in retrospect // reflections on 2022
image from The People Who Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton
so much gratitude
this year, i was poured into by so many loved ones. leaning into tenderness and venerability was one of my biggest challenges this year. and yet, it was those tender moments that i found love and community in prayer, stillness, travel with my besties, family gatherings, storytelling, sister time, nature, close touch, and long phone calls. i’m so thankful for everyone who warmed my spirit this year.
from Beloved by Toni Morrison (in Baby Suggs sermon)
on grief
in december of 2021 my aunt, Stella Ogadinma transitioned. since then, i have come to understand why they say grief isn’t a feeling/experience that decreases over time, but instead, a reality you grow bigger around. i now know grief is, as Alice Walker describes it, the “leftover love” i have yet to share. i’ve taken to writing out my dreams where she visits me…
from Jambalaya by Luisah Teish
a lesson from yoga
“It is important to note that in spite of how it feels when you inhale, you do not actually pull air into the body. On the contrary, air is pushed into the body by the atmospheric pressure (14.7 pounds per square inch) that always surrounds you. This means that the actual force that gets air into the lungs is outside of the body… In other words, you create the space, and the universe fills it” - Yoga Anatomy by Lesile Kaminoff and Amy Matthews
what will you make space for this year?
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