back to work rhythms

the seasonal shift always holds a tension for me. a liminal space between letting go + embodying a new mode of being. after eighteen months home with my children, my partner working from home and juggling homemaking and working, the children are back in school. for me, i’ve found myself a bit lost. the past year and a half have been accustomed to working around my children, their rhythms and needs, and now I have time. I have time for more mindfulness, self care, and more bandwidth for work. so here I begin sinking into this new reality for now.

once the children are out the door for school, I start my day with a morning cup of coffee. it is more like half cup coffee + half cup oat milk, in reality, but it is a little pick me up I find I need and a ritual I enjoy. heating the water, grinding the beans, and pouring steaming hot water. there is something about the ritual that awakens my senses. now I really view coffee as a medicinal element. I try not to over do my caffeine intake as it can cause me to feel jittery, anxious, etc, but for my slow, grounded taurus nature, I do appreciate its stimulating effects.

grounding + cleansing

in the morning, before I begin to write my to-do list for the day or answer emails, I find it help to burn incense. whether it is a bundle of garden grown herbs wrapped and dried, or this very clean burning tennen moss incense cones, the intention behind clearing the energy + the air of the space is important to honor what work will come for that day. if I can come into my space and body in a more clear way, I can act instead of react and I can create, write, respond and communicate from a more grounded place within. I will pull a tarot card to help my understand what energy I am bringing into the day.

creating space to create

my office + desk space is small in our little cottage. I feel grateful to be able to do my work from home but other times it can feel overwhelming.

“I've seen women insist on cleaning everything in the house before they could sit down to write... and you know it's a funny thing about housecleaning... it never comes to an end. Perfect way to stop a woman. A woman must be careful to not allow over-responsibility (or over-respectabilty) to steal her necessary creative rests, riffs, and raptures. She simply must put her foot down and say no to half of what she believes she "should" be doing. Art is not meant to be created in stolen moments only.”
― Clarissa Pinkola Estés

I try to organize my work space because if I were to insist on a totally clean house before getting to work, not much other than housekeeping would get done. I focus instead on my desk. I greet each item that has collected by the end of the week by asking if it is contributing to my work or writing or if it needs to find another home. Some weeks I am better with this than others. But I’ve learned as a highly sensitive person that my surroundings and my environment greatly affect the flow of my thoughts and my creativity. I invite pieces with streamline + dual purposes as well as items that ground me and help my connect with my intuition. A stone to help me set an intention + ground my energy and my tarot cards for guidance, are held in this nomad tray.

As I am sorting through information, bills, thoughts, quotes, I need a place to keep these things fresh in my mind. I fall accustomed to the habit of if I can’t see something it inevitably falls to the bottom of my priority list. i’ve been loving the addition of this letter tray from Bloomist. I can organize projects I am working on and then take the tray with me if I decided to work at the dining table or the kitchen counter instead, as I am prone to do with my mars in gemini. often my best thinking and creative ideas come when I am making a mess in the kitchen or moving around the house + garden.

As the seasons shift, as circumstances shift in my life and home, I find simple rituals help me process + find my way through. The quietude of children at school is bittersweet. I am immensely grateful for the extra time we had together, but this new rhythm has also allowed more focus to flow in, without needing to divide my attention + then I appreciate the moments we have together at the end of the day or on the weekends.

do you have any rituals, routines that help you create space in your home, mind and body before you start the day?