Being Kind to Our Brains

And other thoughts

Writer’s Block. Whew it’s so real. What do I even WANT to say?? Do I even have any original ideas? What does all this matter???

So many self-criticisms rolling in my head right now. Honestly, I am getting ready to go out on a month-long road trip/vacation across the country to visit family and take our kids on some incredible experiences and that has my capacity pretty tapped this week.

As a result, I am going to share a thought and a poem I wrote.

The thought is: Please be kind to your Brain. It works so hard for you. We have our Brains to thank that every involuntary bodily function keeps on functioning. I don’t have to think about my bladder filling up, it just does! Our brains keep our hearts beating, our lungs breathing, hell they even keep themselves working! Think on that for a bit! It’s crazy. Our brains also house our minds. Our consciousness. It’s so wild when you really think about it. They don’t ever stop functioning so the least we can do is be kind to them. Say thank you, give our Brains a rest once in awhile. And show some love to the most important part of our body. Without our Brains, we don’t exist. It’s just the truth.

We all have so much capacity on a given day. Listen to your Brain when it tells you it’s full. It needs some emptying or some zoning out. Or maybe its the opposite issue and it needs more healthy stimulation. Who knows? Well, your brain knows. So listen to it and try to be kind to it, please.

Thank you.

Just a few notes from my desktop. This is a quote and art from Morgan Harper Nichols. (And Paul McCartney)

Now, a poem.

I write poetry, did you know? I have finished my first collection and hope to publish within the year. Working on my second collection already. I love writing poems and hopefully, I will keep improving on it as time goes on. Here is one I wrote recently that I want to share with you.

We are not all the same but we are all connected. 

Like the roots of a rainforest or the grains of sand in a desert

It is our togetherness that makes us impactful

It is our proximity to one another that makes us powerful 

We are as individual as each atom in a cell

Each performing differently, each existing separately with space in between but, together,

Creating the building blocks to a mechanism much greater than the sum of its parts

When we allow connection to flow, we are limitless in what can be accomplished 

But we have to reach our arms out to others

We have to seek creative expression together 

We must allow love for each to seep outward and pull us all into the same orbits 

We can create a new world with new ideas and structures when we truly work together 

We must open the door to being seen and to seeing others 

We can heal so much

Together 

Photo by Nicole Baster on Unsplash

This poem speaks to where my personal focus has been lately. Trying to figure out how to create community and collectivism in this distracted and disconnected world we live in. We need each other. Period. I want to be a part of the solutions. There are so many problems so there must be so many solutions.

Sending love to you out there in the ether,

Stef

Look for some fun travel essays forthcoming in the next month as I road trip across the nation from Tennessee to Colorado and Utah with my family! Excited to share some things with you all.

A great travel song. Gotta love Chris Stapleton.