Honey. Almond flour pancakes. Opening the computer to do some book editing. Knitting a baby blanket for my soon to arrive grandchild. Enjoying the quiet of the day that still feels connected to the holiday mood. Neighbors returning to their apartments around me, hearing the louder than desired footsteps above me.
I love rituals, well more so the daily tasks that ground me in a sense of well-being and organization. As I spend most of my time at home, writing these days, I appreciate the structure imposed by necessities of domestic caretaking. Dishes are always the hardest for me to stay on top of, but that has been improving of late. A few loads of laundry are much in need because I avoid the apartment building machines shared by neighbors during a pandemic. But it too will get done in time.
In time. Isn’t this just how everything occurs? Though we forget this in our harried minds which skip in and out of the present tense. “What will I do? What do I need to do?” Always the recording instead of “What am I doing?” My favorite latest phase for myself is “Weight Here.” It carries that double entendre of physical reality and patience, the bookends of my mindful reality practice. Reality forces us to be where we are, do what we are doing, no matter how our minds deny this truth. I love when language organizes words that really capture the essence of how I experience this demand of nature. Weight Here is so clear, when felt and understood. My weight is here, so, let it be. Fully on the surface beneath me, head included. Nonnegotiable because no matter how busily I may move around, there is always a solid singular surface underneath my skeletal structure. And it receives my weight. I love how this word weight rings the message of its homophone counterpart: wait.
Wait Here tells us to stop, pause. Just be where we are metaphorically translating into the suggestion to resist seeking something different than what our life is presenting in this moment. I am in a room, among other material objects, some organic some inorganic. I am typing on the computer, in my immediate environment and that is what I am doing right now. Being that it is always now, I am set for eternity with clarity about how I should spend my time. All I need to do is look around me, and then to the surface supporting my weight, to know I am where I must be. Nevertheless, it is helpful to receive this mantra whenever I am lucky enough to have it ring in my mind. Weight Here.
I can still taste the honey from the almond flour pancakes I ate 45 minutes ago. Yummy. How fortunate I am to have the pleasure of eating sweet natural honey. Grateful for rituals that keep me grounded in the dwelling of my work, rest, play and self-care.
Jill Eng 