The Feels of The Season
A snapshot
Jamilia Jean Photography
Yes it’s that time - I am pulling this fabulous pic out yet again.
A little tongue in cheek, but often a reality this time of year.
However, it always reminds me to stay light, and find humour in the day.
Boy it’s hard sometimes - I know you know.
The world tells us we should be feeling joy, that this is the most wonderful time of the year.
It can be.
However it can be a poison chalice filled with fractious relationships, expectations, topped up with a mixer of end of year exhaustion.
There is so much noise encircling us.
Christmas decorations in September, Christmas Carols in October, Black Friday Sales in November, last minute Christmas shopping, advertising for Boxing Day sales already started … and we know the Easter Eggs will be on the shelves 2 days after Christmas….can we please just take a breather?
It is all so damn relentless.
The 2024 Word of the Year by Macquarie Dictionary is:
”Enshittification"
— meaning a deterioration of things -
I love a bit of masterful synchronicity…I am sort of really feeling this word at the moment … Are You?
In my coaching work, we look for upgrades, or at least lean into a the things that give us a forward moving trajectory to shift us from where we are now to where we want to go. It is hard if a societal value system challenges our MO.
In class I ask students to release the grip on all the things that we don’t need to hold onto. I think instead we must grip mercilessly to the things that hold us steady.To find the daily practices and reminders that we can both find and create beauty in our world to mitigate the harshness and grittiness that can rub us in all the wrong directions.
Finding the nuggets that keep us afloat and seeking out the breathtaking, awe inspiring moments that fill our hearts with delight is always something I do, no matter how curmudgeonly I am feeling. It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. Sometimes the things that inspire wonder are right in front of us. Sometimes all it takes is a riff of a favorite song to shake us out of the funk.
Words are always my go-to…not the hollow emptiness or saccharine sweetness of a Hallmark greeting card which often confuses encouragement with toxic, useless positivity. Instead, finding words that resonate, give insight for our own interpretations and transformations in our own timelines.
This passage from David Whyte is a particular favourite :
If the world will not go away then the great discipline seems to be the ability to make an identity that can live in the midst of everything without feeling beset. Being besieged asks us to begin the day not with a to do list but a not to do list, a moment outside of the time-bound world in which it can be reordered and re-prioritized. In this space of undoing and silence we create a foundation from which to re-imagine our day and ourselves,
Rested, we are ready for the world but not held hostage by it, rested we care again for the right things and the right people in the right way. In rest we re-establish the goals that make us more generous, more courageous, more of an invitation, someone we want to remember, and someone others would want to remember too.
How good is this?
And to quote my mate Em ( if you don’t read her emails, do, because not only is she an actual writer, but because she brings absolute joy to my inbox …find her here)
“…It’s CRITICAL that we all make space for beautiful, poignant, magical things.
Art matters. Beauty matters. Gorge on it. Fill your soul with glimmering, singing, ephemeral joys. It will light up the dark corners and push out the Trumps and tragedies.”
As for many, this year has thrown its fair share of chaos seeking missiles my way. Teetering on the brink of a few cliff edges, mucking about in the messier, swampy places, shedding, accepting, rebuilding. It’s a never ending quest for what brings us a Moore Nourished Life - yes a shameless plug - because everything I offer has been researched, tried and tested a gazillion times by yours truly to mobilise and amplify our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. And a piece of the equation is to notice how staggeringly beautiful our world is, and can be, despite all of the staff that pulls us to our knees.
I have just come to accept that sometimes life is fabulous. Sometimes f*cked. But I keep watching the sunrise for awe, the sunset for thanks. Yoga, breathing, swimming, & walking for my head, heart & body. I cook for connection & to nourish every cell in my body. I continue to help others & I connect with my tribe.
Having travelled through Spain and into Portugal with a beautiful soul a couple of years ago, I went and stayed with some of my besties in the UK; went to see the fabulous ABBA Voyage show; then, onto Paris. I was literally wandering aimlessly, as I love to do in a foreign city, and I came across a cobblestone square with a few trees and outdoor tables - a quintessential Parisian scene, and there in the middle, under a tree were 2 buskers who were singing “What a Wonderful World”. I kid you not. The Universe, right then, was asking me to take a moment to remember the minutiae of my world - the absolute abundance in all the things that matter.
It is very easy to get cynical, and trodden down by the world. It is very easy to miss the glimmers in our day - those things that are always just there, usually right in our sightline, that never fight for our attention, but their presence is often drowned out by all the things that shout at us - headlines, advertisement, the dopamine hits of our phones.
Marvelling at the world is the easiest way to integrate finding joy, because we are in it.
Prioritising awe keeps us remembering, keeps us steady, keeps us sane.
I have not been idle in my time away from writing here, instead I have been building and filling out my programs after some detours and roadblocks. I will pop back after the Christmas lunch has well and truly digested to share these with you. Beginning again afresh. New ways of connecting, and new chapters.
I truly hope you enjoy moments in the next few days with friends and family.
Thanks for being a part of this ride as I carve out a place for me to offer something of value to my world, this world…your world.
With Love
M x
Here you will find joy from my mate @cathyquinnart. Take a Breather - a gentle 3 minute breathwork session to bring a moment of calm to your day.
