'You are marooned on unsure ground'
I hope this week is not exhausting for you <3
Reading corner
For One Who Is Exhausted, a Blessing
by John O'Donohue
When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,
Time takes on the strain until it breaks;
Then all the unattended stress falls in
On the mind like an endless, increasing weight.
The light in the mind becomes dim.
Things you could take in your stride before
Now become laborsome events of will.
Weariness invades your spirit.
Gravity begins falling inside you,
Dragging down every bone.
The tide you never valued has gone out.
And you are marooned on unsure ground.
Something within you has closed down;
And you cannot push yourself back to life.
You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken in the race of days.
At first your thinking will darken
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.
You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.
Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.
Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.
Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.
Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.
Healing notes
One of the reasons I return and keep returning to this poem by John O'Donohue is because of the multitudes it holds within it. Especially for my exhausted selves.
The blessings I encounter, even when I feel marooned, are so many and often times it is in poetry I find myself. I love poems that make the trajectory through pain and come out better as they give me hope. Especially when right now I am clinging to all external hope. I think it is easy for me to do this and hard for me to live in the ambiguity of my current exhausting-circus-type moments. Somehow wanting hope is imagining things will change and somehow I feel a bit escapist with the present. Particularly when I am frustrated by it.
But my exhausted self needs the escaping. Poetry reading, tea drinking are my escapist pleasures. Do you do anything that you might call escaping, too?
Food experiments The cookie craze continues. My diet has gotten murkier (read stricter on some new parameters :D) and I have less options now in the baking world. I will hopefully in the coming months have more fun things to eat and will keep trying new things. Till then, here is a divinely crunchy, breakfasty cookie.
Peanutbutter, oatmeal cookies!
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup any gluten free flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and nutmeg
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons melted oil (any)
1/4 cup coconut sugar/honey
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch of salt
2 eggs
Lots of chocolate chips
Begin by mixing all the wet ingredients together - peanut butter, oil, honey, eggs. Beat the eggs well and ensure the ingredients are mixed well. [I used the last of my chocolate peanut butter (two teaspoons) in this. So my batter was a little runny. I also used honey instead of coconut sugar.] Then add all the dry ingredients together. Mix it well. Top it up with chocolate chips.
Keep the batter in the fridge for an hour - especially if runny :).
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.Take a large spoon and place scoops of the batter on to the tray.
Bake for 10-15 minutes. Serve with black tea/coffee <3. DIVINE!
Dear you,
There are kittens in the world. Three beautiful kittens. By world, of course I mean my house.
They are doing well and I cannot get enough of the cute. Hope you have lots of cute around you.
Love, kindness and warmth,
Nidsitis
'I’ve been circling for thousands of years and I still don’t know: Am I a falcon, a storm, or a great song?' - Rainer Maria Rilke