familiar waters
let the landscape remind you
While I was recording the Dear July audio workshop last week and reflecting on my own end of the month review, I was saddened to realize that I hadn’t been in a pool or body of water yet despite it almost being the end of July. Lucky for me, I had a date on the calendar to head up to Kohler and spend a beach day with my friends KP and Ben on the very last day of July.
With all my might I willed a good weather day into existence by writing my DSWL intention of the week as one simple word, swim. Ever since I was a little girl the water is one of the places I feel happiest. Things have been heavy for me personally lately, and I needed water medicine.
On the drive up to Sheboygan I thought about my relationship with water and being a Cancerian child growing up. Long days spent at the local public pool, with the heat of the concrete underneath my belly, drying off just so that I can feel the shock of jumping back into the cold water again.
Saturdays with my “old friends” on Lake Wisconsin, floating on noodles off the back of my Auntie Anne’s boat with my mom and her. Sipping Jolly Good Cream Soda and crunching on salted pretzel rods while we dripped dried after bobbing like buoys, laughing about how our legs would stick to the hot leather cushions.
And of course, the one annual summer trip to Noah’s Ark in the Wisconsin Dells for a day of waterpark and wave pool adventures.
We spent a day at this exact beach after my birthday in July last year. It was amazing how being in the familiar waters again, exactly a year later, held up such a mirror between then and now.
KP and I went far enough out where we could still touch the bottom while the water kissed our necks. We talked about this July compared to last and noted all the things that have changed and all the things that have stayed the same.
When KP went in before me, and I stayed out for a moment and took some time to dunk my head underwater, baptizing myself for another year. Whispering into Lake Michigan, it’s all going to be okay it’s all going to be okay.
Without realizing it, maybe we have started a tradition. To go to this beach, the three of us, every July.
I love that places can hold this kind of space for us. I love that water can make everything feel new again. I love that the bigness of our internal landscapes can have more room to breath on the shore line, under the big blue sky.
A break, a pause. A promise to allow the love of Mother Nature in.
May you find the places that help you reflect, and hold up mirrors. May you share your grief with the water, land and sky and allow yourself to be held by the landscape.
With Love,
Jenna
Think of a place that you go to on either a monthly or annual basis. How does the landscape hold you and allow you to reflect on past, present and future? Write about the details of this landscape (trees, water, sky, etc) and explore what about it allows you to drop into a reflective place.
If you don’t have a place like this, can you think of a type of landscape you can imagine would offer this? Then, can you search for landscapes (beaches, forests, parks, ponds, etc) like this near you? Take some time to plan a visit, creating a physical place to check-in with yourself.
- ‘s gentle reminder that our friend Mercury Retrograde is here to visit again — but we can find ways to embrace this season, that we can get playful and creative.
Spending time with my new Dirt Gems Deck oracle deck I got for my birthday. My card of the month for August is Hops and is inviting me into the energy of surrender and trust
Rubbing this incredible Serenity Stick on the bottom of my feet every night when I get home from work after midnight, it really helping me wind down when I’m feeling wired
All the baby photos that Natalie is sending me and my countdown to heading up to Door County for a visit next weekend
Charging up the Apple Pencil with anticipation to reopen Procreate after a download of some new ideas for new drawings
Dunking head under water — the image of the season
Grateful you got to go to the water Jenna 🥰 I am planning my annual Rhode Island trip in a few weeks. I love the Dirt Gems deck, adding to my wish list! ❤️ xo Carla