Tag: holidays

The Art of Staying Flexible

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“Blessed are the flexible, for they should not be bent out of shape.” – unknown

The holiday season is over. I swear the collective sigh of relief that we can all get back to our routine is so big as to be palpable.

My dear friend, Katie, whose amazing daughters are grown, came over the other day and we were talking about the highs and lows of this season. The magic, the expectations, the busy-ness, the boredom of the down time, the togetherness. It’s not like the gift of the season comes in a neat package. It’s more like a gift basket put together by a five-year-old and there are some pokey and slimey things in the mix.

When I went to my annual physical with my doctor in early December, I asked her about her sons. She answered that her younger son was home from college on the east coast from Thanksgiving through Christmas. She smiled when she said it was nice, but she was getting a little tired of crumbs on the counter. We had a good chuckle about that.

For me, I wrestle with being flexible enough to go on adventures, to throw the ball around, or to play a game. Often it feels more comfortable to cling to things I need to do. Who am I if I leave dishes in the sink, the crumbs on the table, close my laptop, and start chasing butterflies?

But I’m always rewarded when I set what I’m doing down and participate in the play. I benefit from the magic when the kids share their perspective and fun. Longevity and healthspan expert, Dr. Peter Attia lists socializing as one of the ways to stave off dementia. The complexity of what we do when we interact with others helps to keep our brains well.

So, for everyone who is sipping a cup of tea or coffee and celebrating this week of getting back to normal, please give yourself a pat on the back too. Reading a book given to you that might not be your genre, drinking from a new mug, navigating niceties, trying out the new gadget – all of it helps keep us flexible.

(featured photo is mine – I love the light and dark captured together)

Sliding Into the Holidays

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“You must not abandon the ship in a storm because you cannot control the winds…What you cannot turn to good, you must at least make as little bad as you can.” – Thomas More

There’s a scene from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark where a stone wall is dropping to seal off the chamber and Indiana has to slide through the crack at the bottom to get out in the nick of time.

This is how I’m feeling about the holidays – I’m sliding into our Christmas plans feet first, barely making it. And it doesn’t help that Seattle got a couple of inches of snow yesterday so that nothing is happening reliably as we collectively panic through our weather conditions.

As a result, I’ve come up with some strategies for coping that I’ve written about in my Wise & Shine post: The Vortex of the Metaphorical and Messy Storm

Asking for Help

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“Life isn’t about getting and having, it’s about giving and being.” – Kevin Kruse

I don’t think I’m alone in noticing there are a lot of people and organizations asking for donation this time of year. But I got this one from a friend the other day:

“I am late with this project this year, but I am adopting a family through the YWCA this year, Holly is a single mom with one daughter Zoe, they are low income and struggling.  They are asking for gift a gift card at Safeway and Target, I’ll be going to the gift cards today at 2pm today, so please consider donating to my venmo. Any donations will go into the two gift cards!  Of course there’s no obligation.”

The specificity, the timeline and the story all came together in one simple pitch. On top of that, the source was someone I trusted so I chipped in right away.

It made me think of the components of asking for help. If we can do it directly with clear details, it makes it so much easier for people (or the Divine) to respond.