Align Your Orbit: Here We Are
Images designed by Ash Good and MidJourney
Align Your Orbit is a monthly set of philosophical and somatic experiments to guide you toward intentionality and impact. Find delight in these timely experiments. If you would like to receive these offerings as a monthly email, sign up here.
You have recently begun to think of yourself as physically and emotionally strong. Radically self-reliant though you understand the value of and invite community collaboration. Even still, you stare at the structure of humanity and fear the whole thing will collapse in the fire. And maybe in the ashes, the house of cards will still have been worth it.
Don’t fall for the theatrics of politics. Eschew the outerworldly distractions and dive into self-care, pleasure, creativity, and magic. You’ve never felt more divine, and it shows in everything you do this month. Be brave in demonstrating your enormous ability. Respect it as you would a dear friend.
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Experiments for June
1. diversify – Admit it. You love more than one thing. You love your partner, yes, but also the ways you tend to your kitchen while no one is looking. Or maybe it’s in the way you run fingers over an instrument. What do you love? What do you love to do? Seek pleasure in everything.
Challenge Mode: In a gift economy, you give without the expectation of anything in return. You trust that people will accept what you have to offer and take care of you. The plate is full and freely available until all the food is eaten. We might not have a gift economy now, but we all have talents, gifts, and offerings. How many different things are you good at?
2. physical love – Create a routine to care for your skin. Give yourself a foot rub with nice oil. Rub your favorite lotion across your legs. Shake all the tension out at least once a day. Fully exhale to engage your lower abdomen muscles. Be additionally mindful about the touch of the sun.
Challenge Mode: Let yourself use gestures to express yourself. Use them with words—use them without words. When are you understood? Who sees you?
3. improvise – You need flexibility to be spontaneous. Schedule time on the calendar for whimsy. Give yourself 2-4 hours when you don’t need to be anywhere or do anything. What calls your name when you don’t have a plan?
Challenge Mode: Consider how much you plan and the effort you put into it. What’s the return on investment? Moderate your future-forwardness, and make the process of preparation part of the destination.
4. even in abundance – Minimalism is magic. What are the bare minimum comforts you need to have a good time? If you are able, go camping. Be closer to the people you love.
Challenge Mode: Engage with strangers on the street with kindness and offer them dignity. Recognize that we all need gentleness and time to heal. Find deep respect, compassion, love, and strength in someone you don’t know. Assist in the communities who provide for others free of charge.
Andra’s Recap of May’s Experiments
The theme for last month was Space Between and included experiments around telling the truth plainly, listening to the stories you tell about yourself, acknowledging resistance to healthy practices, and assessing recurring habits and plans.
Both Ash and I had experiences this month when it felt like masking discomfort was not possible and/or desirable, and confessing how we needed to move through that was especially fruitful. For example, I have come to the conclusion that I benefit from “stimming” or moving my body in ways that are not always socially acceptable, especially stretching in awkward ways in public. Giving myself permission to do this whenever I need it has actually made many group situations more enjoyable and possible for me.
Regarding getting curious about the difference between patience and tolerance, I recognized that I need continual self-growth, progress, strong constant communication, and value alignment for me to feel comfortable putting long-term effort into a relationship, especially relationships with people other than blood family. But, I also gave my permission to not give gifts/cards to people in my family who have deeply wronged me (or the environment). I am not willing to pretend that things are okay.
Identity is by its nature, limiting, and Ash and I have enjoyed exploring the boundaries and tradeoffs of identifying one way or another. While I try not to box myself into an identity, I am very attached to calling myself gender fluid and plural (meaning I have multiple distinct identities within one body), which tends to make it harder for others to understand and interact with me. But, on the other hand, it raises the bar such that I am only interacting with people who are really into playing those games with me, and honestly, it’s been a really helpful filter for interactions I actually want.
In terms of creative action, there’s been a shocking amount of momentum. I have been working on a new full-length poetry collection about the interactions of grief and joy, have been very involved in editing other people’s creative work, am planning a large ecstatic camping trip for next year, and have been flourishing in the yarn mill. I am unfathomably excited to begin trying to conceive a child with my partner in the midst of this energy boom.
Practicing movement and stretching in any kind of prolonged way has been difficult to motivate while I’m alone. It helps to have a body double or to be active in a group. I’m wondering about more movement practices with my household to help with this. Additionally, I had a lot of resistance to gardening until I realized that I can garden in the dark after work instead of needing to wait until the weekend. Making small changes to reduce barriers seems to be the thing.
After returning to my professional cuddle practice after a long time of making it as minimal as possible, I have been reenergized about how I want that to look going forward, and I feel excited for the ways it could feel even more like self-care. Additionally, after a long time of not using my doula certification, I offered to be a doula for a friend of mine who is about to have twins, and it feels like a good time for non-standard work/labor to come back into my life. I’m really excited about the variety of my practices in the future.
Both Ash and I have been leaning more into interacting with strangers but also being real about when we don’t have the energy to do so. Specifically this last weekend, I held the mantra that I don’t need to help others in crisis when I am also in crisis, and that was a really necessary permission that stopped me from getting into worse trouble.
Additionally, it’s been very fulfilling to find new community in people who all care about the same local environmental issues. Honestly, it’s felt more bonding and significant than having a regular religious gathering.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy June’s experiments!