Recovery & Reset - Preparing to prepare
Here’s how I'm using my hand, head, and heart this month to recover and reset my daily practices, and stretch a bit.
“Make tiny little shifts in your life and your entire world will change.” -Britt B Steele
I’m all about following rhythms and cycles that I feel and sense in myself, our family, and in nature. Being able to roll with change is part of how everything works. Change is constant and being able to face it, flow with it, and adapt is part of what I’m here for.
I expect to be surprised; I expect to be unprepared; I expect to be interrupted; I expect to have my rhythms disrupted. After all, my daily practices and rituals aren’t anchors per se, they’re not here to hold me rigidly in place.
My daily practices and rituals are more like being on belay. Let me explain.
On Belay
“On belay” is a rock climbing term used when a team or partner begins a climb. "Belaying" is the technique used to keep tension on the climbing rope so that in case of mishap, a climber does not fall very far before being stopped by the rope. The belayer is on the ground and secures the climber by holding one end of the rope, as the climber, attached to the other end, climbs. The climber trusts that the belayer will catch a fall every time the need arises. When a fall happens, the belayer catches the climber, holds them securely, and waits patiently for the climber to be ready to begin again.
My daily practices have me on belay - I trust that they are there and I always have their lessons with me. I can return to them as necessary. As I move throughout each day, they always support me. They catch me if I stumble, they give me a chance to catch my breath and recalibrate, and they wait patiently until I am ready to return to my way. I am able to adapt and flow with change because of their consistency.
As a child and as an adult, August was the month when we would stop and our family would go on vacation. I have always understood that in the cycle of the year, August was a time to shift. A time to stop what we were doing and rest. Shift from the frenetic, busy summer to rest, reflect, slow down. These were quiet times, times to immerse in the ocean, rest on the beach, read books, etc. Until it wasn’t.
Now, that’s different with school starting earlier for both of them. One returns to college in August and one returns to high school before Labor Day. August shifted. Its now about preparation and less about relaxation.
July, the Month of Recovery & Reset
July is now the month of recovery and rest for us. For me, July is the month where any of my routine that has stumbled over the past couple of months recovers and resets itself.
As the weather warmed this spring, my long daily walks continued but I found myself unmotivated for much more than that. As I mentioned last month, I got caught up in the energy of the season. Change was everywhere. In the weather. In the plants. In the more than human beings. In relationships.
Even the daily routines and rituals, the ones that have me on belay and sustain me, became heavy and hard to engage. Morning pages, slow morning strolls in the garden with the dog, cacao lattes, kitchen experimentation, facial massage, electrolyte beverages, writing, swimming - all stumbled.
As July approached I felt another change. I felt those practices quickening. Ready to recover their footing in my daily life. Slowly and surely they are reemerging and I am greeting them, catching my breath, and welcoming their sustenance and teachings once again.
Swimming is the practice that has led the way this July. All of the good stuff I count on swimming for is returning as I have returned to the pool. Feeling the muscle memory kick in is so good. Reengaging with the cleansing and meditative power of water. Silencing the noise. Being back in the pool has also reminded me of the importance to stretch oneself.
Each year I swim with Swim Across America. Swimmers of all ages and skill levels take part in the annual Baltimore Open Water and Pool Swims to help raise funds for the Swim Across America Lab at Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine. These researchers are the next generation of cancer pioneers.
This year I am participating in the open water swim rather than the pool swim. This will be my first open water swim event since 1989 when I participated with two other friends in the local Bud Light Triathlon. I did the swim, one of them biked, one of them ran. It was a blast.
I play in open water and the distance doesn’t worry me. The stretch comes in the combination - an open water swim with hundreds of other swimmers in water temperatures between 65-75 degrees Fahrenheit. I am excited to stretch my body and mind in a new way.
August will truly be about preparation and September about readiness but July is about the recovery of practice. I have taken some time off from the pool and now is time to find my rhythm again. Along the way, other practices and rituals will recover as well.
Here’s how I am using my hand, head, and heart this month.
Here’s how I'm using my hand, head, and heart this month to recover and reset my daily practices, and stretch a bit.
Hand - World Chocolate Day - July 7th
I ❤ cacao! Raw, organic, non-gmo, sustainably sourced, fairly traded cacao!
Cacao is one of my daily practices that stumbled over the past couple of months but its back now, and how I have missed it. I’ve missed the taste, I’ve missed the ritual nature of making it and enjoying it, and I’ve missed how good I feel afterwards.
The benefits of cacao I repeatedly see mentioned are:
many times more antioxidants than berries
highest plant based source of iron
one of the highest sources of magnesium
lots of calcium
helps improve neurotransmitter function
supports creativity, wisdom, abundance
opens the heart chakra and other channels of self-discovery and growth
My practice has been to enjoy my cacao while I write in the morning. As I have renewed my daily cacao practice, I have taken the guidance of Amaris Raiana at Remedy Cacao to approach cacao with reverence and intention and see where it takes me.
For World Chocolate Day it seems appropriate to go straight up cacao - no bananas, berries, spinach; no herbs; no herbal syrups; no greens powder; just my basic morning cacao:
Cacao Hot Water Almond Milk Honey Cinnamon
I love how I feel after drinking my cacao each day.
Head - The Journey of Me and My Brain
As I’ve moved into menopause and retirement, my brain and I have begun a new journey. My brain just doesn’t get the same kind of work out it use to. It doesn’t have the myriad of things bombarding it each day. It doesn’t have to manage as much. Nouns are harder to remember. It no longer works the same. It feels as though it is rewiring itself.
