Reflection & Connection
This week I am truly feeling an overflow of emotions. What I love to do is let myself live through these emotions and feelings, fully. One of my favourite things to do is to listen to music relevant to my particular emotions. It’s a nice way to remind myself that we are not alone in the way that we feel and what we experience. So if you wish to do the same and reap the full benefits of this article, then I encourage you to listen to one of my newest favourite songs: Garden Song by Phoebe Bridgers, it is linked here.
The Lupine community although now small, new, and growing, has already brought myself and Elizabeth incredible joy and meaning into our lives. Lupine—and all that it holds, gives me purpose. It feeds my soul. I dream of Friday nights in the summer, being present in such a positive energetic environment that encompasses all of my values, and holds an abundance of beautiful souls that are so passionate about their work and what they do.
The most wholesome part of a community to me is a farmer’s market and Lupine is simply that. It is something that I am so excited to see grow and be maintained throughout upcoming years, as a grounding force in the lives of our Hampton and surrounding communities. I look forward to the day where we are able to freely have picnics, share our shimmering smiles free of masks, exchange handshakes and hugs, and groove and move to local live musicians. In the meantime, we will work with what we have and enjoy what the present Lupine brings us—connection, local food, passionate vendors, and time to connect outside together under the Hampton pavilion.
After several independent reflections, I am in constant reminder that it is Lupine that brings me strength and hope.
Navigating our way through this beautiful yet complicated life is an exciting but at times difficult journey. Life throws unexpected parts at us at unexpected moments. Time and time again we ride through the ebbs and flows of the rivers and oceans of life. We swim, resist, remain stagnant and finally find a way to relax and float upon the waves.
Lately, I have been feeling a lot of resistance. Reflecting upon why I have been resisting—digging deep into why I may feel the need to resist my current situation helps me regather, reset, and come to terms with where I am at in the current moment.
In my life, I feel the most lost and out of character when I don’t give myself time to stop, listen and reflect. We all at some points in our lives resist what is happening in our own worlds, but we must stop, check-in with ourselves and reflect—both independently and with the help of others. We cannot always get ourselves out of our own resistance, but with the help of this beautifully diverse and connected world, we are able to reflect from several viewpoints and perspectives.
What feels right and wrong in our lives? Are we working with or against ourselves to adapt to the world around us? There are a lot of questions to ask and reflect upon during moments of stagnancy. We all know especially after this year how hard it has been dealing with moments of pure stagnancy. But we have also seen that these moments can bring us a lot of time to think and reflect. Ultimately, we have found gratitude with our present moments, find hope for the future, and joy in our past. These moments are times of initial struggle that develop into grounding and acceptance.
Reflection can look different for everyone, but reflection for me means sitting down with my thoughts and writing out how I feel, even if two minutes later my thoughts may change. These reflections help solidate what I’m really feeling. When I write, I write slower than my thoughts, requiring me to dive deeper into the emotions I am writing down on paper.
Reflection is something that many of us often skip over. We often don’t take the time to look back on what worked and didn’t work for us, and what we can do better for the future. Reflection is important for more than just ourselves, but so important for our work too. One of the biggest things I learned in university was the importance of reflecting upon our work. In school we even took the next step and wrote down our reflections to know how to improve better for next time. It is so often skipped over, but the more we get into the habit of reflecting the more we can absorb what we write, so we can improve for the next time to come. When reflecting, we are growing. We are giving ourselves attention. More than that we are giving ourselves and the people around us better preparation to be better for the future. We adapt to our changes and translate that into growth.
Reflection is connection—connection with your moments, connection with others, connection to your future self.
What do you have to reflect upon?
Be the Change,
G