What is anchoring you?
Dear Ones.
Hello!
I haven’t written for awhile. I was waiting for the inspiration to write, for the thoughts that pulse through my dream space to sound palatable (or at least sensical) in the daylight. I was getting my new private practice established, getting overwhelmed by balancing the particularities of being a therapist in all the ways and contexts I do it with the practice of living in this deeply beautiful capitalistic patriarchal garbage dump.
As Julia Cameron reminds us, creativity should not be limited to the random spurts of energy that occasionally have us reaching for a pen or paintbrush. Creativity, like anything else that keeps us well, is a practice.
I could write about the deeply unsettling uncertainty following the election that so many of us are holding close or trying our damndest to ignore. I could talk about mindfulness and the somatic awareness that keeps us human.
But what I really want to write about is the dry sauna at the Y.
And the small miracle of going to bed by 10 pm multiple weeks in a row.
And remembering to pack snacks so I don’t get hangry.
I have begun to think of self care as the anchors that keep me vital. Anchors that the ship of my body needs to keep me here (right here right now).
In some ways, this is just the continued revelation of taking my own medicine. I often guide my clients in the meditation that begins our sessions to bring as much of themselves to the front as possible. And, I cannot hold all of those parts skillfully if I am not all the way here too.
So often we think of self care as luxurious, timely and geared for self-improvement.
I don’t know about you, but none of those things are very motivating for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love a bubble bath as much as the next babe, but I am far more motivated these days by the idea of sustaining than improving.
As in, I want to do my job and do it well for a long long time.
I want to be able to move my body with relative freedom and ease for a long long time.
I want to be able to be present and engaged in my marriage for a long long time.
I want to continue to build nourishing friendships and community for a long long time.
Knowing that there is so much outside of my control-illness, loss etc- that may befall me at any time, connecting to my anchors on a regular basis keeping me here. They are not complicated. I don’t have to overthink them. And I do them almost every day in some form.
So, here are my personal anchors, in no particular orders.
Going to bed by 10:30 at the latest every weekday night
Starting work at 10 am (yes, there is of course privilege allowing me to change my schedule in this way)
Pulling coconut oil in the morning.
Moving in some way every day-swimming, weight lifting, dancing, yoga, walking.
The aforementioned sauna at the Y is LIFE GIVING.
Eating within an hour of waking up.
Packing snacks so I don’t get hungry.
Laying on the floor and moving intuitively to close down the day.
A future version of me will add turning off my phone before 9, but that would not be truthful now and we are practicing here and now.
What is anchoring you, right here and now?