Day 5 - Little but Mighty
I woke this morning knowing that most of it would be spent at a dear friend’s baby shower and then I’d feel into the rest of the day. Each day before my period is a crapshoot, and while I was definitely attending the shower, I also had limited space for being around people. Luckily, a significant portion of it required me to sit and listen while beautiful shares and blessings were offered in an intentional ceremony for the soon-to-be parents. I left feeling moved and tapped with the amount of energy I was around. So many beautiful beings were brought together to celebrate and welcome one soon-to-be-born baby boy.
Upon leaving I was caught at a crossroads…to go home or to run around the lake?
I chose the lake. I needed to move some energy even though I had a headache and felt somewhat depleted. I told myself at least I’d walk and shake it out. Less than 5 minutes into my jog I ran into a dear friend who I’d actually been in communication with the night before. We’d loosely shared that we didn’t have plans for Saturday afternoon, and said we’d keep each other in the loop. It’d totally slipped my mind, but of course, life had plans for us. She was meeting another gal for a run and asked me if I wanted to join, which led to a lovely run with the two of them plus a pup. We went to sweat it out in the sauna after the run and joined another fun group of people I adore there too.
I’m always struck by the way life orchestrates magical moments like this. I could have easily headed home, but listening to my intuition arranged something completely different and enjoyable.
Throughout the day I oscillated between feeling totally relaxed in myself to being hyper-critical. I watch my thought patterns take things personally or conjure up wild narratives that absolutely weren’t true many times. I did get a good laugh with a couple I adore about what it’s like in their dynamic right before her period. I know I’m not alone in the chaos and turmoil the moods and changes in behavior can bring, but it’s always relieving to hear that I’m not the only one. Learning more about my cycle (there’s SO much that most women don’t know, myself included) and being diligent in my tracking each day has been incredibly powerful for me in the last couple of weeks. I’ve honestly been baffled multiple times in recent months around information that I’ve never been told nor known about my body. MY body. Sometimes it’s painful to realize that as a 33 yr old woman, there is still so much that is not common knowledge to me about this miraculous experience that I have been gifted every ~28 days. The Fifth Vital Sign: Master Your Cycles & Optimize Your Fertility by Lisa Hendrickson-Jack has been incredibly eye-opening for me.
I use to think having a period was the worst thing, but now I look forward to it. It’s infuriating to me how much our society undermines the significance and vital importance of this profound experience. Women are constantly persuaded to “keep it discreet” with a tiny compact tampon or make sure they don’t even get one by taking birth control. It’s one of the many signs that my body is functioning properly, it connects me to forces far beyond myself, and is a fundamental part of a greater cycle that holds the power to create life itself, which is as profound as it gets people. The more I learn, the more aware I am of details that I use to think were meaningless and wildly inconvenient. In fact, I think the more I find out about various things the more I find there is to unpack…
For instance…a side tangent about Tea.
Did you know there are different bubbles with sweet descriptions for boiling water when you make Tea?
When you watch water boil there are different indicators that mark various temperatures.
Shrimp eyes are when the water is around 160 degrees and are tiny, pinhead-sized bubbles. This temp. is best used for delicate greens teas like Japanese Senchas and Gyokuros. Then there are Crab eyes, the Fish eyes, rope of pearls to a raging torrent. Each one is best for specific teas.
I read this last night before bed and was dumbfounded. Why has no one ever told me this beautiful information?! Why have I not thought to pay attention to something like this? I’m over here just boiling my water like a basic bitch with a kettle that blasts all the goodness out and scorches whatever it touches to find out there is an art to boiling water. Who knew? I sure didn’t…
It’s moments like this where I’m left full of awe that there is always something magical and profound to get in contact with. Whether it’s witnessing the power of a newborn to bring community together, listening to that micro-moment that had me turn left instead of right, paying attention to the daily changes my body experiences over the course of my menstrual cycle, or patiently waiting for the perfect moment to stop boiling my water, I continue to seek the beauty of the little things.
They may be little, but they sure are mighty in my world.
