hello september.

By the end of our first week in Wisconsin, I settled into a new normal that included taking a break from Facebook, letting someone else handle emails, and starting the day with yoga. This new normal didn't involve checking Facebook or Pinterest or my work email on my phone. And there were no "smart" devices next to the bed or waiting on the bathroom counter. A few times a day, I'd look at Instagram on my phone then check my personal email and then get ready to click and think, "Oh wait, that's it. Time to get back to living."

By the end of our first week, I was beginning to recognize myself and started to feel a deep swelling of peace in the center of my body.

When I visited my yoga teacher last week, in a moment of vulnerability, I asked her how I could keep that feeling always. After waiting a few beats, she reminded me that nothing is permanent. Right. I know this. Yes. But still, the longing to feel this expansion of peace remains. We talked about this. My current practice is about tapping back into that feeling through yoga and a chanting practice along with homework that she wrote down like a prescription: Take one retreat day a month. 

Today is my first "official" day back to the world of social media and blogging and emails. I've been working here and there during my break, but it feels a bit like the first day of school over here. 

Speaking of which, Ellie had her first day of Kindergarten last week. I'm calling this the "official first day of school photo."

 

And this one is the "show me how excited you are for kindergarten" photo!

As I ease back in today, I'm clear that setting boundaries around availability and social media is important. I knew this already, but I wasn't always implementing what I know. It would be so easy to slip back into bad habits, and my clicking from Facebook to email and back again a few times this morning invites me to know that thinking about the boundaries is not enough. I must write them down and check in daily to see how it's going.

One piece of this boundary setting is not putting Facebook back on my phone. I have a whole post about Facebook that I'll be writing soon along with some posts on how it's going setting these boundaries and hiring support for this growing business.

Here's a preview: We watched The Empire Strikes Back over the weekend and when I heard Yoda say, "You must unlearn what you have learned," I felt like he was talking directly to me and the 10 years I've spent with my daily life being deeply connected to the screen in front of me. 10 years. Yes. I have some unlearning to do, along with some simple shifts that I know will create more space to simply be present and do what I set out to do when I called my blog "be present, be here" 10 years ago this month.

Thank you for being here beside me. I look forward to sharing the stories and learning from one another as the bridge building between daily life and the longings inside continues.

dear girl...

A piece of building the bridge between your daily life and the life you long for is cultivating an inner dialogue so you can actually listen to and get to know the one person who affects your day most of all: You.

One way I do this is to write letters to myself that are full of the kindness and wisdom I'd share with someone I love. They are sometimes a pep talk. Sometimes I ask myself a question and then answer it. Sometimes they are a bit like a poem. Other letters are full of forgiveness and deep truths.

Putting pen to paper helps me make sense of the swirling thoughts around and inside me so that I can hear myself.

One of my favorite prompts to give women is to start a letter that simply says, "Dear girl..." and then just start writing the words you most need to hear. Before you begin, you might want to pause and just close your eyes and get present in your body, heart, and mind. Letting the day drop away so you can listen. Then open your eyes and start writing.

See what comes up. Try to let go of judgment and keep your pen moving across the page. 

Then when you're done, notice if there are any themes or specific phrases that stand out to you. Those phrases could become prompts for your next letter.

If you'd like to come along for 10 days of cultivating this inner voice alongside practicing creative-self care, come along to Water Your Mama Soul. Registration for this ongoing course is open.

This course is really is for anyone who wants to connect with daily practices they can use to ground themselves in the midst of whatever a day brings. So if you've been struggling to find a self-care practice, this class will give you tangible ideas you can start using. I think of it as a class that invites you to realize you can nurture and mother yourself even as you give to those around you. Note though that the theme of the course is for mamas with kids at home, and most of the women taking the class will probably be mothers, but I believe the themes in the stories I share are universal and you will be able to tweak the practices to be able to join in. 

Learn more about Water Your Mama Soul and register right here.