We acknowledge that this newsletter was written on and our business is located on Wurrundjeri Country. We pay respects to Wurrundjeri elders, past, present and emerging. We give our gratitude and love for their care of their land, water and culture and acknowledge that they never ceded sovereignty.
Let's start 2022 really getting to know each other as I share my super power that you have too! I just discovered it in 2021
Hello darling friend!
I have wanted to write this newsletter for the past 6 months, but up until now I couldn't get past my own inhibition. Finally the penny has dropped and I'm feeling matter of fact about it. Talking about my menstrual cycle is now like talking about the weather.
So get a cuppa and settle in; as this newsletter is a little longer, but a fine one I feel to sit back and hear about my discovery of my super power, that you have too!
Like living and eating within our earth's seasons, our women's bodies can be a beautiful guide for how our bodies can live sustainably. Another micro cycle within many larger ones.
Nina from our dear Verso book store in Healesville was the first to show me Lucy Peach's book, Period Queen. And I can say easily, that this book has had the most profound and tangible effect on my life, more than any I have ever read.
So, what is underneath that dazzling front cover?
Lucy Peach writes for both sexes, going through the season's of a women's cycle, repeating verbatim the exact thoughts, comments, frustrations and questions I myself have had. She is smart, funny, and a bloody fun read. While I sank into Period Queen's wisdom, I knew deep down I was finally making sense of a great mystery I had been living.
How do we honour our menstruation when the modern world is not seasonal and is always on? As a business, a woman, and mother this has been huge!
Period Queen is now like a work manual, as well as a life one.
Conversations are going along the lines of, 'What stage are you at?' 'Oh that makes sense, there is nothing wrong with me, it's just my cycle'.' Let me do that, I'm in my Do' , 'now is a good time to', now I won't', 'now I need', 'now I can plan for', 'hey mum, don't stress. you sound like you are in your Take stage, just relax' (Aramein aged 11).
Let me give you a taster, an idea of how I have integrated Lucy's message as explained in Period Queen with my 4 stages, Dream, Do, Give and Take.
DREAM
This is the time when we bleed. Heads and hearts are soft. I no longer try to charge through this stage and see it as an inconvenience. I actually love it, and count on it to be able to slow down as I release and dream. I care for myself when I feel vulnerable and when life asks too much. I tap into my intuition. My little nest on the couch by the window is my idea of bliss. I now recognize I have an opportunity to practice self-care and creative thinking as I relish all my thoughts and ideas that can finally get some time and attention.
It seems like I really need to learn this lesson, as Friday's are my busiest days and ALWAYS my heaviest! So I make supports, taking time to rest before and after, cups of tea, going gently and slowly and ONLY doing what is necessary, as I save the other work for later in my cycle. The fam likes me a bit more chilled out. Like Winter, when fruit trees are dormant, there is great replenishment and creation going on under the surface.
DO
How gorgeous is Lucy Peach in the pic above! Sometimes DO does not come quick enough for me! I keep the faith and know it will kick in at any moment. I have learnt the hard way to not over do my Do or else I will be dragging myself through the rest of my cycle. Dreams become actions. I am shocked at the end of the day how I still have the energy to cook a great meal. I get ALOT more done, I am superwoman. I can get a bit anxious with some pent-up energy and it can feel like a million thoughts going through my head, but I know it's my Do phase and it will pass. At work, Tilly and I are not in sync but balance each other out as every second week one of us is in our Do, which is perfect as the other is in her dream! It is the season where Spring has sprung!
GIVE
As I have been going along and winning at life, it feels, I get to a climax in my Give stage. Those few days when we're fertile, and my cup runneth over. I love to give, care, see people. connect and interact. It's a stage where a woman can use to have hard conversations, as there is more giving and understanding and relating. We are charismatic and feeling more open to express and love. My newsletters to you are easier and bolder. You can probably guess I'm in my Give for this one I'm writing to you right now! This is summer, when the fruit is ripe and perfect for picking.
TAKE
Now thank goodness we get to wind down! All that doing, and giving. This stage gets a bad rap, when it can be loving discernment as we stop glossing over things. As our Estrogen decreases, so does our tolerance. It's time to practice saying a loving 'no' and taking what we need. Activists have been known to use this time to get their roar on about injustice. We can see situations with razor sharp clarity and can be bold as we prune what no longer serves. Our self care becomes taking what we need, a break, a seat, a piece of cake, to not put our hand up and volunteer, and not feel guilty, as we'll feel like doing and giving again in a few weeks. My family gets a chance to start giving back what I have been doing and giving, we all get a chance to make changes for what no longer serves. I use this stage to plan and tie up loose ends for my coming Dream week. I used to think there was something wrong with me and my mental health when in this stage, as I was unconscious of my cycle and never knew when I would feel like going inwards or how to accept this. I even avoided making plans as I did not recognize that this was a natural way to feel and I could learn to expect it, rather than it striking at any moment. Autumn, harvesting and getting ready for the winter is the season here.
As a business, family and community we are now working with our cycles, not in spite of them. It's a work in progress, learning about ourselves with every round, making life a little smoother, more creative and sustainable for how we live. Period Queen is for the a 45 year old woman like myself, a young 20 year old like Tilly, a young girl who has just started her cycles, and I reckon a menopausal woman who can review the cycles and harness them with the shift in her energy. Dr Planet is calling from the mountain tops the brilliance of this book, we are sharing it together and we have an offer for you. Pop across to your local bookstore first, for your copy of Period Queen. Keep it local, keep the money in the family or community, so to say. Here in the Valley, where we get the most stunning displays of the seasons, the adventure of journeying through our cycles is a beautiful and powerful wave we can ride together to make the most out of a dynamic and sustainable life together. Imagine if in our conversations it became common place to say 'Hi, how are you?' 'Great, day 10 and totally getting this idea started...." What authentic and interesting conversations can spring from this shared common ground and understanding! Women and men of all ages living and loving together, sharing the lessons of the seasons. This sounds like the sustainable world I'm dreaming of.
Exploring and working in flow with this super power will have you in good steed for 2022. I promise! A little tip, some sweet lovin from one friend to another. From me to you🧡 Chris and the Dr Planet xx