On shedding what no longer serves
Spring cleaning for your soul, your closet, and your energy
Spring is so close I can feel it — and this week, the whole world seems to agree it’s time for something new. I’m talking shedding, starting fresh, and giving yourself permission to let go.
👇 In today’s email:
• This week’s inspiration: A new season (in every sense)
• Latest blog post: Does acupuncture hurt?
• What I’m reading: Many Lives, Many Masters
A New Season (in every sense)
As I sit here this morning at my typewriter, what strikes me most is “Spring is coming.” The flowers on my kitchen table against a background that looks like rural Norway seem to give the inspiration that soon the forsythia will be aflame, that the galanthus will peek through, and that the crocus — the most courageous of flowers — will show up within weeks. So exciting!!
For now, the landscape is gray when shadows are cast on the snow, cream and occasionally glistening. But the prayer is for a couple of 45 degrees days to melt not the snowbanks but the encrusted ice banks and show us the way toward a new season.
And a new season it is!
This week, change is afoot, and three billion people agree. In this day and age, it’s hard to get even a smattering of family members to agree on anything. This week, the 17th of February, billions of people will be reflecting, gathering together, and rethinking life anew. It is the first day of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Horse. And the following day is the first day of Ramadan. And for the astrologically inclined, there will be a solar eclipse occurring at 7:01 AM EST and a planetary alignment that is rare and highly transformative.
Suffice to say, this Tuesday seems portentous.
As we round down the Year of the Snake, known for, of course, shedding — I cannot help but get a jump on spring cleaning to shed all that does not serve. From the material (like gobs of partially used products in my children’s bathroom) to my own wardrobe, to something deeper: a letting go of things, situations, vibes, and to be honest, people.
In one of my favorite interviews, Elizabeth Gilbert tells Tim Ferriss (I paraphrase): “Nobody is entitled to have me in their lives by circumstance or biology.”
Perhaps you too can think of things or situations and circumstances, and perhaps even individuals you’re not interested in stepping into the season with. Perhaps Karma has run its course, and you are choosing something new. If this resonates, feel free to unclutter and recalibrate.
Does Acupuncture Hurt? Why It Feels Better Than You Think
For those of you who are acupuncture-curious, here’s a little primer on why this could be lovely medicine for you. The needles are ultra-thin — about the width of a human hair — and most people feel not pain, but a sense of deep relaxation, tingling, or warmth. Many of my clients fall asleep on the table.
If you’re my client and you read this, you know how great it feels, and thank you so much for trusting me with your care.
“Many Lives, Many Masters” by Brian L. Weiss
This is the true story of a psychiatrist who stumbles across something very surprising. When using hypnosis with a client, she reveals intricate details of experiences from past lives. In one, she is a servant in ancient Egypt. In another life, she is a German fighter pilot during World War II. In between incarnations, she reports messages from “the masters” about the lessons she’s supposed to learn.
This book, written in the 80s, is Brian Weiss’s own story about this experience and how going to Columbia College, Yale Medical School, and interning at NYU in psychiatry, this kind of woo-woo stuff was not only outside his worldview but also professionally suicide to explore.
I originally read this book 30 years ago, and this weekend finished it in two sittings. I’d love to hear what you think, if it speaks to you. Be in touch.
Big kiss, 💋 happy weekend.
Dr. Cat 🥰