Friday Dispatch: What a Week Brings

Tending, showing up, letting go, and keeping on

Gather yourself up
and be your own child
sitting on your own lap.
Rest your cheek on your own bent knee.
Forgive yourself. Live.

~ from “Love after Love after Love after and finally” by Lesléa Newman

---

Friday greetings,

I lost count of how many times I read that Lesléa Newman poem this week. Such a comfort.

This week brought Covid for the first time to my folks, who are no doubt reading this Dispatch. Thank God for vaccines, boosters, and Paxlovid. Love you, Mom & Dad!

This week brought the first sunporch day of the year, and it did not disappoint. Bliss is not an understatement.

This week brought a shift that took me from mulling to momentum for a new group I’ll be offering this spring (details below – and registration opening soon!).

This week brought sprigs of daffodils in the still-bare woods.

This week brought Wednesday night yoga class, the image of lifting my heart into my hand, and a stunning sunset on the way home. Of course I pulled over.

This week brought long conversations at the dining room table with my love, a hot bath, recurring dreams, night sweats, early mornings, and strong coffee.

This week brought insights into a young and frightened part of myself, the part who wants to make everything perfect and everyone happy. Though this wasn’t exactly new to me, the thing with healing is that it’s iterative. And somehow, I encountered a new understanding of some very specific ways that young one reacts to what she perceives as emergencies, things that are actually just… life.

This week brought morning prayers, in the forms of walking in the woods and attending Zoom services. So different, yet throughout the course of both, my spirit reattaches to the insides of my body – and exhales.

This week brought a whole range of states and feelings – frustration, fear, gratitude, patience, sadness, disappointment, relief, happiness. For the most part, I was able to stay and experience them all.

This week brought beginning our days by asking each other, What are three things you’re looking forward today? And this week brought ending our days by asking each other, What were three high points for you today?

This week brought a moment of serendipity that still has me smiling.

This week brought tending, showing up, letting go, and keeping on.

What did your week bring? Leave a comment or drop me a note. I always love hearing from you.

Shabbat Shalom and love,
Jena

---

New (Jewish) group starting in early May!

This new offering will offer participants space to reflect on our Jewish journeys, identities, questions, and longings through writing and discussion over the course of six weekly Zoom sessions. Details and registration are coming soon!

If you would like me to contact you directly with more information, please leave a comment here or just reply to this Dispatch.

---

Client Corner

I’m so happy to share book news from two writers with whom I’ve had the privilege of working as a coach and editor. 🤩

A Teacher's Companion: Centering Empathy and Emotional Well-Being for Yourself and Your Students by Misha Safran, PCC

Misha is hosting a virtual book launch party and you are invited! Scan the QR code to RSVP or read more on her website.

---

Return: Eight Habits to Be Mindful in the Real World by Dr. Shalini Bahl

I met Shalini not long before Covid hit and we continued our work together in those earliest months of quarantine. I was so moved by her words of acknowledgment:

”Jena, your poetic touch and structure rescued me from the depths of creative despair.”

Learn more.

---

Last Word

---