A Story About Yesterday’s Pleasure Practice.

A little story about my pleasure practice yesterday.

I took (most of) the day off, and went out to the coast for a beautiful walk in the afternoon. It was raining, and I forgot my raincoat… again. Hearing the sound of the rain in the woods was such a gift. “Life is much simpler, more richly complex, and a helluva lot bigger than your stories” it pattered soothingly to me, teasing my curls and kissing my shoulders.

I stopped to visit a small waterfall & peed (because, waterfalls) as I listened to the water churn. Absentmindedly gazing at the leaf humus & rich dark soil holding me as as my pelvis dipped to the earth, steam rising from between my boots.

Driving home, I made myself the best meal I’ve gifted myself in some time. A beautiful detoxifying & healing soup of bone broth, cabbage, mushrooms, ginger, turmeric, and garlic. Sulphur magic - offering medicine to my mitochondria and connective tissue. And, a blueberry pumpkin cake. Offering the medicine of memory and cognition, yes, but more importantly, the medicine of savouring the sweetness of life and love and blissful carbohydrates.

And, most importantly, the memories of processing the broth, pumpkin, and blueberries for my freezer. Yes, I come from somewhere. Yes, I am somewhere. Yes, I am going somewhere.

Then… I logged onto Instagram and accidentally fell into a shame hole.

My learnings / rememberings? Watch out for that damn algorithm! It is not benevolent! It does not want me to have an ambiguously deep and connected life. Honour and fortify my sacred time with the agreements, infrastructure, and intentions that protect my needs and goals!

And.

That there’s always another moment available for joy. There is always another moment of choice. There is always another moment to practice protecting internal and external boundaries with clarity and integrity. There is always another moment to sink into who each of us is are beyond social paradigms and cultural shaming, even if just for a few minutes.