There’s a new way of thinking and processing that seems to be emerging. My creativity comes when I am physically active, when I am waking up from a good sleep. When I am lying in the hammock. This is new. Previously, I would block out time and write. I still do that but I am also finding now that the ideas emerge on their terms, when they want to.
It’s a little like that scene in Daisy Jones and The Six. Daisy and Billy are having their first writing session. Daisy dives into the pool and begins swimming. Billy says, “Are we taking a break?” Daisy responds, “No, we’re writing,” and swims off. (see minute 3:53 from this clip).
My brain also still wants exercise of its own to stay sharp and quick. Resilient. This month I have returned to one tried and true practice and begun an investigation into a new one.
Tried and True Practice: I’ve returned to Morning Pages. I first learned of morning pages years ago when I was working my way through Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. I was resistant at first and self-conscious about what I would write. Finally, I realized that was the point. Breaking that resistance.
“Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page...and then do three more pages tomorrow” (Julia Cameron)
Morning pages isn’t about beautiful sentences and complete thoughts. It’s a brain dump. Getting all of that “stuff” out of my mind to make room for my brain to move and respond creatively throughout the day.
In the beginning, many days I found my self writing, at least once, “I don’t know what to say.” But I kept on writing to fill my three pages and eventually I noticed I wasn’t writing that phrase anymore. I’ve never gone back and looked at what I wrote in previous morning pages. After all, that’s not the point.
I found a routine and rhythm for my morning pages and I can begin my day with focus and clarity. With all of that stuff out of the way my creativity has room to breathe and be aware of the rhythms in world around me.
Now that I am recommitting to my morning pages, I am going to dive into another one of Julia Cameron’s books: It's Never Too Late to Begin Again: Discovering Creativity and Meaning at Midlife and Beyond. I’m looking forward to the focused work on memoir writing that is a part of this book.
Investigating a New Practice: I am also beginning a deep dive into the Method of Loci, more commonly called Memory Palaces.
I am a visual and kinesthetic learner and I have a visual memory. I remember faces better than names. I remember what something looks like better than what it’s called. “Doomahitchy” is the common name for things in our house that I can’t remember the name of when I am asking someone to hand it to me. But when my dear husband needs to know where something is in storage in the back room of our basement, I can see the location in my mind and vividly describe the process to locate it so that he can find it easily.
Memory Palaces have made it into recent pop culture. Benedict Cumberbatch's character in the series,"Sherlock" uses one as does Noah Wiley’s character in the series, “The Librarians.” I began to wonder, since I have a vivid visual memory, could the method of loci help me exercise my brain and keep it resilient? It turns out, from a cursory dive into research, that this may indeed be the case.
The memory palace is not a new technique. The oldest known descriptions of the method of loci in European culture appear in Rhetorica ad Herennium (around 90 BCE), Cicero’s De Oratore (around 55 BCE), and Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria (around 95 CE). It has also been attributed to a Greek poet, Simonides of Ceos (477 BCE). The technique dates back even further in oral traditions.
The basic idea is that “the way knowledge is structured in memory determines the ability to retain, recall, and use it to solve problems. The method of loci (MOL) is a mnemonic device that relies on spatial relationships between “loci” (e.g., locations on a familiar route or rooms in a familiar building) to arrange and recollect memorial content.” (Qureshi A, Rizvi F, Syed A, Shahid A, Manzoor H., 2014)
A memory palace is a journey through a place you know well. Along the way, there are specific locations where you locate information. Repeatedly visiting the journey, always in the same order, enhances memory retention. Essentially, you create hooks (locations, loci) to hang your memories on and, with practice, can retrieve them at will.
There’s more research ahead and lots of practice will follow. I have already identified the location I will use; I just need to decide what information I want to practice remembering. This should be interesting.
Heart - Swim Across America Baltimore Open Water Swim.
As I mentioned last month, my goal is to have enough, a sufficient amount so that my way of living, behaving, being in the world, and the choices I make supports a better life for all. I strive to live into my love of this amazing planet, the more than human beings and human beings that are all a part of the web of life. I strive to live from a place of love, generosity, and compassion. And, above all love, because love conquers all.
This swim is one way I do this. I am fortunate to be able to swim and to have a safe outdoor place to swim. This swim is all about having an open heart and bountiful love.
As I return to my practice this month, I’m rediscovering the quiet I find when in the water and my body is finding the familiarity of the movement. I’m focusing on recovering my technique, speed, distance, and overall fitness. Each day in the pool involves a warm up, focus, and cool down. Anchoring all of my pool time is strength training and walking, and of course, yoga.
Eight years ago I first joined the Swim Across America community, I swam in memory of one person, my friend Jill. Now, on my list is also my mom, Uncle Charlie, Larry, Judy, Kathy, Phil, Joe, Sonya, Jackie, and Gregory, Melanie, Mandy. Over these years the number of lives and families that I personally know who have been impacted by cancer have increased. This year another dear friend was added to the list.
An estimated 40% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lifetime. Currently, there are successful treatments and treatment centers that are available for those with the economic resources to pay or with support networks who are able to assist.
What is most needed is cancer treatment that is economically accessible to all and ultimately, a cure. Groundbreaking cancer research needs funding to save lives.
If you feel called to support Swim Across America, here are two ways to get started:
Donate to my swim: SAA Karen Steele’s Personal Page https://www.swimacrossamerica.org/goto/Karen_Steele
Join a swim
This month my hand, head, and heart practices provide an opportunity to recover and reset my daily practices, and to stretch a bit. Any of my routine that stumbled over the past couple of months gets to recover and reset so that I am ready for a season of preparation and harvest that begins in August.
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The swimming is the best exercise when it's this hot. I didn't know you had a swim thing so good for you! I remember that memory technique from college but what is it that you want to remember? What will make an impact? Look forward to seeing you!