Joy Letters
I am a recovering perfectionist, productivity chaser, and people pleaser, coaching midlife women to disrupt old thought patterns, let go of behaviors that keep them stuck, and make their joy an everyday priority.
🦩 i made a pile of words 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, “I am no poet,” I used to believe. “I don’t have time to write,” I used to believe. “There is no point in writing just for fun,” I used to believe. Fast forward like a decade. Me, in the first Midlife Basecamp Co-Creation Zoom Call, pulling a random word from a jar, and throwing letters, words, and shapes on a page. Then, a big smile on my face when I share what I did in our time together: “I created a big pile of letters and words, and I had so much fun.” What happened...
🦩 magpie mischief 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, The magpies in our backyard have been inviting us to play all summer, leaving us little puzzles. Hide and seek: They removed a bottle used to water plants and left a bulb in the hole. Spot the difference: They keep moving two Ponderosa pine cones around the deck, making our house sitter wonder if she lost her mind. Splash and laugh: They looove to splash around in the bird bath and hop around the yard after, teasing each other like pre-teen kids at the pool. Over and over,...
🦩 the wisdom of slow places 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, The water level seemed high enough, judging by how much we could see of the bridge pillars. “Let’s go through Council Grove,” I said, and since I was behind the oars, my husband didn’t disagree. There is only enough water in the Clark Fork River to float through Council Grove State Park for a few weeks each year, so I was eager to take that channel one more time. Scarcity can be a good motivator* As soon as we enter the channel past the point of no return, I realize that my...
🦩 roman borders, german memories 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, Germany is a country whose people know a thing or two about borders. Last week, I was hiking in the Rhön UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Standing in Bavaria, we looked across the vast landscape of fields, forests, and volcanic hills into Thuringia, formerly East Germany. If you zoom in, you can see an old guard tower, built to protect West from East, capitalism from communism, folks from folks, kin from kin. Today, I was hiking along the Limes, the northernmost border of the...
🦩 found some poetry 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, My parents are buried in a forest. They call it Friedwald here in Germany. Peace Forest. Or Ruhe Forst. Resting Woods. I took some time today to sit below their tree. a skyward view from beneath my parents' burial tree Really the only reasonable thing to do outside in Germany during the current heatwave: Sit on the ground below a canopy of beech and oak. Listen to the blackbirds. Allow the memories to float up through the soil, the body, the brain. Notice. Today I caught a...
🦩 tiny rebellions at sunrise 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, An old boyfriend of mine used to say, “Viel hilft viel.” (A lot helps a lot.) He was a baseball player, so he usually referred to batting practice, Bengay, or celebrating wins. I was reminded of “viel hilft viel” the other day, when my Bamboo Bodies teacher talked to the class about swinging our arms in the early morning sun. “Science is trying to find out how much nature exposure we need to get the positive effects,” she said, “I wonder how little of it already makes a...
🦩 ponderosa interrupt 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, Quickly, AirPods in place, I made my way up the trail. I had convinced myself that for 30 minutes, the wildflowers mattered more than my to-do list. Alas, they weren’t even blooming here, compared to the south-facing ones closer to town. My soul was a bit disappointed, but my inner manager was pleased. We might make it even quicker if there’s no awe. I approached the giant Ponderosa that’s always inviting me to stop, and this time, I could not resist. Even my inner manager...
🦩 making time for the weird things 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, I don’t have time to journal this morning. No time to greet the trees, either.* No time to meditate, do Qi Gong, or call my sister. My brain tries to convince me that those statements are true every single morning. And sometimes my brain succeeds. A few almost-empty Daily Pages serve as evidence. And sometimes, my brain is even correct. Sometimes I do not have time to do everything I like in the morning. Most mornings, though, my brain is lying. Not consciously, perhaps. It...
🦩 wet grass, bare feet 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, I ripped open the back door, threw off my socks, and walked into the wet grass. It took three slow laps around the backyard, and a few deep breaths* before my nervous system finally settled enough for me to sit down and ask: Why did an app just send me into a spiral of existential despair swirled with anger? Why was I yelling at my device with tears rising from my belly through my chest and throat? I used to dismiss these moments as hysterical over-reactions,** and have...
🦩 the river sent this back 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, My internal timer went off after five minutes. I didn’t have to set it. It’s always 5-7 minutes into sitting outside when my body gets antsy and wants to move. Scratch that. My brain gets antsy and wants to move. Wants a purpose, something to do. I noticed the thought intrusion (rude!) settled back in, and - now that the expected interruption was over - I opened the envelope I had tucked into my pocket before I left my house. The envelope had been sitting on my desk for a...
I am a recovering perfectionist, productivity chaser, and people pleaser, coaching midlife women to disrupt old thought patterns, let go of behaviors that keep them stuck, and make their joy an everyday priority.