Friday, June 4, 2021

Important Questions about Seasons and What We're Holding

 A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about adrienne maree brown's question, "How are you holding this?"  I think it's a much better question than "How are you doing?"   "How are you doing?" inspires insipid answers:  "Fine."  "How are you holding this?" lets people respond more honestly if they wish.  It's a different way of thinking about our emotional state.

Yesterday I came across another question I want to remember.  In this article, Christine Valters Paintner says that her spiritual director asked this profound question:  “What is it the season for?”  She goes on to elaborate:  "It was a profoundly freeing question, because it honored that my life had varying seasons, times when certain things were called for and other things needed to be released."

I am not good at resting in the season I'm in; I'm often looking back or looking forward.  I am so often eager to get to the next season.  And if I'm honest, I don't always even realize that I'm in one type of season and not a different one.

Let me begin this new spiritual practice.  Let me remember to ask what season I'm in, what the season needs, what I need in terms of the season.  Just as I rarely crave mulled apple cider during the summer months, perhaps I will find that different spiritual/life cycle seasons require different types of sustenance.

Perhaps focusing on the season will help me move with intention. 



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