"Solitude is a silent storm that breaks down all our dead branches; yet it sends our living roots deeper into the living heart of the living earth"- Khalil Gibran ✨

Have you been feeling the pull inward as we approach the winter solstice and just after the dark of the recent new moon? I sure have. For me, time alone is non-negotiable. I start to get grumpy and testy with my loved ones if I haven’t carved out some nourishing solitude. In the early days of being a mama, it was especially hard to find enough (or any!) alone time.

Now thankfully I get a lot more time alone but much of that time is spent working on the computer. And I’ve needed to remind myself lately that solitude- that delicious time to myself spent in quiet creativity, reading or walking- is a different quality of aloneness than productive working. 

So I’ve given myself permission to do less, to reconnect with myself and have found a deeper sense of awe, wonder and compassion for who I am. It feels like I’m reconnecting with an old friend... 

I offer this to you as I know how easy it is to be busy. How quickly we can disconnect from ourselves. And yet. This life is an incredible a gift (through the pain, through the joy) that we can continue to unwrap if we choose to see it as such.

Pause with me for a moment of practice: Put your hand over your heart. Feel the warmth and gentle pressure of your hand. Feel your heartbeat. Feel the experience of your body in this moment. Feel the experience of your breath in your lungs. Pause and hold those sensations in your awareness. 

Invite a sense of gratitude for your heartbeat, for your body, for your breath. For this beautiful life in all its ebbs and flows, this life, the lessons, this life that is you 💜