What are you practicing?
On non-toothache wisdom and Enchantable as practice
Dear Enchantable ones,
What are you practicing?
Tomorrow’s new moon in Virgo (I practice with astrology and the moon :) is a wonderful time to reflect on what you are practicing and whether this is aligned with how you want to live. I’m feeling good for the first time in a while- smiling as I type that- and wanted to share a few things I’ve been practicing with.
Non-toothache practice
In my dengue recovery process, I’ve been practicing with Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching on enjoying our non-toothache. He writes and talks about this in many places, but here’s a short description from his book Making Space:
“When we’re having a toothache, we know that not having a toothache is a wonderful thing. Yet when we don’t have a toothache, we’re still not happy. A non-toothache is very pleasant.”
One way to practice with this when is to try to focus on areas that are free from pain. As I have been recovering from dengue, I’ve been in a lot of pain throughout my body. I became very aware of how my pre-dengue state of very little to no pain was very pleasant. While experiencing the pain of my feet peeling and my joints and overall sensitivity, I was working with this practice of trying to focus on areas that aren’t in pain. My tooth, for example!
This practice is challenging, and very complementary to the 5 remembrances aka 5 bummers practice I shared about last week. It’s much easier to write than to do (like a lot of things). When you are in pain, it is all-consuming, and very hard to focus on anything else. When you are not in pain, it is very hard to remember how much of a condition for happiness that is.
As I was walking my dog this evening, I was very aware of my non-foot-ache. For the first time in weeks, I was able to do the short evening walk without pain. My feet, with their newborn baby fresh skin, are still pink and tender (and still peeling a little). The pain of my feet peeling has taught me the preciousness of being able to walk. This is something I hope I don’t forget too easily. There is extra joy in my steps with this new appreciation for them.
But it is so easy to forget.
Mindfulness is the practice of remembering.
My dengue healing process has also taught me so much about the importance of the basics: sleep, food, and not overdoing it. Each relapse in symptoms I had was tied to one of these things, and I’ve become acutely aware of how important each of these are. There’s not always something we can do to change these things- sometimes we overdo it because we have to, not because we want to; or we are having trouble sleeping, or have conditions that prevent us from accessing these things, etc. But I have a newfound appreciation for the importance of each of these in the body’s healing process, and with the Virgo new moon, aspire to put more attention on how I’m nourishing my body, mind and spirit in the simplest ways.
Dreamwork as pluriversal practice
Speaking of sleep and practice, I practice dreamwork, and I wrote a piece today on dreamwork as pluriversal practice for Prism of Wisdom, which you can find here:
And finally, I am thinking about how for me, Enchantable is a practice. Enchantment is a practice of attending to the wonder, awe, beauty, delight, and magic that are available to us in each moment - something I am dedicated to. Enchantable, for me, is a weekly(ish) writing practice of sharing “public pedagogy…in the form of essays, love letters, meditations, spells, blessings, & lesson plans on the interbeing and entanglement of enchantment and disturbance, joy and suffering, reimagining education, peace, magic, dreams, mindfulness, and beyond1.” We were at the beach this weekend and I didn’t have much time to write. But I came home and wanted to. Enchantable is a practice for me, of sharing aloud what is alive in my mind and heart, in the hopes that it might be useful and inspiring to others, and it is a practice that brings me a lot of joy. Thanks for being here, and thank you for being a part of my practice :)
Another thing about practice: we can always change. When something isn’t working for us anymore, we are allowed at any point to decide to let it go and do something different. May this dark moon in Virgo help illuminate for us what practices are working and what practices we need, individually and collectively.
Whatever you are practicing, I hope it supports your healing, growth, nourishment, and joy, and helps you align with your deepest values.
Whatever you are practicing, I hope it is helping you become who you most deeply yearn to be.
With love and care,
Stephanie
From my About page: https://enchantable.substack.com/about