We are each other’s, harvest. We are each other’s business. We are each other’s magnitude and bond. Gwendolyn Brooks –
During the Middle Ages most villages had three fields of farmland. At any given time, two of the fields grew crops while the third lay fallow. The fallow fields would be rotated every year because the farmers knew the soil needed time to rest until its’ organic matter decomposed into life-sustaining nutrients. The health of next year’s harvest depended upon this rich, invisible choreography beneath the earth’s surface. The same applies to us. As the Buddhist psychotherapist and teacher Sylvia Boorstein advises, “Don’t just do something, sit there.”
I know a lot of people have a hard time sitting still. They feel they always have to be doing something. If they’re not doing something they feel stressed, anxious and uncomfortable. But sometimes life is uncomfortable, and this year our lives have been very uncomfortable. Sometimes there’s nothing to do but sit with the discomfort and allow it to move through you. Just as with the fallow field, it’s the resting and the sitting that are crucial.
Almost every day during the recent confinement, quarantine, I have sat at my desk letting nature teach me her humbling lessons: Fog lifts, clouds break and storms pass, and sunshine always follows the rain. Nature doesn’t hurry. Everything has a purpose. The best things in life are truly free. We have so much abundance and yet we suffer. We love things that die. True communication doesn’t need words. It’s okay to be a human being instead of a human doing. Small things make a big difference. We belong to the earth and each other.
The past year has passed in a blink of an eye, even though some days seemed to drag on forever. We’ve been forced to slow down, face ourselves, our relationships with each other and the world. No one imagined a global pandemic would be the catalyst for sympathetic introspection, but it has altered the fabric of our lives. Though sometimes idle, removed from the routine of our lives, we have discovered what really matters. These past 12 months have not been wasted. In the darkness we’ve found the gift of light. In the silence we’ve found our voice.
As this year of reckoning comes to a close I’d like to express my gratitude to each of you who have followed my blog, enjoyed my photographs, read my articles, and are considering taking a French Country Adventures tour. My goal has been to offer you another way of looking at life.
To those of you who have lost family or friends this year, I send my sincerest condolences.
From my home to yours, I wish all of you peace, joy, good health, and inspiration in 2021. A new turn of the wheel is beginning…
Bonne année.
Dear Sue,
Thank you so much for this beautiful and à propos post. The photos are gorgeous and I appreciate the reminder to “be”, even for those of us who have difficulty just being (moi). I wish you good health in the new year and the freedom to move around which has been limited in this time of Covid. I treasure this relationship and thank you for the gift of this blog each month. Bonne année 2021
Dear Robyn,
I’m so pleased to know you are well and coping beautifully through your art. You are at peace when you paint. I, too, hope I can travel again. I still have meeting you on my list of must-dos one of these days. Your friendship has been a blessing.Tu va bien se passer, Sue
Wow that was a lovely uplifting start to the day, reading your post over breakfast……just what I needed to boot me into the New Year.
Must admit I was struggling a bit this morning, and not just from maybe a tiny bit too much champers last night. So I thankyou for that psychology snippet this morn.
Lots love to you and Colby and here’s to a brighter New Year!
Debbie and Dangerous Dave
Xxxx
I’m happy I was able to help your hangovers! Much love to you and Dave and best wishes for a better new year, xo
This post arrived in my inbox, I have no idea how it found me but I was so happy to read it and look at your beautiful photos. It resonated. Thank you, dear kindred spirit.
I have no idea how my post found you either, but hello!…you are very welcome. I’m so pleased you resonated with the words and photos. Best wishes, Sue
Dear Sue,
This is surely one of the most lovely, thoughtful blogs. Thanks you for this gift. I just read it to Marvin… we are moved by your words. And, as always, the photographs are exquisite.
We are well, and grateful for having a home with a patio so that we can be outdoors in a private, safe space. Stay well so that we can have more adventures with you. Bonne Année!
Thank you dear Sandy and Marv. Have you received the little holiday gift I sent? I don’t think anyone, including Collin, has received my treats. I’m delighted to know you are well. Did the family come to visit and stay in their camper? Oh I do hope we can have more adventures, beginning with seeing you this year!
What a beautiful message of hope, peace and goodwill for the new year. And your photos are, as always, exquisite. Happy New Year to you from your neighbour in the north, Janine
From my backyard to yours, thank you Janine
You and your thoughts, words are the gift. All our best…
Thank you dear Elizabeth and John, all my best, too.
Bonjour Sue,
I m a friend of Sandy & Marvin they speak very highly of you and I can see why! Your blog is so refreshing, amazing pictures and made me want to be back in Europe ( I grew up in Switzerland) I hope that safe travels will resume very soon.
Sincèrement, Jean-Pierre
Bonjour Jean Pierre,
Thank you very much for writing. I’m pleased you liked the blog and photos. I, too, hope safe travel will resume soon.
Bonne année,
Sue