A Pregnant time of Waiting

This is a time of waiting.
The season of waiting.

Children are waiting for Christmas and Santa to come.

People of the Jewish faith wait for the last day of Hannukah (today) to come and the last candle to be lit.

Shoppers wait for their Christmas paycheck to come in so they can finally get out and buy the gifts they've been longing to go shop for.

Businesses wait for the big rush.

Mary waits for the birth of the baby Jesus.

Pagans wait for the birth of the baby Sun God.

We all wait for the snow to stop falling so we can finish shoveling...

Some of us wait for the snow plow driver to go by-so we can dig out the bottom of the driveway by the road- after he packs it back in.

We all wait for the new year, good things to come, Peace in the world, Good will towards men.

I wait for Harry to find time to help me finish cleaning and organizing the living room and office area.

Monty can't wait to go out and play in the snow.

Then Monty can't wait to come back in again.:)


But I don't like to wait.

I've been plugging away at my commitments I've made for myself.
Not waiting any longer for them to magically happen.
Every day, I work a wee bit on my writings, either making new ones, or trying to sort out the glut of what I've already written and get it into some semblance of order.

Funny..... I wait and put off doing the sorting, but when I finally sit down to actually do it (when was this poem/blog written? Where does it go in the list? Which book does it go in? The Pirate book? The Poems Book? The Daily Life book? The Minstrel Book?) I find that the time passes quickly and I never have enough time on it!

Then I put it away and have the damndest time trying to make myself get back to it again. Which is why I try to do a wee bit every day.

If I wait for something to happen, it's like a watched pot that never boils. It takes fecking forever!
I would rather roll up my shirt sleeves, and just do it, knowing full well, that it's gonna be a big disaster for awhile and will make more work for myself, but that the end product will be fantastic. (Or at least better than it is at the current moment.)

Last night I was reading "Staying Healthy with the Seasons" by Elson M. Haas, M.D.
It's a health food book of the change of seasons.

There I was, gone to bed early, reading, lying in bed with a back spasm (shoveling and moving couches helped inspire that) and I was reading about the Winter Season and the changes on the body that it brings.

It said that "back troubles are a common occurrance." (I agreed whole heartedly as my lower back winced in agreement).

"Ear troubles too are frequent" (Harry has been having a plugged ear for the last 3 weeks and has been treating himself and while it is better it's not healed yet. Oh the ilk of the sound man and musicians' life. A plugged ear)

Ok, so the book is making more and more sense, I thought...and turned the page.

"Moaning and Groaning are a mainstay of this weather". (just then I heard Talon coming in from work on the 2nd shift, driving home in a storm...and with a moan he opened the door downstairs..then thought about when he gets up in the morning and he walks to the bathroom like he's had major surgery during the night.... yah, this book is making a LOT of sense right now).

All seemingly caused by a Water Element Imbalance.(Chinese Medicine)

Let's face it. Water in heaps and drifts is sitting all around us now in the Northeast. We've had about 45' of snow already and it's not even "technically" winter yet! (that's 1/3 of our annual snowfall by the way)

I vowed to listen to this book a bit more.

How to fix these problems?

REST....It's sort of the hibernating bear theory.
The time is NOW for rest. Of course, we humans push ourselves beyond our sensible earthen caveman selves right now, shopping, drinking, feasting, staying up late, going out into the weather. It's really not good for us at this time of year...yet ...that's what we DO.

Movement- as in YOGA. Try to move and stretch. Now is not the time of running or brisk aerobic activity. I can barely walk down to the store as the sidewalks are not plowed. But it is a time of gentle stretching and keeping your muscles healthy and yourself limber and not stiff from the cold.

Stay WARM. By keeping yourself warm, you help eliminate a lot of joint problems and ease arthritis if it is starting or something that you suffer from.

Good nutrition. Featuring winter vegetables, less fruit (it's technically not available to the real seasonal man right now). We should be eating more fish, less meat. We should be drinking MORE WATER.
Grains, beans, whole wheat pastas should be a staple of our diet now. These are what we should be eating now for the appropriate seasonal diet.

But are we?
Fuck no.

We are in the middle of the holiday season! There is candy on everyone's desk, at the bank, handouts at the mall, there is an abundance of alcohol, sodas to mix them with, burgers on the fly, and let's not forget the parties with all the chips, dip and treats that abound.

I mean really.....
Here's a question for you.
When's the last time you had a really, good and pleasant shit?
(Constipation is another form of waiting :)

Like I said.....

This is the season of waiting.

It is a pregnant time full of ideas, thoughts, and a veritable time of patience needed

We are all like a heavy, pregnant mother, absentmindedly rubbing her swollen belly and
looking at the calendar.

So, I will charge myself....and remind you, my friends, to not be so hard on yourself at this time of year.

Take care of yourself!

While that next drink may be what you think you want, maybe a glass of water is what you really NEED.

While that goodie you have in your hand may be what your spirit is craving, it may not be what your body is craving.

Take care of yourself as if you were carrying around a newborn inside of you.
We women eat better, stay away from harsh things and pamper ourselves when we are pregnant.

But I charge that YOU are the sweet newborn.... within you.
YOU are the important one waiting to be born.
Or reborn.
Or to find a life that's worth living in some new way.
Or to express something within you that is now ready to be set free.

Be good to the wee child within YOU.

The spirit of the Gods that is within each of US.

And maybe....

just maybe....

that's what the real season is about.

So... swaddle yourself up in love, feed yourself as purely as you would a wee bairn, treat yourself to new experiences like a mother taking a child to a new place of learning.

And for God's sake.

Take a Nap.