Divine Disorder: Connecting to Yourself and Life’s Gifts Even in the Messiness

Photograph by Sharon McCutcheon

Celebrating anniversaries helps create ritual, renewal and momentum — and provides tools to navigate life’s messiness differently

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We’re celebrating all kinds of things around here this month:

• It’s been a year since we put out our first newsletter to connect with you on a deeper level. YAY! Happy Anniversary to us! 

• We recently entered into our Super Snow Full Moon, full of renewal and promise. 

• And on a personal note, it’s now been over a year that I’ve been truly working on ‘learning me’ — discovering, stepping in and taking ownership of my power.

Anniversaries are benchmarks. They remind us of where we’ve been, allow us to sink into how far we’ve come and infuse our dreams for what’s ahead. Don’t rush by them or discount their significance. Languish in them for a bit.

March can be a tough winter month that challenges our endurance to stay the course with harsh weather patterns, while holding onto hope of rebirth. It’s a great metaphor for life, more importantly for going with the natural rhythm of life. It’s something I’ve been practicing a lot lately because, as we all know (or have learned the hard way) — you can’t always control circumstances, particularly in the restaurant world where things are constantly in motion and flux.

The more attuned I become with the natural order of things, in ways I also become more sensitive to all that’s unfolding around me; the good, the bad and the ugly.

I feel my staff, I feel my customers, I feel the possibility of the full moon promises — and I ponder what to do with it all. Clearly, we don’t want to absorb all the energy around us, but we have to find our place in its divine order so we can unveil its gifts.

I think we are greatly served by embracing its messages for us and by becoming observers of its wisdom.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Like anywhere else, things can feel chaotic in this biz — things can go awry and we can feel totally out of sync. But what I’ve found is that many of my old ways no longer serve me. If I resist and push back, if I absorb emotional drama of others, if I allow my old fears to come forth…I get sucked down into a place that actually serves no one, least of all me.

I’m human. I hurt. I want to fix everything and make it better.

There are also days I want to hide under the covers because it all feels like too much. But I’m reminded that we’re bigger than that.

It’s why I’ve also nurtured my spirit by embracing ritual, ceremony, cycle. In doing so, we can create fulfillment, completion, release — and expand.

On a recent day before the full moon when everyone around me felt ‘off’, one of my staff members shared a simple ritual for shifting energy with myself and another employee. There in the kitchen, she told us to place some salt within each of our hands — and to set an intention in our hearts for our unrest to be removed when we tossed the salt to the ground.

Was it what they call a ‘wives’ tale’ or a placebo? Possibly, but it was also about intention — acknowledging the feelings we were experiencing, and setting that intention in motion. Neither of us wanted to feel the distress that had been swirling around us so we did something to call it out and move it. And guess what…it worked.

Sure I had a little salt on the floor to sweep up, but along with it I discarded the disorder.

I think ceremony and celebration are necessary parts of the journey.

I don’t think you need a guide book to tell you how to do it, either. It’s about tapping into what feels good to you — honoring your experience and your needs — figuring out what feeds your spirit. I love candles and crystals, natural elements like herbs, flowers, bark and even a bowl full of snow. I love prayer. My prayers feel like love notes. And I love finding new ways to incorporate it all into navigating the yin/yang of life; fear and faith, power and pain, safety and discord.

The cycle of the anniversary allows us to slip into reflection. The new moon is a promise of renewal and healing. Celebrate it all. I want to take a moment to celebrate YOU — to thank you for being here with us on this journey. And I want you to know, I’m also wrapping you in the power of love and intention when I say my prayers.

—Lea Haas, Owner, The Garden Cafe Woodstock