A Little is Good Enough

Instead of being concerned about how long you *should* meditate, what if you focus more on the consistency?

Katie DutcherJanuary 16, 2019 Comment

That Old Trail in the Woods

Picture a hiking trail running through the woods. This trail is clear and easy to follow as it winds through trees, bushes, and brush. The reason that it’s so easy to follow is because it has been trodden so very many times before…

Katie DutcherOctober 17, 2018

Balancing Acceptance & Growth

Years ago, my friend and I had a little debate….

Blog, Every-Day MindfulnessKatie DutcherJuly 10, 2018acceptance, growth, mindfulness, meditation, reflectionComment

Begin the Day on Your Own Terms

What would you do with your “moment outside of the time-bound world?” What would you do with your “space of undoing?”

Every-Day Mindfulness, Meditation, Mindful MovementKatie DutcherJanuary 24, 2018

Showing Up as Yourself

What does it mean to show up to your life? For me, it means being present, being here. Aren’t we always here? Well, yes, but sometimes we don’t know we’re here. We’re halfway here, lost in our thoughts, five steps ahead of NOW in worry or preparation. So showing up means that we’re fully here in this moment, paying attention. If you’re like me, you may have learned over time that it isn’t always easy to show up AS YOURSELF. Perhaps it doesn’t always feel safe. Am I enough? Will people approve of me?

Tips to Create Habits that Serve

I have a sense of the types of practices that help me. And yet there are times when I find it really hard to keep consistency. The very times when I MOST need these practices in my life, the times when I am MOST in need of the peace, grounding, and strength that they give me, are the times when it feels like like I have no time or energy to do them. I had the thought that I would like to see what it feels like to live in my optimum state. What would it feel like to be taking care of my mind, body, and spirit in ways that are healthy and beneficial...and sustainable?

A Year of Mindful Living, Blog, Every-Day Mindfulness, Meditation, Mindful MovementweflourishandbloomFebruary 19, 2017Comment

Expanding Definitions of Productivity & Accomplishment

I am drawn to (driven to?) productivity, as many of us are. It comes through our culture, this emphasis on doing, doing, doing. It feels good then, to be productive and to accomplish a lot in a day. It feels gratifying, as if all of this doing means something. If I dig way down deep, achieving seems to mean that I am enough-- good enough, hardworking enough. At the same time, this can feel like a kind of tyranny-- that I MUST accomplish a lot, and if not, it could mean that I failed in some way. But what if I’m tired? What if I’m not feeling well?

The Practice of Honoring Yourself

Now I use this as a practice not just of the body, but of the mind and heart. Can I listen to my own body? Can I honor my own strengths, needs, and limitations? With back, shoulder, and knee tenderness, I am always modifying the poses, shortening them, sometimes doing a totally different pose that feels right at the moment.

Loss and Love, Bitter and Sweet

I feel their love, and I feel the loss of them, as much as I let myself. Trying to let it all in: the loss and the love, the bitter and the sweet. If there is to be healing and growth, it's in being with what is here, and offering compassion to myself.

Blog, Grief, Quotes & Notes, UncategorizedweflourishandbloomOctober 13, 2016Comment

Gifts to Grow On

I feel sometimes like I have been given a ten-speed again. Opportunities come my way that are justout my my comfort zone, that I need to really stretch to meet. My emotions go all over the place-- gratitude, fear, excitement, anxiety, overwhelm, and then the guilt of feeling negative feelings at all, when clearly opportunities are GOOD!

My Highest Ambition is to Be What I Already Am

Indeed, why not honor our own feelings? Why does it ever occur to us to doubt ourselves and question ourselves as much as we do?

Look at Your Moments— Are Your Needs Being Met?

I heard someone say recently, “Hard is different than bad.” I really love this distinction-- it helps somehow. When I am in a challenging time, sometimes I do a check-in with my needs.

Water Thoughts

That swim seems to me like a miniature model of life. Anxiety crescendos and decrescendos; joy alights and then flies away. Grief goes on and on; overtaking me for a time and then lying low. Those anchovies are still out there somewhere in the ocean; sometimes they're all I can see, and sometimes the water is clear. Things come and then they go.

Of Swallows and Attachment

To see my joy swinging in midair and to simply watch it, to note it and appreciate it, perhaps even appreciate it more for the knowledge that it cannot be held down.

What is Required?

To ask what I should do next encourages me to use my brain and my judgement to think about what activities are valuable or desirable. But to ask what is required encourages me to be mindful of myself, inside and out. It asks me to scan the state of my mind and body and figure out my actions based on what I need at the moment.

The Fathomless Ocean, The Uncharted Land

No, I can’t have that old me back. That’s water under the bridge now. I can create the new Katie in any way I want, but I can’t have the old one back.

"To go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine"

The poem that stood out to me on first reading is “When I Am Among the Trees.” In the poem, Oliver explains so beautifully how her time with trees lets her feel their gladness, lets her hear their voices telling her about a graceful approach to living.

Treating Ourselves Well in the 9-to-5

How can we be kind to ourselves throughout a day of work, treating our bodies with care and compassion?

The Imaginary River

“Do you believe there is someplace that will make the soul less thirsty?” Do you believe there is a right and wrong way to do everything? A good and bad?Kabir invites us to come away from that imaginary river, that fantasy goal, and simply rest in the reality of who we are—embrace what is solid and firm.

The Choice to Create

“If we want to make meaning, we need to make art. Cook, write, doodle, paint, scrapbook, take pictures, collage, knit, rebuild an engine, sculpt, dance, decorate, act, sing-- it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re creating, we’re cultivating meaning.” -Brene Brown "The Gifts of Imperfection"