It seems to be the question for my day.
How are you?
Bill. The server at lunch. The guy behind the counter at our favorite local butcher shop. Friends on the phone and online. My sister.
(I’m guessing this sounds familiar to you, too!)
And the honest answer is, I don’t know.
I’m tired, after a long and rather stressful week.
I’m thrilled to have received a check in the mail for my first Intentional Creativity partnership workshop.
I’m grateful for having had much of yesterday to paint what moved me in the moment. Including big, free circles in both directions.
I’m sad and frustrated and utterly blown away by the news.
I’m blessed with food in my belly and in my freezer.
I’m deeply, deeply sad for the friend who lost a beloved dog.
I’m glad that Sarah is feeling well enough to go chasing some varmint around the back yard in the dark and pissed that, given her tendency to stubbornness, I had to go get her.
I’m hopeful and anxious about new things beginning in my world.
I’m sad that my kids feel far away.
And I’m blown away by a crazy new idea I’m just about going to have to make happen if I can talk the relevant folks into agreeing.
Well, you get the drift…
I learned one time in school that some famous therapist type said we could only feel one thing at a time.
I beg to differ.
Instead, I suspect that life is much more complicated than that and the assumption that we feel this way OR that adds, somehow, to the angst of paying attention.
(I also suspect that being tired complicates all the rest!)
So, what do we do?
Well, there’s soup on the menu for lunch tomorrow. Bird broth and lots of veg and a bit of local smoked chicken sausage.
A sprinkle of stardust certainly wouldn’t hurt!
A few things to cross off the list. The kind that just up the stress when they feel avoided.
And time for creating.
Quite possibly a nap.
Frittata for supper. Yummy and complete with leftovers. And maybe time to hatch up a plan for Valentine’s Day.
It won’t solve all the problems in the world. Or even for the people I love. And so I will add, along with my rather more traditional Presbyterian sorts of prayers, my personal version of the metta, or Prayer for Loving-Kindness:
May I, and all beings, be safe, healthy, happy, free from pain, and at ease. May we be filled with loving-kindness and at peace.
It’s probably going to take a while longer. And it is, if we’re being honest, rather a lot to live in to. And yet, for me at least, it shifts a bit of my focus from how I feel — which may have a lot to do with weather fronts and weird dreams — and reminds me of what I intend.
That seems like a pretty good place to start.
You’re welcome to join me. I think we’re going to need all the folks we can get!