Tuning In October 2022

10/1/2022

Each month I post an update called Tuning In on what I'm up to and various content I would like to share with you. Most of the links on this post are informational only, but a few are affiliate links that help me keep up my website.

Events:

Facilitating:

Center for Chronic Illness - Web-Based Rare Chronic Illness Web-Based Support Group Tuesday October 4th, 2022 at 4pm PST
Center for Chronic Illness - Living with Thyroid Eye Disease Web-Based Support Group Tuesday October 4th, 2022 at 6pm PST
Center for Chronic Illness - Living with Cystinosis Web-Based Support Group, Tuesday October 18th, 2022 at 4pm PST
Center for Chronic Illness - Supporting Loved Ones of Those Living with Thyroid Eye Disease Web-Based Support Group, Tuesday October 18th, 2022 at 6pm PST

Publications:

1 of my senryu was published in failed haiku, Volume 7, Issue 81.
1 of my haiku was read on The Poetry Pea Podcast S5E18.
1 of my haiku was published in The Haiku Foundation's Haiku Dialogue on 9/7/2022.
1 of my haiku was published in The Haiku Foundation's Haiku Dialogue on 9/21/2022.
1 of my haiku was published in The Haiku Foundation's Haiku Dialogue on 9/28/2022

National Days:

October 4th is National Taco Day
October 10th is World Mental Health Day
October 11th is National Coming Out Day
October 17th is Black Poetry Day
October 26th is National Pumpkin Day
October 29th is National Cat Day
October 30th is Candy Corn Day
October 31st is Halloween

National Months:

Dear Valued Community,

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about stuckness and how to move stuckness in the body. Stuckness can show up in a lot of different ways, sadness, overwhelm, and lack of motivation. It's a frustrating feeling and can lead to discomfort in the body.

This is a very interesting time in our history. We are possibly starting to feel slightly safer after two years of survival mode. That is a very confusing place for our body to navigate. Like tentative newborns, maybe we are not quite sure what to do with all this input. It's overwhelming, so we may shut down sometimes. That's what the body is designed to do. However, it can feel a lot like stuckness, a lack of motivation, or a lack of forward progress .

When it comes to stuckness (and everything else), I don't think we give ourselves enough credit. I think often times we are moving, it's just that the movement is very small or isn't moving us forward quite yet, so we end up feeling stuck. Give yourself credit for the small movements forward, that is what leads to big shifts over time.

Perhaps as we settle in to the fall season, start turning inward and slowing down for the winter months ahead. Slowness and stuckness are two very different things. Allow yourself to move slowly and see what happens.

With Gratitude,

Kerry

Latte Art at Cafe Champagne near Pike Place Market

What I'm Reading Related for Therapy: My Inner Sky: On Embracing Day, Night, and All the Times in Between by Mari Andrew

"From New York Times bestselling author Mari Andrew, a collection of essays and illustrations, divided into phases of the sky—twilight, golden hour, night, and dawn—that serves as a loyal companion for life's curveballs.

A whole, beautiful life is only made possible by the wide spectrum of feelings that exist between joy and sorrow. In this insightful and warm book, writer and illustrator Mari Andrew explores all the emotions that make up a life, in the process offering insights about trauma and healing, the meaning of home and the challenges of loneliness, finding love in the most unexpected of places--from birds nesting on a sculpture to a ride on the subway--and a resounding case for why sometimes you have to put yourself in the path of magic.

My Inner Sky empowers us to transform everything that's happened to us into something meaningful, reassurance that even in our darkest times, there's light and beauty to be found."

What I'm Reading for Fun: The Plot: A Novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz

"Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written―let alone published―anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot."

(I'm a proud member of the sloth reading club, so what I'm reading will not always change monthly)

Projects: Self-development book on trauma and worthiness, submitting haiku & poetry, ongoing content for various publications. Considering next steps in career training: psychedelic assisted therapy, HeartMath training, biblio/poetry therapy training, or yoga teacher training.

Fall flowers in a community garden in Greenwood, Seattle

Poem:

The Only Obligation
by Rumi

Today a new madness
is trying to set us free,
tearing open our sacks.

Some nameless Bedouin
Has bought Joseph again
for eighteen coins.

A narcissus sprouts through the ground.
Our souls, having pastured all night
on jasmine, leap up for the dawn.

The world is new, and you
have been chosen to say this poem,
because you are the one with the love bites on you.

Your love has brought us to silence,
where the only obligation
is to walk slowly through a meadow
and look.