What Is On Your Pleasure List?

Dear Community,

This morning, during the 30-Day Reset, inspired by my friend Alia, we made a list of the things we love (bonus points were earned if the things on the list were free).

I was so excited by the shares in our group and by the things that I, myself have uncovered, that I have decided to make today’s newsletter about this list!

Would love to hear from you, your list of things that you love and dream of.

Here’s my list:

1. Listening to the first three minutes of my daughter’s dreams. She has fascinating, colorful, intricate dreams and I love immersing myself into her world… for about 3 minutes. Anything more than that is too much. 

2. Imagining the morning light in my mother’s kitchen: my mother lives in Sibiu, Romania, in my childhood home, still. There is something unique and irreplaceable about the way the morning light hits the kitchen windows, especially in the summer. Instantly, I remember the feeling of carefree summer vacations, endless time, uncharted days, long walks, unlimited freedom.

3. Running into people unexpectedly- this is a delight reserved for cities built for communities where people walk to the grocery store and/or stroll on the city center (“corso”).  I guess I do run into people at Wegmans’ occasionally and I take great pleasure in unplanned encounters.

4. Starting the day with a bath, instead of a shower- there is something incredibly luxurious about allowing myself to enjoy lingering in the bathtub in the beginning of the day.

5. Dreamwork! I love having dreams, keeping track of dreams, figuring out the hidden dream messages and being surprised by an unexpected image in a dream. I consider dreams one of the main sources of guidance in my life currently.

6. Observing and getting thrilled by the diversity in our backyard: mother fox and baby fox, three massive owls, snakes, cardinals, deer, bunnies, raccoons, a large (almost 4 feet long) white opossum, squirrels, Phoebe birds, woodpeckers, dragonflies, toads and frogs,  a visiting blue heron, occasionally. The main picture of this newsletter is of an Eastern Ratsnake that showed up in the birdhouse of my backyard this past weekend. A tiny brown bird used to live in there, but since Saturday, it looks like the little snake has moved in. 

7. Holding my daughter’s hand: it’s a very special event. When she was young, we used to be inseparable, glued to each other almost. Now, since she’s a teenager, at 16, and she is becoming her own person, she really is not interested in being close to her mother (btw, the parental grief of the transition from childhood to teenagehood is real and not talked about enough!)

8. Feeling the cool and dry air of certain summer mornings on my skin.

9. Eating ice cream while taking a hot bath: the temperature contrast of these two sensory activities done together is very delectable.

10. Taking my time while cooking: treating each vegetable with great care, chopping the onions and the carrots in relatively equal pieces, taking in the color and aroma feast that is changing with every step.

11. Dancing in the mirror while wearing a slick black outfit in low light and feeling enchanted at how good my arms and legs look despite of 54 years of wear and tear.

12. Listening in for synchronicities: a big one happened the other day when I thought about taking my mother to a pilgrimage to Medjugordje in Bosnia and the next day I was gifted a rosary originating IN Medjugordje.

13. Napping, of course.

14. Looking for funny shaped stones on my walks.

15. Learning the names of the trees and the flowers and the plants on my walk.

16. Keeping relationships alive for decades (I honestly think this is one of the sweetest pleasures of life): I still meet with friends from middle school, high school and medical school. The shared memories and the instant transformation that happens (suddenly, I am not a 54-year old woman,  I am a 14-year old wild creature, and my friends are also 14 again,  despite the passage of time.) It is an inexplicable kindness of time that gives one a break, for an unclear reason.

Please share with us your list of things you love, especially the free luxuries of your life. I will publish them in the next newsletter, if you give permission.

With love, (a tiny sprinkle of) rage, and reverence,

Your disorganized, recovering people-pleaser, community-dreamer, hope-filled activist in the making, deep-sleeper, clean compliment giver and receiver, not-a-true-exhibitionist, 21-day resetter, recovering prostitute, courageous by practice, trusting by skill, always with my head in the clouds, but loving my feet on the ground, soul worker (!), inner voice listener, pleasure list maker,

Corina