TODAY'S RENOURISHMENT

Sometimes we just look for something beautiful to set us off right for the day. I don't have babies anymore, not for a long time, but it used to be their powdery smell and soft heads, as they tumbled into my bed that began a good day.  We lived in the country and would hear the cows, as raucous as geese, morning and evening.  

Now the days begin differently.  This month I'm staying in Santa Barbara, CA at our friends' home, where beauty abounds.  My how lucky they are to live here.  From their window I can see the Santa Ynez Mountains and the city below.  There are no mountains in the North Carolina Piedmont where we live; no Pacific Ocean either.  And yet daily we all find something beautiful to begin our day, don't we?  The dogwoods are blooming in the Piedmont. The other day, when still at home, I saw a brown fox out the breakfast room window, beautiful full tail and casual stride. I don't expect to see a fox here on my friends' patio, that would not be welcome. But anyone would love their view.  

Santa Inez Mountains 

 

I also found some writing prompts in Bella Grace magazine, that UK magazine I enjoy.  Its motto is "Life's a Beautiful Journey."  Writing is another good way to replenish ourselves.  

Especially now, we need ways to renourish.  Some of us are on empty, or near it.  It might be because of something personal, but it might also be because we are struggling with the direction of our country. We have a president who hates immigrants, trans children, educators, Federal workers, Ukrainians, Palestinians, Greenlanders, NATO, our allies, judges, the press, researchers, science . . . what else?  It's intentionally disorienting.  

But while we need to resist, we also need to take time away.   We cannot live 24l7 in fear for our democracy.  (Well, actually I do, but life needs to continue.)  

That's why we need to find or do something that nourishes us.  This post is part of my renourishment today. It is a reminder that all the things we love and enjoy and appreciate are still available to us, even in this political maelstrom.    

The first prompt I found in Bella Grace is "Write A Love Letter to Yourself,"  pay yourself the compliments you deserve.  I wrote mine in February 2023, before all this.  Mine is brief but your's may be more fulsome.  Why not try it?  Here's mine. 

"Dear Nina Naomi,  It's OK to be old and a little bit tired and not do too much.  It's OK to have bursts of energy and long quiet times.  It's Ok to sit and read or watch TV.  It's OK to relax with a glass of something good in the late afternoon and cups of tea in the early morning.  It's Ok."

The second prompt is titled "Growing Older with Grace"  and asks, "What have you come to know to be true as you've grown older?"  Well, I realize that I answered that prompt in the post titled "Life Lessons, Just a Few."  But what I wrote in February 2023 was, "What I know to be true is that I can trust my intuition." 

In my life, nothing has been more reliable than my intuition but I didn't realize it, or give voice to it, until a time of serious decision making.  My intuition opened my eyes to facts I was avoiding and made me brave.  A different prompt might be, "When have you been brave?"  

Another thing I've learned to be true is that magic, or what seems like magic, can be another name for God's grace.   All those things we can't explain, seeds growing, the feeling you have when a dragonfly chooses you, the miracle of a baby reaching for your face, are God's grace.  You can name dozens more.  

I've also learned that people and relationships can be redeemed.  Words come first, then actions.  "I am sorry.  I repent my actions, thoughts and deeds.  They not only harmed you, whom I love, but were wrong."  Then the action of change, whatever that may be.  Relationships that have been threatened or broken can be revived, reloved and restored.  People too.  

And finally, I've learned that the last great healing may be death.  Sometimes only God can care for us, no one else.  I read a story about a woman whose granddaughter said, "Grandma, don't ever die."  Her reply, however she said it, was essentially, "Don't bind me to this earth."  That flowed from her heart like a song.  Heaven is the most magical of all, the ultimate manifestation of God's grace. 

As I read this over before pushing Publish, I realize that thoughts can renourish, maybe better than anything.  I hope your day has been filled with things that renourish, good things that fill you with a joy in living.  And if not, I hope tomorrow.               With love, Nina Naomi