DOG POOP, SPIDERS, LEMONS + LISTENING

Happy New Year! How have you spent the first few days of 2020?

I actually took the last 10 days OFF, which is sort of a miracle. The only extended time I usually take off looks like: leading our retreat in Costa Rica or hunting for flowers, which isn’t actually taking time off. It’s just working out of the office. 

In previous years, I would work ALL of December ... like the time we stayed until 10pm on New Year’s Eve to launch a new website.

This year something took over me & I actually took time off at home for the last 10 days.

I pushed back from everything I usually do — to rest, reflect, recharge. I spent a lot of time with family, did a lot of personal reflection & created some plans for 2020. (I might’ve also enjoyed a fair bit of Nordic noir, a rare guilty pleasure.)

I experienced a string of beautiful days of rain like I’ve never seen in AZ before. I saw this brilliant rainbow horizon to horizon. I cooked Asian food. I snuggled with the dogs. I played a lot of games. I drank endless amounts of Rasa. I enjoyed a few Chinese tea ceremonies. I spent a lot of time alone. I made an essence of a Wolf Spider.

I slept in late every morning & even took a few naps. I picked up a lot of dog poop & cut about 50 Meyer lemons off the tree planted years ago by a Taiwanese friend I met only twice and never saw again (thank you Ed Wong for the sweet lemon legacy!).

I had a significant amount of time literally doing ‘nothing’. At some point I wondered to myself if I was ok ~ I was just so content being in the present moment, without any drive to do anything. I didn’t organize everything at the office. I didn’t clean out my closets. I didn’t teach myself how to make sourdough bread. I didn’t even clean my room. Nope. I didn’t do any of that.

I did practice resting though. And listening.

Listening to my body, my mind. Listening to the people around me at any given moment. Listening to what was being said, not being said. Listening to silence, to the tree leaves, to the birds. I listened for inner stirrings, for golden threads of what might be the most important choices for 2020 and the direction for the next chapter of my life.

It occurred to me that perhaps 2020 would be a big year, that I was resting & recharging for that.

All this to say ... if you’re still reading ... I encourage you to rest.

Do nothing. Rest, rest, rest. Notice how your body feels. It’s nice to rebel a little bit and ... if you feel like doing something, do it. If you don’t, don’t. Something else might happen. Be open. Rest, rest, rest & honor your precious body. Until you feel like doing something else. See what that feels like.

Big love to you this first week of 2020. 

Love + flower petals,
Katie

P.S. If you're going straight to Google to search Nordic Noir, I have some recommendations first. Bordertown + Deadwind on Netflix are ultra-addictive. Trapped on Amazon Prime is also great; it takes place in Iceland, where we collected several flower essences a few years ago, like Self-Heal, Icelandic Vicia + Moss. 

P.P.S. There is a lot going on astrologically this month ... like a Full Moon eclipse + a Mercury Cazimi on the same day, and a special event that astrologers have been talking about for decades! Get the full scoop on our January 2020 Moonshine Astrology podcast with Kristina Wingeier ~ click here to listen.