{"id":14341,"date":"2016-01-13T16:57:23","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T21:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.katrinakenison.com\/?p=14341"},"modified":"2016-01-13T16:57:23","modified_gmt":"2016-01-13T21:57:23","slug":"things-to-love-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/things-to-love-in-january\/","title":{"rendered":"things to love in january"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Image-1\"J<\/span>anuary is the warrior month,\u201d writes Vivian Swift in her gorgeous hand-lettered book When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler\u2019s Journal of Staying Put<\/strong><\/a>. She continues, \u201cIt takes a warrior to soldier through these cold, dark, harsh January days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed it does, especially for me this year. Maybe for you, too?<\/p>\n

Well, even a peaceful warrior needs to be well armed. Here, a quick round up of my own best defenses.<\/p>\n

Knowing I\u2019d be mostly homebound and recuperating from surgery<\/strong><\/a> in January, hobbling around on crutches rather than trekking through the woods on my snowshoes, I decided to gird myself for the warrior month by creating a bit of structure for my days. The healing journey requires patience, but it\u2019s also turned out to be an opportunity to enjoy some special treats for both body and soul.<\/p>\n

Of course, you may simply be recuperating from the demands of life itself. Reason enough, certainly, to treat yourself! So do come along, and enjoy these simple pleasures with me.<\/p>\n

\"FullSizeRenderA friend sent me When Wanderers Cease to Roam<\/strong><\/a> before my first hip replacement in October: the perfect gift to uplift and inspire me as I settled into my new mindset of \u201cstaying put.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following a lifetime of exploring\u00a0around the globe and racking up twenty-three temporary addresses in twenty years, Vivian Swift finally landed for good in a small town on the edge of Long Island Sound. She spent the next decade quietly taking stock of her life, studying the view beyond her window, and reflecting on what it means to call a place home. The result is this enchanting, wholly idiosyncratic chronicle of a year of paying attention \u2013 an intimate and charming mish-mash of diary entries, watercolor paintings, recipes, quotes, poignant longings and astute observations.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already bought and given away four more copies of When Wanderers Cease to Roam<\/strong>.<\/a> If you\u2019ve ever yearned for life in the slow lane, if you\u2019ve deliberately chosen deep roots over far-flung adventures, or even if you find yourself unwillingly homebound for a while, I can assure you: this is your book.<\/p>\n

Some days \u2018staying put’ might feel the same as Going Nowhere. Make a cup of tea and wait for that feeling to pass.” \u00a0~ Vivian Swift<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

G<\/span>ood advice. My tea of choice this month is chai, that warming, spicy Indian blend of black tea laced with cinnamon, black pepper, ginger, cloves, and cardamom. Sure, you can make your own. (My favorite recipe is here.<\/strong><\/a>) Or you can take a short-cut with one of these delicious and authentic organic blends. \u00a0For tea bags, I like Nature’s Cuppa.<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 When I’m brewing a pot to share or want to linger over a spicier cup, I use Chai-Wallah’s blend<\/a><\/strong>, created by a small family company in Vermont.<\/p>\n

\"FullSizeRender\"W<\/span>ithout too much on my plate, I figured that January would be a perfect time to welcome a new habit into my life. I love the idea of beginning the day with a few good sentences rather than a scan through Facebook or a peek at the emails that arrived while I was asleep. A daybook makes it easy, with a reading for each day of the year. I bought two copies of A Year with Rilke<\/strong><\/a>, since sharing this daily reading journey with a friend doubles the pleasure. Rilke\u2019s reflections on impermanence, the beauty of creation, the importance of solitude, the presence of the divine in daily life, all resonate deeply, especially now. Each morning I look forward to the few minutes I spend with this trusted guide who challenges me to think deeply and to be more fully present in my life. And as I learn to accept the truth of existence \u2013 that nothing lasts \u2013 Rilke reminds me that it takes a special kind of courage to love the things of this world anyway, without reserve, and to believe that praising them is our highest calling.<\/p>\n

Praise, my dear one.
\nLet us disappear into praising.
\nNothing belongs to us.\u201d
\n~Uncollected Poems<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s been over a year since I either taught or attended regular yoga classes. A year in which I\u2019ve practiced diligently but mostly alone, giving myself a graduate level course in modifying my own practice, slowing down, working with the body that shows up on my yoga mat (often hurting, with much-reduced strength and flexibility), and learning to accept myself as I am, my practice as it is, pain as my teacher.<\/p>\n

