Candlelight and Hot Soaks

This is an excerpt from the weekly News-Loveletter. If you would like it sent to your inbox directly (with all the other juicy bits, including a mini joy practice), you can add yourself to my mailing list here.

The sun’s early bedtime lends itself to an evening of candlelight, does it not? I’ve always enjoyed candles, especially beeswax ones that smell sweetly of tree resin and summer. Having tended bees, I know how hard they work to secrete wax from their abdomens for the comb. I collect wax drips now to repurpose into tea lights.

After hours of working on the computer, editing films for YouTube and courses, writing newsletters, and answering emails, I’m glad to flip the switch, light a candle, and soak my feet in the bathroom sink. (Is that weird?) In such a space, I can open my heart to all that flowed in the day and relish my feelings of joy and satisfaction.

I won’t lie. Sometimes it’s hard to flip the switch on my brain. It wants to keep solving problems. I gently redirect it to the soft flicker of candlelight that reassures me all is good in the shadows. And eventually, we rest together, my brain and I.

How do you signal a softening as bedtime nears? Does fire, earth, air, or water play a role in your gentle transition?