letter from publisher

How on earth has time flown by this fast that we’re already gearing up for Earth Day and all the other amazing April happenings? In one way, we love it because winter was a little wintery in the mind space this year, and we’ve been waiting for a springier state of mind to alleviate these lingering winter worries. And yet, on a whole other level, we don’t want to be in a space where we’re wishing for the future to already arrive while not relishing the present moments—because there are plenty of amazing happenings occurring all around us, even if we’re not being mindful enough to take note of them.

After talking with enough friends, family and colleagues over the past few months, it really does seem like overwhelm has been a common theme. Many of us seem to have an awful lot on our plates right now and are finding it hard to stay grounded in the present reality as our to-do lists keep growing and things out of left field keep plopping down in front of us, begging for our immediate attention! Even those of us who have taken vacations lately seem to need vacations from our vacations. Yet, it’s almost impossible to find the delicious downtime to do so—and the stress cycle continues.

It’s been happening in our world. When we get to that point, as often happens in our busy, contemporary lives, we can often feel like we’re doing something wrong. However, after learning that even some of the most dedicated, hard-core devotional self-care/downtime practitioners recently fell off the wagon too, we realized that it’s okay to go through a season of chaos. In fact, it’s necessary! And if we’re all bumbling around in the chaos together, there’s something really comforting about that.

So, cheers to any of you going through a caterpillar moment. Soon, you’ll be emerging from that mushy cocoon as the butterfly you’re meant to be! It’s a messy process, but there really is something divine in all of the taking down and mixing it all up in the promise of building something even better. And since we’re going through it anyway, instead of anxiously anticipating what’s next, perhaps we could invite a little curiosity and faith into the equation.

In the meantime, let’s do our best to relish the many present moments that this glorious month of April will surely bring to us. We’ve got oodles of incredible information within this month’s issue to help you live a healthier, happier, more ecofriendly life. And in honor of Earth Day on the 22nd of this month, we encourage you to spend as much time Earthing as you can. Making skin-to-earth contact is so beneficial for our bodies—including our overwhelmed nervous systems—and can help us stay grounded in the present moment.

Happy spring!

Northwest Florida Edition

From Pensacola to Panama City Publishers

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Scott Chase

Scott Chase

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Daralyn Chase

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Daralyn and Scott