Skip to main content

I woke this morning and well, just felt sad. I couldn’t put any more words to the feeling, just sad. I was cold and stiff and as my thoughts came, they were of the dread of turning on the radio to listen to the news. My frustration with certain current world leaders and their lack of clarity, empathy, connection. I could go on.

I lay in bed wondering what I might consider to allow these feelings to come, to be present to them, to feel. And then for them to move though me and out. I decided to get up and just be fully present to all that I was doing. I made porridge and even bothered to pour the milk from the bottle into a beautiful jug for the table (thank you Chloe), and this made me smile. My husband came in and sat down to eat. He noticed the milk bottle wasn’t there and took it from the fridge and we laughed when I explained I was just going to try to do everything well and with beauty this morning. Nice porridge, a pretty table setting, presence. I picked up Mary Oliver’s ‘A Thousand Mornings’ (thank you Ruth) and there it was. This beautiful poem saying what I felt. She truly was an amazing gift of a poet. ‘I go down to the shore…’

‘The waves rolling in and moving out’, just like my feelings, rolling in and moving out. The beauty of the sea and the tides as they shift and change us and help us move through what is needed. And I went to my mat and did my morning yoga practice. Rolling in and moving out. And the world felt OK again. ‘Excuse me, I have work to do’ and there it was. How helpful it is to me to know that our feelings will come, we will feel them if we allow ourselves and then they will pass and new ones will come. As we move into colder climes in the U.K., I hope that we can all allow this moving with the water, with the tides, knowing that before long Spring will be knocking and better times are around the corner. In the meantime, there is yoga, movement, nature, poetry, a beautiful jug on the table and presence to it all. Emma x