Honor Your Natural Rhythms One Friday in September I took a mini-retreat and spent the afternoon hiking along the Salmon River up by Mt. Hood. I brought my phone (volume off) so I could take photos, a notebook and pen, and a couple of oracle card decks. The location was beautiful, and I was one of only three small groups walking by the river that day, so it was also quiet and peaceful. If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you know I honor my solitude as sacred time and get most of my best ideas while I’m walking. That particular Friday afternoon, I walked for clarity as I wasn’t sure what direction to take next. Plenty of ideas came to me on this Salmon River hike, and they all had the feeling of “In the new year. Next year.” After walking, I jotted them down in logical sequence in my notebook, pulled out my pendulum for insurance, and not one step had a sense of “now” momentum behind it. I know “now” momentum when I feel it. For years, I’ve turned to oracle card decks for input from my Inner Voice/Intuitive Nature or IVIN, basically requesting an answer to a prayer. When I want some extra guidance, I intuitively choose a deck and draw a card or complete a spread. That Friday at Salmon River, my IVIN spoke to me through Colette Baron-Reid’s Wisdom of the Hidden Realms card #22, The Resting Tree, patience, stillness. The Resting Tree is a sign for you to stop focusing and planning and be at peace in the moment. This is the representative of nonaction and relaxation. Patience is the key to being with this Ally. The Resting Tree asks you to slow down, sit back, and watch the roses bloom and the birds feed in the meadow. This isn’t the time to forge ahead in any way. You may not be taking enough breaks, so you’re invited to be still and contemplate your good fortune, even if it means blessing the chaos in your life. This is a sign to allow everything to fall away except the stillness of the moment; it’s like living within the space between breaths. When the Resting Tree appears, it signals that you’ve done all you can for now and it’s time to unwind and allow your story to unfold of its own accord. You’ve earned the right to rest and relax. Amazing ideas will come if you do. Remember the ancient saying, “We do without doing and everything gets done.” Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Well, lovely does not always equal easy, at least not for this recovering claims examiner! Yet, the wiser part of me knows the only way to truly know what guided action to take, and when, is to be peaceful and still. Especially this time of year. Despite the actual calendar we keep, September has always signaled a new year to me. It’s when school starts. Homecoming, bonfires, football games. Autumn leaves, sweaters and classy leather boots. Nature begins the hibernation period. For humans, it’s the antithesis of natural hibernation…it’s the start of…the holiday season!!! Halloween decorations come out as soon as summer heat recedes and I won’t even get into retail marketing for Christmas. Just stop me before I start. This holiday season, say “no” to anything that doesn’t serve your authentic nature. My annual holiday letter/photo collage project brings me joy and I love hearing from people, so I continue that tradition. But last year, I narrowed down my Christmas gift list to only my partner and my parents. (I send birthday gifts to my two nieces in South Dakota.) Intentionally restricting your gift list saves so much time, money and energy. You may simply love holiday shopping. If you’d rather do less, consider reaching out to people to ask, “How do you feel about exchanging letters/cards, phone calls (or time together if local), instead of gifts?” You might be surprised how many people say, “Great!” and are grateful you asked. I am going to audition for a play. Because acting and being involved in a show brings me great joy. But not a play with a huge, long run – a fun, holiday show. George and I may or may not host Thanksgiving dinner again this year. If we do, the menu came to me in a dream. (Interesting things come to me in dreams, not just on walks!) Roasted chicken (yes, chicken, not turkey), possibly also a small ham. Homemade stuffing with celery and onion, mashed potatoes and gravy. Ye ole green bean casserole, homemade cranberry sauce, a stovetop version of my special mac & cheese. Some kind of fresh salad (possibly a kale salad made by my friend Katherine, although she knows nothing about this.) And for dessert, Aunt Pam’s cranberry bundt cake with butter sauce. You can find my recipes for homemade gravy, Freakin’ Insane Mac & Cheese, and Aunt Pam’s Cranberry Bundt Cake with butter sauce in COMFORT FOOD FROM THE HEARTLAND: Recipes from a South Dakota Farmer’s Daughter. Because my roasted chicken tips are not in it, I will share them with you here before I close. Remove neck and giblets from whole chicken, rinse and pat dry. In a small bowl, mix around 3 TBSP olive oil with seasonings such as poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, tarragon, salt, pepper and garlic powder, possibly a bit of cayenne pepper. Loosen skin and brush olive oil/seasoning mixture on meat under the skin, both sides, as liberally as you can without breaking the skin. Then do the same thing on the top of the skin, all over the chicken. You can marinade in the frig overnight if you wish; just make sure the chicken is room temperature (about an hour out of the frig) before baking. Sprinkle/rub well with paprika, place in roasting pan breast side down, and bake at 350 for about an hour. Now Indian summer arrives, a change of season that’s more a sense memory than a date on the calendar. Finally, the heat is passing. Gradually familiar surroundings don a rustic palate of jewel tones that dazzle with their beauty. Let October seduce you with her charms. “Beguile us in the way you know,” poet Robert Frost entreated this season of abundance. “Release one leaf at the break of day .” –Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy Authentically Yours, Laura
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