Hello August 🌞
On finding balance, being of service, and redefining "work"
Helloooo,
Happy August my loves. I hope that you have been finding moments of peace amidst all the inevitable chaos. There is a ton to be concerned about at all times, and it takes a lot of courage to find presence, joy, and tenderness despite the ongoing state of global atrocities.
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While meditating on balance and internal peace, I remembered the words from one of favorite tarot decks’ descriptions of the Queen of Swords card. This card, which is ruled by Libra says that, “The journey to find balance and harmony sometimes means that you must swing between opposite extremes, experiencing the discomfort of conflict”. This rings true when I think about how uncomfortable many of us have been feeling through the many tensions/pain points that humanity is confronting. Ultimately, I think that balance is not an end goal, or a prize moment, as much as it is a constant state of presence, of making space to check in with self and ask simple questions that help us ground. Balance is a practice.
As a multi-hyphenate freelancer, practicing balance is so incredibly challenging, and also profoundly essential to my health and well-being. I frequently ask myself questions like: what do I need more of at this time? What is there too much of? How much have I been giving, or receiving? How can I make a tiny adjustment in this moment in order to find a sensation of peace or alignment?
Recently, I decided to get back into my daily Ashtanga yoga practice. It’s a practice that I began when I graduated college, and one of the first commitments I ever made to myself that felt like it was truly just for me. Practicing Ashtanga allows me to centralize presence in my every day life. This means showing up each morning to listen to whatever is real physically, spiritually, and emotionally, as an act of unconditional self-love.
What’s emerged has been challenging— a reminder of my chronic neck and shoulder pain, which I have been avoiding dealing with. This challenge has also been an invitation to offer care to my body in new ways, and to remember that part of the work of showing up consistently is learning how to adapt. Consistency comes not from pushing through and ignoring the body, but listening closely and offering what you can accordingly. I think we could do well to move through life in this same way.
In a society that is so built against wellness, it takes incredible amounts of personal and community accountability to even stay afloat. We are each constantly making tiny negotiations in order to sustain ourselves within the material realities of “the now”, while actively working to dream bigger, dismantle the systems of oppression that are both within us and around us, and transform our future realities.
This is incredibly difficult work, and I give credit to all of us for our unique ways of dancing with it.
To many of us, “work” is a loaded word. When we are constantly fighting to reclaim a sense of autonomy in our own lives, work can feel like a forced act that inhibits our ability to experience any freedom. That’s most definitely “work” under capitalism, but it feels important to redefine the word for ourselves in order to be in healthier relationship to the inevitable dance we are all doing (as mentioned above).
Lately, I’ve been leaning into the idea of “work” as simply being of service—whether that “service” be to my future visions through a temporary sacrifice (ie. strategically taking jobs that will help me maintain stability in the here and now as I build solid foundations), or a more heartfelt and spiritually aligned offering. Both are important to finding and sustaining myself in this human world. When I’m able to work/be of service with intention, it helps me to move through the inherent challenges of practicing balance.
As I continue to dance with my own negotiations, I’m slowly but surely bridging the gaps between those two worlds (the realities of now, and what I am dreaming towards), which at times feel so far away from one another. Moving in this way is a sweet reminder that we *do* actually have agency and that our actions *do* in fact have an impact. It just doesn’t usually, if ever, roll out on the timelines that we want.
One of the ways that I’ve been practicing being of service to myself and my own inner peace, is by implementing a monthly ritual that I’m calling “Sense Beauty”. It’s a commitment to starting the month off prioritizing activities that get me back into my senses and into my body. No matter how busy your life is, the earth is quite literally beneath your feet, and there is always an opportunity to be aware of the fact. I encourage you to practice moments of that awareness this week, and see how it shifts things for you.
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I truly enjoy being of service through interfacing with all of you here. Substack is a beautiful way that I’ve been able to offer without expectation, and I want to continue to build that container. If you feel compelled to dive deeper into some of the thoughts, frameworks, or practices that I’ve introduced through my substack, I’ve re-opened by Creative Alchemy Sessions. These sessions are for those of you who would like to work with me 1 on 1, and receive my support as you establish balance in your own life, or see a specific creative project through to completion.
Creative Alchemy Sessions are one-on-one sessions to help support you in envisioning your creative project or dream, finding and maintaining balance in your life, and strategizing towards the authentic life you’ve been imagining.
You can book your session here:
I also recently jokingly took a poll on instagram and *a lot* of people expressed an interest in me bringing back my YouTube series, Loose-Leaf Tea. I’ll be starting off by sharing little tidbits on social media as they come up, so make sure to follow me on IG and TikTok if you don’t already.
As always thank you for being here. May you continue to trust your authentic life force expression, and nurture it with everything that you have—
Love + Honey,
Reva
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