Why hello there Reader, it’s been a good couple of months since I last wrote, so I hope that I find you well?
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What News?

Our brilliant PA has been off work for a while, and we have therefore been navigating life without any real support for most of this year so far. It’s been ok, but hard, and it often takes the shift in circumstances to realise just how much something was helping.

Pete and I have found that where our energy-tanks were beginning to fill (slowly but steadily), we have definitely found our bodies are once more depleted. Therefore I have been focussing on trying to add small, often tiny things into my days, in order to try and redress the balance.

I have also been experiencing some physical health symptoms, such as brain fog, aches and less marvellous sleep, and so I have been giving myself permission to avoid doing anything which requires more energy than I need, for keeping myself and my family going.

Eating more, and more nourishing foods, has been a priority, along with rest, and trying to move my body gently when I am able.
I have been learning to discern the difference between when I intellectually feel like it would be good to move or go out for a walk, and when my body is giving it’s wholehearted assent.
Something which takes a lot more willingness to trust my body, than I had previously realised.

It’s been the difference between cultivating my physical health and body strength, and commanding my body to do as it’s told.

Learning Your Energy Rhythm

Last email (back in Feb) I talked about methods I have been exploring to harness my energy. In order to be more effective with my time, I have found it helpful to spend some time learning my own personal energy rhythm.

But one of the challenges with learning your rhythm, is then how to apply that to the work/play we want to get done.

So how do you work your energy around your life - or a more necessary (and likely more trepidatious) approach, means how do you work your life around your energy?

Firstly, I want to acknowledge that we all have responsibilities to family, partners and spouses, children, our employment (to pay the bills) and sometimes pets. EVERYTHING we own or run, has some level of needing to be cared for or maintained, so to imply that we are all able to act in isolation, entirely to support our own needs, would be massively unhelpful.

HOWEVER, we are first and foremost human beings, image bearers who are intrinsically valuable because we have been made and are loved and loveable.

We are not valuable because of the work we do, so although that work may offer huge value - if we didn't do it anymore, we would lose nothing of our worth.

We are therefore allowed to find out how we tick, support our needs and find ways to work within our capacity, rather than always feeling the pressure to operate outside of it.

By working out when I have the most focused energy - I might discover that I best tackle projects in the morning between 10am and 1pm.
Maybe I really need a walk or a nap after lunch to shift my energy and refocus for the next burst - OR maybe I am better working on creative tasks in the evening.

These are useful pieces of the puzzle to know, and if you can begin to plan around them, you might find that your effectiveness shoots up too.

Perhaps you can answer emails like a champion for about 20mins, but then you run out of steam? It is ok to recognise limits in your capacity - you are human, and humans have limits.

Plus, it doesn’t automatically follow, that just because one hour equals three lots of 20 mins back to back - that in one solid hour, you will get three times the amount of work done.

Possibly it means, that no matter how long you sit at your computer, you'll only get around 20mins of excellent work done in one burst.
So why force yourself to remain at your desk much beyond that?

Instead - Shake It Up -​
​Get up and have a walk,
Change task,
Take a nap
Make a drink
Play some music
Read a book -
​and THEN come back to do another 20 mins, repeating as necessary, or until your focus is done for the day.

When you look back, you'll likely have got far more done in a two or three short bursts, than you would if you'd stayed slogging away in one place.

Quote - Unquote

Making and Creating

I have been taking some more time to sit at the piano lately, which has been really enjoyable. I have never had proper lessons, and whilst I am definitely clunky, I can play enough to explore ideas and compose songs.

I generally need either to have an actual project with a deadline to work towards, or to feel that internal inspiration of an idea that has occurred to me, to get me to actually write music. But recently, I have been re-discovering the simple joy of playing chords and seeing what bubbles up.

I now have two new songs almost finished, which have felt both authentic and raw, and I am enjoying the experience of their keeping me company in my head.

Sometimes, the simple act of showing up and playing, is enough to spark your joy, and release an idea - and if not… it’s good for the soul.

So what is calling you to come and play?

Blessing

May you delight in play for play’s sake,
noticing how much more joy and creativity bubbles to the surface,
as you allow yourself to just mess around,
without the pressure to make something ‘worthy’.

Have a wonderful week,
God bless,
Cassie x

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