Be Still, Go Easy, Let Go

“…Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, ‘Stay awhile.’ The light flows from their branches. And they call again, ‘It’s simple,’ they say,’ and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.’” –Mary Oliver, “When I Am Among the Trees.”

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ll know that I have a thing for trees.  Add a stellar New England fall – one of the best I’ve experienced in years – and I go weak in the knees, drunk with love.

To honor this season of harvest and transition, I gathered a sampling of pictures and created a one-minute video called “Tree Magic: Grace in Stillness and Letting Go.” (If it doesn’t show up below, click for it here.)

No matter what season it is for you now, or what transition you are going through at this time, may this one-minute pause help restore and nourish you.

May it bring you back to the beauty that is everywhere.

May it help you remember to go easy.

May it help you rest in the knowing that all will be well.

And to all of you celebrating Thanksgiving today, have a very happy one!

Can’t see the video? Click HERE

As a little added bonus, below is a fun and wise message from Glennon Doyle Melton on how to “be” when family gets together. Can’t see it? Click HERE

Happy holidays!

It’s Thanksgiving Eve! It’s the day that is MORE IMPORTANT THAN TOMORROW BECAUSE today we set our THANKSGIVING EXPECTATIONS!!! IT’LL BE LIKE THIS!: Tomorrow will be peaceful and everyone will gaze lovingly at each other in cozy precious sweaters and chuckle at witty banter and Uncle Joe decides against talking politics and Aunt Bertha remains sober and vertical and organic Cousin Sarah eats the damn stuffing and Brother Tom puts it all behind him and just shows up and Lisa and Karen bury the hatchet and baste the turkey together and your mother-in-law finally notices your excellent parenting and apologizes for being so short-sighted for so very long!!! ACTUALLY. It’ll be like this: Uncle Joe’s gonna talk about politics.Very loudly and first thing. Aunt Bertha’s gonna wear her I’M WITH HER sweatshirt and drink like a saguaro cactus. Sarah’s gonna talk about how much red dye is in the cranberry sauce and pull out her tofurkey at dinner while wearing her MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN hat. Even if you pray hard, even if you stare at that front door all day long, Brother Tom might never show up. Lisa and Karen are gonna go at it like the Real Housewives. Your mother-in-law is gonna notice that your middle kid really needs a haircut and shouldn’t he know how to tie his own shoes by now, sweetheart? So here’s what we do tomorrow: We stop trying to be the director of the family show and we just become an amused audience member. We jump on stage when it’s our line. We let everybody in the family play their role. We stop fixing, cajoling, judging and lobbying. We stop hoping so hard and start accepting. We let it all be. We remember that the reason there is so much food around on family holidays is so we don’t say too terribly much. We stop trying to change our people long enough to find some gratitude for these crazy people who are OUR PEOPLE, dammit. We remember that family is just The Ones Who Keep Showing Up. We are grateful to and for the ones who show up. They are a mess, but they are OUR MESS. And thank God because we are a mess too, but we are THEIR MESS. Happy Thanksgiving to you, my extended family. You are my mess and I am so grateful to be yours, G

A photo posted by Glennon Doyle Melton (@glennondoylemelton) on Nov 23, 2016 at 7:29am PST

Photo: “Golden Trees” by Stephanie Bennett Vogt

“Tree Magic” video and photo images by Stephanie Bennett Vogt