A Day of Sacred Solitude
My kitchen windowsill, with an iris from my garden...
I'm having a much-needed day of solitude. No dogs (they're with Bryon this week), no humans, no conversations, no going anywhere. My rules for today are:
- Stay home
- Don't answer the phone
- Move through the day slowly and intuitively
- Be gentle and loving with myself
- Do very, very little
Needless to say it's been exquisite! Hour by hour I've felt the stress draining away from my blood and bones. (No doubt helped that I had a 90-minute massage yesterday.) If you asked what aspect of today has nourished me the most, it's the peace and quiet. Not hearing my own voice -- or anyone else's voice -- including the critical, shrill, self-flagellating voice in my head -- has been a thorough relief and inexpressibly, profoundly nourishing. Talk about rest. I just realized I haven't "should" on myself once today and that, my friends, is a miracle.
Ironically -- accidentally, really -- I got quite a lot done today! I...
Slept in 'til 8am
Made my bed (making the effort to do this daily)
Watered the back yard and garden
Finished organizing my office
Setup my awesome new HP 1600 Color LaserJet printer
Listed my HP DeskJet 1220C printer on Craigslist
Prepared a healthy lunch (ham and cheddar on wheat sourdough with lettuce, and a fat juicy plum) and a healthy dinner (spaghettini with homemade pesto, green salad with broccoli and a box of Junior Mints for dessert :))
Listed a bunch more unneeded/unloved books and CDs for sale on Amazon Marketplace (purging is GOOD)
Shipped a few orders
Took a few photos
Sent a few emails
Forwarded womenatrest.com to point to this blog, after transferring the domain from pain-in-the-ass web host iPowerWeb to easy and friendly GoDaddy
Now it's 8pm, and me and my Junior Minty tummy are kicked back on the couch, semi-watching Entourage. Life is calm and serene today. I am calm and serene today. I feel better than I have in months -- which may not last, but no matter. What matters is this moment. All it took was my commitment to stick to 5 simple rules that kept me cocooned and quiet for one lovely, simple, healing day.
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