Snippets from this week's drawn cards, journal entries, words read aloud together, thoughts + phone notifications (in chronological order):

What does freedom mean to me?
Freedom from the constraints
​of the way things are normally done.

How would it change my view of shelter to think of indoor space after thinking of living in the world of living things- trees, sky, mushrooms, birds, milkweed, snow, moon...? Somehow my picture of my ideal shelter became smaller and the importance of furniture and a place for everything receded. It became only wall of windows and skylight.

When we release our expectations
+ attachment to specific outcomes,
​we free the mind.
~Headspace

​The presence of one good outfit for the situation is comfort...is (possibly?) enough. That might be worth investigating further.

Branches waving newly sprouted leaves in the breeze​, the dance of the trio of robins in the grass, the alignment of that closest star, spinning planet and my own fingers creating shadow...all evidence that nature is home. All is interconnected. Love is the way forward.

​"Whoever uses the spirit that is in him creatively
is an artist.
To make living itself an art,
​that is the goal."
- Henry Miller

I think I first came across perfect white tee during a visit to my hometown. I pulled on a sweatshirt made of the softest cotton, and it fit just the way I like. The sleeves + the length were just slightly cropped. There were raglan sleeves, and it all hit just right on my high rise army pants. I so rarely get to try on fair clothing in a shop before making a purchase. This felt like a real treat, and I wore that sweatshirt for the rest of the trip.

Perfect white tee is designed in California, made with fabric milled in California + sewn in California too. 

Lovely photo via perfect white tee.

I desire rituals in my life. I envision ritual as a moment when I tune in to goodness, beauty + connection. This morning, it occurred to me that my favorite rituals are often just the way we do life. I neglect to recognize them as rituals, but they become even more precious when named as such.

A few rituals that are very much worth remembering as such:

• I love that he brings me a cup of coffee every morning (lately he is trying to make the milk foam as tall as he can + it makes a really funny gnome's cap on top) 
• I love that she comes out of her room when I get home from work, and we ask how each other's day was (neither of us have too much exciting to say, but we are together)
• I love sending an I-love-you text to her before I go to sleep every night + receiving a good-morning text from her every morning (but mostly the ones in between)
• I love doing wordle with him after dinner (and fist bumping every trivial accomplishment)

​Reading this today (a month after I wrote it) reminded me of the richness of these moments ...again! I often wonder if these musings are worth putting out into the abyss...but today I feel the simple value myself. Let's take note of treasured moments + give them the name they deserve. Naming reminds me to maintain these practices...to see the sacred in them...to return to them again + again...ritual.

Love,
​Jane

When I came home that day + walked up the stairs, the light hit my eyes differently. I turned around + saw a shadow that in 13 years of living in this house I'd never seen before. The angle of the sun...the time of day...the lack of cloud cover...my attention...all aligned for just a moment. The sun streamed clear through the sliding door on one side of the house to this wall on the other side, and it was worth noticing. 

I took this arguably unremarkable picture to send to my partner right away. Can you believe it? This light that I've never seen before!? Amazing!

This is not the type of thing that I hear people speak of much, but it's the type of thing I'd love to have conversations about. Ross Gay talks about acknowledging such delights as an act of resistance. Ann Voskamp recognizes them as gifts of love. Richard Rohr recognizes characteristics of the Divine in such things. I feel the gutteral joy that can be experienced in such moments as a sort of homecoming to the most basic + deepest sense of ourselves. We reawaken to our knowing that our deepest self is connected to the center of it all...to Love. This beauty before us is an expression of Love...and in noticing...stopping...letting it penetrate to our essence...we connect...plug in...to our connection with that center...

In this moment, we see clearly again. Namaste...the light in me sees the light in you...the beauty in me sees the beauty in you...the love in me sees the love in you. We are connected...in Love...connected to light, to sky + soil, to color + sound, to each other. From this place, completely immersed in Love, this is where joy + hope + compassion are found.

Love,
Jane

March felt transitional in weather + dressing + feeling. Some days called for windows thrown open, weeding garden beds + clipping fresh chives, thyme + daffodils. Days later snow floated in the air. That's spring...a shift that is also a back + forth.

I took the shift as an opportunity to pull everything out of my closet + reassess ...again. The feeling that I have too much clothing had been poking me. This feeling was more disturbing than its opposing feeling (that I don't really have that much) was calming. Both things were true, but once the things that I decided to let serve someone else were removed, I felt so much more at peace.

I listed for sale lots of things that I still like, because I decided that I don't like or wear them enough to hold space for them...space in my house + space in my mind. I sold shirts that I do like to wear to work. I just choose to wear other shirts more often. I listed lounge-y pants that I tried just this year. They are still in good shape, so someone else can start fresh with them. 

My objective is really to listen for peace. I'm trying to tune my dial to "enough". Too much feels just as uncomfortable as too little. I think society, consumerism, social media (whatever...something) tries to deaden the feeling of too much. Might it not be helpful to recognize the feeling of too much? What does it feel like to you?

To me, too much feels like:

• stuff is closing in on me
• being trapped or overwhelmed by stuff
• frustration at stuff always being piled up outside of its designated container, drawer, closet, spot
• the ever-present pressure to clean more, do more laundry, pick up more
• nothing is working
• my space is too small
• visual clutter
• tightness or heaviness

To me, less feels:

• expansive
• light
• easy
• simple
• freeing

Forever tuning the dial to "enough",
Jane