As we begin this new semester, I find myself craving spaces for grounding. There is so much whirling around us that makes me feel somewhat off-kilter. I long for places of peace and balance, spaces to hold the hard and the good, and the moments that feel like blessings and curses. In a world that moves at an ever-increasing speed, I’m always trying to find small ways to slow down, leave space for thoughtfulness, and find momentum for action motivated by love and the desire to help.
This winter break my family and I decided to do a little home rearranging. There was a room in the Chaplain’s House that we didn’t quite know what to do with. My son had named it the “talking room” but it didn’t feel the most conducive to talking. We decided what we all needed now was a “calm down room”, or as is in my son’s second grade class, a “regulation station.” We re-arranged furniture, brought in some plants, got a little tabletop fountain, and a deck of cards with breathing instructions. The space feels more comfortable, a space we spend more time in, a space we can release tension.
When people come into the house –whether groups of students, faculty or staff – I’m looking forward to offering this space in radical hospitality. I hope that it helps provide a space of calm amidst the chaos. In this time of challenge around the world, be it through climate disasters, wars and conflict, can you create your own spaces to “calm down”? Can you carve out a centering space in your own lives? I’m sure this semester will come at us all fast and hard. It will hold difficult moments and joyful ones that we will have to hold simultaneously and work to find the balance. I hope we can find our grounding, find our calm, and the people that help us hold onto it. Know that if you’re searching for these spaces, we at the Chaplain’s Office are here to help find them and create them together.