Tao Out Loud Newsletter Volume 3: The Magic of Bringing the Outside In
In-right, outright, up-right, downright, happy all the time!
Welcome to Volume 3 of the Tao Out Loud newsletter where we’re finding everyday magic, every day! If you’ve come here by chance, or a friend passed this on, I hope you’ve come to stay. Sign up below so you don’t miss a thing.
The 22nd snuck up on me this month. To the two of you waiting with baited breath this morning, please forgive me for being late. In this edition are many of the usual goodies; with a whole month between mailouts, I have so much to share, so please bear with my excitement. Still, I want to be respectful of your time and I’ve now added a time indicator for each essay. I hope you’ll find this a useful improvement.
I’ve also left a little goodie in the I’m Crushing On section. Yay us!
Magic Deconstructed (Part 3)
[ 2 mins ]
For me, mindfulness goes beyond simply taking notice to extracting whatever delight might be found in an experience . . . even the most mundane, everyday routines can be mined for hidden treasure if you know what to look for.
Extract from Volume 2
A
As treasure seekers, we have to be so intentional about positioning ourselves for joy, and proactively protective against everything that seeks to steal it. Where it doesn’t present itself we must expect it, and where it hides, find it; digging deep into ancient wells, taking untrodden paths, uncapping messages in bottles long forgotten.
Can I be perfectly honest? Magic has felt a little harder to come by this month. Other A’s that stifle joy have been trying to get my attention, and perhaps yours too? Anxiety, and anger, angst and apathy, and a mixed bag of attitudes—have these uninvited guests been showing up at your table for brunch?
Magic is there for the taking; it might just require more effort than before; a little action, if you will.
Action
We are sleuths, we look for clues and search out mysteries in the deep, and in the pools, the floods of woe softly forming at our feet.
It may seem very basic, but we just need to do something. Magic, like love, thrives in activity. It is not discovered in a vacuum or the absence of experience.
You will see me talk here about my interactions with my family. A walk with my husband can turn the moon into a movie. On my kids’ wispy lashes sit stories, songs and secrets. But even if you are your own best company, shaking off the situation and putting mind and limb to movement can mean a better day. Make a plan or tackle a project, volunteer time, energy or resources; some of the deepest satisfaction comes when focus is off of self.
You’ll read a lot about natural things in these newsletters too—plants, animals, getting outside for air and exercise. There’s just something about getting out into the open and remembering there’s Someone bigger than you and me who holds all things together. My ‘action’ for this month, in fact, to alleviate the closed quarters, is to either get outside or bring the outside in.
But sometimes, just sometimes, the best action is inaction. Staying home right now is a good example. Preserving your mind’s health by just taking a break to breathe may look like a whole lot of nothing, but it could be everything. And for those days when you feel at your worst, let me share a last strange but tantalising tip:
When you smile (even a fake smile), the muscles in your face move; and that muscle movement changes the temperature and amount of blood flow to your brain, which can cause positive changes in your feelings and mood!
Aint that good news! Turns out the smallest actions can make a wondrous difference!
Continued in May’s newsletter with G…
Learn, unlearn, relearn, grow.
Dwayne Howard, @dwayneohoward
Action reduces fear and increases courage.
John Maxwell, johnmaxwell.com/blog
It's often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.
Craig Groeschel, @craiggroeschel
As a writer, I find gardens essential to the creative process; as a physician, I take my patients to gardens whenever possible.
Oliver Sacks, Everything In Its Place (more from him in the Library Haul)
“Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and its fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
For the seed shall be prosperous, The vine shall give its fruit, The ground shall give her increase, And the heavens shall give their dew—I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these.”
[ 2 mins ]
The Magic of Staying Inside
There is something humbling about realising how much space I, the former extrovert, really need; something quieting in acknowledging my own pent-up pain. Last week was the first time I cried since all this happened. I didn’t feel entitled to anything that resembled weakness or complaint. No one in my household is on the frontline, the one person I knew that caught it recovered and returned to family. I felt like tears could be reserved for those in the throes. Slowly, silently, I’d been bearing this undefinable, low grade ‘something’, based on the uncertainty of it all, on the fact that there’s not much I can do on a large scale to make things different, that it is happening to us all and we must deal with it as it comes. It has been a distraction. I’ve felt unable, incapable of getting anything done some days. There’s no door I can close in on reality so I cave: run straight back to bed, bury myself under a thick blanket to find some kind of retreat. I paint. I write. I pray. I sing. I reclaim the solace of inside, without keeping it all inside.
