In the Belly

That's the traditional translation of today's holiday (um, not Groundhog's Day but more the Celtic Brigid's Day (pre-Christian sainthood of course, I'm not going to include the "St." - they just made her a saint so that it would be appropriate for the conquered Celts to keep praying to her) - she gives birth to Spring and so it was a day to say HEY THERE hold on, have some hope, even though food supplies are scarce and it's still so dark and cold, and yes, better, warmer times will come around again on the wheel. So what's in the belly...

Six more weeks of winter says the groundhog and so you have to wait and be much more patient for things to blossom and bloom, don't you? Yes, I'm speaking metaphorically as well as literally.

Such as? Well, it was my third week in a row of yoga. I'm very proud of myself for sticking to it and let us bless it to continue. I've fought with myself beforehand "oh I'd rather stay home, oh but you'll feel so good afterwards and you'll be HAPPY, oh but I'm sleepy and I have all these things to do, oh but you'll never do them anyhow, you'll just lay and read and wander, won't you, so GO!"

And I went. And I felt so much better for it. Whatever it does to the body is great, I know I looked and felt physically better when I was going to a class on a regular basis, but the mental and emotional peace is what I missed all this time. It completely short circuits any depression, foul-mood, blues, mean reds, etc. Most excellent. She sighs with contentment ... if only the other things of life were that simple... my other thing that it's in the belly is how to learn to carry this forward to the rest of the time I'm not in a yoga class - I'm a rather anxious person but I'm working on it - I'm trying to just go with the flow of the river I'm in, not fight to swim upstream. Smile more. Be positive instead of expecting the worst. Wish on stars and fallen eyelashes and still believe that they'll come true. That sort of thing.

I'll leave you with my poem-medicine dose for the week:

I made a fire, the blue sky having abandoned me,
A fire to be his friend,
A fire to enter the winter night,
A fire to live better.
~Paul Eluard