Blur of Week 1
Establishment is largely complete; in the space of days, the bones of the work were set. Welcome our officers:Virginia Weisman, Secretary Debra Davis, Treasurer Congratulations!
Establishment is largely complete; in the space of days, the bones of the work were set. Welcome our officers:Virginia Weisman, Secretary Debra Davis, Treasurer Congratulations!
Namaste, Hej, and Hello, There was a time when this path was mine alone. I walked it in quiet places—listening for the echoes of the old songs, tracing the runes that seemed to rise from the land itself. The lessons…
S2E203 – The Seal’s Wisdom
Seals slip between sea and shore, laughing at edges. Their wisdom is play as medicine—a cure for grim perfectionism and the tight jaw of overwork. If your days feel like clenched teeth, come learn the seal’s grin.
First, declare a play tide: fifteen minutes when work rules do not apply. Set a bell. Do something absorbingly pointless—stack stones, doodle spirals, toss a ball. Play is not a reward for finishing; it is a tool for continuing.
Second, soften the jaw. Place two fingers just below the ears and massage slow circles while breathing 5‑5 for one minute. Say, “Loose as water.” The seal knows: relaxed jaws catch more fish.
Third, choose one task to “seal‑slide”: make the start fun and slippery. Put on music, roll a die to decide your starting line, or race the kettle. Momentum is kinder than discipline alone.
Fourth, adopt a comic ritual for errors—snort like a seal or slap the water (a cushion), then reset. Humor metabolizes shame faster than scolding.
Fifth, end the day with a shoreline walk—real or imagined—naming what you will leave on the sand until morning. The tide will tend it while you rest.
Let joy make you efficient. The seal’s wisdom is not childish; it is ancient agility: serious about life, unserious about stiffness. Laugh, slide, and keep returning to the work with salt on your lips.
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Be well my friends,
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The red leaf teaches graceful transition. Hold a leaf and list three things you can’t control and three you can—let the leaf sit between them. Practice hinge‑breath (inhale five, exhale five) while opening and closing your hands. Write a molting list of habits that no longer fit; replace one this week. Carry a companion object and tell yourself, “I am changing on purpose.” Share the ten‑sentence story of your change with a trusted witness. Plan a small arrival rite. The leaf isn’t a warning; it’s a welcome to bend without breaking.
Think of right-relation as a four-part checklist: self, others, place, and the unseen. Do a 10-minute weekly “balance audit.” Self: Aim for the basics most days—sleep, water, a little movement. When your inner voice gets harsh, name the thought and replace it with a kinder, accurate line. Others: In conflict, follow four steps—say what happened without blame, name how you feel, say what you need, and make a clear request. Add a three-breath pause before replying. If you mess up, repair quickly: “I see my part. Here’s what I’ll do differently.” Place: Adopt one “micro-stewardship” habit—pick up three pieces of trash, learn one local plant or bird each week, water a thirsty tree. Unseen/Meaning: Two minutes a day to reflect—one line of thanks, a short prayer, or a value check—and then one small action that matches it (apologize, bring soup, send a message). If the wheel wobbles, choose one quadrant and take the smallest step today. Track progress, not perfection. Over time, these simple, steady moves create a posture that’s clear, kind, and rooted where you live.
Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory) help untangle rumination. Each dusk, draw two columns: Thought for worries and plans; Memory for three true things—one kindness received, one skill used, one thing learned. Thank each bird, then dismiss them: “Fly and return at morning.” Step outside for a raven watch—fix your gaze on the largest sky‑shape and breathe 4‑7‑8. Keep a night‑stone on the bedside; when wakefulness returns, place it on your chest and whisper, “Not now, morning.” At dawn, review the columns and circle one action. Rhythm beats certainty.
Gather by rhythm. Tap a heartbeat and walk a circle. Set four daily beats—Wake, Work, Nourish, Restore—with one small action each. Break tangles: 30s drum, 30s do, repeated. Mark transitions with three breaths and three taps. Keep a beat ledger for seven days. Rhythm returns you to center.
Frith is woven peace. Build a hearth-rite—bowl, candle, woven token—“We heat this house to soften speech.” Breathe four in, four out. Use the two-logs rule: one appreciation, one clear request. Hold a weekly mending hour and a truce gesture to pause before harm. Close: “Heat remains.”
Call Njörðr’s north wind for decision fatigue. Open a window; breathe five slow cycles. Declutter one corner for twenty minutes—keep, release, set to voyage. Keep a three‑line harbor log: Weather, Draft, Bearing. Walk by water and promise movement with direction. Repeat twice weekly. Lightness returns by brisk, kind choices.
There is a path that begins in the soles of your feet and runs backward through time. The ancestors’ trail is not nostalgia; it is a medicine against loneliness and drift. In an age of glowing rooms and scrolling faces, many feel untethered—no clan, no kitchen table, no shoulder to lean on. Tonight we walk the trail to remember we are not self‑invented.
First, choose one kitchen memory—smell of bread, a song, a phrase an elder said. Write it down. If no memory comes, borrow one from the land you stand on: the river’s patience, the mountain’s spine. An ancestor can be a person, a place, a craft well kept.
Second, make a small altar with three simple things: a bowl of water, a piece of bread or salt, and a photo or symbol. Speak aloud the names you know. For those unknown, say, “To the kindly ones who carried me here.” Pour a little water; break a little bread. Reciprocity opens the trail.
Third, practice the kin‑breath: inhale four, hold two, exhale four, hold two, as though you were walking and pausing to listen. On the exhale, whisper, “With me.” The body learns presence by rhythm.
Fourth, extend your line forward. Who receives your care tomorrow—child, neighbor, passerby, your own future self? Do one small act that the elders would recognize as good: mend, share, sing, sweep. Belonging is a verb.
When grief for what was broken rises, sit with it. Place your palm on your back where a hand might rest. Say, “I am arrived.” Loneliness loosens when contact is imagined and then enacted.
For nine days, return to the altar for one minute. Add a name as it comes. The trail brightens with each step. You do not walk alone; you are the latest bead on a long cord, shining because others held the thread.
Be well my friends,
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Newsletter Subscribe – https://akulfhednar.org/newsletter
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