Meandering Solstice Musings
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Against a sky with a city scape at the bottom, a dark hand creates a circle with forefinger and thumb. Through the circle the sun shines.
Dear friends,
Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. I will be savoring the day with a dear college friend and her family as they pass through town. I'll soak in the long light of the day and the light of decades of friendship.
In my last message I wrote that May was a rollercoaster ride. June has taken me on as many ups and downs as May, maybe more. I've lost count.
I am part of a Facebook group with people taking on 30-day practices. Continuing a practice I started informally in May, this month I decided to touch my bare feet to the earth every day. I haven't quite done it every day, but I've gotten close. I especially like doing it as I pick raspberries off of my bushes, sometimes just 2 sweet berries. I think I got about 10 yesterday.
The practice of physical grounding has helped keep me steady during unsteady times. Mother Earth, solid beneath my feet, offers reassurance and solace. On Saturday I sang at the funeral of a friend - the father of good friends and grandfather to one of my godsons. As I prepared to sing, I took off my sandals. While my feet weren't directly touching the earth, I still felt steadier, more connected, more supported this way. I didn't put my sandals back on until after mass. I am grateful to belong to a church where no one blinks an eye at such things.
What do you do to ground?
~~~
I continue to reflect on labor and birthing. I am still in the process of birthing something(s). It feels like I am stalled. I may only be able to explain this well afterwards. I have little understanding now.
I am also being (re)birthed. A new realization has come in the process. The precursor to rebirth is death. Obvious, I know, but somehow I'd forgotten. Friends who have recently left the physical realm are reborn into the life of pure Spirit, pure Love, pure Light. I wonder what that's like.
As I am being reborn while still embodied, I think I am experiencing death in increments. The details feel too tender to share except to say that I have made many plans and the Universe has had very different ones for me. (You know what they say: if you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans.)
I have an open invitation to practice surrender. Sometimes I accept the invitation with grace, sometimes with tears, or groans of frustration (this is actually when I am resisting the invitation), or laughter. I trust that I will emerge from this process more wholly me, but whew, the decomposition before the recomposition is not the most fun. I am aware that in this time, I could use some support. If you have willingness and capacity to do so, I hope you'll consider my request below this note.
And, friends, as I tell you how I am, I wonder, too, how you are. How are you experiencing life, death, birth/rebirth, or whatever is showing up for you these days?
I'd love to know.
With love,
Cory
Requesting Support
Here's the short version of the story: Some of the work I had planned or thought I'd be doing this summer has fallen away. While my tolerance for instability is pretty high, I've pretty much reached my limit. I am in a place where I both want to contribute meaningfully to the world and I am also very tired. And so...
If you'd like to offer support, I just joined Buy Me a Coffee, a platform that makes it easy to support creators like me by contributing a few dollars, basically the price of a coffee, or my preferred coffeeshop beverage, a tea.
As I am getting started on this platform,
- if something I’ve written, shared, or created has spoken to you;
- if you want to invest in my ability to create in a way that is sustained and sustainable;
- and, most immediately, if you believe that supported rest (like PTO for salaried folks) is important;
I hope you’ll consider contributing $5 or more now or becoming a supporting member with a monthly or yearly contribution.
Alternately, if you've been thinking about a Heart Portrait, Reading for Remembering, or with me, now would be an excellent time to schedule or to buy a gift certificate to use later.
If you are not in a position to make a monitary contribution, I also gratefully welcome loving words of support.
Thank you in advance!