In Donata's Kitchen

Entry #3

Written 8/15/25, taking a good look through it again as I’m half way through to 52.

1. Publish something already, anything, really, just something, anywhere, here, even… (check!)

2. maybe stop using elipses??? (getting better…check!)

3. Do not hesitate to visit the rivers, oceans, streams, places, or people. With time all is subject to weather. (going to thailand soon, stayed on icicle creek twice, hiked the boulder river trail, walked snohomish and king county salt water beaches, plunged into the puget sound, kayaked on skagit bay, basked in the sun in Aruba)

4. Be an observer. Listen, don’t speak. Don’t be the frog, don’t carry the scorpion. (made a mess of things at thanksgiving, but getting much better! listening more, talking less!)

5. Take to the waters the moment the need arises. Keep the sand on your feet as long as possible no matter whose car you’re going home in. (missing the sand in the dead of winter, but using the hot tub and rose petal, rosemary, and salt baths)

6. It’s okay to be seen as cute. Take it as a compliment. Why thank you, you’ll say. As before you thought they meant to cut you down to size, it is possible that they don’t understand the etymology of the word coming from clever, smart, and sharp. (highlighted my grays, wearing earrings more, dressing a bit younger, working out more)

7. “Don’t eat bad food.” (less, but better is the phrase, no more eating out at bad restaurants, and they’re all pretty bad)

8. Trust the understanding that grows in the body, this is the truth. (exploring the subtle body, reading through “the body keeps the score” and “soul speak”, had hypnosis exploring the body)

9. Remember, keep things simple, humble. Avoid the winding staircases that lead to attics full of cobwebs that refuse to be rubbed off, sticking to your fingers even as you try, claiming appendages, connecting your human-ness to the the rafters, until your arms and legs are moving like the rest of the marionettes hanging there. (not comparing myself to poets, keeping my writing channeled, and straightforward)

10. Aging is natural.

11. Wellness is: To Love well. To Listen Well. To Eat well. To think Well. To Tend the Well. (focusing on myself more, others less, focusing on compassion instead of judgment, eating less but better, spending time writing, spending time reading, spending time in exquisite self care, not lingering on the negative)

12. Don’t apologize. Don’t be an apologist. No regrets, rebuttals, self recriminations, reiterations. (trying hard not to grovel or rebuke myself for past mistakes)

13. Don’t fall for apologetics. (no heirarchies. period. no dogmatic ways.)

14. Workshops. You are the Hierophant (looking for community versus education, experiences versus instruction)

15. Clear the body scoreboard (but do inspect what is happening in your calf, cuz this pain and cramping is unbearable) (noticing pain in the body and inspecting the emotional affects)

16. Tis the year of La vie en roses (focusing on the beauty in everything and everyone and yes, even myself.)

17. Add storybook elements to your home: more cottage garden flowers, more sweet tasting herbs, architectural and artful elements to structures, statuary, visual intrigue to gardens, trees that sway, hang, and weep, tiny bridges to fantastical spaces, things to climb upon and hide under, more aromatic plants, tie flowers to the swings, find a well cushioned chintz chair to place by the hearth (tying ribbons on the lilac trees as prayers to those I love. re-doing the garden shed making it an herb crafting shed, seed bombing a cut flower garden in the field, hanging prayer flags on the forsythia)

18. Dress accordingly (practicing “my” style)

19. New Broom, for flying (finding magic in the mundane)

20. New Broom, for sweeping (ordered from the Broomchicks)

21. If ya want a burger, eat a goddamn burger. Same goes for fish and chips. Milkshakes too. (eating less, but better, listening to what the body wants, finding work arounds to these cravings, but giving in sometimes too)

22. Magic is. (It IS, it really IS)

23. Learn more about herbs with Rosemary Gladstar, do soak up her humble generosity  (SLOWLY working through the science and art of herbalism)

24. Be Impeccable with your word/s (listen more talk less, mean something when you speak, sing-joined choir)

25. Witness things you’ve not witnessed before (going to thailand, reading and listening to things I’ve not listened to or read before, listening FOR things in a way I’ve not listened before)

26. Release judgment from the word “seen” (I have seen this in action)

27. Learn to like pie (I’m actually craving pie, and enjoying the making of pie)
28. Mary Oliver. (finding more beauty everywhere, dropping cynicism towards gentle ways of being, softening)

29. Explore Unity
30. Explore Consciousness
31. Explore Quantum Energy (yep, yep, yep)

32. Eat more Dandelions (mmmm, need to work on this)

33. Play with the barks and the roots (licorice root, maca, marshmallow, kava so far)

34. Be the Fool (solidly rooted in the realization that I am a student of many things, but have much to learn, trusting)
35. Rechild; Put everything in your mouth (learning to have beginners mind and look at things with all of my senses, what was once old is new again)

36. Learn to enjoy the feeling of putting your foot in your mouth (it’s okay to be wrong and to say the wrong thing, especially when you’re trying so hard to say the right thing, sometimes you’re just going to step in it)
37. Learn to like eating crow, think of it as proof of life (letting the ego free)
38. Learn to Learn
39. Failing is just stagnation leaving the body (letting the ego free)

40. Keep on Moving, don’t stop, no, keep on moving.     .         .  Keep on moving, don’t stop, no-oh, keep on moving. (I keep crawling forward plugging away at movement every day, literally and physically)

41. Stop looking for the missing piece. (I rest solidly in what and who I am, releasing the Ego)

42. Remember: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iilWoaOT4l0; maybe it doesn’t mean what you thought it meant. (hmmmmm)

43. Close your eyes, tap your ruby slippers together, three times, open your eyes, you were home the whole time. (see: 41)

44. Rivers rush, then flow, then linger, then they may rush again over rocks and into rapids and whirlpool into swimming holes wide and deep and out into rapids again, and then or instead, gently merge with the sea. You are not separate from that. (releasing the ego and the fear of being my unique self, we are all unique selves, and part of the whole)

45. Some will say you most definitely are, others will say you most definitely aren’t. It’s what you think that matters. (See #13. )

46. Here’s the thing, don’t hitch yourself to anyone else’s wagon, and let noone hitch to yours. This way you’ll stay in the clear. (avoiding sticky situations, not looking for anyone to fix my problems, nor am I looking to fix anyone elses.)

47. There’s always a bigger fish (no matter what I feel an expert in, there will always be someone more expert)

48. Fibonacci is the sequence, there is no linear (remembering that as we perfect our lessons here in this earthly realm, and gather new tools for traversing them, we are tested with them again, so that we get to use these new tools to make sure that they work)

49. It is good to put yourself in situations with people far more learned than yourself. (cuz there’s always a bigger fish)

50. It’s good to put yourself in situations with people far less privileged than yourself. (to remember)
51. pssst, everyone knows something you don’t. (EVERYONE has unique perspective. EVERYONE)