It has been quite the season of transition.
I am getting my feet nestled in the earth here in Austin, lining up my most important sources of nourishment for the winter ahead. It has been unsettling – to be expected while establishing a new home base. Add in a few unexpected curve balls life has thrown my way, and suffice it to say, it’s been a wind-tossed Autumn.
The best advice I’ve gotten from one of my teachers about weathering this transition is, “Stabilize. Stabilize everything you can stabilize.” So I am working on fixing my routines and my practices. The irony I am finding is that, at this time when my life is unfettered by many of the external commitments that have in the past limited my ability to create a healthy routine, my current flexibility does not lend itself easily to internally-enforced structure. Again, not surprising, as any self-employed person can attest. It’s part of the life-long effort to pacify vata dosha amidst the turmoil of our information age. It requires tapas, the internal fire of self-discipline, to establish and stick to the routines I know serve my own sanity and joy. This trial by fire is working – it burns away illusions and makes me appreciate even more deeply the tools I have been taught.
My new (physical, literal) home continues its evolution alongside my own. With beautiful cedar siding now in place, it’s beginning to look a lot more like home. I shall not tempt fate by estimating a move-in date, but it is definitely moving closer.
A few weeks ago, the monarch butterflies were migrating through Texas on their 2,500 mile journey. I looked out my window one morning and saw a colorful scattering of them passing by. Their improbable, tenacious journey south on such papery wings gave me encouragement.
On this Veterans Day, as so many of our country’s soldiers, present and past, struggle with their own journey home, I hope for the day when we adequately honor their sacrifices by not creating more opportunities for more sacrifice. May there be peace in our time.
Ivy Ingram, MA, AP 
“Feel your feelings first.” That phrase has hung with me for the past few days and i just feel compelled to share that i have felt the pure truth of that many times, but the strongest memory was after my father’s death and i had been living at my mother’s home as she was convalescing- facing her own death- and the two of us were focused on daily tasks- but with little time to truly share our feelings…without exploring here how all of that ultimately changed…i will say that i finally needed support ( i don’t know if you have read the reports about how women caregivers rarely ask for help, but statistically that is so) and two of my sisters arrived and i went back to my home just to touch base. I spoke with a therapist and she told me to ‘follow my tears’- so Ivy, the discovery of your own ‘unbidden tears’ is a trail to follow as you follow your Aunt Flo’s advice to ‘Feel your feelings First.’….yes, so important…love, psi
i came here to reiterate what i had shared with you ivy about how inspired i was by this posting; but reading all four exchanges…i am just sayin’ i love you all- and learn from eachanother. …’never fail’……
“The best advice I’ve gotten from one of my teachers about weathering this transition is, ‘Stabilize. Stabilize everything you can stabilize.’ ”
Indeed, excellent.
The best advice I received during a semi-recent Richter scale transition was “Feel your feelings first,” and it probably goes without saying that you’ve taken care of that step. You would know to do that, but I didn’t. Feelings first before taking action, get them dredged up raw, stand them up straight, vomit them out of your body [sorry, folks], then rest.
Echoing Dana ahead of me in line here:”you never fail to inspire me.”
You know, last night in a sweet new yoga class I found, i discovered unbidden tears flowing down my face during shavasana, the relaxation pose at the end. It was a wake-up signal that perhaps I haven’t been feeling my feelings first…. lovely, pertinent, excellent advice as well – at any time, but especially now as I seem to be prioritizing “getting things done.” Oh so important to feel! Thank you for the reminder. MORE
you never fail to inspire me
That road travels both ways, my friend!