Rest, nature, and healing properties.

Today, my husband and I seized a window of an opportunity to spend the day together on a day date. We decided on exploring a place we had not been before and what a hidden gem. We visited Blackstone Gorge in Blackstone, Massachusetts.  We invited a day of healing and rest for our souls in nature.  No agenda. To enjoy the day in nature.  Today was a simple, nourishing and beautiful day. The sun was shining and the gushing sound of the river felt like the start of fall flowing in and the nearing of a new season.  It seemed symbolic today that we saw a family of swans across the river all clustered together.  The swan is symbolic of motherhood.  They are also symbolic of love, devotion and partnership.  This is likely because swans mate for many years, sometimes for life.  Swans symbolize love, grace, union, purity, beauty, dreams, balance, elegance, partnership and transformation.  If you've gotten this far in my blog threads, you'll see that so much of my journey has been gently returning to this existence. The place of home state. The place of peace.  I have been transforming so much over these past months and today I truly felt the abundance of the earth, the healing properties of flowing water, the depth of my heart bearing the message of love in my family and in my partnership.  I had the distinct awareness of the blessings in my life and my husband. Today I felt that I truly am present and so grateful for the expanded love I feel at this moment. I'm so grateful that I am living the pace of life that fulfills me and my family. I feel supported by my rhythm and it was something that I prayed for and I journaled. I kept putting one foot in front of the other.  Life has its ways of showing you when things aren't working. It can manifest in stress. Outcomes of Sickness. Overwhelm. The nagging feeling. The non-alignment.  Over this past year, I wasn't sure how or what I was going to do to make a shift, but it was clear that one had to be made. One for me. One for my family and step by step, I took measures to clear the path. No one truly knows the best step for you, that lies within. So as a new season and new month of September joins us, I feel deep gratitude for the personal work and growth and for the return to "home" state, one filled with love, expansion, flow, and openness to all that life has to offer. We are on this earth for such a short amount of time and the external world that we seek to "lure" us in with how we should be, over-giving, leaky boundaries and an over-scheduled harried life is one that I have no interest in returning to or surrounding myself. To flow, an open heart and peace is all we need, it's all right here if we just can "be" in the moment. As I find my stride in motherhood, I think one thing that resonates with me the most right now is that each mother must find the 'inner' pace that fits the season for their joy and their own internal batteries.  I think I found that out in a very windy and indirect way. Pre-pandemic or generally speaking, our society runs at a warp speed and is over-scheduled, overrun and tired. Many feel that working long hours and scheduling to the minute somehow makes the world go round. Well, for a long time, I never understood this and I think what has fit me the most now is "untethering" myself from this way of life.  Getting back to basics.  Saying no.  Clear boundaries around what I can commit to and what I can't. Rest. Taking some time off on a weekend. Re-charging. Finding that rhythm in your own life with your kids. Even as your family grows or evolves, mothers need to continue to nurture their minds, bodies and souls so they can restore and replenish. In some seasons, this can take a lot of time.  And then you know what comes back in the most abundant and beautiful way?  Your life force.  Your creativity.  Your flourishing voice.  You.  The soul. That one inside that always wants to play. And the external world sees that light.  They want a piece of it. And that light is what creates that next positive link to bring us all closer. To link us to understand. To see each other. To hold each other. To make amends. To be happy. To live courageously. To love openly. It all comes when that internal energy is yours and fueled by you. May it always land there. May it stay strong.