August Muse~Letter

By Kerry Ingram |

As summer's end is drawing close an urge for busyness may be creeping into your consciousness. Back to school preparations, getting that last trip in before autumn and getting involved in community activities may start filling your schedule, what if we choose to embody a quality of spaciousness to relish every last ray of summer?

Spaciousness is our theme for the month of August in our Heart of the Home online learning community. This valuable quality cultivates connection, self-compassion and presence...and you don't have to a mountain top monastery to learn ways to weave it into every day life.

In this month's muse~letter you will find:

Ways to embody spaciousness as a parent
Fun ways to enjoy the last days of summer with your family
ANNOUNCING A FREE 2 DAY COURSE: Return to Rhythm
Summer recipes
Freebies: a printable collection of meal blessings and a calendar for August...enjoy!

You know what my worst feeling is? Rushing. It is my biggest ~~challenge~~ opportunity for growth to remain calm and easy when I am meeting a specific start time. Being a nor-easter, punctuality is in my bones, and living in northern California I've learned to embrace the culture of going with the flow...and sometimes being late.

Emmy D'Forge photography

Spaciousness is the antidote for rushing and the disease of busyness and so much more. Spaciousness is presence for what is, spaciousness is an open mind, spaciousness is at the root of acceptance, tolerance and social justice. Spaciousness is an invitation for everyone to feel their feelings without judgement.

Have you created time to ask what qualities the world is asking you to embody?

15 simple tips to embody the quality of spaciousness.

Get clear on how "enough" feels. We can easily fall into thinking that we need more and more. Filling our children's (and our) schedules with classes, sports, play dates and leaving little to no time for just being. When we are clear on how "enough" feels, it becomes easier to find spaciousness.
Start the day by saying, "I have enough time". Repeat as needed.
Spend time taking in a big view like a mountaintop, a meadow or cloud watching.
Stretch you arms wide and back, opening your heart, creating space in your chest and back...ahhh.
Check in with yourself when responding to invitations. Are you saying yes out of obligation or because this sparks joy and curiosity? Give yourself permission to not respond in that moment.
Get clear on the things that bring you joy and happiness, make time to do those things.
Create time for spontaneity. Leave that afternoon open to see how everyone feels in that moment.
Turn off sound notifications on your phone. Unplug.
When your child is having big emotions, make space for those emotions to fully be expressed rather than suppressed. Create a recovery practice that includes connection and something for you as the parent to shake off the trauma like sitting under a tree for 5 minutes.
Spend time in nature every day.
Make time to focus on gratitude; share around the dinner table or write 3 things each day in your journal.
Listen to listen, rather than listening to respond.
Cultivate curiosity, this creates space for observation, exploration and most of all, presence.
Map out your month. Simply writing down special days, appointments, home-care and meal planning is like creating a map of your own life. Click here to download our free calendar for August.
Rest.

Yoga Nidra at Mothering Arts Sebastopol

A Blessing for One Who is Exhausted ~by John O'Donohue

You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease

Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.

Fun ways to enjoy the last days of summer with your family.

Watch the Perseid meteor shower, happening right now!
Check out the Lunar Eclipse on August 21st.
What fruits and veggies are in season? Harvest, preserve, freeze, bake, jam, share and enjoy them as much as you can until next year. Children can help with so much from picking to chopping and cooking and label making.
Go camping, if your backyard is what is doable, go for it. Click here for tips on camping with children.
Eat dinner outside. If you don't have time to prepare dinner, just pick up some burritos and bring a blanket to the park. Your children will love it!
Make a playlist just for you and when you have time alone, mama dance party. Here is my Summer Spotify playlist.
Enjoy swimming and water play. Our 5 year old loves to dance in the sprinkler and our 1 year old enjoys splashing her hands and toys in a little wash basin.
Lay on the earth and give thanks for life.
Laughter moves breath and makes space for joy, LOL!

Summer is for play, for adventure and for long languid days in the garden. We give ourselves completely over to the pull of sweet summer's bliss...and sometimes we need a little help finding our way back to our rhythm. As a teacher, my brain is already sounding the alarm to begin to create a new rhythm wheel for our family. Maybe you are wondering where to start to get your family back on track for an easy transition into your school year (be it homeschool or a new class room) or a more rhythmic homelife.

Please join me and many other parents and join our free two day Return to Rhythm online course September 9th and 10th. You will receive:

supportive guidance to create a meaningful transition with your family from one season to the next.
a lovely printable rhythm wheel
a weekly planner which helps you make space for joy
a handful of my favorite resources for meal planning, creating connection with little ones and requesting support from others

Sign up here...it's free!

We are celebrating our one year anniversary of the

Heart of the Home online learning community!

The Heart of the Home online learning community supports you to cultivate and embrace your unique art of mothering. Create your family's culture through every day activities, we can show you how. Each month we dive into a new theme which enlivens our parenting and offers fresh inspiration practice in your own home. Together, along with over 70 other mamas, we create a practice of reflection and intention-setting, rich content each month helps you to get clear on how you can warm the heart of your home. Guest contributors offer loads of resources from an herbal wellness guide, to a Konmari checklist. Kerry shares fun ways to connect with your family with songs, games, handwork, and nature-based activities. Each equinox we offer a DIY mini self-care retreat. Accountability is supported with a bi-monthly e-mail, a lively collective of parents and monthly live video. But the best part is the free sharing of ideas and wisdom from our warm and wise community of mothers taking this journey with you.

An enriching experience with plenty of opportunities to cultivate loving connection, joy and fun into home life in simple doable ways. The art is beautiful, and I loved the printables to keep me grounded in my intentions“. ~Natalie

“A gentle, beautiful course for parents who want to connect and deepen their intentional parenting. The course is centered around taking a whole year, month by month, to connect and deepen your mothering practice. It’s interactive, and has activities, recipes, songs, and printables. It’s also all TOGETHER – I don’t have to go hunting on 20 different blogs”!~Kelley

Click Here to learn more about the Heart of the Home online learning community.

Grab our lovely 3 page printable collection of meal blessings to share at your family's table.

Click here, it's free!

This has to be one of my favorite months for cooking and eating, mostly because of one particular delicious fruit; tomatoes! I'm not ashamed to be both a tomato-holic and a tomato snob. Every winter i cringe at those tomato shaped objects in grocery stores, they are flavorless and mealy and they only feed my desire to plan my summer tomato crop.

3 Tomato Recipes

Tomato Galette from Midwest Living

Add a fried egg for breakfast, eat it cold for lunch and serve it with a side salad of cucumbers and sprouts for dinner. Bonus: children love helping with dough, and rolling pins.

Roas te d Tomato Soup wi th Broiled Cheddar from Smitten Kitchen

Comfort food, a favorite of my son and his buddy Elliott...and broiled cheese.

The Best Gazpacho Recipe from the New York Times

The "best" is their claim, not mine. It did seem to have the best reviews and it comes with a how-to video. I'll give it a go this weekend when I harvest some tomatoes and peppers. Do you have a gazpacho recipe that you love? Please share below in our comments.

I love hearing from you! Please comment, email, join our monthly~muse mailing list and follow Mothering Arts on Facebook, Instagram. with heart, Kerry