Grief Gathering With Marigolde

Hey, everyone. Good morning. My name is Roshni Kavate, founder of Marigold. So great to be here. So I've been feeling tired a lot lately, and I think I realized it's both change of the seasons, but also grief seasons. And I've been just craving lots of rest. And I'm really curious how you all are resting. And sometimes rest means doing nothing, but I've been actually, you know, wanting to go out and, like, do, like, go to the market and, like, cook. I think I realized a lot of my fatigue is just coming from not being able to, you know, like, sit down and eat, like, quietly eat slowly.

So I've been wondering, you know, how can I rest in a way that is beautiful and feels sensorial, like, including all my senses in terms of resting? And it's always really hard to do things, you know, when you have that wave of exhaustion. But what are some ways to, like, kind of interact, you know, with beautiful sights, maybe smell? So I was at the market, and I found these blood oranges, and they just, you know, when you cut them open, they look like jewels, pretty much. Right. So I had a blood orange juice for breakfast one day, and then I chopped up the second blood orange I had, put it on my salad, and it was just.

It just, like, brightened up my palette. So I've been thinking about this idea of, you know, nurturing our grief with food, with all things sensorial. So for today, I think we should talk about. Yeah, like, how to liven up our palette just with colors, with textures and sounds while we're grieving. So I really like the idea of including, you know, lots of really great spices in my food that always livens it up. Right, using bright flavors, using lots of citrus, and just making things, like, cozy and bright and somewhat luxurious.

If you're joining me here, let me know. How are you brightening up your palette, your grief journey? Because it feels like folks say, you know, while you're grieving, you're kind of out of, like, beauty is not available to you. Right. There's this idea that it's all about darkness and a sense of heaviness, but I think we can have both at the same time. So how are you bringing flavors, textures, smells, sights, sounds, all of it? Like, even music can be so enlivening and a way to, like, shake us up while we feel that sense of heaviness.

And that's one thing I feel like a lot of people may not think about or talk about is how grief, there's a sense of heaviness not only emotionally, but also in the body. Right. It can feel like your sense of smell is not as strong. It may feel like your digestion is slow. It may feel like your appetite is low. You're just not, you know, craving the things you used to like to do. There's this slow kind of retreating to doing things that are very minimal and conserving energy, essentially. But it's really also important to nurture and nourish and rejuvenate yourself.

Right. Oh, there's my dog. Say hi. So how do we rejuvenate our grief itself, like, our grief journey? How do we bring some kind of regenerative quality to that? Because it's not like you go from, you know, feeling a lot of emotions to not feeling it. It really has to be that. Just the journey you're on has to feel nurturing. There's moments of calm and quiet, but there's also an ability to operate within it and create beauty within it and, you know, to not, like, separate ourselves from it. So, yeah, anyone here who wants to jump right in or share?

Curious to hear, you know, how are you bringing flavor, lightness to your grief journey? So going back to the blood orange, so I started thinking about, well, what are the small ways in which I can bring color and lightness, you know, every day to my life? And creativity, I think, allows for a way for us to be really free and not, you know, see things as so precious. Right. Because creativity is abundant and it comes up in so many shapes and forms, especially when we eat, we can be really creative within the context of our plate, what we put on it, how we eat it.

So I've just been, every day when I, like, I'm out and about, I pick up one thing for myself to kind of, like, almost like treasures. So I've been getting a lot of, like, citrus fruits, lemons, and because of spring, there's so many wonderful greens out there right now. I love bitter greens. That's another great flavor, you know, to just, again, like, something different than, you know, like spinach. So any kind of bitter greens to kind of activate the palate, so to speak. And I've been putting pomegranate seeds on them.

That's such a great combination if you can do, like, a sweet bitter. So that's been really wonderful. And I was thinking about how to do that during meal times, but also in my day to day, like, while I'm at work and while I'm, like, meeting friends. So I've been really consciously thinking about the idea of cultivating beauty in every moment where I'm feeding myself, where I'm nurturing myself, where I'm going to visit friends or even while I'm at work. I've, like, made my workspace really, you know, it's very basic, but I have, like, just, like, a little vase with some flower, just like, one flower, very simple.

And when the sun kind of filters onto my workspace, it just feels like I'm in a different space altogether. It feels really cozy. So it's like finding those little almost, like, nooks, right, to be warm and cozy and to build beauty and aliveness and remembering. Just because we're grieving, it doesn't mean that we cannot experience pleasure, that beauty is not for us. Beauty is all around us, and it's abundant and it's regenerative and it's infinite and it's endless. And we can tap into that to really nurture our bodies, but also our spirit.

And that's one way to really, you know, tap into our creativity. And it feels very empowering, you know, for me, and I hope for you, too, to tap into your creativity of how you want to bring beauty into your life, onto your plate, through the food you eat, through the relationships you're building, all of that. Right? And we talk about spring cleaning, and it doesn't have to be a practice that's about, you know, kind of like, getting rid of things or cleaning up, so to speak, so you don't have to do the things you love.

It's. It's a way to, like, open up to more beauty, to make space. I realized I have all these old books that, you know, I've read them. They've been great. But I don't need to, like, have all these old books, books collecting dust. So trying to practice letting go of them, too, is to just. So I can have, you know, just the books I want to read. Like, have, like, more space for more things to come into my life. So maybe think about. Yeah, like, how you're, you know, making room for that kind of warmth and beauty to also enter your life.

Anyone here want to share how you're being inspired by the spring energy to tap into your creativity? I see a few people here. Don't be shy. So I hope you'll try cooking with lots of flavor, with color, and really tap into that spring energy of, you know, boundless beauty and life seeping through. Right. And, you know, be inspired in your day to day life, like, when you're out and about, you know, check out a farmer's market. Like, go to a flower shop, get something, you know, beautiful that catches your eye and really treat yourself in that way and, you know, bring that beauty into your life and see how having, you know, like, centering your pleasure and your senses can really, you know, tend and offer a sense of lightness to our grief.

Well, it's been so great being here this morning. My name is Roshni again. I'm the co founder of Marigold. Please, I want to see what you share in the comments. Looking forward to hearing. So please let us know how you're bringing in beauty. Would love to think of. Yeah. Like, I'm excited to hear what ideas you may have. Talk soon. Bye. Yeah.