this week’s Thought (singular)
i have loved and lost too many scrunchies to count
a very warm welcome to all new readers. i love new readers so much that whenever i get an email about a new reader, i manifest that they don’t lose any more scrunchies. thank you for joining us. may you find them exactly where you think you left them.
a very warm welcome to old readers as well. may good sense continue to prevail.
hi
welcome to the very first thodi together!
i asked you a question, you gave me an answer, and we now have a community edition of thodi.
Q. warmth. the weather is colder, noses are stuffier, minds are heavier, days are shorter. how do we stay warm emotionally and mentally? what brings comfort and lightness?
lasya - Hugs. Soup. Sweaters.
sathya - Coming back home !
pramit - Emotionally and mentally, I don't know really. But I think maybe those two are answered from a more base thing - physical warmth. Wrap your cold hands around a hot cup of lemon tea and your worries seem to fall like honey into the embracing ocean of a good cup of warmth.
divya - Nostalgia. Take a trip down to good old times, look at pictures and goofy videos
gayathri s - revisiting episodes of comfort shows, reading the annotated parts of my fav books, christmas movies!! (cliche but it works), reading old journal entries
neha - i keep myself warm emotionally in the colder months by simplifying my life. dialing things back in my routine, my thoughts, the things i spend energy on. i think i kind of try to have the routine that i had in my childhood time. the way i spend my time in december is very much like how ten year old me would have spent time in december and i try to make sure that there’s no guilt or other negative emotions associated, because i never felt that when i was 10. i try to go back to that point because those are probably the happiest, most healed versions of myself. i try to remember what that’s like. i think a lot of things help for me because 1. i get to take time off, 2. i get to be back in my childhood home, 3. christmas and christmas traditions are something that i can use to throw myself back in time. it’s kind of like nostalgia mixed with healing. i think it really helps me feel that ‘my heart is full’ feeling and it keeps me warm.
krishna - gotten back into hobbies from when times were warmer (mainly gaming) but its been so refreshing
gayathri n - Hearing a joyous conversation about someone loved, my friends talking about their partners, flowers, sweaters and pink shawls and blue tea
naman - Warmth is what cold wishes to be, and hot burns with ego to be not. It is like a welcome, a hug, a greeting. Hot makes one scratch their skin, and warmth makes one cuddle. It has a weight to it, like a substance, something material that promises to hold us closer to ourselves (come cold nights as they may). It is comfort. But is holding stopping? Does the warmth make it hard to leave the bed and drop my feet onto a cold floor? One can argue so. A love too real that makes one wish to cease one’s existence to it. They say vigour burns like a fire or why cold shower makes one prepare for their day. I hope you remind yourself of the warmth of the soft towel that you grab after it.
thank you to everybody who responded! i hope these answers made you feel as warm as they made me feel. it is getting colder, and the number of layers i wear to bed is increasing every week. i hope you stay warm.
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English Recitation Competition
When Time Dissolves, Cristina M. R. Norcross (read the full poem here)
I have discovered that there is a recipe for life that includes multitudes: a pinch of patience, my deepest gratitude for existing here, a mountain of forgiveness, for healing old wounds, a love for others and myself that is bigger than any measuring cup can hold, and the ability to let go, allowing arms to drift to my sides in surrender, an attempt to dissolve all that has passed into something holy.
Poem, Stephen Collins
How pleasant to say small rain rather than drizzle
eschatology, Eve L. Ewing (read the full poem here)
when the clerk says how are you and i say ‘i’m blessed and highly favored’ i mean my toes have met sand, and wiggled in it, a lot. i mean i have laughed until i choked and a friend slapped my back. i mean my niece wrote me a note: ‘you are so smart + intellajet’ i mean when we do go careening into the sun, i’ll miss crossing guards ushering the grown folks too, like ducklings and the lifeguards at the community pool and men who yelled out the window that they’d fix the dent in my car, right now! it’d just take a second— and actually everyone who tried to keep me alive, keep me afloat, and if not unblemished, suitably repaired. but I won’t feel too sad about it, becoming a star
The Good Side of the Internet
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this week’s Song
find all shared songs here.
thank you for reading, and see you next week <3