THINGS THAT MIGHT MAKE YOU FEEL CALM, IN NO ORDER AT ALL

 

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Lantana

THINGS THAT MIGHT YOU FEEL CALM RIGHT NOW, IN NO ORDER AT ALL 

Open your door to the morning Fall air, expansive and cool

Go to bed with windows open, covers under chin as the night air deepens

Listen to the bounty of sounds from the morning birds 

In the afternoon, Watch a butterfly (or two) enjoy Early Fall 

Have an easy supper, maybe leftovers or carry-out or sandwiches

Skip the news.  Tell yourself, "I won't miss a thing,  it will be there tomorrow/next week/forever."

Scroll only on something entertaining.

Don't scroll at all

Have lunch or coffee with a friend

Make a plan to keep up with your family 

pay a compliment

Start a brief conversation with a stranger

Cuddle your partner, Mom, child or pet

Feel love, share body warmth

hold someone's hand, give someone a gentle touch

Read, meditate or pray

go outside yourself and your own fears, give them to God or to the universe

don't believe everything you think

Ask for forgiveness and let something go

Be tender with yourself, breathe and let something go 

Do a few chores and enjoy a clean bedroom, house, patio, or porch

Arrange your things in a way that pleases you, admire what you've done

Sit outdoors and look around you, up at a tree, at the homes on your street; at the dogs, who are always excited to be alive

Be present, pay attention

Take a walk, take your time 

Feel a part of whatever is near you--other people, animals, trees and the moving air 

Follow the path of the sun, in your morning windows, across the sky as the shade moves from side-to-side, then as the sky lights up at sunset 

Watch for the rising moon.  Note it's stage.  Admire its steadfastness in being reliably there for us each night as the sun sets.

learn more about the night sky, let the stars open your mind to the vastness above

    This is a list without limit.  Other ways to feel calm?  Baking, exercising, jogging, journaling, creating. When we realize the many things that correct our equilibrium, we wonder, why aren't we more calm?  Calmness is such a wonderful feeling--not anxious, panicked, Topsy-turvy.  We should cultivate it, shouldn't we?  We know what the world is like.  We know the challenges we face.  In America we see or read them every day in the news.  how much easier it is to save ourselves and those around us if we can maintain some calm.  The ole British saying when the world as they knew it was crumbling from German bombs in WWII, is a good one:  "Keep Calm and Carry On."  Carrying on doesn't mean ignore the bombs and hang out the wash.  For us it probably means, "Hang out the wash and save our democracy."  

I know if I watch the moon tonight, cuddle with my husband, and wake up to the sun in my east-facing window and the birds welcoming the day, I will be calm enough to do what needs to be done.  So will you. 

We can do this.  Nina Naomi  

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THERE'S A REASON TO LINGER TODAY IN AMERICA

 Live your life in such a way that the

entire planet doesn't dance in the

street when you lose your job.

               Anonymous

This quote is making the rounds.  People are in a playful mood.  Not everyone of course.  Some Americans today feel like other Americans felt four years ago when the election was over.  But most of us have been trying hard to find our calm this Fall.  Americans have been planning how to safely vote since early October at least.  This week we've been counting on our latest essential workers to get the job done.  And they have.  Poll workers in all 50 states have repetitive-motion aches and pains from opening and tabulating thousands of ballots.  Under stress to be careful and thorough, Republicans and Democrats have sat at tables together and counted votes. They deserve our thanks. 

So often we have taken pride in busyness, in checking things off our lists.  But there's a respite now.  Last night people were celebrating in the streets like children.  Yesterday it seemed no one could sit still.  Dancing, fireworks and speeches of a lifetime, one by our first woman Vice President-elect, the other by a man who promises to tackle the virus and work for unity.  I awoke with a sense of lightness I haven't had in a long time.  

When we were children our lives were simpler.  Maybe because we didn't have smart phones or Fitbits and could hang out in person rather than on Zoom, a technology whose very name is synonymous  with rushing.  Or because the grownups did the worrying.  But for this moment, like children, we want to play.

