What the Soul Needs
November 10, 2014
“It’s important to be heroic, ambitious, productive, efficient, creative, and progressive, but these qualities don’t necessarily nurture soul. The soul has different concerns of equal value: downtime for reflection, conversation, and reverie; beauty that is captivating and pleasuring; relatedness to the environs and to people; and any animal’s rhythm of rest and activity.”
— Thomas Moore, from Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing by Susan Wooldridge
Solitude on the ocean’s edge
These early-dark days are about as perfect for soul work as any. A time to remember that suffering, depression, stresses, chronic challenges, all are food for inner growth — as difficult as it is to struggle through them. In fact, it sounds like the perfect time of year for a retreat, of even a few days. We must all remember to take care of ourselves.
Rosemary's Blog 
November 10, 2014 at 8:11 pm
I’m having trouble with these early-dark days. I’m so accustomed to working by the sun, that I easily revert to the rhythms of farm life, or village life in Liberia. When the sun comes up, I get up. When it goes down, I have supper, and by 7:00 I’m thinking — isn’t it time for bed, yet? Oh, goodness.
It makes me think “early to bed, early to rise” wasn’t so much prescriptive as descriptive — at least in those pre-electricity days!
November 11, 2014 at 9:28 am
The dark seems to mirror my spirit right now. I am feeling the need to stay in and slow down. I don’t know if the season is the cause of my emotional state (I doubt it), but it is a reflection of it.
November 11, 2014 at 5:49 pm
I wonder if that stretch of beach–that seems so fantastic and romantic to me, becomes just as normal as The Tree Place can if I let it. The Tree Place is only my normal on certain days. Most of them I can always see something of wonder there.