The Universe is not here to make us happy, it is here to make us conscious.
Eckhart Tolle
As I approach my 36th spin around the sun this coming Saturday, I reflect on what I learned about Truth this past year – which for many has likely felt more like a decade…
True resilience | Somehow we are carrying on, even when we thought we might never get back up on our feet again [lest we forget my fellow Italians who serenaded each other from their balconies].
True friendship | This has been especially imperative when currently confined to virtual visits.
True health | What a gift. What a gift. What a gift.
True gratitude | There is always something precious, even when life and media scares us silly.
True grief | Individually, as a community, globally. Even in our darkest hours, we are never alone.
True privilege | Learning how to speak up and stand up; unlearning what no longer serves.
True unity | Including its troubling counterpart – both of which we must be more aware of.
True tragedy | COVID, Beirut, black lives, devastating fires, children detained, the Capitol. It hurts.
True goodness | Health care workers [angels]; parents who worked and schooled kids from home; landlords who waived rent; deliveries for the elderly. Countless acts of kindness in trying times.
True love | With life, with others, with food, with myself.
True loss | Personally and collectively on a massive, heart-wrenching scale.
True fear | This is no joke, and I hope you are all taking your mental health seriously. And if anyone else is suddenly sprouting gray hairs – join the club.
True hope | Perfectly articulated by Amanda Gorman: “For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”
True impermanence | Honoring lives lost; those who lost loved ones; all of us whose lives will never be quite the same.
True momentary joy | We can hold joy alongside sorrow – in fact in times like these we must.
Fortunately and unfortunately, nothing is truer than impermanence.
And so as I bop through another birthday in a time where having a birthday at all is a true miracle, I leave you with the radiant words of Mary Oliver to remind us to learn from the truth of Mama Earth; to look and listen; to let the phenomenon of the ordinary touch our hearts so that its brilliance lights us up from within and we can’t help but let our truest selves shine.
[For more poetic wisdom, re-read and re-watch The Hill We Climb from the Inauguration.]
Mindful by Mary Oliver
Everyday
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for —
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world —
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant —
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these —
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?
How will you celebrate the ordinary; the life that is here right now; the truth of it all; your truest self?
Thank you for being here, truly.
Read the newsletter for an artichoke recipe / healthy meal tips / a mind-body well-being chat all with d’still beauty, virtual yoga Saturdays with Sash, a new meditation to help relieve anxiety, 10% off Ayurvedic supplements to keep you strong year-round, an inspiring podcast on COVID and overall health, and good vibes.
Onward.
Photo: Ian Nelson / Bodega Bay, California.
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