Mind-Stilling

stack of three copies of A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas and text that reads "April"

In April, my month was heavily influenced by reading A Court of Silver Flames. (My monthly marker photo even shows the three copies I ended up with at one point because two of them arrived heavily damaged. Le sigh.) But, at the beginning of the month, I set some goals for myself that I thought really aligned with my goals for the year as well as being inspired by this book.

One of the things that was a big takeaway for me was the Mind-Stilling practice that the characters learned. I decided that it was finally time to start that daily meditation practice I keep talking about but never do. I actually love that they call it Mind-Stilling, because that’s exactly what meditation is. And after a few sessions, I could see the difference it was having on my anxiety. Allowing me to be calm in the storm.

A while back, Eric set up a meditation space for me in our closet under the stairs. It’s the perfect space to settle in with no distractions and just focus on your breathing. One of these days I’ll get around to sharing photos of that space in its entirety, but for now you can see the chakra painting I did along with my mala beads, a meditation bowl, and candle. The salt lamps we actually have throughout the house.

Another change we made is that we started eating at the table on the weekends. We’ve gotten into such a habit of eating in front of the tv. And we realized the other day that one of the things we’ve both been missing since the start of the pandemic was our Friday night dates where we go out to eat and have the time to focus on each other and just talk. So, we decided that on Saturday and Sunday nights, we’ll sit at the table and focus on enjoying each other’s company. Case in point was Easter dinner.

plate of quinoa salad, tomato slices, meatballs, pita bread and ziziki sauce with a glass of wine

Eric made a delicious quinoa salad with cucumbers and red peppers and olives. we also had Moroccan lamb meatballs with fresh tomato slices, pitas, and fresh ziziki sauce he made. We even opened a bottle of wine with dinner, which was lovely.

slice of cassata cake with layers of pound cake and cannoli filling and whipped cream frosting on a plate with a fork

I also made Cassata cake, which is our traditional cake for Easter. It’s basically pound cake, with rum and cannoli filling between the layers, and a whipped cream frosting. So yummy. The only difference this year was that instead of regular mini chocolate chips, Eric found some espresso chocolate chips so I used those. They gave it a little extra kick.

wedding party with bride and groom in the center

We also celebrated our fifteen year wedding anniversary this month, which seems crazy.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *