Dear Body, What Do You Need?
My Element-flavored owl mugs help me hear the answer first thing in the morning
Every morning I start out with a huge glass of water and a probiotic, because my body doesn’t like going eight hours without water yet it likes uninterrupted sleep even more, and it dearly likes…well, it likes flow. Later I graduate to the drink that fosters the revving of my engines. Sound familiar?
My morning drink is almost always hot. Because.
🥰 Comfort-nummy-purry-nom. 🥰
(Yes, even in the middle of summer. Wut? I am an equal-opportunist wuss in the winter as well as in the air conditioning that prevents my very old carpets from hatching gremlins at the height of the heat.)
Each day, my choice of hot liquid says a great deal about my body’s health, the tasks on my plate, and my brain’s requirements to pull it off
For example, there are times when I can’t consume anything acidic, which means coffee and black tea are straight off the plate. Or…ermmm…straight away from the cup.
There are times when my brain demands an external hard-drive that only heftier caffeine can deliver. (We’ll come back to that one. It’s a 22 year lab experiment with a lot of factors most people don’t realize they need to configure when they lecture me about caffeine consumption.)
There are times when I need AllTheWoobie (almond or coconut extract, rose flavoring, lavender-in-my-everything for two months straight).
But this is climate and season.
Today I’m talking about the daily weather gauge. The question of what my body needs RIGHT NOW, in this moment, this morning. To help me answer this question, I have my mugs, and it doesn’t begin with what I’m about to put in one. It begins with the mugs themselves.
I inherited these owl mugs from one of my dearest friends when she moved overseas, and they make me purr whenever I see them. Since she is also my former roommate, they call up images of all the mornings we laughed and conspired over coffee in her amateur-chef (by no means amateurish) kitchen amidst my second divorce. They remind me of other mornings in her other kitchen after she and The Offspring followed me to Arkansas where they lived a blissful two doors down.
Now that the owls have been mine for some years, they remind me—first thing in the morning, every day—that in spite of four brain traumas, I still am that same owl-eyed nerd who popped out of the womb wearing a freak-flag for a cape. I’m still the same oddball fact-spewer. The same deep thinker, forever questioning and searching and poking into things because I want to know where. What. Whooooo…
And especially why.
And hooooow.
(Remember when I told you that I have just a little bit in common with Kvestioning Kvothe? Yeah. The owl scene with Felurian? I about died laughing.)1
Since these cups are cute and sweet with all that homey memory, they also remind me to slooooow down, not just chug-and-go.
MUG ALTERNATIVES
When I open my cupboard, it’s not merely an owl-fest in there. There are other pretty mugs given by other friends. They carry their own woobieness. Still other cups broadcast their vibes at me, while providing statements to anybody who witnesses me drinking from them—or providing statements to me when my guests choose them.
Yoda: “Coffee I need or kill you I will.”
“Classy, sassy and a bit smartassy.”
“Piss me off, pay the consequences.”
“I am a ray of fucking sunshine.”
Hmmm…now that I think about it, all of these mugs were gifts from friends. It’s like they know how my mornings can go sometimes. Especially when my schedule used to force me and my scrambled brains to venture OutThere nearly every day before I was quite ready to drive or be recommended for human consumption.
The “Veni Vidi Vici” cup, on the other hand, was chosen all for me onesie while visiting the Colosseum. Like one does when in Rome. This tiny but powerful cup is what I drink my healing tinctures from.
But the owl mugs…these are all Elemental for me.
CHOOSING THE MUG
As I’ve mentioned, my Elements System2 is one of the primary ways I keep myself organized, focused, and semi-sane. (It’s an insane world. That’s not a dig on myself.)
On mornings when I don’t need one of the above statements, or when said statements are already in the dishwasher, it always comes down to which Element I want most. Guaranteed, if the above sentiments are all in the dishwasher, I desperately NEED The System.
Each color corresponds to an Element.
BROWN: the stable, sturdy aspects of Earth.
GREEN: the leafy, growing, vibrant aspects of Earth.
PALE TURQUOISE: Airy-Fairy.
LIGHT ORANGE: the warm, comforting aspects of Fire.
DARK ORANGE: blast-furnace mode. (a.k.a. Kvothe)
BLUE: Waterrrrr…
The statement cups encompass the energy of Metal. RAWR.
Choosing a cup is one of my many tiny, constant acts of meditation. It sets the tone for my day based upon the energy levels and Spoon resources that I awaken with, versus what I need to accomplish throughout the day.3
This is very different from what I WANT to accomplish. Again, another topic for another time.
Today, I NEED to finish a heinous project—the latest round in a six-month battle with a government agency. Since I have already engaged the assistance of Disability Rights for this ongoing 22-year war, and since I have already compiled the eighteen months of paperwork, receipts, profit & loss spreadsheets, and other official documentation, and since we’re coming out of a holiday so I couldn’t turn it in until now anyway…
I can breathe a bit.
In fact, today I need to breathe. A lot.4
After spending a night surrounded by hours of overlapping conversations, rockin’ music, the press of summer heat, insect avoidance maneuvers, and boom-boom sparkly ooh-la-la, I don’t have many Spoons this morning.
That means I need to hunt for more before I can be productive.
But today, I have no hammering deadline for this.
Upon awakening, I found a message from my Tai Chi buddy asking if I’d like to practice today. That means a stint out in the Ozark woods, under the shade of the trees with the birds, bees and breeze teasing my hair, face and knees. Ahhhhh…
Yup. It’s definitely a brain-day. My right brain is wanting to take over, communicating through rhyme and rhythm while telling all that math and the linear Tetrissing of my life to take a hike.
So I shall.
Because it’s the day after a really fun holiday and I really, really need it.
Hence the Air Cup.
Woooo-sahhhhhhhhhhh…
All morning as I nurse my caffeine drip in preparation to operate a motor vehicle so I can gather a bunch more Spoons via movement, laughter, breath, and nature, my every lift of this cup reminds me to:
Relax.
Listen deeply to what my body and brain are asking of me.
Heed those needs because today I have the time. My paperwork is not due until Friday and I only have one letter left to write. I need to get up and out of the house, but I don’t need to hijack my nervous system and force-feed it adrenaline in order to accomplish Tasks of Survival today. As such, I have the leisure to…
Seek balance: Inhale…exhale. Need…want. Yin…yang.
Breeeeeeathe.
THE DANCES OF AIR
In order to do the Dances of Air properly, I need to be in a natural, stable, grounded space. This lets me soften without crumbling. It lets me be open, swaying with whatever comes my way—without tripping or being bowled over. It lets me be willow-like in the breeze. And it lets me breathe more easily.
So I need the foundation of Earth, which I’m about to go out and get more of. The Air Dance I’m doing today has nothing to do with defying gravity and soaring. Today it is all breath, balance, listening for what the organism needs—both the physical body and the energetic one—in order to accomplish the necessary things I will undertake later.
After that, it’s more about floating, opening, and teasing into what I really desire.
In other words, feeling into what will inspire.
INSPIRE
From my Mac’s dictionary:
in·spire| inˈspī(ə)r |
verb [with object]
1 fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, especially to do something creative: [with object and infinitive] : his passion for romantic literature inspired him to begin writing.
• create (a feeling, especially a positive one) in a person: their past record does not inspire confidence.
• (inspire someone with) animate someone with (such a feeling): he inspired his students with a vision of freedom.
• give rise to: the movie was successful enough to inspire a sequel.
2 breathe in (air); inhale: they can expand their lungs and inspire enough gas to satisfy oxygen requirements.
So then? Which seemingly incidental items do you use to keep you focused, motivated and inspired? If you don’t use your stuff like this, is there anything you’re drawn to use in this way now?
© 2023 Hartebeast
Whoooo is Kvestioning Kvothe? And why is Blast Furnace also known as the Kvothe Kvup? I covered that in Hyperfixator’s Haven, the special section around here reserved for rabbit-holing about my favorite things, like the fantasy novel series that inspired my ginormous dance project I’m currently tinkering with:
My Kingkiller Cosplay Conundrum - Part 1: The Obsession
Welcome to Hyperfixator’s Haven! This is the special Section of the Alchemist’s Lab I have designated for nerding out with my fellow rabbit-holers, or introducing newcomers to my most passionate and longstanding, burning and all-consuming obsessions—
Not sure what all this Elemental Alchemy stuff is? Start here:
Welcome To the Playground
Hello there! Is this your first time here? Oh, you're not familiar with my arts and adventures? Well, come on in! And you--hi! You followed my breadcrumbs over here? Shweeeet. Please do NOT keep your hands and faces inside the vehicle, but do be aware of the dangers inherent in waving them about in the wind. Also dangerous: tinkering with my toys.
Oh, you don’t know about Spoon Theory? It’s why we call ourselves Spoonies - we who live with chronic conditions, long term illnesses, fatigue, depression, and other rat-fink maladies that steal one’s inner resources for humaning well.
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