This Counts as Stillness

Letting go of how rest is “supposed” to look.

Hello, I’m really happy you’re here.
This is a quiet corner where I explore what it means to live with more heart and less hurry - through stillness, creativity, and connection. I’m someone learning, right alongside you, how to pause long enough to listen for what truly matters. Pull up a chair. There’s space for you here.

---

The Nest Retreat Center, here in Gather & Pause,
was built on three pillars:
stillness, creativity, and connection.

They weren’t chosen strategically.
They were chosen honestly.

They mirror my own values -
calm, creativity, and connection -
the things that have always steadied me,
the compass points I return to
again and again.

So it made sense that these would sit at the helm,
quietly steering the ship.

Before The Nest existed in this form,
there were in-person retreats -
small, intimate gatherings held between 2013 and 2020,
until the world shifted
and everything moved online.

Every retreat began the same way.

A pause.
A moment to arrive.
A stillness practice that said, you are safe here.

Sometimes it was a meditation.
Sometimes a few deep breaths.
Sometimes an icebreaker -
some disguised as stillness,
some simply offering joy.

I was listening as much as I was leading.

I’ve never claimed to be an expert.
That has always mattered to me.

I’m a guide -
walking alongside you,
learning as I go.

And stillness, for me,
has never been one fixed thing.

Over the years I’ve tried many doorways into it.

Journaling, for one.
A favourite.
Those pages became a place where I met the divine within.
Where words softened into listening.

Do I do it consistently?
No.

Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash

Then there is creativity -
which I’ve come to understand
is also a form of stillness.

Stitching has always been there.
As far back as I can remember,
needle and thread have steadied my hands.

After a difficult season -
walking away from a job,
shedding a weight I’d carried too long -
I moved back in with my mom.

It was 1996. I was 38.

And without naming it as such,
I created a new meditation.

Cross-stitch.

I stitched endlessly.
Piece after piece.
The rhythm gave me space to breathe,
to process,
to accept where I had come from
and to gently imagine
where I might be heading next.

For a long time, I wondered
what might be wrong with me.

Why my stillness practice never stayed the same.
Why it shifted, changed, reinvented itself.

And then - more recently -
there has been something else.

Hours spent watching stories unfold on screen.
Heartland.
Eighteen seasons - that’s a lot of tv watching.
When Calls the Heart.
And now Everwood,
an older series, early 2000s,
quiet in its own way.

I’ll lie on my bed, sometimes for hours,
mind softened,
body still.

Not silent stillness.
Not meditation.
Not stitching.

But rest.

A way to turn off the noise.
A way to be quiet inside.

And I’ve come to understand -
this counts.

This, too, is stillness.

So this is really an invitation.
A gentle permission slip.

To stop judging how you arrive at quiet.
To stop comparing your pauses to someone else’s practice.

If it helps you soften,
if it lets you breathe,
if it brings you home to yourself -

it belongs.

There is nothing wrong with you
if your stillness looks different.

There never was.

A gentle invitation

As you move through the days ahead,
I invite you to notice
where stillness already finds you.

Not where you think it should be -
but where it actually shows up.

Is it in a quiet morning cup of tea?
In your hands as they make something?
In a familiar show that lets your mind rest?
In a pause you didn’t plan,
but needed?

What is one way
stillness meets you -
exactly as you are -
right now?

---

An Invitation to the Kitchen Table

We have a few spots left for February’s gathering at The Kitchen Table.

The Kitchen Table is a monthly virtual gathering where we come together to talk, create, and reflect. Each gathering includes a soft arrival, guided conversation, and a simple creative practice - all held with care to invite honest connection and shared presence.

In February, we gather around the theme Love Is in the Air.
Join us Friday, February 13, from 6:00–7:30 pm MST at The Kitchen Table.

---

If you feel moved, I’d be grateful if you like this post with a ❤️, share a thought in the comments, or pass it along to someone who might enjoy a pause. Each small gesture helps this quiet space reach others who may need it.