nostalgia / gratitude
Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.
Brené Brown
Around this time last year I had finished The Provence Experience and was about to head home after a summer of teaching in Parisian parks without a clue where it would lead me.
Today I can call myself a Parisian resident— all reminding bureaucratic paperwork aside — and a grateful expat yoga teacher who is supported by a glowing global community.
Today my belongings are a little slimmer, my pants are a little tighter, my heart is [a little] less crushed and [a lot] more receptive, my life feels equally as confusing but my trust in the universe remains a solid yet fluid undercurrent.
Today I pack my belongings for the umpteenth time this year – this time to relocate within Paris instead of painstakingly hauling and storing my luggage around Brooklyn from month to month. I remember and feel the suffering in my chest and the longing for stability, which lived alongside the infinite well of gratitude for my community for selflessly catching me when I felt like I might never stop falling – who lifted me up as I crawled out of my hole and into a new life.
Today I am thankful for a functioning body/mind/heart, new friends and childhood ride-or-dies, fresh summer mint and dried herbs, the vulnerability to have loved and lost and the [albeit guarded] willingness to do it again [and again].
Today and every day I wish you and all beings everywhere happiness and peace. May we have the courage to live truthfully – to learn life lessons with humility and grace – and may it set us free.
May we remember what was and give thanks for how far we’ve come. May we connect to the moment exactly as it is, exactly as we are, and honor the lessons that guided us here.
Thank you all for joining me on the collective journey.
Onward.
Read the newsletter for savory breakfast inspo from SQIRL LA, upcoming events including discounts for Wanderlusts Germany and Paris 108, Costa Rica [save $200] and Morocco retreats in 2020, an inspiring podcast with a Zen Buddhist monk, and good vibes.
Photo: Jardin des Tuileries with Emily Giovine, Paris.
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