Last night we built our first fire in our house in honor of the winter solstice. It was soooooo nice, and I soaked in the feeling of glowing red cheeks and the wonderful aroma of wood burning. There is not much quite like it. We used to make great bonfires at my parents house and I always loved the feeling of standing around a fire next to people you love, just watching the flames roar. Our first little fire was not quite as monumental, but special for sure. We had to make about 6 trips outside to gather more semi-dry twigs and it felt like a little mini adventure each time. It reminded me of the days when I was growing up and my parents just had a wood burning stove, it was one of the super cool old free standing cast iron clawfoot kind, beautiful. But not so pretty when your a kid and you dont want to gather firewood or only sit in one spot in the house to be warm.
I kicked back for a while and attempted to read, but was more enamored with watching the fire. Im using an adorable hand knitted bookmark gifted to me by a sweet friend.
Last night was so very special b/c James and I celebrated the winter solstice together for the first time. Lately I have really been looking more within thank I already usually do, and keep finding myself landing in all of these places, through books, through blogs, through conversations with good friends, that are taking me on this new journey of openess and healing. Ive gone through this kind of point in my life several times before, call it a growth spurt, an emotional and spiritual growth spurt. There are usually alot of growing pains associated with growth spurts. Alot of coming into a new version of yourself that is new to you, but one that you could not refuse to enter into, like going from a child to an adolescent. It just kind of happens as the wind blows and you cant stop it. I touched a little on some of the things moving in my soul in my cosmic shifts post. One soft spot I landed on was Pixie Campbell's blog Pink Coyote. I was telling James that I was going to do my own little releasing ceremony by the fire and he wanted to join me! I was so excited and greatly surprised. So last night after the fire burned for a while, and we ate some leftover pizza by the fire... we took some time to write down some things we would like to release from ourselves. Old habits, fears, things blocking us from moving in the directions we know we want to be in, old friends, things that no longer serve us. Then one by one, we shared the things we wanted to release to each other. This was the really healing moment. I was very impresses with the things James shared. Then we wrapped them all up in the little bundles and burned them in the fire. It was such a beautiful moment, and one Ill never forget. I hope to continue this each year with him, and maybe with a gathering of our friends.
I love the list that Pixie made on her blog of things we can change:
Fear into Courage
Not Enoughness into Plenty
Old patterns of behavior into fresh responses and vulnerability
Anger into Cleansing Breath
Sorrow into Hope
Grief into Rebirth
Loneliness into Circle and Support
Disempowerment into Confident Action
Creative Dormancy into Full Expression
Superficiality into True Being
Masks into Love of What Really Is
Shortsightedness into Eagle's Vision
Limitations into Possibility
Projections into Conscious Ownership
Stuckness into Movement
Depression into Light
Bondage into Freedom
Control into a Loose, Flexible Grasp
Obsession into Letting It Be
Anxiety into Flow
Fragmentations into Wholeness
Duality into Oneness
Shame into Acceptance of the Processes of Life
Mistrust into Trust
Judgment into Allowing
Did anyone else join in this time of celebration? If so Id love to hear how.
Oh, I joined Instagram (I got my first ipod) so if you want to join me its under lauramazurek. Im not quite sure how it all works...
PEACE,
Laura