The Magic of Stepping Outside
Tears started to well up in my eyes (yes, again) the first time I stepped outside and saw my neighbour after three weeks. She grows orchids. And has a parrotlet (look it up). It was just so good to be talking to someone without a piece of glass between us: such an underrated experience. She ended up giving me toilet paper in one of those miraculous kinds of provision, where you (almost don’t) breathe a request to God and He puts a response into action anyway. I didn’t want to have to venture out before a real shopping trip was needed, and He put on her heart to buy extra just in case. He’s good, all by Himself, and good in the beauty of His created.
…stop and think about the garden of individuals that God has planted you amidst, from as far reaching as the familiar strangers with whom you share brief encounters, to the family under whose shade you daily rest. Consider the lilies and the ackee trees, the blossoms and the briers; each with a part to play in the landscape of your life. No matter who they are or how their presence affects you, thank the Lord for the part they play in making you ultimately, with His help, more like Jesus.
Thoughts first penned for Kingdom Arts Festival, Thankful
Parrot tulips. This amazing display on the left is by Eden Brothers (US folks, they ship!). On the right is my attempt in watercolour, and an image I found after the fact that is scrumptiously close.
I’ve made a 4x6 downloadable/frameable print available here for anyone who’d like a little pick-me-up.
This soothing Palm Sunday dance. [ 5 mins ]
This first try (below) at something new by my little muse and her thoughts about the process. She stars in today’s Snaps, shares her own poetry here, and it’s her birthday tomorrow! [ 1 min ]
These flower towers in Alaska’s Glacier Gardens (above). Thanks to Liana Hallett for the photo and for sharing their amazing story. [ 2 mins ]
This article by Margaret Manning Shull of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. To Love a Flower juxtaposes Dickinson’s poetic love of gardens and her, nay our, wrestling match with the resurrected Christ. [ 3-5 mins ]
DIY succulent planters from wine corks and magnets and vintage books. Be still my beating heart.
Ruth Chou Simmonds aka Gracelaced’s Mother’s Day collection is right on time.
My dream gardens, one in Barbados and one in Atlanta. Hunte’s is an absolute transport into another world, and this goddess can’t wait to see the Earth Goddess at Atlanta Botanical in person. #bucketlisted for when #weoutside.
A bread less-ipe from my friend Janelle, a health-loving mom and holistic nutritionist in training. Bringing in good stuff from the ground; it’s the kind of workout we all knead. Puh dum ching! Follow her @holisticnutritionbarbados to get the first online goodies when she gets going and let me know if you try it!
I love books that:
Take me back to my childhood - The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett (Free version available on Apple iBooks)
Remind me God uses what others throw away - Nothing Wasted, Kasey Van Norman
Marry art and science - The Hidden Geometry of Flowers, Keith Critchlow
Speak poetry to the heart - All Along You Were Blooming, Morgan Harper Nichols
“I cannot say exactly how nature exerts its calming and organizing effects on our brains, but I have seen in my patients the restorative and healing powers of nature and gardens, even for those who are deeply disabled neurologically. In many cases, gardens and nature are more powerful than any medication.”
Bring the outside in - “Why We Need Gardens”, Essay in Everything in its Place, Oliver Sacks
[ < 1 min ]
Mark 12:41-44
A verb is a doing word, otherwise known as an action. Consider, as I did, the verbs in this passage.
Jesus sat. He watched. Rich men threw in large amounts. One poor widow came and put in her two last two coins.
Jesus observed and acknowledged this woman’s great sacrifice. Out of her poverty, she’d given more than those who had given out of their wealth, depositing all she had left to survive on. With humble, reverent approach she presented her offering to the Lord, while others nonchalantly and carelessly tossed theirs down. I believe these contrasting words were chosen by the writer to remind us our actions can reveal our hearts’ true position. May we consider not just what we do, but how and why we do it, never offering to God that which in actuality costs us nothing.
Dear Regulars: Yes, that’s what you are now. I’m so grateful you’ve stuck around, and now we’re three volumes in, I will be reaching out for a little feedback. I want to shred any junk mail so the letter bag is always welcome! Thanks to those who’ve shared your thoughts and encouragement so far.
Dear Newcomers: I hereby acknowlege your awesomeness! Pull up a seat and make yourselves at home!
Dear First Male Subscribers: You’ll find this a pretty place, but I hope that doesn’t deter you. We ladies are really pleased to have you!
Dear Submitters: Thanks for being willing to lend your voices to this volume.
Dear Readers of my latest blog about toilet fails. Lol, thanks for trusting me with that precious 2 mins of your life, despite the title.
Dear Frontline Heroes: You are too often the last to be recognised, but the first to jump in when we needed you! Love, respect, and strength forever.
See you all again on May 22. Feel free to share your thoughts, or this newsletter with a few friends you think may like to receive it.
Take time for love. Relationships like gardens must be tended.