Friends just texted to stop over for a glass of wine in their garden.  Other friends are coming to our patio tomorrow morning for coffee and cake.   So right now, let's linger in this moment and let our lives be simpler.  Let's enjoy our democracy.  Court challenges or no, everything is working.  There's a reason to linger today in America.  

Local Celebration, Lucky Strike Tower

 

 

 

"THIS IS MY SONG, O GOD OF ALL THE NATIONS"

Monday January 6 was the Twelfth Day of Christmas.  Epiphany which, according to legend, is the day the three Wise Men visited the baby Jesus.  Astrologers otherwise known by the carol "We Three Kings of Orient are / Bearing gifts we traverse afar." 

All week I've been singing, humming and listening to "This is My Song", the hymn we sang last Sunday. I've been listening each afternoon as night falls so early and it is black outside my windows.  The fire burns against the dark.  It's sung to the tune of Finlandia by Sibelius.  You can call up the melody under "This is My Song," Finlandia hymn.  Take a minute to listen. The words alone are powerful but with the music there is majesty.  It seems a perfect vessel for mindful attention.

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine;
this is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine:
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine:
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.

May truth and freedom come to every nation;
may peace abound where strife has raged so long;
that each may seek to love and build together,
a world united, righting every wrong;
a world united in its love for freedom,
proclaiming peace together in one song.

text by Lloyd Stone (1912-1993) stanzas 1 & 2 and Georgia Harkness (1891-1974) stanza 3
sung to the tune Finlandia by Jean Sibelius 

Is this not moving?  "But other hearts in other lands are beating / with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine."  Imagine, these words written by a 22-year-old in 1934, someone born here who loves our country, but recognizes that others everywhere feel the same as he.  A thought sometimes so easy to forget.  The same with stanza 2--"but other lands have sunlight too, and clover, / and skies are everywhere as blue as mine."  Easy to forget that the earth belongs to us all and that God is "God of all the nations," that ordinary people are everywhere alike. 

Our preacher this past Sunday when we celebrated Epiphany wasn't much over twenty-two herself.  She talked about the visit of the Three Kings to the Infant Jesus and how King Herod ordered the death of all boys under the age of two so that his reign would not be threatened by the infant called the King of the Jews.  Mary, Joseph and their baby escaped by fleeing to Egypt like so many fleeing violence today. 

I had debated attending church.  I don't need a Sunday off as much as when I worked full-time, but during these cold and drizzly January mornings the home-fires are tempting.  But I'm glad I went if for no other reason than the hymn.
You may have a favorite version at your fingertips.  It's hymn No. 437 in the United Methodist Hymnal and No. 887 in the Lutheran Hymnal, ELW (Evangelical Lutheran Worship).  Or you can find it on YouTube at HD Classical Music, "This is my Song," Finlandia Hymn - Sibelius or MemChurchHarvard or Panoplyimaging and elsewhere.  

Sometimes it's all we need in a week where the news cycle is as bad as this one:  to be both calmed and invigorated by something that stirs our hearts. I am thankful this week for this music.       Nina Naomi 

 

"FIND YOUR INNER CALM"

When our children were young mindfulness was the last thing on my mind; mindlessness was more like it.  Even past the toddler stage.  Where's money for the book fair? Where's that permission slip? Where's my homework?  Where are my boots? Can someone pick me up?  I have flute lesson tonight.  I have drum lesson.  It's church youth group.  Every parent knows this drill.  Working parent[s], kids, pets and then add the wonderful holiday season.  

I would have rushed past the idea of an inner calm.  Who had the time?  And mindfulness was not even a fad, let alone a movement.  I know there are readers at this stage in their lives.  Not many, because who at this stage has the time to read?  On the other hand, I see inspirational mommy-bloggers who help other moms feel less alone, less isolated.  Some are natural comedians. All are super-moms in my opinion. I read as many as I can.  

Why bring this up?  Well, because the holidays are laden with memories. Memories piled as high as gifts on Santa's sleigh.  Because my husband and I are sifting through memorabilia to create family treasure boxes for the grandchildren. Because so many of our Christmas decorations were made by a child.  And because all of my favorite magazines, the ones filled with Christmas crafting ideas, are reminding me to find my inner calm. 

So, I'm going to count my blessings and do it.  First, the blessings.  We made it through that early period of our lives. We're being recycled as grandparents, but we're not in charge.  Our role is limited:  school pick-up, enjoying a band concert, supporting school fund-raisers, sleepovers and lots of unconditional love.  So I have time for mindfulness, for seeking inner calm.

Other blessings.  Yesterday my two teenage grandsons paid a surprise visit while I'm still recovering from surgery.  Their surprises used to be scaring me to death.  Jumping out from behind something or other.  I'm great at feigning scared, aren't you?  It seems to be a grandma's  job requirement. But yesterday's visit was truly welcome. Nothing is better than seeing the love between these boys. 

More blessings.  With me s t i l l housebound from my surgery I thought we would have a lonely holiday season.  Far from it.  So many wonderful friends have made sick-calls.  Most bring soup or bread or a poinsettia.  Some have brought whole meals and joined us to eat them.  One of my friends today bathed Mr. Wiggles for me!  Can you believe that?  Our stinky little boy needed a bath and she corralled all 10 pounds of him and left him fragrant and soft. 

Then she brought in some outdoor pot-plants that needed saving.  Of course I immediately had negative thoughts about myself.  Have I paid visits and brought food and good cheer when others have been sick?  But mindfulness says "banish that inner critic."  So I did.  Thank you friends for sharing tea and cookies, for listening to my tales of recovery, for relieving my husband so he can do all the errands that pile up at Christmas.  And bathing Mr. Wiggles. Now that goes above and beyond! 

So I would say that I have found my inner calm.  Being in a recovery mode has eliminated all the hassle of the season.  Friends and family have picked up the slack everywhere.  The trick will be to retain that inner calm when my recovery is finished and I no longer need the help that has been so freely given.  What has been your experience?  How do you reach and maintain an inner calm?  I want to know everyone's secrets.  In peace, Nina Naomi

NATURE 1 STRESS 0

Being in nature doesn't solve our problems; but it does make us less stressed about our problems. When Stress and Nature are pitted head-to-head, Nature always wins, hands down.

We have been spending the semester an hour outside New York City and commuting in.  The other day I took this photo of One World Trade Center, a beautiful building.  No nature in sight in this picture, right?  But it's one of the world's greenest buildings and as a beacon is visible for 20 miles.  

View of One World Trade Center

This building is at the epicenter of our nation's remembered stress.  I was thinking about this the other day when we visited the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.  After we visited, I read all about the site at www.911memorial.org:  the sustainable design; the forest of trees; the waterfalls that line the footprints of the Twin Towers, almost an acre in size; the Oculus, a train station designed to look like a dove in flight.  By interacting with nature, the architects have created an oasis of respectful calm where once terror reigned.

WTC Oculus, Waterfalls, Names

On our walk around the area, we paused by hundreds of tulips blooming in front of a waterfront commercial building filled with commuters and shoppers. What a lovely natural environment for stress relief after a commute into the City or long day at work.  There are tables and benches open to everyone, no one was being run off. The waterfront itself is so inviting, filled with grownups and kids enjoying the outdoors.

Brookfield Place, Riverside, NYC

Spending time in a city with so much concrete and bustle, I wanted to know why physiologically being in nature is good for us.  It turns out that being in nature boosts our immune systems.  Like singing and exercise, just being in the natural world produces hormones that reduce stress.  Walking and breathing in fresh air stimulates our circulation.  Flower fragrances calm us.  People find that being in the natural world makes them happier and helps to banish feelings of loneliness or depression.

St. Paul's Chapel Graveyard 

There's a graveyard just next to the 9/11 Memorial.  So fitting. Graveyards abound in almost every old city all over the world.  They too are places of respite.  I read that President George Washington retreated to this Chapel to pray just after his inauguration.  Some of these graves would have been there then.  Don't you also find graveyards to be a calming part of our natural world?  People of all ages were rambling through this graveyard, noting the old stones and the loving remarks carved in them as the living remember the dead. No one looked stressed.