December 30 is a perfect opportunity to look back and appreciate the beauty that is my Bella. I'm keenly aware that she is not only mine. That she has a world of people who love and admire her for the intricate beauty she brings into our lives. However I am the luckiest of all because I get to create a beautiful life together with her. Happy birthday Alisa. #bellaandsmith1
SUNDAY SLOWDOWN | A place at the table
"The table is a meeting place, a gathering ground, the source of sustenance and nourishment, safety, and satisfaction." - Laurie Cowen
When we gather together at the table something magical happens. Food is the great equalizer. It's a necessary daily routine, yes. But when we share it together with others, with intention, it becomes a meaningful ritual. Around the table, when we honor our diversity, our differences dissolve. We find common ground in our connection, while allowing ourselves to remain open to different points of view. We listen deeply to the stories held and shared, and we imbue our own spirit into the conversation, if only through our quiet and committed presence.
When we SHOW UP with our full presence and an openness, belonging ourselves, these kinds of shared experiences can be transcendent in both big and small ways. Unlike the many hours of our lives, the intention is not about productivity. It's about connection. It's about creativity. Connection and creativity require permission. PERMISSION to slow down, to focus on our art, our heart. Relief away from our phones. Real connection. Nourishment that feeds us in all the ways.
Earlier this week, I was invited to the table at Hambidge with friends and fellow creatives to share stories around the theme of nourishment and creating a crafted table. It wasn't just a meal. It was a deeply meaningful conversation. Even among a room of one hundred and fifty people, the experience felt exquisitely intimate. A container of connection formed. I felt changed because of the experience.
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Photo credit: Breakfast with georgia tribuiani by Yasmine Ganley
SUNDAY SLOWDOWN | Ora et Labora: Finding beauty in the everyday
"Wisdom consists in doing the next thing you have to do. Doing it with your whole heart and finding delight in doing." - Meiser Eckhart
So often, we search for wisdom as if it lives “over there.”
We think we need more, better, different.
What if true wisdom lies in how we attend to what is right in front of us?
The way we wash the dishes.
The time we take for a thoughtful conversation.
The chopping of vegetables without hurry.
Allowing an extra minute to consciously take a deep breath before we dive into the day.
Somewhere along the way, we were taught that joy comes after the work is done. What if the joy lives in the work itself?
Work that is less about productivity and more about presence and process. A way of moving through the world where nothing is too mundane to deserve our full attention. The small daily gestures that, by doing them wholeheartedly, feed our inner landscape first and foremost.
The Benedictines have a phrase for this: ora et labora. Pray and work. It is both their ethos and way of daily life. There is no separation between the sacred and mundane. We don't have to enter a monastery follow this philosophy. We simply have to approach whatever we choose to do as if it's worth our whole attention. Devotion is in the details of our daily life.
As photographer Eve Arnold notes,
"It's the hardest thing in the world to take the mundane and try to show how special it is."
How do we get out of acting from auto-pilot mode? How do we resist the urge to rush ahead, to get to the other side of “getting it done?”
We slow down.
We attend to what is right in front of us.
We bring the quality of our whole heart to whatever needs or wants to get done, no matter how mundane it might seem.
It's easy to forget and over complicate our lives.
Here is your reminder (and wisdom from the Encouragement Card Deck.)
Show up.
Do the work.
Make it beautiful.
And remember, this also includes rest!
x Alisa
Photo credit: Eve Arnold, Sylvana Mangano at the Museum of Modern Art, 1956
I love when memories show up in my feed. This one from our stay at Tiny Casa - a magical little place in puerto Escondido. Our electricity went out so had to cook all of our food in an outdoor wood burning stove. It turned out to be a blessing- loads of work but tons of fun and exquisite meals we might not have otherwise experienced . @smithhanes
My love, travel adventure partner, wildly creative soul, kind and Gentle man. May we dance and laugh and explore together all the years ahead. 🖤@smithhanes
Our first time to the heel, the ancient coastal region of Italy. A pilgrimage of many sorts....back to the country we love so much, discovering places new to us but iconic in their imprint on the/our world ...places we've studied and yearned to visit. Masseria Mososeta by the brilliant Studio Andrew Trotter, the Trulli of Ostuni, Burro caffe, and the antique markets that travel from town to town weekly. Bumping into the most fascinating people...expats who find and remodel Masserias for discerning clients, a talented couple remaking the world of tech...and the people who made our food daily, at the Masseria, in the caffes, the macellerias and shops along the way. As we drove along winding roads through a region bursting with 100 year old olive trees ....we know winter time revealed a contemplative and wet version for us, cloudy skies with periodic searing sunlight resulting in rainbows over the olive fields... we can only imagine what a summertime visit would look like....Puglia, we will be back! #bellaandsmith1
Happy birthday to this beautiful man, a soul of spirit both gentle and strong, handsome and stylish, talented beyond belief, humble and calm through all the storms. Loved by many, especially me, your Bella forever @smithhanes
