Winter solstice

[Dimity]

Hello to fellow travellers on the long and difficult road facing one setback after another @NatureLover @Appleblossom @Shaz51 @Kyle1 

may each day be a little brighter than the one before.

[Kyle1]

Good morning, @Dimity 

Thank you so much for your thoughts and blessing! Here's hoping... 

Yesterday was a good day. I did have sickening emotions, but I rose from bed. Made lunches. Kept an appointment with a new psych (who was great, btw), and have started on new meds (which I think I notice a difference already...). Objectively, things went alright...and I noticed. 👀

This morning I'm instinctively feeling fretful...but my what a difference to wake and find some well wishes with my name attached!

God bless. And may your day be percussive with glimmers and shine aswell 💙🫂✨️

[Appleblossom]

Hey @Dimity @Kyle1 @NatureLover   

Had a bad surprise yesterday at the dentist. They started root canal work. Probably more due to teeth grinding than nutrition or oral care. Today is better than yesterday. At least the pain is getting looked at and root cause dealt with.

Dim your little reminder to do self care in health was appreciated.

Love Apple

[Dimity]

So glad you're moving forward @Kyle1 ... with a good psych and effective meds you'll find more strength and resourcefulness for your complicated life. Hopefully the upwards ladders prevail over the occasional snakes.

@Appleblossom I've never needed a root canal touch wood but if it resolves the pain it must be worthwhile... I gather it's even more tedious than crowns (I've had several).

I've made progress... am finding my voice with my gp and see a new psychologist soon. A family matter is still tricky but I can't push, there are too many sensitivities. I'm keeping busy lobbying on a clutch of local issues but pine for real-time live interaction (despite social anxiety). Maybe my mental fog is lifting. My new affirmation is "I live here" after years of shuttling and many more of feeling out of place.

[Kyle1]

"I live here"

I think it were David Suzuki who wrote one of the most revolutionary things one can do is put down roots... @Dimity 

Obviously, he was talking about community and connection to land; ones environment.

Though imagine if "putting down roots" were to translate into reaching down so deep in our own soul that, what ever spot we are standing in we feel like "I live here" ...

[Dimity]

Thanks @Kyle1 that's quite profound.

Put me in mind of a,Mary Oliver poem "It was early"....  Sometimes I need only to stand wherever I am to be blessed.  

It was early, which has always been my hour to begin looking at the world

and of course, even in the darkness, to begin listening into it,

especially under the pines where the owl lives and sometimes calls out

as I walk by, as he did on this morning. So many gifts!

What do they mean?  In the marshes where the pink light was just arriving

the mink with his bristle tail was stalking the soft-eared mice,

and in the pines the cones were heavy, each one ordained to open.

Sometimes I need only to stand wherever I am to be blessed.

Little mink, let me watch you.

 Little mice, run and run.

Dear pine cone, let me hold you as you open.

[Kyle1]

that's a beautiful poem @Dimity !

Especially as I consider all the associations that "pine" may carry...

Thank you so much for sharing this. ❤️ 

[Dimity]

@Kyle1 I reread it... yes the preordained opening of the pinecones... and acceptance and tranquillity yet the understated ferocity of mink pursuing mice... all in its place

[Kyle1]

yeah... and for me @Dimity  pine brings to mind 

• Longing and sadness
• The pineal gland (or third eye) which is shaped like a pine cone. (Depicted a lot in ancient african/Egyptian lore as a spiritual capacitor, of sorts...)
• And a literal pine cone, which if you've ever seen, springs open when sufficiently warmed, and out fly the winged seeds like pepper spritz, sounding like crickets.

I read this poem - especially the ending - and imagine holding any or all of these things to witness... 

[Dimity]

Thanks for your insights @Kyle1 

I followed you on the ubiquity and inevitability of "pining" yet the poem is essentially joyful and hopeful and transcendent

I love your image of the pinging of the winged pine kernels... in Australia banksia cones do likewise after fire