Pam Bustin
creator, editor, story tender
Shake and Bake 12: The Comfort and Joy Edition
Wherein Pam celebrates the fact that we are all still here… and bemoans the state of her hair. Even though she knows how petty that sounds.
I’m here a bit early this week, as I’ll be in town tomorrow and awaaaaay from Tippy the Typer.
I hope your week was full of surprises and moments of grace.
In homage to Havi’s Friday Chickens over on the The Fluent Self — This is the place I review my week – in an attempt to track some things – like progress on my novel and… living intentionally. I shake out my week and lay it out. Let the hard burn off and the good sink in. Call it an experiment in paying attention. Feel free to join in.
The Quick Chicken (The Doings that help me with the Being):
Work on NIP: Interesting week. Some weaving together of old with new. Surprises are fun.
Walks: Ooooooh so great. Walked through snowbanks more than knee deep on Friday before the plow came. Magic.
Guitar: Plinkety, Plonkety. Plunk. Love it.
Yoga/Meditation: Not every day – but most days I made it to the floor and did some stretchy stretch.
THIS WEEK’S EXPERIMENT: I was working on the…. time-stretch. Finding the ability to PAUSE in the moment before responding in times of anxiety (mine or someone else’s)
THE RESULT: It helped to be aware. I wasn’t ALWAYS successful but it did work a few times. Awareness is so important and so powerful. Going into the week with this intention really did help it… just rise into my mind in the moment.
breathe… breathe… breathe.
Stroke–glide–glide.
And…the rest of the week…
THE GNARBLY BITS:
– the cold cold coldness and the damp damp dampness can cause this ole bod to ache ache ache. I admit it.
– the plow getting stuck in the yard… always makes me worry that he won’t come back.
AUNTS with amazing hair
– had one of those weeks when all my clothes felt… ugh. And my hair felt double ugh. and I just felt…. well…. let us say HIDEOUS. Urge to PURGE the closet and start again. Close I came to shaving my head to be rid of this scraggly ole witch hair. Lawdy. Actually I wish it was witch hair. Witches have such good hair. Like in Practical Magic… I want THAT HAIR!!! And I want midnight margaritas too!
Luckily the Yule Ritual on Friday really helped with this whole…. mess… of self… loathing. I feel much better now. Honest.
THE TASTY BITS:
+ Marking the solstice/yule with a simple, but fun ritual involving doodles, words, the warmth of fire and some home made bread. YUM. Oh truly and truly a lovely time spent and a shift FELT. Here is to creativity and beauty and growth in the coming year.
+ Gathering with family and friends to hoist a drink, eat some food and tell some stories.
+ Appreciating a friend’s generosity and LOVING his spanky new bathtub. Oh the luxury!!!! Thank you, man of the fires, for letting us stay in your lovely home while you are away and make use of all the wonderful treats like the bath and cable and netflix and… oh right… I’m supposed to be visiting family, not hunkered down with the TV (don’t tellllll on me).
+ Seeing the smile on MiL’s face when her daughter arrived for the holidays. Oh it warmed my heart. Welcome home, Sis!
+ Walks and talks and planning surprises for the 25th.
+ Finding a lovely handmade shawl of the softest green that I had hidden away “for special”. Pulled it out to wear during my Yule ritual and have decided to wear it daily through the holidays. Bright blessings of gratitude to K and her magic fingers. Thank you for this bit of glory to wrap around me.
+ I have such a great great sense of well being today. Grateful for this place, these people, this wood stove, for Tippy the Typer and the Scrib. For pinon incense and the magic of being to reach a friend in Paris with some love when I really NEEDED too (yay interweeb)!
And finally – a hard but good thing…
On Saturday Dec 22nd, we will gather to say our farewells to a dear friend. It will be good to gather and to hear stories of his life in, I believe, one of the places he most loved to spend time in.
May his family find comfort in knowing that he was well loved by so many of us.
I offer up a tip of the Stetson to you, Friend.
Happy trails.
NEXT WEEK’S EXPERIMENT:
A simple one… and a hard one… I will focus on staying present. To be with family and friends as we gather together.
That’s it for me….
Thanks for stopping by.
Sending bright blessings to you all.
May you find comfort and joy this holiday season.
go easy -p
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Pam Bustin 