Monthly Musings: December

December is a month that feels different from any of the others. It is a month for completion and a month for preparation. A month for celebration. As work and school is finishing for the year for many, there are also preparations for Christmas celebrations and summer holidays.

A month for rest and relaxation. A month where we rush at the start to slow down at the end. There’s a reason why it’s called the Christmas rush, but once Christmas Day is over, there’s permission to rest and relax, to enjoy the summer.

A month for reflection and anticipation. To reflect on what the year has taught us, and to anticipate what the new year will bring.

This year the most popular blog post on Flourish! was actually one from a previous year. With every ending comes a new beginning seems appropriate for New Years Eve, so I want to share it with you again:

Whatever endings you are facing today, whether you’re feeling happy or sad, exhilarated or terrified, relieved or just plain tired, may new beginnings be fresh air for you.

May your every breath be blessed.

Now, and in the year to come.

Monthly Musings: October reflections

It’s time again for monthly musings, and this time I just wanted to reflect for a few minutes on writing through the month of October. This isn’t new, other writers have been here before. But this my path, and these are the things I’ve discovered for myself.

1. Letting go of perfectionism. When you have to post every day, there isn’t enough time to write and rewrite to get it perfect. At some point you have to decide it’s good enough and press Publish.
2. Writing to deadline. Lots and lots of short deadlines means you have to keep showing up and putting pen to paper and fingers to the keyboard. Even when you don’t have any great ideas and aren’t feeling inspired.
3. Writing on the same topic every day. Writing and posting on the same topic every day for a month makes it easier and harder. Easier because you have a frame to work within. Harder because you have to keep finding new elements, new perspectives to keep the topic interesting.
4. I still don’t have a solution for procrastination. Deadlines help, but they can also mean that you just get less sleep so you can hit Publish before midnight. Ironic when you’re writing about rest – but then I knew that was a risk from the beginning.
5. Uncovering insights. Sometimes I don’t realise what ideas or insights I have on a topic until I’ve started writing. I might think I have nothing to say, until I start to say it. Sometimes it just unfolds in the process of writing. That’s a weird feeling, but also good.
6. But wait, there’s more. Even though the series has ended I know that there’s a lot more about rest to be discovered and practised. This is really just the beginning of finding the rhythm of rest, and I fully expect to be writing about it more in the future. As they say, watch this space.

What did you discover in October?

Image credit: morguefile.com

Being on the beach

Standing on the beach watching the waves roll in and break on the shore, water spreading across the sand in flat layers of foam. The tide washes over your feet, dragging the sand out from under you.

Back … and forth. In … and out.

Your feet begin to sink. If you stand still long enough, you are no longer on the beach, but in it.

It’s a timeless kind of moment. A moment for thinking, for reflecting, for dreaming…

Or just for being.

The glory of light…

From the first blush of sunrise, to the bright colours on clear summer days, from the rich golden glow of late afternoon, to the soft kiss of sunset, light is a glorious thing.

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“Light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it beautiful.”  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Come into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher.”   ~William Wordsworth.