Hello beautiful people and welcome to this dose of Celestial Goodness. As always thank you for joining me in this space and on this journey. I am thankful that you are here. Before we move into today’s message, I just want you to take a moment to put your hand over your heart.
Take in a deep breath, drawing air up and into your nostrils, and hold it for a count of 4. Release it by breathing through your mouth to a count of 4. Do that two more times for no other reason than connecting to your breath. I forget that even a tiny moment of deep breathing can feel like an infusion of peace, and peace is something that a lot of people could use right now. Here is the link to this week’s video: https://youtu.be/CfBsgwIP0Fo
I am not going to lie, the last few weeks have “dragged me,” as the young people say. There have been a lot of ups and downs and while I am thankful for the lessons of both, spiraling through a sea of varying emotions can feel exhausting at times. While I can generally keep going and going through it all, as I have gotten older and hopefully wiser, I try to listen to my body when it says to rest.
I grew up thinking that rest was a luxury, but as it turns out, it is essential. Rest is an important part of life’s equation, and an important tool in my own self-care box. I don’t always listen to myself on the topic of rest, but when I do, it always feels good. It allows me to process what is unfolding in in the world and in my own life, and allows me to figure out how best to cope, to thrive, and to maybe impart love and hope where I can.
Did you know that not all rest was created equally? Different personality types might need different types of rest. The Enneagram Coach, Steph Barron Hall, made a list of nine types of rest based on your enneagram type. Even if you don’t know your enneagram type, I think they are still helpful to remember. My primary enneagram type is 3, and so sometimes it is helpful for me to do something “unproductive.” This has been a challenge sometimes, but I always find that it helps me to feel renewed. Downtime is essential for me.
When the world feels like it is burning, it might not be possible to rest as needed, but if you are somewhere safe that allows it, I think it is helpful. You cannot pour from an empty cup, and you cannot help others if you have nothing of yourself to give. Angela Davis said, “Anyone who’s interested in making change in the world also has to learn how to take care of themselves.” If you want to discover your own enneagram type, here is a link to the test that I took (for free). https://www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test-eml
Nine Types of Rest (Steph Barron Hall)
- Time away
- Permission to not be helpful
- Something “unproductive”
- Connection to art and nature
- Solitude to recharge
- A break from responsibility
- Stillness to decompress
- Safe space
- Alone time at home
I had been reflecting on the state of the world, and what I needed to do to feel energetically capable of moving through my own spaces and places, and that coincided with International Women’s Day. I saw a lot of poignant posts, and I thought about what that might mean right now in 2022. On my social media pages I wrote, “the sweet winds of spring have brought with it news of death, of personal evolutions, transformations, life, and of course the ever weighty chaos of the world. Despite it all, and maybe because of it, I am spiraling through all of the emotions. This is what it is to be a woman in these times, what it is for any of us to be part of humanity.”
On both a micro and a macro level, we are experiencing so much—on any given day we can feel joy at something that has happened, but also feel tremendous sadness at other things that might be happening. A lot of people are struggling with guilt from feeling joy or happiness while there are things that are devastating happening all around us. But there is nothing else that we can do—I don’t want to feel guilty about feeling joy just because there are things to feel outraged about. As humans we are capable of holding space for a wide range of emotions and feelings. We can honor them as they come up.
We can dance with our joy and also feel that something should be done about the injustices that we see. What does it mean to be a woman in this day and age? What does it mean to just be human? What are the things that we need to get up each day and to keep putting one foot in front of the other on this journey of life? I don’t have all of the answers, actually, I don’t have any answers.
The poet Rupi Kaur, has a beautiful poem that says, “What is the greatest lesson a woman should learn? That since day one, she’s already had everything she needs within herself. It’s the world that convinced her she did not.”
And I think that goes for everyone—we do have within us so much that can make life a beautiful thing—for ourselves and others. We have enough love, enough caring, enough kindness, enough compassion and empathy. We also have the outrage, the anger, the disgust to say no to things that are not of the world we would like to see. These days, on any given day we need the whole range of ourselves.
So in the last few weeks since we have connected in this space, I have been working, reading, grieving, loving, learning, trying to rest, and living life as best as possible. Admittedly, I sat for a long time, procrastinating on writing my blog and on adding to my channel because what do you say when the world feels like it is constantly burning? That is how it has felt and yet it was apparent to me that more than ever, it was important for me to create something for Celestial Goodness. I created this space for a time such as this. The welcome banner on my blog says, “This is a space of love and positive vibrations. It is a safe space for uplifting one’s soul.” It did not say that I would do these things only when the world felt good. Sometimes, it is in the darkest moments that we remember the coming of the dawn.
L.R. Knost wrote these beautiful words, words that I find myself sharing more and more. “Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.” And that is the message for this dose of Celestial Goodness.
There is a lot of uncertainty in the world, but we can rest on the certainties. We start small. We start where we are, with what we have, and we do what we can—for ourselves and for others around us. What might this look like? It might look like rest, like remembering to drink your water for the day, like calling a good friend to check on them, like donating to a cause that is meaningful to you. It might also look like stopping to admire the sunrise, or pausing to feel your breath. It might look like doing your best at work, but remembering that work is not all there is to your life. It might look like sharing funny memes with your friends, watering your plants, and taking small breaks from absorbing endless news cycles.
The world is going through a lot right now, and most of it is heartbreaking, but I maintain that we are all part of the larger mosaic, and if we take these actions where we are, change can ripple out—so what is it that you want the world to be? Please make it so, and please do take care of yourself. May the stars shine brightly over your week, and may it be a beautiful one indeed.
Celestial Goodness 