Raindrops on Roses, Whiskers on Kittens
a curated list for the new moon
We’ve been living through an extremely harsh, stressful time. I intended to write a heavier version of this new moon letter with ideas on how to “resist,” but I’m realizing I need something softer. Perhaps you do as well.
I never imagined I’d be quoting a Rodgers and Hammerstein quote here, but “My Favorite Things” has been running through my mind lately.
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things…
When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad
I was tempted to dismiss it as some cute nostalgic thing—after all, I grew up with The Sound of Music as probably did many of you. Then I thought about it more and was impressed. The musical is based on the true story of the Von Trapp family, who actually did resist the Nazis and had to escape from their beloved Austria first to Italy, and then eventually to the United States to start a new life.
There had to have been some trauma there.
That’s when I realized this song is actually a great example of how to resource ourselves when we’re experiencing trauma, or recovering from it.
Years ago when I was the director of the Upaya Buddhist Chaplaincy Program, I sat in on an amazing class taught by Dr. Laurie Leitch about trauma resiliency. The concept of “resourcing ourselves” stayed with me—essentially that one of the most important things we can do for ourselves or another in trauma recovery is to learn how to access the strong, healthy, and calm parts of ourselves.
In that spirit, I’m offering a simple list and an invitation to you to build on this list and add your own “favorite things.”
So let’s go…. These have been my favorite things lately:
1. Turkish Eggs… and food!
Under the best circumstances, I’m a foodie. But lately I’ve been turning to food as comfort and even cooking things myself (not a usual occurrence, I did not inherit the cooking gene from my mom). A few weeks ago after receiving some especially sad news, the first thing I did was make something I’d never tried before: çilbir, Turkish eggs—poached eggs sitting on a bed of Greek yogurt with garlic, and drizzled with oil, Berbere or Aleppo peppers, and rosemary. Holy cow, good. Also, I always get a kick out of emily nunn’s Department of Salad. Her recent post on “Food for Pretending Everything is Fine” is gold.
2. Garden
The day after the Turkish eggs adventure, I decided my front yard needed to become a garden. The sadness from the news the day before was still very much with me, and my strong instinct was to plant beautiful things. So I went to the nearby Lowes to pick up potting soil, zinnias, and snapdragons, and got to business. It felt so good to put my hands in the earth and put these little ones out where anyone passing by my house can enjoy them. On top of that, irises and wisteria that had been planted by the woman who owned my house before me were coming into full bloom. Ahhhhh…. deep peace.
3. Laughter
Anything that makes me laugh out loud is deeply appreciated right now. That’s about all I need to say about that : )
4. Practice
This one is also very simple — I’m finding it so helpful right now to return to my sitting meditation practice. Even just 10 minutes first thing in the morning makes a huge difference in my capacity to make it through each day.
If you’d like to integrate a daily practice into your life, these posts might be helpful:
What is This Thing Called "Practice"?
Welcome to The Practice of Life — a place to slow down, befriend yourself, and connect with the world from kindness and awareness. If you’re just arriving for the first time, you may appreciate this introduction.
Self Awareness II: How to Start or Deepen a Spiritual Practice
In the first part of this series, I wrote about the necessity of knowing ourselves as a prerequisite to living a liberated life. I believe the best way to do this is to have some kind of a vehicle for self-awareness, a “practice.” Here’s my personal definition of practice:
Those four things are tops on my list right now. How about you? What favorite things are getting you through these times? I’d love it if you drop ideas, poems, videos, recipes, anything you like in the comment section. Let’s create a resourcing list that we can all draw upon when we need an extra boost.
Other Places to Find Me and My Writing
In February, Emily Mohn-Slate invited me to be part of her “Beginner’s Mind” series of interviews exploring mindfulness and creativity. You can sit in on our conversation here.
I’ve got another Substack: Postcards from New Mexico. It’s a lot of fun to explore, please check it out!
I’ve got a book — Work That Matters is a mindfulness-based guide for people who are seeking right livelihood.
If you appreciate what you find here, a few ways you can support my writing:
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Thank you!
thank you for sharing it, @Miguel Clark Mallet
Thank you so much for bringing more comfort to my Heart from all your posts . What am i doing you ask. A few years ago an Iyengar Yogi friend of mine said I can’t meditate . That hit me hard because meditation literally saved my life in 1970 plus years ago and still does. Then I found detraumatization therapies in 2010 which made an immense difference though I always differ to my meditations . Inspired by my friend’s distress I wrote a workbook for those who think they can’t meditate and it turned into a daily practice of posting on Insta with the Simple phrase “Say Hello my Beloved Soul softly out loud.” Because what are we doing in our mindfulness and other forms of meditations ? Are we not seeking Soul Connection ? I add a suggested nervous system practice to that list often just good ole humming, That’s the main thing I do daily post those simple words on five places like threads insta and Substack . In between I cook a lot of comfort food . Gf Seed crackers are my hearts and pallets delight this week. I bumped the crackers up with hemp seed and dried puffed. amaranth this week . My 35 year old daughter with Extra needs lives with us and We come up with new recipes almost daily ! Your turkish eggs looks like our next endeavor. More comforts I find lots of snuggling under warm down quilts and naps. Listening to prophets and seers on utube about the crumbling of the patriarchal world as we know it and the building of a New World which we create with our Hearts . Listening to those utube interviews helps so much to instill hope and the belief we have a better future . Walking in my garden tending the flowers and medicinal herbs comforts me. Listening to our waterfalls. Holding my daughter’s hand comforts . Plus my newest thing that is really working is speaking love language kindnesses to myself in the mirror first thing every morning. I am
love, I am loved, I am light , I radiate Light and abundance. I am worthy of love and reciprocal relationships , I am in harmony with Mother Earth , I live in Thriving Health and many other sweet loving nurturing things. Thank you again for asking as I’m a bit lonely these days and writing helps.