Find the Sweet Spot

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Because I'm working on a Slow Passion Project, to involve myself wholeheartedly with my priorities and stretch beyond the way I’ve always done things, I also want to figure out how to find the sweet spot, where I'm engaged and challenged, but not stressed out.

Agenda:
1. Read "The Sweet Spot"
2. Honor my breaks
3. Big outdoor building projects
4. Make a magical smudging bundle

5. Harvest raspberries and mulch

1. Read "The Sweet Spot":

Last week I I checked out this book by Christine Carter (2015), about "How to Find Your Groove".

The thesis is that when we hit from our sweet spot we have optimum power and the greatest ease; out of the sweet spot we feel friction, exhaustion, and stress. We miss out on the feeling of flow. "Being in our sweet spot is a felt sense; we know intuitively that everything is aligned. Our sweet spot doesn't require conscious thought; our unconscious mind tells us that we are there..."

Lately I've been holding onto a lot of guilt that I'm not accomplishing enough to satisfy the urgency of the situation. It creates anxiety and a feeling of panic that sometimes bursts out as frustration in others. This out-of-control feeling is stress building up in me; it's what resilience habits are supposed to help with. Even though this book is geared towards busy modern working people, I hope to find some tips for myself as well.

The first chapter is From Working Overtime to Enjoying the Seasons, and it will take me while to read, but at the very end it suggests that I take an old-fashioned recess in the middle of the day.

2. Honor My Breaks:
I started this technique from "The 5 Resets" in May: She calls the Goldilocks Principle, or find the "Just Right" amount of stress, where you feel motivated and engaged, but not overwhelmed and depleted, by taking frequent 10-minute breaks, and spend those breaks intentionally working on resilience and renewal: Stretch, take a short walk, drink water, do a breathing exercise, close your eyes, etc. Honor those breaks - don't screw around with games or emails.

I have a timer that goes off every 2 hours and I do pause to get a drink of water some of the time, but I don't truly honor my breaks. This week I'm going to try to actually take my water bottle and leave the room or the house, go to a quiet place, and take a breather.

 

3. Big outdoor building projects: 

My house care theme for this month is to get started on some big building projects - repair a windowsill, clear out the studio and build new shelving, repair the back deck, and reorganize the outdoor storage area. These are joint projects and my role is organizational and visionary.

This week I plan to:

• Make a 4-month calendar for planning
• Research and envision storage ideas
• Discuss and make a time table and priorities
• Clear the studio
• Fantasize hot tub deck ideas
• Draw plans.

4. Make a magical smudging bundle:

On the solstice I harvested sage, mint, catnip, rosemary, and lavender, and let it dry on a towel. Today I made it into a smudging bundle to burn.

Supplies: String, scissors, and herbs-

Sage: For wisdom.
Catnip: For love.
Lavender: For peace and happiness.
Peppermint: For healing and renewal.
Rosemary: For clear thinking.

 

1. Gather a few fresh sage leaves because they are easier to roll. Arrange them on a flat surface, overlapped as shown. Cut a string, find the center, and tie to the stems with a single knot.

2. Pile the dried herbs of your choice into the center of the sage leaves.

3. Begin to roll the sage leaves around the other herbs, starting  at the bottom, and simultaneously wrap the string criss-cross around the bundle from each side, tightening both sides as you go. (You need to wrap gently but firmly because the sage will shrink as it dries.)

4. Tie a knot at the end and hang to finish drying.

5. Harvest raspberries and mulch:

We are right at the glorious beginning of our raspberry harvest, picking a large bowl of berries daily (which I usually eat with yogurt for breakfast), and then grazing on the leftovers while we play in the wading pool.

Raspberries (Rubus idaeus) belong to the genus Rubus, along with other cane berries such as blackberries and boysenberries. The Rubus genus is part of the Rosaceae (Rose) family, to which almonds, apples, cherries, hawthorns, strawberries, and many other fruits also belong.

Watering and mulching: Raspberries have shallow root systems, so they need to be watered regularly in spring and summer. Mulching around the plants (using a straw-like mulch such as pea straw, lucerne, hay, etc) helps retain soil moisture and keeps roots cool in hot weather, and also suppresses weeds all year round.

Harvesting: In terms of cropping seasons, there are three types of raspberries:

1. Summer-bearing types – early cropping, produce their crop in summer
   
2. Autumn-bearing types – late cropping, produce their crop in autumn
   
3. Everbearing types – long cropping, produce a large main crop in summer, and a smaller second crop in autumn.

I have both summer and everbearing berries mixed together in the row, both of which are producing right now. I can tell the difference because the summer berries are larger and not as tart. I like to eat them blended together. (The everbearing are more vigorous and are gradually pushing out the summer variety, so I will need to intervene sometime soon.)