On Finding Contentment
This is the newsletter that nearly wasn't.
This morning, I awoke to snow gently falling this morning. The snow has been something I have longed for for a while now. My garlic will go in tomorrow, and I trust I waited just long enough to place it in the ground. While watching the snow from my warm and safe bed with heavy plush blankets, I thought of the words my dad had said at dinner the night before as we stated our gratitude for the year with one another, “I am thankful for the things I take for granted.” It made the moment that much more wonderful, calming, and comforting. It left me waking in a state of gratitude and thinking deeper about the things I have been pondering this last month.
This entire week I debated about this email. I have been reflecting on our connection to gratitude and contentment and my relationship with it.
My friend
shared her reflections from a lecture she attended with Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer about the Honorable Harvest (a chapter in Dr. Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass). Reading her thoughts reminded me of this chapter in the book and I immediately went to find my book on the shelf so I could reread it.My copy of Braiding Sweetgrass is folded, bent, worn in, and tells a story of my thoughts of what has spoken to me in her writing. The chapter I found the most worn, highlighted, and words in the margins was coincidently the chapter on the Honorable Harvest. I packed it in my bag on my way to my parent’s home to read in the car on the short drive south.
The drive amongst the farmlands, gray bare forests, and lush pines, I reread through the chapter with Mike beside me. I was once again reminded in new and important ways of the wisdom that the indigenous people have for what it means to live in relationship with each other and the earth. This book has guided many ways I approach my life now. I feel utterly thankful to Dr. Kimmerer for sharing her wisdom in these pages, and I feel constantly humbled by how much there is yet to be learned about living respectfully on both the land we tend and how to honor it as the Anishinaabe people have and do. Once again in the words, I was reminded just how easy it is to live in a way that honors Earth, community, and self.
That said, I wanted to share this small tidbit today from the Honorable Harvest chapter because I have now hung on my pin board in my office. Over the years I have opened these pages these simple words have reminded me how to live a life that is content, grateful, and connected to the things that matter most; the earth, the people we love, and the communities we call home. This week I decided to choose to read these words daily this next year because I believe this is the core of contentment and joy in a world that can feel broken and disheartening, leaving us longing for things that we do not need.
Enjoy these words and reminders. This is what we read around our meal yesterday where we focused on gratitude for each other, what we have, and what has been given in order for us to be here.
“Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.
Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life.
Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last.
Take only what you need.
Take only that which is given.
Never take more than half. Leave some for others.
Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.
Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.
Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.”
- Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
Our world constantly demands us to long for more. Yet, I find over the years as I remove myself further and further from the belief my life as it is is not enough and move more and more towards time with nature and focusing on less is more, the more I feel not just grateful but deeply joyful with what magic there is in the simplest longings such as the snow or to see the green leaves once again emerge. The longing for the life I have becomes deeper than I believed imaginable.
I leave you with this song/chant I listen to as a meditative reminder that we already have enough in our lives.
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This week, I also shared these posts for subscribers:
How to Pay Attention This Week - The Shifting Perspective Offered by Frost
The Last Task - it’s okay to want time for yourself
What to Know About Hibernation - Last week’s free newsletter
This section is intended to give you a way to look at this season every week. They are high-level ways to connect to the rhythms of your daily life.
Five Ways to Engage with Nature
If you need a few easy ways to connect in refreshing ways I gathered some of our favorites. So here are a few ways to get out and engage in nature, maybe in some ways that may be friendlier to the cold and transitional weather we are having that feels, shall we say, “uncomfortable” to enjoy right away.
Make Art from Nature: This is one of my kid’s FAVORITE things to do. Granted, they do it a lot at school, but we will go out and collect some things in nature. We gather things all fall and summer for crafts and art. One of our favorite things to make, though, are these Becorns and Little houses for them. We also will make a little world for the animals along with airdry clay things like mushrooms etc. It’s very fun and engaging.
Go on a drive to a favorite beautiful area: If you aren’t feeling like getting out in the cold, then I would suggest just going on a drive on a dreary day to get out of the routines. Head to a favorite cafe to get something warm and enjoy the simple pleasure of just changing your scenery.
Create a Wreath or Garland: If you live in an area where you have lots of grapevines or pines, spruces, or cedars, I would suggest doing this really fun craft while you are with those you love over the long weekend. I love creating with what is in nature. I don’t buy fake decorations for our home because I love the minimalism that happens when we make them. I have a tutorial on making a grapevine wreath and one on making a garland if you are curious about this.
Watch a movie that inspires a deeper connection to nature: I love the films Gather, Fantastic Funghi, My Teacher the Octopus, Free Solo, Wild, Out of Africa, and any nature movie that explores various parts of our planet. If you are feeling like cozying up and hiding away a bit, these are good movies to watch and explore various connections to nature we can have.
Give back to the Earth: We constantly think of our time here on the earth as about what we can gain, particularly when it comes to the earth. What will it give us from our food to even solace? Instead, a wonderful way to connect with nature is to think of a way to give back to it. Spend time listening, singing a song while on a hike, and acknowledging and being grateful for its beauty. Maybe it sounds a little silly, but I promise we can vocally and silently connect and give back to nature in many ways. If you have the ability, planting more trees, native plants, or simply leave the leaves where they lie in your yard can also be a wonderful gift. Remember just having gratitude for nature is a form of reciprocity.
I would LOVE to hear other ways you get outside this season to connect with nature. Share them in the comments!
This week I wanted to share some great reads here. I am not giving you sales, but giving you things that I think will feed you and get you thinking in new ways about our connection to self, nature, seasons, and our scrolling habits.
I loved this fictional story about a woman who returns to a home her estranged father left to her. It is a beautiful story of healing and the purpose of place. Megan is a wonderful writer and her stories are all good but this one grabbed me personally.Many of you have probably read Katherine’s Wintering, which is one of my top 5 favorite books, but this whole piece is amazing, and wonderful, and gives such wonderful tips about hibernation. I highly suggest reading it this weekend.
The Honorable Harvest: Reflections by
I mentioned it above, but please give the entire piece a read. Mae is an amazing writer and a dear friend. Her reflections are worthy on this concept of reciprocity and care for self and earth are really wonderful.Drowning in the Dialogue: The Shocking Cost of Our Online Consumption by
I enjoy a lot of Lee’s takes on our connection to the online world. I resonate with her unwriting of being a blogger/influencer and entering the world of more long-form and intentional writing. This piece is exceptional about how scrolling leads to discontent in life. We know this but her writing on it is a wonderful reminder.
I would love to hear things you guys are enjoying reading right now as well!
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Thank you for your reflections, Megan. 💛 On a walk last week, I snipped some grapevine to make a wreath, and I thought of you in the act. Thank you for the ways you invite us all to commune with the natural world, and to live in gratitude for what surrounds us.
So many things came up from reading this newsletter!
Braiding sweetgrass was just an amazing book, thank you for introducing it Megan, that chapter also marked me and rereading that section brought me back to the first time I read it in 2021 and how hard it had hit me.
Also, i don’t have grapevines in my area, do you have any ideas of what else could be used as a plain base for wreaths?
Thank you for all you share Megan!