February Joy Guide
note: I sent this out yesterday but I think I hit some settings buttons wrong which resulted in it only being sent to a fraction of y’all! If you are part of that fraction, no you’re not losing it, you have seen this before. oops.
while making this today I kept hearing Miranda Priestly in my mind saying “hearts? for February? Groundbreaking.” Just thought I’d share.
Some invitations to anyone looking to spend this month experiencing presence and purpose and delight:
(take the ones that feel good, reject the rest, know there are no obligations here)
Prompt: With spring on the horizon, as the world prepares to burst open into color and song, it’s a great time to check in on what within you seems to be getting ready to do the same. How would you like to utilize the season of growth and green? What could it look like to spend this month making sure all is in order, so that when the transformation arrives, it gets to be as vibrant, joyful, and stress free as possible.
Engage: What mutual aid organizations are serving your community? What do they need? We all know that Fred Rogers quote about “looking for the helpers” when something scary happens. As restorative and hopeful as it can be to find others that are doing good in the world, the world needs more of us to not only be looking for the helpers, but stepping up to become a helper. You might even more hope in participation than you ever found in spectating. Googling “mutual aid (my city)” might just change your life!
Make: Remember how we all used to pull up to school (or, for my fellow homeschoolers, to church) on Valentine’s Day with a handful of handcut hearts and candies to hand out to all our classmates? I feel like adults these days desperately need both the valentine making process of gluing and stickering and coloring, and the experience of receiving valentines. Send some love to someone who isn’t expecting it. Notice how it makes you feel. Repeat.
Read: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. We’re reading this together in my book club for paid subscribers this month! This is how I’m preparing to harness the magic of spring, by planting my feet in my creativity, and reminding myself how to imagine and express. If you feel a little disconnected from your own big magic lately, you should join us!! Every week we’ll read a portion together, and then I’ll record a chat with my thoughts, and post some discussion prompts, and invite you to share.
Ian’s Movie Pick: Our resident movie expert Ian has recommended the 2003 romcom Down With Love as a perfect February watch. In their words: “an under-seen and under-appreciated early-00s romcom that more people should see and will, if nothing else, brighten up your day and make you happier than when you started it.”
Embody: Judgment (card pictured is from Sleepwalker’s Tarot by Achi). Fondly known in my own head as the “beam me up, Scotty” card, Judgment signals an ascension to a new plane of existence. Not only a fundamental transformation within you and your life, but a transformation that is aligned with the needs and growth of the world at large. It’s you growing in ways that are not only needed for you individually, but in ways that will benefit the collective consciousness. It makes me think of the change so many of us have been feeling within ourselves over the past several months as we watch the horrors of capitalism and colonialism be revealed as never before, and how lonely that’s felt for many of us despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world are moving through thoughts and feelings that so closely mirror our own. This month we are invited to root in the knowledge that no matter how much it feels like we are outgrowing certain things in our environment, we are also growing into new things, and there will be people and circumstances and opportunities available to meet us as we arrive there. What if the collective is actually waking up? What if the growing pains you’re feeling right now are truly the rumblings of a brand new world being born?
Bonus invitation for paid subscribers:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Sunshine Hunters to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.