week forty eight // the week that i gave thanks

hey folks! and happy monday to you! i sure do hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. i, myself, truly truly did. what with thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season and time with my love, it was just great.

before the weekend, i had a pretty ok week too. much was focused on my preparations for thanksgiving. and the rest of my time was filled with living those regular life days and regular life moments – the ones that i am learning are what really take my breath away.

the very beginning of the week was super cold, everything was frozen and gorgeous with amazing sunrises and even more amazing sunsets, what with the full moon and such. so, i got out and enjoyed nature for a short little bit. and i definitely enjoyed standing at my window, as you know i love to do.

however, one day, tuesday i think, i woke with a migrane. and this, my friends, never happens to me.

it was one of those headaches that makes you feel nauseous. i wanted to get up, i felt like i needed to get up to do all of the things that i usually do, but somehow i realized that my body was telling me to stay put. so, i stayed in bed all morning long. i took a detox from social media and the internet. i remember that i actually spent an hour or so just holding my cup of coffee in silence. i let my mind wander. i felt myself breath. i sipped my coffee. something inside me told me that i needed this morning to myself to ride out the shift that is occurring in my life. it’s so hard to put into words, but something is shifting, life is changing, and so much action and newness is to come.

and, giving myself that time to just be alone + to just be, healed my headache and calmed my soul. by afternoon, i was up and about, meeting my love downtown and then attending another support grouping the evening.

then, on thursday, after racing to ikea for some last minute thanksgiving needs, riding my bike home in the freezing cold, catching up with my love for a meeting at the hospital, and getting home to prepare dinner, lina and i went to our first christmas concert. we had an amazing walk through the city, soaked up the inspiring and beautiful music of the concert, and ended the night by coming home late, falling into bed, high from the night that we had shared. grateful for the magical city that we live in and the chance for my love to see (and talk with!) her biggest idol and role model.

then, friday came. the day of the holiday dinner with our family who lives in town with us. i spent the whole day in the kitchen. it was a freaking mess, and i loved every minute of it. i had it all under control by 7:00 though; so much so that, as the guests arrived, i was able to put a spiked cider hot toddy in their hands as soon as that took off their coats. let the cozy family time begin!

dinner was served about 7:30 and we sat around the coffee table in the living room. it was so relaxing, and fun, and beautiful. exactly as i had imagined it could be. perhaps a bit better. we drank bottles of red wine, lots of white, enjoyed the classic holiday food (which they loved), and there was so much love in that room that i thought that i just might burst. it was absolutely perfect, lasting well into the wee morning hours. and i could not have shared this thanksgiving with any more better people than we had here. they are truly some of my favorites. what a blessing it was. my heart is still full.

after our thanksgiving dinner on friday, we have spent a very quiet weekend spent at home, only leaving to attend the little fireworks show that uppsala had at the castle to celebrate the beginning of advent. so. much. fun. fireworks for advent is a tradition that i have never even thought would have existed. but, uppsala, invited the city’s citizens to gather and celebrate by brightening up these very dark times, both all around us in nature as we enter the darkest days of the year, and all around the world, in all of the violence and hate that exists. they even announced that the fireworks served as a symbol of hope and strength, of remembering to carry on. so, basically, this was a tradition that i absolutely fell in love with. standing there with thousands of other people, my love’s arms around me in the cold, under a magical, brightly-lit sky.

so, we are pretty much in the holiday spirit here now. and loooooving it. we are most definitely planning on a cozy, simple holiday season together.

so, my friends, it’s time for us to begin a new week. and i am certain that this week will be a test of my strength, of what i have been learning for the past year. i have a lot to do this week. a lot of places to be, a lot of work, a lot of opportunities, and so much potential goodness. at the same time, it’s all scary and overwhelming. this, though, is where the rubber hits the road. will i stay grounded in my meditation practices? will i stay committed to my intention to a life centered on slow living and spirituality? can i integrate everything? will i say yes when i want to say yes, and no when i want to say no? will i stay open and listen to my soul?

what do you have going on this week? is it one of those where you know what’s coming, or do you think you’ll just have to see what happens as it happens?

no matter what you and i are facing, we’ve got this. this new week offers us so much. every single day is a new beginning, a chance to choose to create our life exactly as we want it that day. an opportunity to choose exactly how we live and respond and spread our energy. another day for which we can give thanks simply for being alive.

so, let’s get to it. happy monday, you beautiful people!

onwards + upwards! xoxo