Tag: ritual

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Books

Letting go . . . non attachment . . . honorable closure . . .

Furniture: gone.
Clothing: outta here.
Dishes: history.

I spent the last two months of 2015 clearing out, letting go, getting rid of, and I called it Operation Make Space for Possibility. It was fun and freeing, hard work and exhausting. (It was also quite effective in unexpected ways, but we’ll talk about that later.)

The one thing I couldn’t go near was my bookshelves, my book stacks, my book piles. Just couldn’t do it. So I sat with my books asking why it was so hard to part ways. “You think you’re not smart without us being within reach,” they told me. “We are stepping stones in your life story garden. We wrapped our pages around you to validate and confirm things you already Knew but were afraid to say out loud. You thought it was magic how we always appeared at just the right time, and you’re right, though you misspelled it. It was Magic. We’ve shared some good times, and now it’s time for you to step fully into the Abundance mindset and trust that you will Know what you need to Know when you need to Know it. And that what you don’t know, you’ll be able to find. So why don’t you let us go leap into the hands of some other woman who’s Ready.”

And with that, we come to an agreement. With no deadline in mind, I spend time with each book, letting it fall open to 3 places to show me three things she wants me to remember. I take a photo of the cover, make notes in my journal of what she wants me to hold onto, then I put her in my library bag and wish her well on the next leg of her journey.

Bushel Basket Burning

Bushelbasketsformybirthday

This is a photo of my beloved husband, Andy,
taken yesterday as he was buying me the bushel basket
that topped the list of
What I Want For My Big Milestone Birthday.
I have a plan, you see:
I will decorate this basket,
festoon it with ribbons
and words of wagging fingers,
most from long-forgotten,
unnamed voices,
words that nevertheless linger deep and long.
“Who do you think you are?”
“What gives you the right?”
“Well, you’re getting too big for your britches.”
I will write these words (and more) on the basket,
trim them with ribbons and glitter and sparkle,
then I will set fire to the basket,
while singing
“This Little Light of Mine”.
and dancing.
Oh good lord
how I will dance.

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Allow me to introduce myself . . .

Hey, Sugar! I'm Jeanne Hewell-Chambers: writer ~ stitcher ~ storyteller ~ one-woman performer ~ creator & founder of The 70273 Project, and I'm mighty glad you're here. Make yourself at home, and if you have any questions, just holler.

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