Tending Your Life

By the time you’re listening to this, I’ll be happily in retreat-land. I’m heading off on a very short silent retreat (my first since my kiddo was born), so I wanted to take this minisode to talk about why I take retreats, the value of a retreat, what you can expect, and how to know whether a retreat is right for you.

• Episode: The Next Buddha is the Sangha
• Workshop: Craft Your Sacred Year
• Kripalu
• Spirit Rock
• Green Gulch Zen Center

Take a mini-retreat. Take an afternoon or even an hour to retreat with yourself for some meditation, journaling, and reflection—or join me for a replay of Craft Your Sacred Year, a mini-retreat to help you envision your year and life, with tons of supportive materials to help you feel like you’ve retreated, but from the comfort of your own home.

On iTunes

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What does it take to create lasting, meaningful change? Whether it’s in the world or in our daily lives, creating lasting change can feel daunting. In this episode, I’m breaking down my “theory of change.”

Usually reserved for how social movements create shifts, my theory of change is actually the same on both the micro and macro level of change-making: get to the root. Lasting change doesn’t happen as a result of surface-level action.

We need to go deep. In this episode, I'm breaking down *how* to go deep to make meaningful change in your life and in the world.

• Freebie: Top 10 Tips for New Activists
• Freebie: Mission Statement Maker
• Course: The Art of Self-Advocacy

Name one place where you want to make lasting change this year. What’s going to be one part of your strategy or theory of change? How are you going to support yourself so that you can make this a lasting change? Tell me about it on Instagram or zip me an email. I would love to hear about it.

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On Stitcher

On Spotify

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I’m taking you behind the scenes of my word of the year for 2020. How I chose it. What it means to me. What I’m calling in through this word. How I use my word throughout the year. And how you can create your own “word of the year.”

This minisode is personal: a glimpse into where I’ve been and where I’m going. I hope it inspires you to take a look around at where you might also need a little direction.

In this week’s episode, I’m taking you behind the scenes of my year ahead, starting with my word: Wonder.

Homework: Find your word of the year.

Resources:

Past words of the year: here, here, here, here, and here.

This year’s word of the year: Wonder.

Craft Your Sacred Year: christytending.com/sacredyear

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By the time this episode goes live, I will officially be on sabbatical. For two months, I’ll be paring my work back to the bare minimum so that I can focus on other projects and pursuits that have been calling my attention. What is a sabbatical? Why am I taking one? How am I making it happen? And what the heck will I be doing during that time?

I’ll be answering all these questions and more in this week’s episode. Plus, I’ve got a special homework assignment for you and some free resources that’ll knock your socks off.

Fill in the depleted to resourced cheatsheet. It’s a free download that will help you see where you’re depleted (and why) and start to brainstorm some solutions that will resource you more fully (even if you *can’t* take a sabbatical or a huge chunk of time away).

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The best way to heal burnout is not to get burned out in the first place. But when things feel dark, how do we avoid burnout and keep our hope, creativity, and well-being vibrant?

• Book: Trauma Stewardship
• Episode: Better Boundaries
• Michelle Ward, the When I Grow Up Coach
• Free Guide: 40+ Places to Cultivate Mindfulness
• Free Guide: Depleted to Resourced Cheatsheet

Your homework this week is to take one step to heal and one step to avoid burnout. Use any of the tips I’ve used in these episodes (as well as the free download) to take one tiny, baby step to heal and avoid burnout in a way that works for you individually.

Download the free resources above if you're feeling stuck.

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In part one, I break down my strategy to avoid burnout, spiritual bypass, and cynicism—so you can stay engaged. This episode is all about avoiding the pitfalls of long-term practice, whether spiritual or political.

• Book: Trauma Stewardship
• Episode: Better Boundaries
• Michelle Ward, the When I Grow Up Coach
• Free Guide: 40+ Places to Cultivate Mindfulness
• Free Guide: Depleted to Resourced Cheatsheet

Your homework this week is to take one step to heal and one step to avoid burnout. Use any of the tips I’ve used in these episodes (as well as the free download) to take one tiny, baby step to heal and avoid burnout in a way that works for you individually.

