Author: gracesmuggler

Did you know that there’s a fish with a silly name that looks like a Demogorgon?

I must confess something… I’m kind of over cold weather. At the very least, I desire a longer break from it. But as we hit Halloween last evening, we had the first snowflakes. This is life in the Upper Midwest.

I’m sure we’ll get some bizarre pockets of warmer weather throughout the upcoming season, and I’ll take advantage of those for sure. I also plan to get myself to some warmer locations here and there over the next six months. Anyway, that’s my honest confession. I’m not excited about this change this year.

But here’s another thing that’s also true for me: I like when we hit a new month. I’m a believer in the fresh start effect, and sometimes, I like to choose themes or rhythms for a particular month, kind of like a new year’s resolution that lasts only for that month (unless I like it so much that it sticks around).

So I’m declaring this month to be Novelty November. I want to try something new every day. It can be a very small, new experience rather than a big ordeal. I might drive or bike on a new road, eat a new food, or attend a new-to-me community event. I might learn something new. (I already do that most days, but I’ll be more intentional and grateful for it). I might shift up some of my daily routines. This will make the shift into this month a little more exciting.

If you want to join me for Novelty November, let me know!

—Renee Roederer

I like to pair these two quotes together:

Howard Thurman says,

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Frederick Buechner says,

You are called to the place “where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep hunger.”

How do these connect to you?

—Renee Roederer

Slowly and intentionally,, I’ve been listening to Bessel Van Der Kolk’s pivotal work, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma on audiobook. Truly, I’d place it in the top five books I’ve ever read. I recommend it frequently to others.

The book is remarkably insightful and impactful in addressing how traumatic experiences are carried in the body. In addition to explaining the physiology of post-traumatic symptoms in detail, he uplifts a number of somatic approaches to healing trauma in our bodies and relationships.

Today, I’d like to uplift a quote that really spoke to me. Bessel Van Der Kolk says,

“Study after study shows that having a good support network constitutes the single most powerful protection against becoming traumatized. Safety and terror are incompatible. When we are terrified, nothing calms us down like a reassuring voice or the firm embrace of someone we trust.”

After hearing him talk about so many other protective factors, studies, and forms of therapy, I thought it was really significant for him to say that support networks and forms of community are the single most powerful protection against becoming traumatized. 

When you reach out to someone…
When you share how you’re really doing…
When you introduce people to each other…
When you learn about community organizations…
When you suggest community resources…

You are participating in the protection of the body, mind, and spirit. You are building networks that protect yourself and your neighbors from becoming traumatized.

—Renee Roederer

— Photos by Renee Roederer

While on a Zoom with a group of teenagers, one of them quoted the 1988 movie Heathers, well before her time: “If you were happy every day of your life, you wouldn’t be a human being. You’d be a game-show host.”

Thanks, kiddo, for that gem. I’ll share that one from time to time. And I’ll tell myself too.

—Renee Roederer

We welcome the new moon.

Cheshvan,

month to turn inward.

Inward, to review and reflect

a time to dive deep

to touch the inner core

a place of quiet stillness.

But the New Year festivities

Music and rejoicing

were interrupted.

Marred by violence.

Murder of innocents

in their beds, homes, fields.

How can we witness such brutality

while our aching hearts

yearn for peace?

We cry out for an end to

Smoldering hatred

Continual violence

Danger for our children.

Do we not learn anything

traveling this human path

In these mortal bodies?

Must history repeat itself?

We cycle in circles

with cries of revenge

leading us to despair.

Oh, Shechinah, Holy One of Blessing,

Teach us to deepen in awareness

Lift ourselves from

desperate repetition.

Brother killing brother.

Release us from this bondage.

Help us find a place of balance

where darkness transmutes to light.

Let us return to the natural rhythms of

body and earth

Resonate with water and wind

Touch our inner well of wisdom

Come home to our unity

with all sentient beings

And find comfort in heart openings

connecting us to each other and the One.

–Lucinda Kurtz

Every day at the close of his television show, Fred Rogers would often say,

“I love you just the way you are.”

One day, while filming, Francois Clemmons made a connection and felt like those words were being directed at him. Afterward he asked, “Were you talking to me?”

And Fred Rogers said, “Yes, I’ve been talking to you for two years, and you finally heard me today.”

May our ears perk up. May we hear those kinds of messages. May we know they are true — perhaps newly heard, yet shared with longevity.

I was cycling down the road in the bike lane, and I was moving pretty fast. I didn’t realize I was about to be a disturbance. But as I neared a fir tree on the side of the road, a flock of little sparrows suddenly retreated into the tree. It’s almost as if they were about to take off collectively, then at my presence, they swarmed right back into their safe hiding space in one, big, collective pivot.

“Sorry!” I said aloud, as I zoomed on by, smiling. I also thought it was pretty cute.

They moved in concert with one another completely, and they knew exactly where to go. It made me wonder, do we know the people and places with whom we can retreat and rest?

—Renee Roederer

After a caterpillar spins itself inside a silky chrysalis, it turns into goo. It liquifies inside the cocoon. Between its intricate life as a caterpillar and its intricate life as a butterfly, it is truly a gooey mess. It’s hard to believe that something so beautiful emerges, but this is indeed the messy, mystical process.

So if any part of us feels like goo right now, we might be transforming.

–Renee Roederer

P.S. A study has revealed that butterflies remember their lives as caterpillars. Given the goo process, and the fact that butterflies move, eat, and sense differently than caterpillars, that’s pretty incredible.