Sheltering

I'm sitting here in my favorite corner, watching how the afternoon light catches the edges of a flower's petals, turning them into stained glass. The scene is almost impossibly serene – warm air from the heating vent, the gentle curve of each petal, that particular quality of winter sunlight.

But just beyond my window, the world is having an entirely different conversation. The wind is absolutely wild today, whipping the bare branches into a frenzy and making the windows rattle in protest. (Nature's own version of a boundary-pushing experiment, maybe!)

It reminds me of something Lisa Crozier shared on The Uplifters Podcast about weathering emotional storms. She described those moments when shame or fear threatens to sweep us away – what she calls a "shame storm" – and how our first instinct is often to hide, to pull away, to let the storm isolate us. But she discovered something powerful: the way through isn't to fight the storm alone, but to find your safe harbor of trusted people who can hold space while the winds blow.

"I knew in that moment, as soon as I had that thought that I'm wanting to hide, this is a shame storm," she shared. "And I knew I needed to do the absolute opposite – to get real in a safe place."

Serendipitously, I just discovered journalist

Melissa Petro

's new book "Shame on You: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification," where she explores shame as a systemic storm that so many of us weather, particularly women.

It strikes me how often we're taught to face these winds alone, to see our struggles as personal failures rather than collective experiences that deserve communal shelter. Like my flower on the windowsill, standing gracefully in its vase while chaos swirls outside, we can learn to hold both: the stillness and the storm, the vulnerability and the strength, the personal and the systemic nature of our experiences.

This week, I invite you to consider:

• Where are you finding your safe harbors?

• What quiet corners have you created where you can be real with yourself and others?

• How might you offer shelter to someone else who's weathering their own wild winds?

Let's be brave enough to build beautiful spaces of calm without turning away from the wild world beyond our windows. After all, it's the contrast that makes both the peace and the power so precious.

With warmth from my cozy corner,

Aransas

PS: Speaking of finding strength in stillness, our next Uplifters Live gathering will be exploring exactly this theme. We'll be experimenting with practical ways to create calm harbors in the midst of life's storms, drawing inspiration from wise souls like Lisa, who reminds us that we don't have to weather these moments alone. Nothing fancy is required – just bring yourself.

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