My process in my “weight management” program stalled a while back, and no matter what I’m doing (or not), I appear to be mired. I haven’t given up, but it is discouraging to not see any forward momentum for as many weeks as I have (or haven’t?) Anyway, I decided I would make a vision board. I could include some affirmations and some pictures of inspiring things I will be able to do when I get to my goal, and some of my path to get there. One of those things was to write down the Morning Routine. Get up, walk Louie, write my daily intentions/to-do list. I have some notes about a morning ritual that has some thing for your brain, something for your body, and something for your spirit, but the things I could remember in those buckets were overlapping as I tried to pull them out of temporary storage in my great giant melon. So I went back to my notes, and under the Spirit category, it said “Pick out clothes that match your mood“. It kind of was a throwaway bullet. Sure. Pick out clothes that match my COVID-inspired Mandatory Work At Home mood. Check. But then, the universe decided that I wasn’t sufficiently heeding it’s guidance, so it had to pull out the big guns, in the form of a friend’s daughter. My friend mentioned how her daughter always constructs a narrative about her clothes.  “Today she’s wearing a pair of blue sweat pants with a flowered sweatshirt.  To her, it’s a patch of flowers beside a beautiful blue river.“

From the mouths of babes, amirite?

Let’s imagine how my black yogapants and black long sleeve t-shirt are informing my day. What does that say about my potential for a buoyant mood? Now let’s imagine how a patch of flowers beside a beautiful blue river could inform her day? She wins. No question. If all I see reflected back to me in my Zoom gallery are usual hoodies and t-shirts, those squares are just full of The Usual. My friend’s daughter’s world is filled with charm and inspiration and joy.

One of the affirmations that I pull out every once in a while is Choose the bigger life. It’s supposed to be a question that helps you make decisions that encourage more joy in your life. When choosing between this or that, *always* choose the bigger life. My friend’s daughter clearly has a better grasp on this than I do today.

I mean, I should have known, really. My (Great) Auntie Dot came from a generation that wore slacks and brooches. She was always impeccably dressed. She had fun costume jewelry that she made look absolutely elegant with her outfits. And she did wear outfits, not just all y’all’s everyday *clothes*. When I was a child she was an inspiration. My Auntie V said that even when she was small, Auntie Dot was the first woman she knew to wear nail polish (which she continued to wear for the rest of her 95+ years). Auntie V is now in her 80’s, but she recalls fondly how she would crawl onto Auntie Dot’s lap and just stare at her scarlet red fingertips. I must say, I love the image of that.

This Lent, may I choose the bigger life in big and small ways, and may I find ways to inspire others to do the same.

Extra Credit:

I’ve created landing pages for the last 2 years of Lent Project. You can access them from the Reflections Projects option in the menu bar. Happy reading, friends!