E. Lexi Abbott

Just A Fish Learning To Swim

I thought I knew what I was doing.
But then everything burnt to the ground.

I thought I knew where I was.
But I don’t recognize anything around.

I thought I knew myself well.
But I’m finding out more.

I thought I understood life.
But I’ve only just opened the door.

A fish will out move to a river
when they’ve outgrown a pond.

This metaphorical fish then swims to the ocean.
When the fast life grows unfond.

The landscape is always changing.
As well as our goals.

Just keep on swimming.
Forget the rocky shoals.

- E. Lexi Abbott



Image artist: Sharon Cummings
Artist page link: https://www.facebook.com/share/16VSq7vutQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Morning thoughts:

Women need to be treated right in order to show up correctly.

A woman needs to be allowed to take her time. To wake up slowly. To pour into herself. To set her environment the way she needs.
A woman needs to be treated gently, with patience and care. A woman needs space to thrive and reassurance to bolster her.

This isn’t only for lovers to know.

This is for fathers. For managers. For bosses. This is for the waiter, the cashier, and the delivery man.

This is for men to know they, too, have responsibility. For within them lies strength, courage, leadership, and wisdom. Within them lies the rigid backbone, the strong arm, the decisive nod.
Men provide the structure and women provide the warmth.

This is not to say that men know all. In fact, quite the opposite. Women are synced with the moon, the tides, and the ancient whisperings of ages long past. Women are the portal, the keepers of understanding, and the muses of modern philosophers. Women are the oracles, the prophets, and the seers.

Men are the protectors. The keepers. The maintainers. The builders. The ones who provide.

Together, in their highest form, man and woman are a perfect union.

That’s why it’s so baffling that society has reached this point of collapse, of turning in on itself, of cannibalism. Women are forced to be men and men are forced to be women.

This has nothing to do with physicality, gender roles, or politics. This has only to do with energies.

It doesn’t have to all happen at once, either. It can start small. Allow your held open door to provide security to a passing woman. Allow your compliments to only serve to provide reassurance. Ask for nothing in return and feel that gift vibrate from your very bones.

Safe women are love. Safe women are light. Safe women are warmth. Safe women heal broken men and rally them for battle either against monsters real or imagined. Safe women recharge the batteries of the world.

The expectant energy can be felt and is avoided. Self-serving predation sends shock waves to the roots. Entitled attitudes are not safe and so are fled from. These things can be held subconsciously. Men, correct these things in yourself.

There is a time and a place for other conversations. This discussion is about one thing and one thing only:

Women need to be treated right in order to show up correctly.

Men, treat the women in your life right. Be the change the world needs to see. Take the lead as you are meant to. Come together for this cause, and the world will begin to heal. It starts with responsibility. It starts with you.

🌿 Are Your Boundaries Walls… or Filters? 🌿

THE THOUGHT

I once read that:

“Our boundaries are meant to act as filters, diffusing and accumulating elements over time.”

The quote was pertaining to permaculture, but I can’t stop thinking about how true it is for human boundaries, too.

Too often, we treat boundaries like castle walls filled with defenses to keep people out. But boundaries AREN'T about telling others how they must behave so we can keep them in our lives. They’re about deciding when we’ll remove ourselves from situations that don’t align with our well-being.

When we confuse healthy boundaries, ones that act more like active filters rather than complete blocks so we can continue living and not come to full stops, with walls, a few things happen:

- We isolate ourselves completely instead of simply distancing from those who repeatedly cross our lines.

- We become aggressive toward people who never meant to push our limits at all.

- We see every boundary crossing as a major red flag issue and we tend to bottle them up as we keep pushing down the importance it holds to us until we explode rather than addressing them calmly in the moment.

THE QUESTION

❓❓How can we create boundaries that act as healthy filters—letting in what nourishes us and filtering out what doesn’t—rather than as rigid walls that shut the world out? ❓❓

The uncomfortable truth: it takes energy and courage. It requires direct conversations instead of silent resentment. It means confronting behavior as it happens, rather than assuming or deciding for others.

And yes, there are people who persistently test and erode boundaries in subtle ways. With them, it’s even more crucial to know exactly where your boundaries lie—and to uphold them, every single time.

It doesn’t matter if it’s only one flower in a navigational forest you’ve surrounded yourself with, you should not allow anyone to step on your boundaries. But the responsibility lies in you to be the one to leave in those situations.

THE TAKEAWAY

How do you practice boundaries as filters instead of fortress walls? What’s helped you navigate the difference?



Image source: https://santacruzpermaculture.com/2021/02/zone-and-sector-analysis/

The Concept of IDENTITY

My identity is fluid
changing with the times
new information = new mindset = new attempted rhymes

ever flowing from my box
and from other boxes too
water can’t stay in cardboard
without leaking all over you

but what is an identity?
A collection of description words?
A grand bizarre
of who we are
nouns, adjectives, and verbs?

I called myself a writer
but I barely write
moreso I’m a thinker
who sometimes is kept up at night

I called myself a creative
but creativity is a force
it flows through everyone
and you can only barely control its course

I’ve called myself a marketer
but that’s simply the title I hold at work
75% of my life spent refining
content and outreach from the murk

I call myself a human
but that’s more of what I am
my matter and atoms have rearranged
to give me a brain, two feet, and thumbed hands

I call myself crazy
for holding my head above the stream
taking in a bird’s eye view
of this universe that’s stranger than it seems

I am never boring.
Though I might leave others a bit confused.
It’s all jumbled in my head
these identity words that are often used.

Who am I to you?

- E. Lexi Abbott



Image source: https://images.app.goo.gl/gtnSVPNL9qVzSZ8C9