Winter as a manifesto
Because love is the most potent type of power
For some reason, the tone of this letter wants to come through like a spinning vortex that’s just starting to settle down but still has enough vigor to erupt an uncomfortable change.
In the past, November and December are times of over-activation in my system — physically and mentally. It’s a highly emotional time, for many people as well. Both pleasant and unpleasant emotions, which do you prefer? Unpleasant evokes “bad” or “not a good experience” but those unpleasant moments can be catalysts for what’s next. Our meditation is intended for that.
Let yourself feel that discomfort in meditation. Where it feels like you want to crawl out of your own skin.
Where the anxiety fills up your tears.
The ache in your heart quivers your leg.
The oppression suffocates your voice. Leaving you voiceless on a 10-minute voice memo.
Hold yourselves in that.
Cradle those emotions like a broken butterfly wing.
Soothe those tears like no one is watching. Because no one is.
This is what meditation provides us. Not a space that endlessly feels like a serene seated pose, with a half-Buddha smile of hope.
No.
It’s that moment you close your eyes in meditation and your mouth can’t close from crying so loud.
It’s the final sniffle of tears and sighs that says, ok I’m alright now.
Over time as author and meditator, Kate Johnson says,
“Our minds become places where we are not only safe to feel suffering but also safe to feel completely loved and completely free.” — Kate Johnson
This month's muse is Winter.
I’m in love with Winter right now. I’m allowing Winter to be my manifesto. After living out of 2 suitcases for 1 year, 1 month, and 2 weeks or 13.25 months — I’m ready to nest and be still. Drop into the void.
Explore what this time of year evokes in you. Swaying from the good, bad, ugly, and beautiful — without judgment — we bask here in hibernation
In today’s Contentment Corner you’ll find:
△ My Winter Manifesto 🀩
△ Are you hung up on the “marketing” part of your content?
△ In the $4.4 trillion wellness industry, is any cost really too expensive to achieve “self-care”?
And a bit more…
Talk soon,
For your mind
🎧 The Gospel of Wellness (w/Rina Raphael): A really eye-opening conservation on the wellness industry. From retreats to the commercialization of meditation, even further how the fashion PR people are now the ones in the wellness industry. A must-listen for everyone.
For your heart
For mindful marketing
Are you hung up on the “marketing” part of your content?
If you’re thinking of adding a podcast, launching a newsletter, increasing the quality of social, or diving into brand journalism this isn't the solution.
⨠ Here’s why —Read my highlighted notes on Ronnie Higgins’s piece “every business is a media company”
For your soul
My Winter Manifesto
Hi·ber·nate (v.) — to spend the winter in a dormant state and remain inactive or indoors for an extended period.
After living out of 2 suitcases for 1 year, 1 month, and 2 weeks or 13.25 months, I’m ready to nest and be still. Drop into the void. Perhaps I identify more as an animal. Ready to nest and cocoon inwards, migrating my way toward the land of integration.
This past year has been the time of my life. Both good and bad. Traveling and living nomadically. Eating my way around cities. Seeing friends. Meeting new people. Sharing drinks with David and loved ones. Working remotely and having a business that can sustain this. When I feel those highs in both my personal and professional life, it means I also see those freaking low lows. Doubt, confusion, depression, anxiety all stand side by side with love, creation, excitement. We’re all friends. Maybe frienemies. There are nuances to life and we need to remember that. Social media life is too easy to paint one side of the picture.
“We are conditioned to believe that it doesn’t matter unless there are clicks, impressions, likes, comments, engagement; that our work doesn’t matter unless we’re known.”
— Holly Glenn Whitaker
Because of this, it’s now time for me to do the complete opposite. Nurture stillness. A different type of “time of my life.”