Friday Dispatch: Have You Exhaled Lately?
Give me an aaaaah – plus an invitation to come journal and reflect with Skylar Liberty Rose & me on December 10
“A blessing is not something that one person gives another. A blessing is a moment of meeting, a certain kind of relationship in which both people involved remember and acknowledge their true nature and worth, and strengthen what is whole in one another.” ~ Rachel Naomi Remen
“In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself.” ~ Susan Sontag
Friday greetings,
This week’s Thursday outing with my mom took us to the Clark in Williamstown. I think the only other time I’ve been there was also with her, probably close to 40 years ago.
We talked a lot in the car about things both serious (a long conversation about the Israel-Hamas war) and silly (a good laugh over the idea of ditching the museum plan and smoking some pot instead!).
We shared a salad and a sandwich in the café, and later mused about how our descriptions of the paintings would be different from the ones by the curators.
For example, the museum description of this painting by Jacob van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628-1682) reads, in part, “Ruisdael… included certain features for their subtle symbolism – the dead tree and unstable bridge are intended to remind us of the passage of time and the unpredictability of life.”
My mom’s version? “It reminds me of somewhere I once stayed on the Maine coast!”
Then we sat for a while in a large, quiet gallery, surrounded by Renoir paintings. Aaaaah.
Back to the Page
This morning, I got out a journal from a pile of blank notebooks of various shapes and sizes in the office closet. This one was from the Guggenheim, from one of my daughter’s many city trips over the years. It has her email address and phone number on the inside cover, and on the three blank tabs respectively, she had written, you are LOVED ✶ (Her artistic handwriting together with that star symbol, by the way? Signature Aviva.)
Anyway, for whatever reason, it’s one she didn’t keep for herself, so there it was in my pile. Perfect for my purposes, and its pages completely untouched.
I have not been consistent with morning pages (or any journaling practice) for a long time, and last night, amidst a storm of perimenopausal hormones, I decided, it’s time.
After I wrote three pages, I set a timer and sat for five minutes. Aaaaah.
Baby Steps
Isn’t it always (and maybe only) the small changes that can move me towards taking better care of my mind and psyche?
The truth is, I’ve noticed a significant spike in my tried-and-true responses to stressors big and small, real and imagined.
Not addressing this can take a toll on my emotional and mental health, which of course impacts everything else, from work to physical well-being to relationships. And, I know I’m the only one who can prioritize acts of self-care, beginning with the building blocks of how I start the day. (And oh, morning pages! I had forgotten how good it is to just flush out whatever gets clogged over the course of a day, a night of dreams.)
I’ll keep you posted as to how it goes.
And speaking of taking journaling and taking care, I’m so, so pleased to share this announcement!
and I are co-hosting a gathering on Sunday, December 10.
Our hope & intention is for you to leave this workshop feeling as though you’ve finally taken an exhale – kind of how I felt after spending a couple of hours at the Clark yesterday.
I hope you'll join us!
Read more on Skylar’s Substack and/or use the button below to register:
The cost is $50, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
May the weekend bring you moments of connection and peace. Aaaaah.
Shabbat Shalom and love,
Jena