Sunday, chilled, rainy, very windy, I’d almost wished there’d been a fireplace fire in the meetinghouse fireplace. Surely a hearty blaze would brighten my spirits? Â But, no, I realized. If there were to be any cheering up going on that gloomy morning, it would have to come from within!
And I remembered something someone in my yoga class had said on Thursday. (Actually, this was at our pre-yoga class, when we discuss a poem someone has brought in, or the Sutras, or a piece of writing our gifted teacher wishes to share.) One woman talked about sadness, hard times, grief and loss; how we’re sometimes too eager to be happy. “There’s good reasons to feel sad,” she said.
So I let myself sink into despair. Not to “wallow in it,” as my father always cautioned when anyone in our family dared to be sad. (You were allowed to be sad in my family for about five minutes. Then you had to get over it.) Â But to be honest! To honor the countless reasons we all have to feel sad.
And, mysteriously, after way more than five minutes of sitting in silence and letting myself “feel the feels,” as my daughter, Hope (!) says, Something happened. As if something inside me had been decluttered, de-cobwebbed, dusted or lemon-oiled or rearranged. As if I’d cleared a space within me to hold this sadness. And it was okay. More than okay. It was exactly what I was supposed to do.
What Joy when we do what we’re supposed to do!
Dear Patricia,
Well, hello, there, Patricia, and greetings and salutations to you and to you AND FOR VERY ESPECIALLY FOR YOU FOR ALWAYS, my awesomely precious and dearly special soul sistahfriend Christian Quaker woman who you’re FOR ALWAYS so, so very much!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW, sistah, WOW here, Patricia!!!!! What a deeply spiritual and engaging blog post article here by absolutely AWESOME YOU with your deeply sharp full of such keen clarity spiritual attunement and discernment, my friend!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW, it's just so wonderful what happened in your pre-yoga class on Thursday! WOW! I think that it's just such a blessing what you all share together in blessed yoga community in your pre-yoga class-what a fine way to share and develop your deeply heartfelt and spiritual thoughts and ideas together and to share with one another in community what might be inspirational to each and every one of you as each and every one of you offers to one another your vast and great wisdom. I think that it is very fitting that the dear woman in your yoga class brought up the subject of sadness. WOW! It IS so, so very much indeed vitally urgent, important, and so needed to not rush ourselves through our very processing of sadness, hard times, grief, and loss and that those deeply felt feelings and emotions deserve to be honored as you have very wisely shared and declared here, sistah! The woman in your yoga class is so right on when she shared and declared here, "There's good reasons to feel sad." This is something that I must keep in mind, too, sistah! I remember from your other brilliantly and masterfully composed blog post article which you wrote awhile back that when you had a substitute yoga teacher when I say your brilliant and gifted regular yoga instructor, as I say absolutely AWESOME Annie was out of town right after that vile man won the election as the so-called President that the substitute yoga instructor was encouraging all of you to do women warrior poses but your heart was just so sad and you were literally unable to do so. I remember with such blessed joy how you wrote with such beautiful sagacity that sometimes you have to take a healing 24 hours to hide underneath your quilt and to just let yourself feel sad in nurturing yourself with such self-love and self-care. I just so love how you shared in this very endearing blog post article that your yoga teacher quipped by calling that, "Re-covery!" She is just so, so very right on. Wow, this IS very much indeed important to allow ourselves to feel sad and to not rush away from our sadness and to not shame ourselves when we are feeling ever so sad. And it's also very important to take our very necessary breaks and time to rest and recuperate in order for each of us to replenish our resources and our reserves. Self-care IS just very urgent here and so vital to our overall health and well-being, sistahfriend. WOW!!!!!! This beautiful message in this very deeply spiritual blog post article is just what I needed to hear, my dear, dearest, precious Patricia!!!!! 🙂 <3 I thank-YOU so, so much, Patricia!!!!! I thank-YOU all of you with the ever-brilliant and gifted Annie, the very emboldening substitute yoga teacher, and the very wise woman from your yoga class!!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW!!!!! I feel even better and brighter with even more greatly added cheer after joyfully reading this very empowering blog post article and very joyously responding with all of my very heartfelt, detailed, and thorough thoughts, ideas, and comments, Patricia!!!!! 🙂 <3 What a joyous blessing here and SO ARE YOU, PATRICIA!!!!! 🙂 <3
