This is a time of tending to what matters. With Covid – 19 changing the direction of our lives recently, much of the world is asked to stay at home. For me home is the place to start. Everything begins at home—and home to me is not within four walls but within our individual heart and souls. This is a time to come home more than ever. Come home to ourselves, body-mind-spirit.

I have been in a SoulCollage® group for nearly five years. We meet monthly to create a new collage that has messages that bring value to the creator. The creative process is designed to access your intuition while providing personal meaning, clarity and inspiration. We met just before the rules changed and our Washington state Governor asked residents to stay at home during this new unprecedented time. Using cutouts from magazines we create a card that has an overall theme or essence. Mine ended up being a display of hands all holding something tenderly: eggs, the heart, a cup, candle light. The images touched me deeply and left me with the overall meaning of “tending”. Tending to what matters whether it’s the light or your cup. I didn’t know the profound personal connection this card would create for me. Nor did I anticipate the timeliness of the card’s meaning.

Now during this time, I have no choice but to honor, cherish, celebrate and focus on just that: what needs tending. It has come down to my relationships, my soul care and my writing. In this slowing down, the stuff that doesn’t matter but that has always distracted me fades into the background. I get to be more present to those under my roof and those I reach out to over the telephone or with Zoom. I have absolutely no excuse to keep me from quieting my mind, listening to the nudges and putting pen to paper. Tending the words, the conversation, the thoughts, the slow deliberate movements that fill a day. I feel like a shepherd keeping watch making sure the sheep are safe while keeping the wolves at bay.

I see my SoulCollage® creation every morning on my night stand reminding me to choose to tend with love. To slow down. To nurture the light, listen to my heart, and hold what matters closely.

What about you dear Holder of the Cup? What must you tend to during this unplanned for pandemic? What will you make time for? Hold dearly and cherish? What will you pull closely to your heart gently with great care?

I invite you to make the time to get still and quiet your mind as you ask yourself those very questions. The questions are multi-layered in that they keep you in the present moment. That is what will keep you grounded, staying home, awake to what is in front of you. Leave the future to itself. You can only control how you respond, so what about responding tenderly?

 

Cheers, Jenny