Solstice.

I’ve been feeling like I’m at a loss for words, and maybe at a loss of inspiration and motivation to do much. Honestly, I’ve been beating myself up about it. There’s so much I wanted to get done before I headed home for the holiday. There’s so much I thought I needed to get done before the year-end. I won’t bore you with the laundry list, but perhaps you can imagine my frustration when my body was sluggish and not fully cooperating with my mind. I felt the anxiety of unmet expectations. Self-prescribed expectations. On Monday, for instance, I was off work, created a full to-do list of things I wanted/needed to do. I was cleaning my house, and then it was 4:45pm… I drove to yoga feeling defeated and told Ayodele, my dear friend and yoga teacher, this is the only thing I managed to accomplish today… getting to yoga. She reminded me that the Solstice was approaching, really we shouldn’t be doing anything leading up to the Solstice it’s a time of darkness, rest, and going inward for some time. The Winter Solstice is the time to SIT. Have a cup of tea and rest, it’s not a time of growth, sowing or reaping. It’s more of a time to rest in preparation for growth that will adorn us perhaps later in the season. I was so happy that Ayodele reminded me that I’m not being lazy. I am in my body and in alignment with the flow of the universe. I often intend perfect alignment all the while I’m beating myself up for not moving quick enough or being more productive. This Solstice is teaching me a valuable lesson in honoring my body as this all-knowing force. The intellectual mind lags behind yet we tend to let it dictate. (I may share some notes from a book I read recently called Self Observation, the book dives all the way into this notion that our intellectual mind isn’t best qualified to make decisions for us, it was a great read.)

I practiced yoga four times this week. My back and hips are most appreciative. I deep cleaned my home just in time for the full moon. Florida water. Palo santo. Washed linens. Scrubbed walls. The whole nine y’all. It was cleansing for me too, and my space feels like L O V E.

I’m on board a plane to my other home. I cannot wait to spend time with my loved ones.

I do not have an agenda my only intention is to love and be loved.

I wish you the happiest holidays, safe travels and kind thoughts about yourself and others.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, under the weather or maybe you have the blues take some time for yourself, go inward, sit down, have a cup of tea. It’s easy to get caught up in the manufactured excitement of the holiday season — buying gifts and catching sales and maybe even cooking more than you intend to eat — that’s all good so long as you aren’t dragging your body along. Check-in. Take care of yourself. Please.