Download the free resources above if you're feeling stuck.

Support the show on Patreon!

Leave a rating + review on iTunes

Overwhelm used to be my default setting. I felt pulled in a million different directions, and always felt like I was drowning in commitments and things I “should” have been doing. When we’re in the throes of overwhelm, self-care usually doesn’t do us much good. A bubble bath isn’t going to fix your creeping dread. So what do we do instead? In this episode, I’ll show you how to dissolve overwhelm in the present moment so you can move forward right now.

Get my free guide, 5 Easy Ways to Dissolve Overwhelm

• Episode: Tender + Fierce
• Get my free guide, 5 Easy Ways to Dissolve Overwhelm

Your homework today is to take a great big pause somewhere today. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time, but step away from whatever feels overwhelming and fill some space only with your breath and being. Allow yourself to simply be for a moment.

Notice that the world didn’t end just because you took a few deep breaths. As ever, if you want to share about your homework with me, you can do that over on Instagram.

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Thich Nhat Hanh famously said, “The next Buddha will be a Sangha.” In Buddhism, sangha is one of “the three jewels,” and is translated as community. So what does it mean for the next Buddha to be a sangha? It means that we need not just our teachers or our practice, but a community around us in order to protect and nourish our practice. This is true whether our practice is political, spiritual, or both. We need each other.

• Article: The Next Buddha may be a Sangha
• Article: The Fertile Soil of Sangha
• Book: Emergent Strategy
• Write a letter to a political prisoner
• Free checklist: 40+ places to cultivate mindfulness

Sangha: spiritual community.

Formerly referred to the monastics in whom practitioners could take refuge. Now it refers to the Buddhist community as a whole. It refers to not just those who are monastics, but also those who are non-monastic householders within the Buddhist community. Often refers to the individual community in which a practitioner takes refuge or does their study.

• Write a letter to a political prisoner. I’ve linked a list, with names and addresses in the show notes, and even if you are listening to this episode much later, write a letter to someone who is currently incarcerated for standing up for the planet, the animals, and social justice. You can find that list here.
  This is something really close to my heart, and I hope that you’ll take 5 minutes and a little bit of postage to reach out to someone in our movement and let them know that folks on the outside are thinking of them.

• Share this episode with someone in your community with a note about what they mean to you.

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I often say that true self-care is an anti-capitalist practice.

Through self-care we are reclaiming our sovereignty: owning ourselves and creating freedom from coercive or oppressive forces that try to profit from our unwellness, and our feelings of not being enough as we are.

Self-care turns that narrative on its head: it’s not about buying stuff to make ourselves feel better; it’s about building our power.

Join my workshop: Plan Your Sacred Year!

• Episode: Intuition is a Feminist Issue
• Episode: Let it Go
• Write a letter to a political prisoner

Write a letter to a political prisoner! Use the guide linked above to write a letter to a political prisoner whose story inspires or moves you. Especially at this time of year, prison can feel incredibly isolating. Simply letting folks know that we on the outside haven't forgotten about them and their sacrifices means a lot. If you have the means, consider sending one of them a book from their wishlist (many prisoners have one). Please read the instructions for sending mail and books thoroughly before you send your letter.

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Year-ahead planning is some of my favorite work. It’s a chance to release what no longer serves us and invite in what lights us up.

This week, I’m sharing my simple elegant system for year-ahead planning that feels light and inspired instead of rigid and overwhelming. The process begins with a question:

What feels meaningful?

From there, we can build what feels rightful and resonant.

Join my workshop: Craft Your Sacred Year!

• Workshop: Craft Your Sacred Year
• Episode: Fierce and Tender
• Blog: The Difference Between Goals and Intention
• Christy's Word of the Year 2020
• Susannah Conway

Watch the workshop. Or choose your word for the year. Or simply take some time to set your intention for the year ahead. However you choose to do it, give yourself some time and space to envision the year ahead and how you want to inhabit it.

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