The Whole Self

The Swamp works on the whole self—spiritual, physical, mental, emotional.

Have you ever been in a canoe, and forgotten you were in a canoe, and stood to the side of the canoe, and fallen out of the canoe?

The Swamp teaches awareness.

And balance.

A drawing of a circle with a dot in the middle with four squiggly arrows coming out of it, aligned to each of the four directions of the compas

I drew this diagram a long time ago, when I read something (I wish I could remember what it was) that had words but no diagram. I drew the diagram to help the words make sense in my mind.

The same drawing, but this time with the four energy arrows labeled: spirit to the north, body to the south, mind to the west, soul to the east

It helps me to see how the four balance each other out.

If we have spent too much of ourselves going inward to our own mind, we need to go outside our mind and connect with that aspect of us that is more than our mind, and connect with others.

If the body is strong but lacks a meaningful place to use that strength, we need to align with spirit to find meaning.

I like this diagram.

It was drawn on paper with ink, but that’s not how I see it. I imagine the brown stony walls of a cave with cream markings, drawn by someone who had come out of the swamp, someone who wanted to leave a map.


Personal Update

I’m taking a podcasting workshop and having a lot of fun. We’re learning how to interview and edit, how to determine our purpose and our audience. I like the way it’s stretching me in new ways, as well as taking me from doomscrolling.

My podcast is called Hard Times & Hope, and it’s about navigating the challenges of life. One of our assignments was to design cover art for the podcast. Here’s mine:


Chewing the Cud of Good

The four members of Beautiful Chorus, four strong Black women

Thankful for the beautiful women of Beautiful Chorus who make beautiful music.

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