A Note by Samantha Knies Gray
PHOTOGRAPH by Tim Gray
In April’s newsletter, I wrote of shedding unnecessary layers to grow and breathe and be a little better.
I’m well into my new season of shedding now — (someone else told me ‘rebirth’ would be a better word to use, but I think ‘shedding’ works great — after all, I do collect dogs!) — and it’s going better than I anticipated. I feel like I can mostly breathe again (mostly — in the way a scuba diver wearing an oxygen tank breathes: it’s not quite the same, but it keeps you alive and does the trick).
In the last few weeks, I’ve let go of one extra job, have done a bang-up job of staying off social media as a crutch to boredom and problem/work avoidance, have reinvigorated my in-studio practice as a student in group classes AND my mindfulness practice at home, cleaned up so much of my house and tossed/donated so many things, cleaned up our county road ditches, taken so many hikes (so many that my chiropractor told me to stop it after I aggravated my bad ankle), rediscovered a love of mushroom hunting, gone on lots of horseback rides, planted a garden, spent extra time with friends and family (planned and spur-of-the-moment!), cooked so many good foods at home, had a few moments here and there of basic-human-error-slips and other really big slips and lived to tell the tales and move on from them, and have started getting into a new daily rhythm that better supports my work, my family, and my health. Being mindful of how and where I’m using my time and how that affects my moods/energy has been key for me.
The best part is that so many people close to me have noticed the positive change. I’m happier, calmer, and better able to meet chaos and minor catastrophe with laughter instead of aggravation. If you were in class with me Thursday, you heard the story of our big Kangal-dog Rory finding a skunk in the barn and the skunk spraying INSIDE the barn Wednesday night. There were two ways to meet that situation: cry or laugh about it. After I screamed in shock (a scream is cathartic, I won’t lie), I gave myself 2-minutes to be aggravated and then I chose to laugh — especially when Tim attempted to get them out wearing a poncho (as if that was going to protect him from getting sprayed). Finding a nest of skunks in a horse barn was definitely not on my farm-life bingo card for the week, but because I’ve been living more mindfully, I was able to better meet it with a little humor rather than a whole lot of anger.
Join me this month as we explore mindfulness techniques related to my theme of CALM; exploring simples ways to cultivate calm in the midst of chaos and anchor ourselves to the present moment. Changing our mindsets can change our lives; creating a ripple effect out to those close to us and those close to them and so on and so forth. Changing our mindsets can absolutely change the world.