What Keeps You Grounded Right Now?

This is a new normal, for now.

Until it isn’t.

Here’s what’s keeping me grounded, tethered, sane and giving me some sense of routine. Some of these things are the same as before. Some are different. I’m approaching them differently.

Yoga and Meditation—When I can, I do it. My energy varies wildly. Mostly, it is a lot of yin and yoga nidra. And sometimes interrupted with more active flow when I am antsy, anxious, and need to just purge energy from my system in a holistic way that walking can’t really do.

A netting of trees. Photo by Miles.

Nature. Every day, weather and time permitting, I am walking, even if it just means I’m taking 15 minutes around the neighborhood. And every day, when the kids are here, when we can, we do it, too. We’ve been trying to go places that are less crowded, which is increasingly challenging, but weekdays seem okay. Most people are not walking during the week the way they do on the weekend,—in groups, with lots of dogs and kids—so that’s fine by us.

Contemplative Miles.

Cooking. Yes, this isn’t new. But what I am doing is even more pared down, essential than usual. I’m cooking through everything I’ve got out of necessity and more than usual. I’m also dipping into nostalgia archives, as I suspect many of you are, too. I’ve had two friends share old recipes with me, one of which was his grandmother’s and he can’t get it to work, so I am trying to figure out why. (It’s a Depression-era recipe, and not so much a recipe as a scant list of instructions.)

The kids are also expanding their repertoire considerably as it pertains to food and general household responsibilities. They’re becoming more acclimated to what’s required on a daily basis to keep the house running all during the day. I’m making breakfast and lunch, mostly because they’re working on school stuff, and then we usually make dinner or dessert together. They’re learning more.

Sourdough bread.

Stealthy Drop Offs of Food Products. My friend Rebecca gave me some of her starter. I sent some of that starter to another friend, along with some scoby for kombucha. I dropped off a loaf of bread at a friend’s house down the street just in time for him to eat lunch. The kids eat it, I send some with them back to John’s if we have half a loaf lying around, and I freeze some of it. I’m mostly doing Jim Lahey’s No-Knead bread, because it’s really easy, tastes great, and is so forgiving, especially if you need to incorporate different flours. I’ve been mixing all purpose and white whole wheat until I got a new infusion of flour over the weekend. This loaf, however, is a sourdough—it’s the basic rustic sourdough recipe from King Arthur Flour’s website.

Green Tea. There are more interruptions. Trying to work on the details of adulting while you are trying to pack and move and interview for jobs and start freelance work, right now, when the kids are doing work, means that there are way more distractions. I am already easily distracted. But going back to green tea in the morning has helped me regain my focus without making me feel jittery. Coffee and I broke up about 12 years ago. And caffeine and I generally do not get along. It always wins, and it’s not very kind about its victory, either.

New Agey Stuff. Ok, this isn’t new, but some of the things coming through are new. I’ve been compelled to do more with challenging and oracle cards so I started sharing short videos with my yoga community and it’s been very gratifying to share the messages that come to me from other realms. And there is one crystal that just won’t leave me alone, so I am forgoing others in the meantime. It’s an oddly monogamous time for me and my crystals.

Sleep. I know, this sounds obvious, but it’s not. I am sleeping more than usual, and I’m ok with that. This is a weird time, with weird rhythms, but I have been working with unorthodox rhythms since November, since I was laid off, so I have been oddly prepared for this time. Except for the social distancing part, but sometimes life forces that upon you for spiritual reasons—COVID nothwithstanding.

Social Media Fasts. In the past 10 days or so, I seriously curtailed my Facebook time, and I haven’t posted on Instagram for weeks. I’ve already gotten evangelical about why in a previous blog post, but suffice to say it has given me clarity, headspace, and energy to do what is needed to do here, right now, in my life. Social Media has been a huge distraction for me right now, one that really jarringly removes from my sphere. I want to shield what comes through, and Facebook can be an all out assault on one’s energetic field on a good day—again, COVID notwithstanding.

Pizza made in Stargazer Cast Iron’s 10.5-inch pan.

I popped on a couple times to respond to messages and to share some work I was doing with Stargazer Cast Iron, an amazing local company that’s donating 10 percent of its proceeds to restaurants, on all sales on its pans through 4-25. They’re awesome guys, and I’m honored to be working with them, and hope to be able to do more evangelizing for them. It’s great to work with people with good hearts, sharp minds, and an innovative product. (For real. I wouldn’t work with them if I wasn’t in love with their cast iron! See the pizza I made up there!)

Phone Calls. Normally, so many of us default to texting. But this is a beautiful time to just pick up the phone. I had started to do this with a couple of friends in particular, before COVID, and sustaining this practice and expanding when the spirit moves me has been incredibly rewarding.

Rodale Institute, Kutztown.

Farm Shopping. This is a normal habit for me, mostly, except I don’t usually drive a half hour to pick up flour from a farm store, until you cannot get the regular things at the store, such as flour. And if you’re there, there’s other good stuff, too. Thanks Apple Ridge, for sharing what you’ve got, and growing all the green things, baking all the bread things, and so on. I also stopped on the way home at Klein Farms, and got some eggs, Smoogurt, and some of their veggie cheese spread, which is like a tangy cream cheese, because I promised the kids I was going to make bagels last weekend. Both stores are smaller, local, and therefore it’s easier to manage the situation right now. It’s also making it even more gratifying to shop locally.

A couple weeks ago, I drove out to the Rodale Institute and bought some herbs, including valerian, stevia and lemon balm. They were doing a curbside sale, and plan to do another one for flowers in May. The drive was beautiful and I almost cried when I got out of the car and saw all the plants lined up waiting for people. Sensing my response, the volunteers there let me go into the greenhouse, where I stood for a few minutes and just soaked in the warmth, the loamy aroma of new plantings, and all that green. It was deeply therapeutic, and I was tempted to hide out there all day.

In a few weeks, I will transplant some of these items into my yard. Yes.

Tomorrow, I hope to go to the socially distanced Easton Farmers Market, and I want to get some flowers from Traugers for outside the house, too.

What about you? What’s keeping you grounded right now?