Pam Bustin
creator, editor, story tender
Shake and Bake 76: Awesome Is as Awesome Does
Shake and Bakes are my quarterly check-ins (CHICKENS!). I use these posts to … shake out the happenings of my work and my life in general in an attempt to Shake off the bad and Bake in the good. It’s about … gratitude, paying attention and living by the moon. Much thanks to HAVI over at the Fluent Self for inspiration and to APRIL at Big Sky Astrology for her monthly Working with the Moon booklets.
~~o~~ New BRIGHT Moon (in Taurus) ~~o~~
May’s Moon is known as:
Milk Moon (Colonial America and English)
Planting Moon (Cherokee)
Panther Moon (Choctaw)
Bright Moon (Celtic)
Hare Moon (Medieval England And Wiccan)
Grass Moon (Neo-Pagan)
Flower Moon (Algonquin)
May May May… what May come… my 49th birthday will come this May.
I sit here watching the rain fall… yes… rain and not snow… and I think of planting the garden, of working out in the studio once it warms up…. I think of how HOPEFUL May has always felt for me. How BRIGHT the outlook is as the wheel turns us into spring.
So… this moonth I shall follow the Celts and honour May’s moon as Bright Moon – a moon of Hope.
The new moon in Taurus bids us to seek … pleasure and beauty. To set a calm and peaceful pace. To fill up our senses with the blooming Spring … as the world awakens around us. To welcome new growth inside our selves.
For me the focus of this moonth will be… exploring the salve of self-compassion.
My wonderful Palla, Lia, steered me back to the zenhabits website yesterday. We’ve been playing with the LIFT app and especially enjoying our habit of “Getting Up and Deciding to be Awesome.” She saw a post on zenhabits called The Miracle of the Self-Compassion Habit that oh so clearly expressed what we have been discovering… the habit of “deciding to be awesome” is chock full of Self Compassion. We’ve been enjoying the exploration of how AWESOME shifts each day…. how deciding to be awesome is not only aimed at being awesome out in the world FOR others, but also … inside… with ourselves.
I hopped on over to the site to read the article and dag-nabbit if I didn’t decide on the spot to dive into the Sea Change program – at least for one month – to participate in the Self-Compassion module.
I’ve a million words spinning in my head right now… About what I think Self Compassion is – and what it isn’t.
But, y’know what? I’m gonna just… let these thoughts simmer…. and get on with the Chickening…
~~o~~
Quick CHICKEN – The Doings that help me with the BEING:
The 40 day challenges continue apace. We are on Day 12 of the book and the walking and the showing up to the page each day. I’ve had a few days of missing the walk and I’ve taken one day away from work on the novel.
~~o~~
Intentions for the New Moon
Let’s see if I can play with the elements while embracing this idea of Self Compassion
I’ve also been thinking about this very idea of INTENTION and I’m beginning to realize that it isn’t just… the ACTIONs I take to achieve a certain SOLID goal. It’s the … commitment to move towards a goal and it’s the actions taken but there is another layer of… JOY in the journey towards the goal. There is joy in the simple moments of doings and there is a much lower level of attachment to any … “PLANNED outcome” – the goal is there but … HOW IT LOOKS morphs and flows and changes as I move towards it. Like a good story unfolding itself.
Dunno if that makes any sense at all… but it’s what I’ve been feeling of late.
So… what then shall be my Self Compassionate Intentions for this moonth?
Θ (theta) earth – home – touch – body
- Caring for the body…. through the continued walking and the eating of good food and … so on.
Φ (phi) air – relationships – scent – mind
- Caring for the mind… through attention to input (books/films/art/music/social media), mindfulness, challenges and … so on.
Χ (chi) fire – work – vision – will
- Tending to the work. Will shall get me to the page and vision will meet me there… and so on.
Ξ (ksi) water – health – taste – emotions
- Flow of feelings – some say water is the element of compassion – may I find it so.
Ψ (psi) quintessence – spirit – hearing/listening
- Listening to the spirit within. To the divine. To intuition and the inner voice. Through meditation… and so on.
~~o~~
It’s still raining.
Thanks for popping by.
Sending you wishes for a marvelous May.
Go easy ~p
4 Comments on “Shake and Bake 76: Awesome Is as Awesome Does”
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Pam Bustin 
I love that song! My mother used to play it over and over. Our last snow is just about finished melting, and I’ve found a nice, sheltered spot in the yard to do my transplanting. Feels so good to have my fingers in the dirt again.
Self compassion is something I’ve had to practice this year, as I found the winter long, difficult, and very unproductive. I really had to give myself some space to ‘come back’.
Hey Andrea… Oh how my fingers long for the dirt. Soon….Spring WILL come, even here 🙂
May you thrive and blossom as the world warms!
I love the song too, and Butch and Sundance. My favourite lines are… “You keep thinking, Butch.” (The Raggedy Man and I often use this one, with a grin.) And “Who ARE those guys?”
Might be time to pull out the ole vhs copy and watch the movie again.
Hi Pam, Hope you enjoy SeaChange, I am a long time participant and have found it very valuable. I don’t visit the forum as much as I used to but I am known there by Bee.
Hi Bee
It was on Sea Change that I found the link to your blog. It grabbed me right away.
I look forward to poking around your corner of the web.
And to exploring Sea Change.
Thanks for stopping by. ~p