Ramadan Mubarak!
I'm welcoming this month of self renewal, growth and reflection with sweet things
It’s the first day of Ramadan here in Vancouver, and I’m grateful for the month. It feels like the right time for some introspection, reflection and self examination, and I’m praying for an ease-full, mercy-filled, blessing filled month. For those readers who celebrate the month, please do remember me in your prayers! I am remembering this community in my prayers as well.
As the month opens, I wanted to share a book that I’ve been reading recently called “The Sugar Jar: Create Boundaries, Embrace Self Healing and Enjoy the Sweet Things in Life” by Jasmine Cheyenne. The book uses the concept of a sugar jar to discuss boundaries, self-healing, worthiness, self-forgiveness, and more. In the metaphor, your sugar jar is your life, and your sugar is your energy, time, attention, money, everything you have to give. The size of the jar denotes your capacity, the jar lid is your boundaries.
It was an interesting, enjoyable read, though the metaphor felt (a bit) repetitive by the end of the read. I appreciated the discussion on performance versus presence, on belonging, on feeling “enough” and hearing all of these learnings from an educator who knows that healing spaces often exclude BIPOC folks, because of her own experiences of being Black in wellness spaces.
It felt like an apt read to begin Ramadan with. Not simply because this is a month where one reflects on their own consumption of sweet things, but because this book talks about how healing and learning is a continual process; healing is never done. And among the many things that Ramadan is, it is this: a yearly opportunity to look at yourself and how you are doing, an annual pause that encourages you to take each day, each moment to practice different ways of being. Do you struggle with self-comparison? With envy? With worthiness? Ramadan is a reminder to re-evaluate what matters to you, who you want to become, and where you are going. It is a month that is drenched with hope.
As I was reading, I tried to draw some of my takeaways from the book:
After Chapter 4 I lost my Apple Pencil, and so the notes as a totality can be found in their regular format below the paywall.