WOW, Patricia, the title of this very well-crafted blog post article is just perfect, absolutely perfect and perfectly fitting and applicable to the very great themes and topics of your very poignant blog post article here. The picture which you've very graciously and generously featured and included with this powerful blog post article is very picturesque and just picture-perfect here. AWWWWWWW, my sweet sistah, oh, how I just love when you as usual as always once again very graciously and generously featured and included such marvelous links here to such a wealth of interesting, fascinating, and educational, learning and beneficial information here such a joy to read through!!!!! WOW, do I so love all of the links which you use very aptly with your very salient and succinct blog post articles, Patricia!!!!! WOW, I so enjoy revisiting here this outstanding link about your wonderful yoga instructor, Annie Hoffman. WOW, she IS very much indeed brilliant and gifted, and what a joy and blessing I know it must be to be blessed with this so, so very dear and special woman in your life as a dearest friend and sister and plus with the added benefit of having awesome Annie as your brilliant and gifted, very sensitively caring yoga instructor, too!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW!!!!! WOW, your daughter Hope is one wise woman AND SO ARE YOU, PATRICIA!!!!!! 🙂 <3 YOU ARE BOTH SO, SO VERY RIGHT ON doing as Hope suggested letting yourself "feel the feels!" I must do this as well! WOW, I'm just so encouraged, emboldened, and inspired by your amazing daughter Hope here and BY YOU, TOO, ready, wanting, willing, and able to take even more positive steps toward definite and intentional, self-love and self-care to enhance my overall health and well-being!!!!! I'm doing my chair yoga which works perfectly for me being a not very tall but otherwise larger, full-bodied woman who has very bad, permanent and chronic multiple physical disabilities along with very bad, permanent and chronic pain and even other permanent disabilities as well. YOU ALL have me just so inspired ready to suit up and show up feeling even more renewed, re-energized, rejuvenated, and reinvigorated!!!!!! WOW!!!!!! 🙂 <3 At your Meeting you experienced such a blessing and a gift with the indwelling of your spirit and Spirit, and you are so right, sistahfriend, it WAS okay. It WAS more than okay. Spirit was with you there in that exact moment with you being right where you were supposed to be, dearest Patricia!!!!! What a WONDERFUL and SO, SO VERY SWEET, LOVING SPIRIT we all have who IS FOR ALWAYS THERE RIGHT THERE WITH US AND FOR US, Patricia!!!!! 🙂 <3
Sistah, I'm with you here and I can so relate to all that you have shared and declared here. I'm doing a figurative,(almost)-spring cleaning, too, and you with this precious blessing and gift with this so chock full of such wisdom blog post article have blessed me along my very process with all of this, Patricia!!!! 🙂 <3 I thank-YOU so, so much!!!!! 🙂 <3 I'm also doing an (almost)-literal spring cleaning! Our apartment manager not giving us quite enough notice ahead of time abruptly announced yesterday that we would be having our apartments inspected today!!!!! UGH!!!!!! I'm not the best about my housekeeping and my cleanliness and organization in my apartment and it can be hard to keep it up with my very bad, chronic, and permanent, multiple physical disabilities!!!!!I I've been trying really hard to do better and I think that I got my apartment looking good enough so I'm confident that I'll pass my apartment inspection okay. I always end up with my apartment passing inspection somehow.
Sistahfriend, YOU ARE my very life's and eternal joys and blessings just as I know that YOU ARE for very, very many other folks, too, with I, and we, all just so, so very much loving and cherishing YOU just as I, and we, all know that you love and cherish us right back at us!!!!!!! 🙂 <3 YAY for YOU, Patricia!!!!!! WOW!!!!! YAY!!!!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!!! 🙂 <3 I thank-YOU and SPIRIT continually FOR YOU AND FOR YOUR VERY PRESENCE IN MY VERY LIFE, Patricia!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Please have such a wondrously wonderful Wednesday, rest of your week and weekend ahead, and may all of your very days be so, so very especially blessed, sisterfriend!!!!! 🙂 <3 Sistah, Spirit just so, so very much loves and cherishes YOU A WHOLE LOT AND SO DO I A WHOLE LOT AND A WHOLE BUNCH, TOO!!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Patricia, YOU ARE just the very greatest and the best, and such a joy and a blessing!!!!!! 🙂 <3
Very Warmly and Sincerely FOR ALWAYS, my awesomely special and dearly precious FOR ALWAYS soul sistahfriend Christian Quaker white woman who you're FOR ALWAYS SO, SO VERY MUCH, Patricia, sisterfriend of mine, with My and Spirit's VERY PEACE AND LOVE FOR YOU FOR ALWAYS, sister of mine, AND WITH SUCH BLESSINGS AND SUCH VERY EVEN MORE BLESSINGS FOR YOU FOR ALWAYS, friend of mine, 🙂 <3
YOURS FOR ALWAYS soul sistahfriend Christian black woman AND FOR ALWAYS IN THE VERY GREAT SPIRIT OF UNITY AND SOLIDARITY, Sherry Gordon in Iowa City, Iowa 🙂 <3