In a Moment - Issue 21

I've been scattered the last few weeks. My attention drifting from the latest news story to the spring blossoms bursting around me, to the email I've been trying to respond to for 27 minutes.

And it makes sense. We are collectively moving through a time in which we are being confronted with so much. A crisis that seems at times unimaginable and impossible to wrap our heads around. Something that impacts every single person we meet and those we don't.

We're sifting through coping, supporting, and processing. A mix of distraction and focus. A mix of numbing and presence.

And I believe that you are truly doing the best that you can. It may not feel like your best. It may feel messy, unfinished, incomplete.

But best doesn't equal perfect.

Best isn't refined and polished.

Best right now is waking up and greeting each day with as much compassion as you can muster.

Lately, I've been working on a variety of projects.

Watercolor painting of dogs, air-dry clay sculptures (also of dogs, and some cats), recording guided meditations, teaching myself the ukelele, making custom herbal tea blends, and propagating the various tropical plants in my apartment, to name a few.

And I've found that actually finishing these various projects has been incredibly difficult. My mood and energy shift as quickly and dramatically as the early spring weather. There are moments I'm able to steep my attention in the project at hand. And then a distraction, a moment of sadness, grief, confusion or overwhelm strikes and I leave the project-in-progress on my living room table, or the kitchen table, or the coffee table.

I shared this challenge with my therapist this week and she invited me to explore a different perspective. What if the project wasn't about the outcome, what if the project was the process itself?

It's not about finishing, completion, ending right now -- it's more about getting my hands dirty, getting into the muck of whatever is present and moving through it with the creative tool I've gravitated towards at that moment.

This new perspective provided a bit of freedom and opened up a lot of compassion for how to hold myself in this moment.

If you’re finding yourself scattered, I’ve created a guided meditation that explores drawing your energy back into yourself. A way to visualize renewing & restoring yourself. Click the link below to check it out.

After listening to the meditation, notice how you feel. Do you feel a bit more assembled? A bit more constructed? And perhaps reflect a bit on other practices you could engage in to help build that feeling.