've struggled this past week. My rhythm has been less restorative than I hoped, sickness struck and then exhaustion set in one too many times.
After talking it through, and letting go of the swirling that was my head, a fragment of clarity presented.
And I made a decision. A simple, small choice. Yet a deeply nurturing one to reset my days and restore my rhythm, and replenish my heart.
We drove to the water, as we so often do, but to a spot we rarely visit to watch the water in its natural rhythm, to capture it in photo and for me to witness my internal rhythm and let it recalibrate to slow.
My heart, body and mind are thanking me for this little exercise. Because today feels refreshed, new and so much like a holiday.
xx
{I hope holiday mode has well and truly set in for you... Elisa xx}
I'm working working working right now. And while I do love what I do, there's a part of me that knows {and believes} that this time of the year isn't meant to be the rushed chaos it often turns out to be.
To me, the rhythm of summer is meant to be about play, and family, being together and slowing down to take in sun-shining days (although the sun hasn't been out and about that much around here lately), for spending time soaking up my girls, for winding down after the school year, for taking stock and looking back at all that's happened - all that we've achieved together and individually - and taking it in. A time for slowing to the point of noticing where we are, how far we've come and enjoying time to just be.
I want that. And by the water (no matter the weather, and with my girls) is where I truly want to be right now.
But I'm plodding along steadily, getting items ticked off my work to do list, meeting deadlines and counting down til December 20. Because that's when I'm putting myself on enforced annual leave for a week or so. That's when that slowing and internal rhythm will surface strongest. In the meantime, it's a mixture of slow and fast, but with just enough slow to nourish my body, mind and heart and see me through.
xx
Are you rushing to get things done before the holidays? At which point in the lead up to Christmas, do you let yourself truly slow down? xx
>> If you live in Melbourne, check out the giveaway over on my facebook page - you could win a photoshoot with the gorgeous and very talented Laura at Perla Photography + a CD of images from the day + one print of your choice from With Grace & Eve shop - just by liking our pages and sharing the giveaway post. If you're interested, see details on Wednesday's facebook post here.
