It’s been a challenging but rewarding long holiday weekend. It’s been busier and more challenging than I would have wanted but I’m starting to learn that there’s a plan for everything and it’s not always the one we might wish but it’s always towards our greater good. I am grateful and thankful for having had this time to figure out that despite what often feels like chaos and disorder there are a few things I know definitively.

1. One of the things I love most about nature is that there are no ads there! I dragged my husband put to walk in one of the several large parks in our neighborhood we have not yet explored and as we were entering it I head some distant car or radio somewhere playing the Woodside Honda jingle. And it occurred to me in that moment that we were about to leave that behind for a bit when we headed into the park, that the moments I spend in nature devoid of being mentally invaded by jingles and poster boards, commercials or brand names are what allow my mind to find rest, contentment and recharge. Nature doesn’t try to sell you anything. If anything it allows you to reconnect to yourself and the present moment and it that to see and feel a wild, uncontaminated beauty. I need it like water.

2. My husband is my partner in the truest sense. I know he doesn’t like being in nature as much as I do or for the same reasons but when he’s there with me he fully commits as much as he can and in a spiritual sense, he’s the one who tethers me when I’m flying to high or become lost in curiosity and amazement or even fear. To have a life partner who can truly support you, someone you can laugh with, let go with, build with is truly a blessing. When I lay with him at night, when I’m in his arms, when we touch I know with everything in me that he’s my one, the one I fit with, the one I can trust, I can fall into. We respect one another’s space and boundaries and are always working towards discovering ways we can fulfill each other’s needs in a balanced and authentic way.

3. Cleaning is a spiritual thing. Lately, when I am at my most frustrated or at a loss or helpless feeling, I clean. I never thought I would ever be a woman who cleaned for catharsis but I guess I’m becoming one. Whenever I do it, I feel like it’s symbolic. I feel like creating order and cleanliness in my living space is creating something similar within me or sending a message in the universe about what I want and need, that I am opening up a way to allow new things in. My reason for cleaning on Monday was more specific. My mom is coming to visit and stay with my husband and me for a bit and I’m very excited to have her here and to spend quality time with her. Coincidentally, the new moon was this weekend so cleaning and disposing of trash in preparation for my mom’s arrival is all happening in divine order as she would say. I’ve just been listened to music all day, my husband and I teamed up to clean and sweep and store groceries while taking small breaks in between. The small things are beautiful things. Monday felt exactly right.

4. Disciplinary practice is the only way to manifest anything you want. I have been getting up in the morning and doing my yoga and stretches for months now and today for the first time, my lower back doesn’t feel tight or achy. It was so much easier for me to clean and help my husband carry groceries and generally not feel like I’m falling apart because my back is better today. Physical and mental health are the first level of wealth and we all deserve that. Staying on top of my physical health has been one of the best gifts I’ve given to myself and it won’t be the last. Making time each day to tend to my body, gets me out of my head and into my heart and spirit. It makes all the difference I need to be able to see that I am capable of more than I am able to presently comprehend.