Stillness | September 2021

It’s the last Tuesday of the month, so I’m checking in with Carolyn and my One Little Word. You can see all of my Stillness posts here.

September was a month of feeling unsteady, off-kilter, and not quite like myself. It was a time of paring down and changing focus. The biggest shift for me was the end of my morning journaling time and finding true contentment with focusing on the people and things in my home.

I’m not entirely sure how the shift started. It was possibly a combination of The Miracle of Mindfulness, Klara and the Sun, and A Tale for the Time Being. Something in those books helped me recognize how much I was escaping despite believing that I was being present and mindful.

September brought a true slow down: one blog post a week (down from 3), quitting my Goodreads reading goal*, and picking up slow stitching projects that required focus and patience. I spent more time planning our homeschool, painting and drawing with the kids, cleaning the house, cooking, and decluttering. It’s nice not to feel overwhelmed by those activities now and to not feel rushed to finish anything. The person or task in front of me is important and matters.

Have you listened to Emily’s episode from last week? A Soul Minimalist’s Guide to Autumn. It’s a wonderful reminder to do the things that make sense now, not necessarily what you’ve always done. Right now I’m trying to figure out how to make daily reflection a part of my rhythm again. It’s been a month since I’ve written a journal entry (other than in my 5 year journal, which I’ve faithfully kept) and I can’t imagine I’ll find the enthusiasm to return to that practice. So I’m thinking about what makes sense now. Maybe it will be showing up to my keyboard 20 minutes a day. Or a gratitude practice. Or something else entirely. I’m hoping I’ll have a chance to try out a few new things before we gather again in October.

As always – thank you for joining me on this journey! And I’m looking forward to catching up with all of you. Here’s to October (my favorite month)!

*Yes! I quit my Goodreads reading goal and stopped counting the finished books in my notebook of books. I felt like I was becoming too obsessed with the numbers and wanted to keep adding to the list despite having little interest in picking up a book lately. I felt the best way to end that obsession was to delete my goal.