\"Waterlogue-2016-01-13-15-50-48\"B<\/span>ut. It\u2019s January and I have two brand new hips. Happily, just as I was craving a bit of spice and some company on my mat, I discovered a lovely yoga teacher in Austin, Texas. And thanks to the wonders of technology and her extraordinary generosity in offering free online classes, I\u2019ve become a daily student in Adriene\u2019s 30-Day Yoga Camp<\/a><\/strong>. Whether you are new to yoga or a seasoned yogi, I\u2019m pretty sure you\u2019ll agree with me about Adriene: she is a joy to practice with. Sign up for her 30-day yoga camp and you\u2019ll receive a daily email with a link to the day\u2019s practice video, each of which is thirty-five minutes long. Miss a day? No problem, you can catch up (or skip a day) according to your schedule. It\u2019s not too late to jump in! Visit Adriene\u2019s website here<\/strong><\/a>, and click on Yoga Camp for more info.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re like me, you may have started the new year by clearing your online decks and getting rid of some of the non-essential reading that seems to pour into our in-boxes each day. \u00a0That clears more space for what’s meaningful, essential.<\/p>\n

One of the most moving pieces I’ve read lately is an essay by my friend Dani Shapiro about the lingering grief\u00a0of a lost friendship<\/strong><\/a>, one that ended badly, in silence and secret hurt. \u00a0We’ve all been there. \u00a0The pain of a fractured relationship never really heals, but it does teach us something. \u00a0It can make us kinder going forward, more empathetic, and perhaps more willing to have the conversations we don’t want to have.<\/p>\n

I put Claudia Cummins\u2019s exquisitely curated blog A First Sip<\/strong><\/a> in my \u201cessential\u201d category: each weekday\u2019s poem or quote seems perfectly chosen to inspire me to pause, reflect, and reconnect to my own best self. So when Claudia offered readers an opportunity to receive a daily essay through the month of January, I signed up immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gift of the World: A New Year\u2019s Immersion\u201d<\/strong> is a series of brief, beautifully written daily readings that invite us to rekindle the \u201cquiet light\u201d within each of us. As Claudia observes, \u201cThe new year offers a perfect opportunity to reflect on the values, attitudes, and practices we hold most dear, and to reclaim space in our lives to nourish and nurture these loves.\u201d These lovely essays — on subjects such as Rest, Kindness, Abundance, Beauty, and Attention \u2013 have been setting the tone for each of my January days. They are the perfect written complement to thirty days of yoga. And they\u2019re also a much-needed reminder that I can choose to launch into this new year with a spirit of openness and abundance rather than focusing on what\u2019s lacking, what I\u2019m not, what I need to change.<\/p>\n

You can still sign up to receive all of Claudia’s \u00a0January offerings, here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7883\"I tend to associate\u00a0chapters of my life with the music I\u2019m listening to. This winter, when everything from washing the dishes to doing my PT stretches takes an extra-long time, I’m playing more music in the house than usual, and I\u2019ve got a pretty eclectic soundtrack evolving, everything from Sara Bareilles<\/strong><\/a> to Neil Young<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 to Nina Simone<\/strong><\/a> to Ashana<\/strong><\/a>. Time to put together a new Alternatives-to-Adele (who I DO<\/em> love) winter playlist on Spotify. In the meantime, you can click on the above artists\u2019 names for a sampling of the music that\u2019s filling my January\u00a0days.<\/p>\n

And now, I\u2019d love to know: How are YOU<\/strong><\/em> surviving the warrior month? What are you reading? What are you listening to? What\u2019s filling your cup?<\/p>\n

P.S. \u00a0I wish I could claim credit for these sweet watercolors, but alas no. \u00a0I have<\/em>\u00a0been playing around with some cool apps, though. \u00a0Waterlogue<\/strong><\/a> is one that can turn any photo on your phone into a painting. \u00a0One more thing to love in January!<\/p>\n

(The above books are Amazon Affiliate links.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January is the warrior month,\u201d writes Vivian Swift in her gorgeous hand-lettered book When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler\u2019s Journal of Staying Put. She continues, \u201cIt takes a warrior to soldier through these cold, dark, harsh January days.\u201d Indeed it does, especially for me this year. Maybe for you, too? Well, even a peaceful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20,32,14,15,16],"tags":[209,236,479],"class_list":{"0":"post-14341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-book-reviews","8":"category-books","9":"category-healing","10":"category-soul-work","11":"category-writing-and-reading","12":"category-yoga","13":"tag-healing-2","14":"tag-january","15":"tag-yoga-2","16":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/600x600.png?fit=600%2C600","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}