Honor Your Need For Buoyancy
Musings on living lighter, an invitation to become free & flexible, some words from Rob Bell on curiosity & experiments
Hello There! How’s your week been so far? Are you finding fun ways to cope with life and its unrelenting waves? I hope you are doing okay friend.
However this letter finds you today, please remember to feel it all. Let yourself sing along to your favorite songs and cry in the shower and, as I learned this week, refuse to exist within an emotional monoculture.
In this week’s letter you’ll find…
- musings on a lighter life (and holiday season!),
- how could you trade busy and burdened for buoyant,
- meet one of my go-to guides for all things curiosity, experimentation, and evolution!
Take a pause, grab a cup of tea, and let’s chat…
From where I’m working I can see the first, fresh delivery of Hemlock Christmas trees and rather than excitement, I feel guilt. I feel it every year. The guilt that I don’t do enough to make the Christmas season more magical for my kids. And every year, after I talk myself out of the funk, I become more resolute in keeping the holidays simple, avoiding the pressure to buy and bake and decorate to the hilt.
I could call it Christmas-lite. :)
While swimming laps this week in the YMCA pool, feeling buoyant and free, I thought about the places in my life layered with excess. Places that have become burdensome and complicated.
As I slid through the water with a sense of weightlessness I couldn’t help but wish for this same experience on solid ground.
I wondered…
What aspects of my schedule could I simplify, and create room for the quiet pleasures of life?
What physical spaces would benefit from more clean and cozy Nordic vibes than cluttered antique store feels?
What daily routines have become complicated and unwieldy when they were intended to make life run smoother?
What overbearing beliefs and systems tie me down and kill my curiosity?
This heaviness persists in all areas of life because of our tendency to hoard.
We let worry, guilt, and worst-case scenarios clutter our minds.
We stockpile the latest wellness trends or longevity-promoting supplements as if they’re the secret to a healthy life.
We amass activities until our days resemble a stressful game of Tetris.
We squirrel away old craft supplies, unopened books, and uncomfortable clothes.
We store up loud, repetitive, defeating stories in our heads and wonder why we feel stuck.
In the pool every limb of my body expands to lengths it couldn’t reach just seconds ago. I’m suddenly agile, free from the restriction of my aching body, my cells vibrate with new energy, and every motion is soft and strong.
I am creating a similar buoyant sensation in life too.
I want everything from my muscles to my mind, from my bones to bedrooms in my home to be places of ease, vibrancy, and possibility.
Back to the storefront trees, I’m staring at, who wants to do Christmas-lite with me? Instead of signing up for every gift list and holiday extravaganza, how about we circle around marshmallow-laden cups of cocoa, glowing candles, moonlit walks, and simple strands of twinkling fairy lights on a humble spruce tree.
More importantly, what if we usher in a season of life-lite?
We honor our need for buoyancy, to float freely and flexibly, be loose and lithe, and less bound up to cluttered calendars and complicated routines, returning to what truly holds us up and gives us room to breathe and expand without pain and pressure.
Let’s at least start the conversation with ourselves and notice…
Where do I want to feel more buoyancy and ease?
Life is heavy enough as it is, we do not need to make it more so. Being weightless in the water reminds us how much we carry on a daily basis.
Be curious about…the spaces, routines, and beliefs that could feel lighter.
Make note of the different areas as they pop up. Then pick one that stands out to you in this moment.
Bring to mind these words,
space
quiet
simplicity
gentleness
ease
and consider ways you can trade busy or burdened for buoyancy.
Rob Bell is one of my go-to guides along the wandering path. When I read his words, my breath steadies, the world opens up, and everything feels like it’s going to be OKAY. He recently started a Patreon community and I promptly joined!
The Wednesday morning after the US elections he shared this wisdom with the group (here’s just a snippet):
“This feels like an experiment.
Because it is.
And in the long arc of human history, this experiment-this risky, wide open arrangement in which everybody gets a say-this experiment is a giant step...forward.
No wonder you feel a thousand maddening sensations this morning, when it feels like that giant step forward of an experiment just took what appears to be a step back, that is a lot to absorb.
Try this today, try reminding yourself
THIS IS WHAT AN EXPERIMENT FEELS LIKE.”
Through reading his books, listening to his thought-provoking podcasts, and reflecting on his messages, I find myself gaining the courage to lower the stakes, relax into the mystery of evolution, and float along the river of life.
In his book, Everything is Spiritual: Finding Your Way In A Turbulent World, Bell writes,
“Curiosity is underrated. In many ways, it’s the engine of life. You get these questions, and they don’t go away. And so you follow them, you set out to answer them. And you get answers. And those answers, of course, lead to new questions. And on and on it goes.”
Thanks for reading along and being part of this little corner of the world with me. Until next time, I wish you lightness, warmth, and all the small joys.
Join me here on Sunday for another podcast potion…a round-up of my favorite episodes from each day of the week!
