four things for march

what I'm learning and loving lately

Back in my blogging days, I used to do a “what I’m learning and loving post” every month or season. It was such a great practice for me, but I’ve found it hard to keep up with in the midst of…life. I’m going to see if limiting it to four things helps me actually do the thing.

Mama Sycamore and me.

Four things I learned and loved in March:

❤️Year of heart. I wouldn’t say that I’m having so much fun with my word of the year, but it is definitely giving me a focus and depth already that I am loving even just a quarter into the year. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it, but as an Enneagram 7 who spends far too much time in my head, focusing every day on activating my heart energy and wisdom has been revelatory (and made me even more prone to random tears than usual).

📚Emotionally immature people. I went down the Lindsay Gibson rabbit hole in March - all four of her podcast episodes on We Can Do Hard Things (episodes 263, 264, 284, and 285) and both episodes on Ten Percent Happier (episodes 497 and 617). I’ve had her first book for years, and am finally getting around to reading it after the nudge from the podcasts. First of all, learning a name to this thing I’ve experienced in myself and others was helpful all by itself, even if a little guilt-inducing¹ when I recognized myself in some of her stories. But also, Gibson stressed that we can be mature in all sorts of areas like work, school, intelligence, etc., but still fall into emotional immaturity, which explains so much about our world right now.

📚Crystal bowls. I’ve been learning how to lead sound baths and digging into all of the science and traditional wisdom around sound and vibration’s power to heal, how various tones effect us differently, and experiencing all of that while I’m practicing, which honestly might be the best part.

❤️Chopped salad. I can’t get enough of this weird chopped salad lately - it changes a bit, but usually is all of the following cut up into tiny bits and thrown in a bowl with some balsalmic viniger and EVOO on top:

Sauteed tin of sardines (just sauteed in their own oil until crispy)
Half a can of chickpeas that I throw in with the sardines so they’re warm
2 cups of greens
A few green olives
Feta if I have it/parmesan if not
Several slices of red onions

Things that make it even better if you have around:

• Leftover pasta or farro or quinoa (we almost always seem to have some of this on hand, but you can leave it out if you don’t have any. Or you could just make some on Monday to last the whole week, which I sometimes do).

• Pickle your red onions once a week - just slice up a red onion and throw it in a wide mouth ball jar. Add two tablespoons each of red wine vinegar and olive oil, a few teaspoons of dried oregano, a few cloves of garlic (smashed or minced), and salt and pepper.

• Fermented veg - we usually have our own version in the fridge, but a little bit of kraut or curtido provides the perfect zing, plus a little boost for your gut.

Honorable mentions. You should read this whole thing because it’s quite good, but I immediately copied down the following two sentences and hung them by my desk: “I am attempting to find ways to do what I like and what feels good without turning those things into sticks to beat myself with. I am attempting to find ways to please myself instead of waiting for other people to tell me how pleased they are with me.” I mean, it’s so obvious, right? But also revolutionary, especially for us women.

A lovely ritual for spring from

Kaitlin Curtice

. If you’re someone who celebrates Easter, these excerpts from a sermon from the 1980s are what I think is worth your Holy Week reading (I also really wish eighteen year-old Sara could have somehow found those sermons). I spent a lot of time in March learning about metamodernism, which I wrote about here — and which is more useful to your regular life than you might think!

I think every Hoosier should read A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan, but honestly, it is worth reading regardless of where you live - and explains a lot about the current state of our nation. I also read Groundskeeping by Lee Cole, and while I found the characters occasionally quite annoying, I saw that the Southern Review of Books review said that the novel depicted, “the genuine struggle between loving those close to you while still accepting them, if not entirely their beliefs and choices” and, for that reason, I would recommend it. I read some other just meh books in March. We are heading out for a long spring break, and I’m hoping for plenty of good reads to report from April!

Now it’s your turn: what are you loving and learning lately?!

Happy Easter/spring break/April/eclipse season/whatever it is you’re celebrating where you are!

Sara

1. Guilt is fine and often spurs us toward action and growth. Shame not so much.