I spend a lot of time thinking about moments of pause. Or better said, the instances where life directs us to pause. The images that take our breath away: a hummingbird appears to effortlessly flutter towards its nectar, a relative waiting for a loved one at the end of an airport hallway, the magnificence of nature witnessed on a day long hike, the feeling of ecstasy when reaching a mountain’s peak and seeing the path below from a renewed perspective.
I sat and watched seven pelicans sit perfectly still on a dock in our home in Dominican Republic on the last day of 2024. They seemed almost frozen in their stillness. Their beaks inward, as if in self-protection mode, or in some form of deep meditation. And then, without appearing to exert much effort, they willed their wings wide open and glided skyward, and when it was time to find their food they dove fearlessly, and with almost precise intention into the water. Beak first, no hesitation. My girls laughed as I kept pointing out all I felt I was learning from these birds. I wrote the list down as bullet points. Self-reminders. How aware they were! … and how easily they navigated between perfect stillness into directed awareness.
“Why do we always wait until the end of the year to reflect?” I asked my sister a few hours later? “Why is it so hard to interject reflection into our daily lives?”
Or even weekly or monthly? We concluded that it’s obviously the milestones that hit us most. The marked passage of time. But isn’t every day a marked passage of time?
During the many years I cared for Caterina in the hospital, time felt like it slowed to a halt, almost as still as the pelicans were. It was the most trying time of our lives, and yet, the time where I felt the most present. As we start this new year, I am trying to more consistently find those moments of stillness – like the pelicans, and like the ones I lived in so many hospital settings. Moments of conscious presence, where I can be as present as possible in the instances where life directs me to pause.
During COVID, when I would go into my garage to play with and create the oils that have now become Quinta Esencia, I tried to bring forth that conscious presence. I wanted the feeling of calm and awareness to permeate the combination of scents I created, and I wanted to also make sure that all that I put in them conveyed that sense of soothing to our skins in a way that encouraged me to pause. It’s why I use the tag line: Nourish your Essence.
I was trying to remind myself of what it is I need to nourish my own essence. To remind myself to pause. To reflect. To take a moment to observe the things that deserve my attention. And to understand that what we are doing in each moment should be done with grace, hard as that can be in a life that demands so much of us, especially women caring for children or for others.
What are the moments that bring you calm? That remind you of life’s fragility? How do you hope to use this new year to serve your wellness – spiritually, mentally, physically?
In pausing, can we nurture ourselves to open to life’s fragility and beauty, and in doing so, can we help others do the same?
Thank you for joining us on our mission. May it be that through caring for ourselves we build a community of people who can better care for others.
