Breathe In

The ravens at the watershed have fledged three inky black bundles of caws and raspy argggghhs. This new one is younger than the other two, and so is calling for food more than the other two, who are finding most of their snacks on their own now, it seems. All three have the dark eyes of young ravens here, stark in contrast to the bright ice blue of their parents, and one of my most favourite things about Australian ravens. This youngest one has the light pink lips of a babe, feed me, feed me. I talk softly to them, but they are wily and wary and stay well away from this odd human trying to befriend them. 

🍃

I am working through, working with, some very big mental health challenges at the moment. This morning I took my first walk for nearly a fortnight - this is something I usually do pretty much every day, but the internal hurt and darkness have been heavy, and not something I felt I could carry for more than the length of my house. Today is a new month though, and there is a tiny flame inside my chest telling me I need to prioritise some different self care, that my cocooning can be gently transformed. So I am going to try hard to bring back my early morning walks and let the birds I greet on the way help shift some of the darkness. And with that I thought I would bring back the Breathe In, Breathe Out series for all of November. Breathe In - something I see on my walk, or in my morning, that I am grateful for experiencing. Breathe Out, something I thought about through the day, something from my work, some sort of magic in the mundane. A practice of gratitude, yes, but also a tethering to the physical world, a gentle release of my tight grip on fear and pain that pulls me further into the dark spiral. If you would like to join me with your own Breathe In, Breathe Out I would be overjoyed.