Tender Transitions

CARE

Friends,

It’s September 19th, and I’m marking this day with a transition of my own. Yesterday I saw a physical therapist for some pain in my wrist (earlier this summer I took a break from writing to rest it), and we talked about making some adjustments to my daily life, to how much I climb at our local gym, and to pay attention to how even writing affects my range of motion.

It’s so small, this transition for me, but at the same time, I’m forced to make decisions about my everyday life, what movement means to me, and how to better care for myself. Sometimes, we know things to be true, but need someone else to step in and say yes, care for yourself in this new way and let’s see what happens.

So, today’s word is care.

I use this word a lot, because I don’t think we should underestimate its importance in our life. In fact, most of my writing revolves around three forms of care:

1. how we care for ourselves

2. how we care for each other

3. how we care for Mother Earth

So, whatever your tender transition is, what role does care play in your daily life? How do you want to practice more care? I can’t wait to read your poetry, your words and thoughts that express this.

Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash

care

+

What 
is 
care
if 
not 
an 
acknowledgement
of 
the 
tenderness
we 
both 
need
and 
hope 
to give?

+

Care 
is 
reciprocity,
a 
pulling 
and
letting 
go,
an 
ebb 
and 
flow 
of
sacred
and
pure 
kinship
toward 
ourselves 
and 
each other.

+

Give 
in 
to 
care.

+

Let 
it 
alchemize 
within 
you,
calling 
you 
deeper 
to 
yourself
and 
deeper 
to 
her,
earth
our 
mother,
a 
beacon 
and 
reminder 
that
there 
is 
hope 
shimmering
in 
the 
places 
we 
least 
expect,
shimmering 
within 
and 
without 
us,
waiting 
for 
us 
to 
notice 
that
we 
are 
never 
truly alone.

+

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If you want to join me for a short zoom session this week, I’m sharing a talk on the seven grandfather teachings with Just Faith Ministries, tonight (Thursday) at 8pm ET.

You can log on here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83782222327?pwd=7kP39x3KUPXaS718uxmjfX8UE2bjZP.1

Meeting ID: 837 8222 2327

Passcode: 193780

Our next zoom writing session for paid subscribers is the 23rd at 12:30ET. If you’d like to join us for writing sessions, you can become a paid subscriber here:

Join me and Cherokee author and journalist Rebecca Nagle to celebrate her new book By The Fire We Carry for a conversation on zoom with Charis Bookstore!

I am really excited about this conversation, and I hope you’ll join us to learn more about the importance of this story of land and sovereignty in Oklahoma. I’m so proud of the Indigenous folks who are writing books that are changing our narratives.

Register here!