Delicious autumn!
My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly
about the earth
seeking the successive autumns.
Mary Anne Evans (George Eliot)
Fall has arrived, though I'm not sure how that happened. Time has been flying away from me. I'm sure it has something to do with school five days per week and a husband traveling for work for 3 weeks in September. Now here I sit in mid-October. Wow.
When I come to my computer and indulge in my daily blog reading habit, I find myself going towards words to inspire and feed my soul. Like many, my reading of blogs (and writing) ebbs and flows, along with my feelings about this whole blog world. There have been times that reading blogs has actually made me feel less than, down on myself, like I don't do enough as a mother/woman/wife/etc.. I think that has something to do with the sincerity (or lack) of the blogs I was reading. These days I find myself savoring blogs that inspire and sooth and bring peace to my soul. One in particular is Threading the Light . I love what these women are offering up to the world...mindful reflection in the midst of the busy-ness that surrounds our days. I am especially drawn to their project, "Piece Together Peace".
Here, I join their mission. I do believe that Peace can come from each and every one of us, that if we bring Peace to ourselves, we will thereby bring it to others. As a mother, I think of this often. An image that I have tried to remind myself of is the instructions given on airplanes: if the cabin looses pressure, parents should put their oxygen masks on first, and then put masks on their children. If we deprive ourselves of oxygen, how will our children breathe?
So here is my small piece for October. I have taken the time to unsubscribe from every solicitor that enters my email box. How does this bring me Peace? Because it helps to eliminate the incessant and sometimes overwhelming wanting that advertisements can bring. I no longer have realtors emailing me housing listings (we aren't even looking to buy a house, but this made me long for something I couldn't have), William Sonoma doesn't beckon me to buy a panini press, and Boden will no longer tempt me with their clothing. By quieting the wanting, the desires, the wishes, I also eliminate the dissatisfaction with my current life and open myself to acceptance and appreciation for the joy and beauty in all that I do have. Sure sounds like a lot of Peace to me. And Peace that I hope to teach my children as well.
If you are moved, I encourage you to read and join the "Piece Together Peace" project. Let me know if you do.
5 comments:
hi kel! great post. you are so right about the moms needing the oxygen first. i need to think about that metaphor when i get stressed out at home. I don't get a lot of advertisement stuff in email, but I do get a ton of catalogs, and I've stopped even opening them... right into the recycle bin. If I open up the patagonia kids catalog, for example, there are 10 things I want and but are WAY too expensive, and it begins a mental tug-of-war that usually ends with me not buying something but feeling sorry for myself, feeling that wanting. So, out it goes! Today I'm going to (inspired by you!) figure out how to get my name off of mailing lists so I don't get them anymore at all. Thanks! love you!
Thanks Em! Isn't it terrible that we feel "sorry for ourselves" because we can't buy overpriced fleece for our kids? or another cute shirt for ourselves? Not to say we should deprive ourselves in any way. Let's just not get consumed by the over-consumerism that dominates so much. Love you, my friend!
Hi Kelly,
very well written, and I totally agree with you - 'want' is something we can transfer onto ourselves, to find us lacking... Take care of yourself, first :)
I read this post a little while ago and can't stop thinking about your initiative to rid yourself of ads. I get a little thrill when catalogues come in and love to page through them. I tell myself it's to get "ideas." Like, what color I ought to paint the living room, that sort of thing. But the fact that we can't get any of that stuff--and of course the fact that we sometimes do anyway--really is a sort of affliction on our happiness. I am trying to imagine myself getting off the lists for these places--and we get an unbelievable amount of catalogues from all sorts of crazy places! Like a true junkie, not sure I can yet. But I feel like it may be an answer...
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