Moving Towards the Darkest Night

While Yule or the Winter Solstice is not quite upon us yet, I am really struck by how late in the morning the sun rises and how early it sets. Every year this miracle of nature happens and each year I am in wonder of it. Such long periods of darkness could be depressing I suppose. However, there are many things about these long nights that I love.

Since the sun doesn't rise until nearly 7:30, nearly anyone who wants can partake in the beauty of the sunrise. There is no need to arise by 4:00 or 4:30 AM, like in the summer to catch this display of intense oranges, pinks and purples and an ever lightening sky.

We get to close out the day a wee bit early by enjoying the sunset - a similar array of vibrancy in the western sky.

We have long cozy evenings in our homes with the ones we love.

P!nk - Glitter In The Air (GRAMMYs on CBS)

Music

So much gratitude for music in my life.

Spirit Sisters

This morning I'm reflecting on how blessed I am to be a part of a circle of women. We have gathered together for 18 years to share our lives, meditate, share ritual, sing, drum, dance, create beauty, cry, laugh, tell stories. 18 years is a wonderfully long time to journey together - across the differences in our ages, backgrounds bound by our companionship and our shared experience of spirituality. Wow, what a journey - wonder what the next 18 years will bring?

This group has inspired me in countless ways; most recently in writing a call of the directions for one of our rituals.

Welcome goddesses, spirits and energies of the East. Awaken in us the inspiration of each new day’s possibilities. Encourage us to listen for the messages in both your softly breezes and your ferocious winds. Remind us to honor our both intuition and intellect in all of its forms. Blessed Be

Welcome goddesses, spirits and energies of the South. Just as the sun is at its fullest at midday, inspire us to live to our fullness. Guide us to work with our inner fire to use it for good and not to burn in anger. Remind us to honor our passion in all of its forms. Blessed Be.

Welcome goddesses, spirits and energies of the West. As the sun sets in all of its glorious colors, remind us to bask in the beauty around us. Encourage us to find our own inner flow just as the waters of the earth flow from one place to another. Remind us to honor our dreams and journeys in all of their forms. Blessed Be

Welcome goddesses, spirits and energies of the North. During the darkness of night, invite us into quiet reflection. Encourage us to feel the ground beneath our feet and from it draw up our ability to ground and center. Remind us to honor our practical and logical selves in all of their forms. Blessed Be.

As we gather tonight may we each honor the goddess within each of us in our creativity, our strength, our dedication, our wisdom, our humor and our compassion. May we draw energy and inspiration from each other, hold gratitude for our time together and carry our collective wisdom out into our world. Blessed Be.

Full Days

After two full days of teaching, I am reminded to be so grateful to go the work I love. 24 individuals came together Thursday morning - 22 of them participants and 2 of us facilitators. Over the next two days, hard work, much discovery and warm laughter was shared. So wonderful to witness people stepping into their self-discoveries with grace and curiosity.

The Ship of My Life Sailing Through Softly Falling Snow

This quote from Maya Angelou spoke to me this morning.

The ship of my life may or may not be sailing on calm and amiable seas. The challenging days of my existence may or may not be bright and promising. Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.

Today, I am blessed! Yep, life has its many stresses. My "ship" has been bouncing around in stormy waters - the normal stuff of life - sick kids, bickering kids, the van needing repairs and new tires, too much to do and not enough time to do it in, the house is always messy, work is full and has its own set of both positive and negative stresses. In the craziness of juggling way too many balls at one time - and dropping a few accidentally along the way - it is easy to pass by gratitude. To let my heart and mind fill up with worry or problem-solving or planning or....

So, taking a few good deep breaths, I create space in my heart for gratitude - to really feel it swelling and scooting the worry and problem-solving aside. To create room to wonder at the softly falling snow beginning to sprinkle itself like powdered sugar on the ground. To be grateful for its beauty and the blanket of protection it puts over plants and the water it adds to the ground. To listen with child-like ears as my girls exclaim "Mom, its snowing!" To bask in the memories for a moment of Rowan, just learning to talk, declaring snow a "big mess." To stand on the front porch for just a minute and smell the snow - it has a unique cold smell. Thank you snow for reminding me to pause in my busy day to be in wonder for a little while.

I am blessed.

Recommitting to this Blogging Thing

This morning on Facebook a friend shared a link to a woman who intends to post a daily gratitude for each day in December. I loved that and thought "what a good idea" as I realized that I've kind of fallen away from my own gratitude practice. If you want to check it out, her blog is called "Bless Her Heart" and can be found at http://blessherheart.typepad.com/bless_her_heart/.

Then I decided to peek at my own blog - fall of 2007 was the last time I posted!! Wow, guess I'd kind of fallen away from this too - another sort of spiritual practice for me. I somehow got busy, help co-author a two-year spiritual journey curriculum, raised kids, canned food, taught lots of workshops and coached lots of folks - and neglected to take time for my own writing and blogging.

It was fun to wander through my blogging past today, reading old posts, seeing favorite pictures. So, with the inspiration of "Bless Her Heart" and getting reacquainted with my own blog, I will post more frequently than every 3 years. I'm excited!!

Sweat!

At Friday's UW Badger Volleyball game, our girls went out on the court at the end of the game to join the team in singing "Varsity." This is a tradition and our girls love to particpate. Typically, one fo the Volleyball Women will pick Gemma up and hold her during the singing and more often than not, someoen will throw an arm around Rowan's shoulders.

So, this week Gemma came back to find us after the song was over and excitedly declared, "Mom I have Brittney Dolgner's sweat on me!!" She was just tickled to have a Volleball player's sweat on her! (-: