Lately I’ve been thinking about emergence and transition, about what it’s like to move out of periods of darkness or change and come into new ways of being, living, and even loving. I’ve been thinking about the grief involved in that, about how necessary grief is as a process, how it eventually leaves a clearing…and about how often we experience a grief process but don’t recognize it as that.
The process is different when we’re able to call it what it is. Grief likes to be welcomed into the room, given a proper seat.
CHAMOMILE :: Matricaria chamomila – her medicine is often taken for granted.
Because we think we know her so well, we dismiss her power. She sits in the cabinet, in that box of chamomile tea you overlook, hearing you complain about things she could help you with: how you can’t sleep at night, how wired and anxious you are, how you’re feeling a little low again today. She longs to share her sweet apple-scented fragrance with you, give you some of her delight and comfort.
Tasting the gentleness in her, we underestimate her strength. Still, she shines of the sun, bright with healing force. She is a lifter, the friend who always has enough joy bubbling over to give you some too; her light brightens your life when you’re feeling down.
I’ve been aided by chamomile for sleep support, anxiety relief, mood lifting, and digestive support. It’s very helpful for easing digestive issues that coincide with – or are triggered by – stress or anxiety, such as IBS. For supporting sleep or reducing anxiety, it blends well with lemon balm or lavender.
For more on chamomile as a medicinal plant, I invite you to check out this guide by the American Botanical Council.
This article is for educational purposes only. This information is not intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease.
This 26-page PDF contains the personal affirmations that have kept me afloat through all kinds of seasons. There are affirmations and prayers for grounding, blessing, self-compassion, navigating grief and sorrow, embodying power, calling in help, blessing, abundance, and protection. One of the themes threaded throughout the affirmations is embodied safety – body as home, as safe home – which makes them particularly soothing for survivors of trauma.
This poem is a reflection on Luke 8:43-48, the story of the woman with the issue of blood. It’s a poem about difficulty and despair, daring faith, relentless hope, relationship, and healing.
In honor of National Poetry Month, I created this collection of some of my favorite quotes on the power and art of poetry, by great women poets. I hope it inspires you to write or read more poetry!
“Poetry is the most intimate of all writing. I want to speak first from me to myself and then from me to you.” –Ellen Bass“Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.” –Rita Dove“We can train ourselves to respect our feelings and to transpose them into a language so they can be shared. And where that language does not yet exist, it is our poetry which helps to fashion it.” –Audre LordeContinue Reading
