Celebrating any win

This reptilian brain! I blame it for training me to view the world with a critical lens. On the other hand, it does try to keep me alive, and for that I am glad. At times I find myself overwhelmed with the mental load, a to-do list that never seems to get to-done, coupled with a need to take care of myself in order to show up every day.

So, I’ve been taking these past months to slow down. I planted two gardens, one for me and one for the pollinators. I set up outdoor spaces to sit and observe, a hammock to read in, and a place to journal, and drink tea.

This was aimed at silencing the to-do list, or at least to de-centralize it, and ultimately it helped me to appreciate the quote that I once had on a tea. It was, “Nature never hurries, yet all is accomplished.”

These are some small wins that I observed this summer:

Two butterflies in the garden on a summer day

Watching small birds eat kale

Observing how a squirrel picked and ate blackberries

Watching the wren take a dust bath joyfully late evening

Drinking my tea while it was hot and savoring it

Replacing my journal the day I completed my old one

Decluttering the clothes that did not fit anymore

Going to bed before 11:00 p.m. and sleeping well

Recycling paperwork and organizing what I kept

Doing and putting away the laundry

Discovering a new book

Taking care of my houseplants and fish

Eating fresh and sweet kale for dinner

Discovering the beauty in a dahlia

Now, as summer winds down, with my favorite season around the corner, I am feeling better about the time I have each day. When the rain returns, and the lands cool, the smell in the air soothes me. Was it summer, the heat and energy that compelled me to feel I should conquer the world, or at least the chore list?

One day I will recall the birds in my summer garden, waiting for their turn in the birdbath. I will remember the shrub abuzz with honeybees, the chicks that fledged and how vulnerable they were at first. The bright yellow bird I had to burry after it flew into a window, and the burial I offered beneath the fig tree. How I used apple pieces to lure a deer back to the other side of the fence. How the first earth worm made my heart leap. The bird that perched atop my sunhat as I watered my plants. How little discoveries led me to feel the collusion of the land, a marble, a piece of glass in my favorite color. Though I did not venture to a far off land, my mind found peace, my soul found a purpose, and my body tired beneath the summer sun.

Stay close to anything that makes you feel glad you are alive.

Hafez