Patti Digh | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

Welcome to 2015, kind and gentle reader. If you are like me, you are feeling reflective this morning. I’ve been in this funny liminal space, this in-between time for the past week or so. There was a big rush up to Christmas, speed mixed with a sense of rest and slowing down along with a dose of chaos — conflicting energies. In that in-between confusing time, there was also the energy of the coming leap into the new year. Rushing, being still, leaping forward. It’s exhausting.

And now I find myself pausing, contemplating what comes next, what I want for myself, what matters most. How do I want to spend my energy, my effort, my time in 2015? I’m spending some time today considering these questions. I’m grateful to those who have offered prompts and processes that can help.

5 questions for a bright, clear and focused new year from Alexandra Franzen.
Five Questions for Crossing the Threshold on On Being.
Design your 2015…ten minutes flat from Tanya Geisler.
Unravelling the Year Ahead 2015 and Find Your Word for 2015 from Susannah Conway.
entering a new year from Patti Digh.

Or, if you have no interest in answering questions, I offer you this poem, this wish, this prayer, this holy yes for your 2015.

God Says Yes To Me by Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don’t paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I’m telling you is
Yes Yes Yes

This morning, Sam revisited a game he invented as a puppy: bury the toy in the bed, thus destroying the bed. He stole the new orange ball I gave Ringo yesterday, the one Eric had been teaching Ringo to play fetch with, rewarding him with treats. He played it until he remembered he was four years old and not a puppy anymore, and then took a little nap.

It was good to see it. I’d forgotten the game, and this morning was feeling a bit distracted because of an episode of scratching, itchiness that woke us all up last night. It only took a few minutes for Sam to relax back down and fall asleep again, but it’s a reminder that he’s not entirely well. And yet, I think of something that Patti Digh always says, “you are not broken, you don’t need to be fixed.” Whatever is happening with Sam, wherever it might lead, he is whole.