The Intentions We Set...
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Hello friends, Since the solstice, I've been starting every morning by lighting candles and stating my intentions. Then I meditate and make a cup of tea. I'm really enjoying this pattern, and am using it to carry me through to the next calendar year. As a matter of fact, I just ordered a Moleskin daily diary as a gift to myself. I plan to write three daily intentions down each morning, plus my writing plans and business tasks for the day as a way to focus both my attention and my intention. I just got the notice that the diary will arrive on December 31st. That's New Years Eve, for those of us on the Gregorian calendar. Perfect. Now, paper planners like the one I snapped a photo of don't work for me, and never have. Yeah, that's one I bought years ago. See how empty it is? Also I haven't kept a journal in decades. But this new, simple, daily diary plan? Something in the idea appeals. Partially because my work causes me to spend so much time on screens, especially now that I read novels on a tablet. The only books I read in print anymore are non-fiction. I crave the tangible of a good pen, a sturdy diary, and smooth paper the way I crave the daily walks that get me out of the little office nook in my home. In my digital-first life, I need a direct connection to the physical. My theory is that our subconscious is best tapped through the physical world. It has a direct line to our animal nature that comprehends things like candle lighting and walks in the rain or snow. So, increasing my engagement with physicality is another of my intentions, New Years Eve rapidly approaching or not. We all need the physical—especially those of us who don't have physically oriented jobs—as our screen time trackers will likely show us. So, as we close out one calendar year and prepare to enter another, are you evaluating your life patterns and intentions? And how will you include your relationship to the physical world? Best wishes - Thorn This is the last week to get Bookshop Witch for free, either direct from me or on your favorite retailer! You can also request it at your library.
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, There’s an artist—or perhaps an arts collective—here in the Pacific Northwest that makes wooden dragon heads with glass teeth and jeweled eyes made of old CDs. The dragons are always painted in bold colors, and attached high up wood utility poles, so it seems as if they are roaring to the sky. I love that part. The roaring to the sky, part. I also love how bright and colorful these dragons are, and how carefully thought out, even if they are made of scraps of wood and outdated...
Hello friends, It’s a rainy summer solstice here in beautiful Portland, Oregon. The sun is hiding, but, as I move my way around the city, I still see all the ways in which things shine. There are roses in full bloom everywhere. People don’t call this Rose City for nothing. Some roses are fragrant, others, not so much. But each flower is gorgeous in its own way, whether pink, red, yellow, or white. What else is shining? The glint on a crow’s beak. Rain on the sidewalks. People. Yeah. People....
Hello friends, These are tough days, aren’t they? At least, they are for anyone paying attention to the world. In Portland Oregon where I live, a dedicated group of activists have been holding it down outside the ICE facility. This is a privately owned building, and another group of activists is pressuring our city council to revoke the lease, so ICE does not have a holding and staging area in our sanctuary city. Especially not next to a school and apartment buildings. Last night, the...