I have not posted for over three years! Not sure where the time went other than into my day job and just life … but I sure am out of practice with posting to this blog and in many ways with writing in this form. Today’s teeny post will be starting small and dipping my toe back into the waters of blogging with something I’ve been exploring this month as I consider my ongoing place in the world and the world’s place in my life. No earth shattering truths but with so many pressing issues and complexities that call our attention this is one way of musing with myself. If this post speaks to you we are connected, and the circle of care continues, and with it the invitation to continue to care for yourself and for others. Given the dearth of story detail to expand the conceptual elements this post is musing on I’ve added some reflection questions you may wish to pause with and contemplate. So here goes…

I’ve been part of an online walking group for at least the past ten years. The group was started 145 months ago by my university friend Rosemary. The aim of the group is connection around walking or moving for 30 minutes a day, paying attention to the monthly theme, and then sharing associated photos and theme thoughts with others in the group. This month’s theme is NAME – choose 3 – 5 letters from one’s name, have them stand for what one needs to stay well, and add a word for each letter. So here are some thoughts on TRISH – a nickname given me by a friend in med school that stuck.

T for trust. A concept I have grappled with my whole life. Trust in myself. Trust in others. Trust in life and in the future – a future definitely outside my control that invites me to show up wholeheartedly for what unfolds. So grounding myself in trust this month, this year, once again, means valuing anew what I contribute to life, and to my work. It also asks to trust in the good will of others. Trust that I will rediscover my joie de vivre (a little battered these days) and continue on with what life has in store for me. [Reflection Question: What might it mean to trust in yourself and in others? How might that be expressed in a moment of engagement?]

R for rise. Rise with intention every day, every morning, as the new day dawns. Rise to the occasion. Rise with strength and kindness. Rise also depends on rest, on the capacity to nurture and nourish the life force within me that is needed, for me, for my beloved, my children, and my friends and colleagues. Important, also, to discern that which I rise or react to – taking time to breathe, gain perspective, and choose my response. [Reflection Question: What nurtures and nourishes your life force to both rest and rise?]

I for inquiry, for continuing to investigate and be curious at all moments, to nourish a capacity for complexity, flexibility, and not rushing to assumption. Back here to pause – pausing, breathing, investigating with openness and curiosity and taking the time needed to choose the response that feels most authentic and in sync with my being. [Reflection Question: What are you curious about as you pause, breathe, and feel into what might be arising for you this very moment?]

S for speak and for silence. Speak with courage. Speak my truth, not the truth – which I often wish to assume when I get stuck in my hubristic mindset – but truth that arises when listening deeply, to myself and to others and to the world around me. Speaking the truth is linked closely to silence, to presence, to cultivating the capacity to listen without the constancy of forward planning, the capacity to deeply trust (back to trust) that that which needs to be spoken will arise once the listening is complete. Listening in such a way invites me into being patient, into not striving each moment toward an unknowable future, and allowing the flow of life to unfold un-curated and un-controlled, perhaps even with attunement to the actuality of what is here, what is being said. When listening this way speaking the truth that aligns with my integrity and way that I wish to live into the future seems to naturally flow together. [Reflection Question: What might it feel like to speak with courage into the silence of being listened to in this way?]

H for hear/here. Hear, as in back to listening with presence (here) and intention before speaking my truth. And in the hearing being fully here, being present with a fullness of awareness that integrates the principles of beginner’s mind, patience, non-striving, acceptance of that which is already here. Investigating what is here with curiosity, letting go any attachment to controlling or judging the present moment that already is as it is, and trusting in my capacity to show up (at times speak up) for what needs doing with kindness and compassion and wisdom. [Reflection Question: How might showing up with kindness shift your perspective on one thing today that is challenging for you to be present with?]

What’s in a name? – quite a bit it seems including five interrelated elements that help me stay grounded – trust, rise/rest, inquiry, silence/speak, hear/here.

Thank you for reading.

*A little note about the photograph – I take a photo of the water reservoir near me almost every day to document the changing seasons around this one constant thing – a habit that nourishes me and continues to entertain my family and even a few friends. This was Sunday.