A few years back when I was attending an Expressive Arts conference, someone drew my attention to the word 'anaesthetic'. If an anaesthetic is something that numbs you, that dulls you to experience and takes you out of presence, what is the opposite of that?
Aesthetic.
As you choose your action for today, be aware of the power of beauty. Taking the time to arrange your breakfast on a tray with a branch of pine needles might seem superfluous or silly, but it might be exactly the touch of kosmetikos necessary to bring your inner and outer aesthetic into alignment. Allowing yourself to walk home the long way around, and more slowly, may create a relationship to the moments of the day that changes your perspective. Aesthetic brings us alive, wakes us up. Where do you allow yourself to walk in beauty?
If you are inspired to offer yourself the gift of sacred, slow rejuvenation, you may want to look into the retreat we are offering this February. $50 reserves your spot and there are less than 10 places left! Learn more here.
For a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
-John O’Donohue
I'd love to hear in the comments what you chose to do for yourself! All of us are creative in unique ways, so the action you share could be the spark that inspires someone else to follow through in taking action.
May the rest of your day be filled with radical self-love. See you tomorrow!
