Nourishment
Over the weekend, one of my clients invited me to her home — a working farm in central Jersey where she lives with her family, cats, dogs and various and sundry animals. Truth be told, she didn’t actually invite me — I sort of invited myself and asked if I could bring my young nephews with me! I am a country girl at heart so when she described having goats, baby goats (aka kids), I thought I wanted to take it all in, enjoy nature, meet her family and of course, feed the goats! When we arrived there was a flurry of activity as the youngest of the clan lost his mom shortly after birthing him, and he was awaiting the nourishment he’d receive from the bottle. The photo is of my grand-nephew offering the bottle to this 6 week old goat, and it was pretty cool. He was brave and courageous as he walked up to the barn and turned the bottle upward. The little guy, also known as “Cutie” gulped the milk incredibly quickly!
As we continue to navigate the ever-changing times of our political and environmental landscape we sometimes forget what nourishes us, individually and personally. There’s so much coming at us every day, it’s easy to adopt someone else's view and think it’s our own. For me to check in with myself it’s often a long walk, journaling or my regular meditation practice that keeps me feeling nourished, especially when life’s challenges show up. It also helps that I have a coach who implores me to have long, intimate conversations with myself, which I do on a regular basis (it’s a little strange to have conversations with oneself but I finally got used to it). It’s part of the human experience to have challenges and as I often tell my clients, challenges are just “invitations" to tap into our best selves and be still long enough for the answers to emerge. What’s your invitation? What’s the nourishment you deserve right now?
By the way, did I mention this client is a bi-coastal successful attorney, is studying religion at the seminary (as she’s curious about the intersection of law and religion), and has a full life with her husband and family. She’s pretty powerful and continues to inward to ask the questions and explore the answers. Here’s to Cutie and a morning at the farm!
