SPARK Day 26: Friday Reflections

Welcome to the final day of Spark— SPARK Day 26! Every Friday, I reflect on the week that has just passed by doing a little senses exercise. This practice is a gentle, easy way to tune into how we are doing, what we are experiencing, and what we are grateful for while more acutely tuning into our senses. It’s a whole heart exercise with plenty of bodily input, if you will. Because this practice has been so good for me, I want to encourage you to do it, too. Building some gentle reflection into our weeks is a nice way to stay grounded while maintaining some big picture perspective. So please join me in this week’s Friday Reflections (with each sense as your inspiration, consider how experiencing it impacted your week) and the final exercise for this month’s SPARK experience.

Here is my sensory round-up for this week:

tasting :: mushroom ragu and pasta, zucchini fritters, autumn chicken with brown rice, three bean soup, lots of oranges

hearing :: Lola barking at the wind and snow, so joyful that there was so much weather to amuse her.

smelling :: not much as I work through this round of a raging sinus infection

seeing :: a light smattering of snow and a dog determined to stay out in it; a resurgence of love for a stuffed animal (Omi the Elephant) who had fallen by the wayside for a bit in place of other favorites. Omi, the first stuffed animal in Happy’s life, is back in the bed (remember when Happy slept with a million stuffed animals? We had whittled it down to 2. With the re-introduction of Omi, we are at three so Happy still fits in the bed, at least).

feeling :: all the feelings as I read my Body Image students’ gorgeous, inspiring, heartbreaking, touching, and even funny body image autobiographies. And thankful for all of you for coming along this month for SPARK!

wishing/hoping :: for a smooth and inspiring kick-off to Run Big Dream Big V on Saturday. Every year, the Circle de Luz girls train and run a 5k with a posse of volunteers. We kick off the training season on Saturday with physicals, shoe fittings, a first run, and lunch!

What about you? What were your sensational experiences this week? Please share!

This post was inspired by Teacher Goes Back to School who was inspired by Pink of Perfection’s Five Sense Friday.