Held in The Snowfall and the Steady Steps between Rest and Drive — Navigating Productivity Weather

As I was getting ready today, I heard myself say, “I’m (my) boss now.”

It took me almost two hours to get out of bed, and when I did, I moved steadily through my paces and felt held. I have a still space near home where I don’t need to step outside into the cold. There’s soft snowfall blanketing city roofs from sunlight, making the day extra cozy. I do not want a cold face just to get work done, so I feel set. I grabbed my black button-down I thrifted from Value Village two years ago, off the back of a chair, and tied it around my waist. It has embroidery on the right cuff: “Service de Rêve” — a shooting star.

The space was empty when I arrived, maybe one other worker here. All I can hear is the sound of the HVAC. I sense two things: the urgency of my goals and the restfulness this time is genuinely giving.

Service de Rêve — SERVICE REVIEW

It’s been a few days back to “work-independence”. I was fired from a part-time job during the holidays. I was a barista for the first time in my life. I enjoyed making people drinks and seeing them happy as they went about their day. It wasn’t a job I was ever trained to do, but I was grateful to have had the opportunity to grow, be around artists, and support myself in a time of great need.

I imagined this as an affirmation of my North Node in Aquarius — “the water bearer” — serving life-giving nectar; not through coffee, but through my presence. But alas, my time there ended, and I return home, here. What are my next steps?

I’ve been taking care of myself, despite outside noise; the script to “fix” a situation I did not break. My script is to support spirit and emotions that needed me most during this time, through the transition. I chose to be present with how I was feeling inside and to give name to the care that keeps me centred in my truth. That was my responsibility; to make myself anew for the next steps first. This is a script I have intentionally reclaimed for myself over and over. It is the word of the true reality that the quality of my wellbeing really does determine the quality of how I experience my life. And in moments of “loss”, these are the most sacred of times to be present and practice a new way to care for my sense of dignity. What would a renewed self look like after yet another experience of “loss” (alongside the others I haven’t yet named - still healing from - that came before)? It’s a lot.

With a few days of intentional care, truth came forward, clear into view: Be witness then step into your biggest gain; your choice to lead your self, sovereign.

Shooting Star(t)

It’s Like a walk on the beach, not every step lands on softened sand. Sometimes our steps are on pebbles, debris, or shells — shards. They aren’t the gentlest on the feet. Pillowy sand can make us sink, can burn our feet, and can make us itch with the different creatures that live within it. Still, walking on the beach is special; you can hear the ocean.

And on the beach, we’ve also developed a remarkable instinct to look closely at the endless bits and bobs on the shifting ground we walk upon. We bend and reach for pieces — the ones that sparkle for us — the ones we choose to bring home.

My life experiences have felt like a mountain of sand, which I’m now realizing I have simply been patiently sifting and meditating through; choosing a recollection of what is home.

So when I asked myself, “How would I (and anyone going through something similar) find a way through needing to accomplish serious and meaningful goals while also wanting to honour the gifts of nature, like rest?” I learned the answer is the beach — the meeting point where land and sea touch, where the middle ground between goals and nature is less about achievement and more about enriching experience.

Step 1: Alignment

Purposeful Navigation Matters

1. Centre

I can show you hundreds of coffee shops in the city, but only you know what works for you. Knowing who you are and where you’re going anchors you in your path forward. These are fundamental systems and structures that govern your life experience. Not all beings are directed in one way, all the time, forever. Each being has its own navigational guide — a pattern that abides by its strengths and necessary growth cycles.

Clarify: two self-truths

“What am I most appreciative of in myself today?”

“What is best appreciated tomorrow?”

Make it clear what this is about today.

2. Dial

What can become disorienting is when we work on things that don’t matter for us. What “matters” or turns into reality for others may not, and will not, for everyone.

For example, a branch on a tree matters differently to the tree than to the bird. How they integrate it into their lives is different, and it creates entirely different results for both. And still, the branch exists — with different orientations — neither more nor less in its being.

Our choices matter differently depending on our orientation. It is our responsibility to clarify what that is — for our foundations (rootedness, grounded goals) and for the bigger picture (perspective, bird’s-eye view). There are more ways to orient, but for now, we can highlight these two.

Orientations are design patterns, not linear pegs. They are alive — and so, too, is your way of being.

Clarify: two focuses

“Why is the easiest task best for me today?”

“Why will I thrive in doing this task today?”

Make it clear why today works with you.

3. Direction

Not every season is for growing a branch or for perching and building a nest. Your navigational pull is defined by the cohesiveness of your choices — patterns and designs — and this is determined by how integrated you are with who you are.

The miscommunication in our social narrative is that external cues will tell us where we must go and how we must behave — flat and indirect. Safe paths are shaped through co-creation with our nature, respectful of other beings and of our own beingness. This is dimensional reality. It is a design to live.

Clarify: two realities

“How could the best results show up for me today?”

“How have I made the best of my current circumstances?”

Make it clear how you address your conditions.

Step 2: Activation

Choose Simply and Sincerely

Answer each question and see where the majority vote goes;

1. My Heart says…

2. My Mind says…

3. My body says…

4. My spirit says…

In this way, you give space and air time to the parts of you that shape your soul. You’ll be able to move with clarity and exercise what needs to get done to better hold the parts of you that need care.

Weather Frame

Nature’s here to teach us about self-orientation.

Where we are in life at whatever point in time with society and the rest of creation is a dance. We are allowed to value ourselves in each stage and step of our evolution. Calibration occurs in every way of being and sometimes, all it asks of us is to witness it and appreciate how we’re alive.