Young reminders

I think if we all kept a photo of ourself as a little kid taped up on our wall we would remember more often to treat ourselves kindly, to value fearless curiosity, and to express our truest selves the way we did before adulthood got in the way.

Try very hard not to forget how tremendous a gift it is that your body can move. that you may interact freely with the physical world. that your hands are at will to reach, and to hold, and to feel.

Try so hard not to forget that it is a privilege to move and to play and to sense with our bodies. It's dangerously easy to get caught up in the feeling that we have to exercise, we have to work.. How different things could be if we thought instead- I can exercise. I can work...


These are reminders I need daily.. On most days, I wage a quiet war against my body, internally bathing in dissatisfaction, criticism, comparison, and disappointment. I forget that this body that I occupy is the only thing granting me access to the world around me and without it, I cannot perceive, experience, or participate in life. So although it may not look or function as I'd prefer sometimes, at the very least I ought to appreciate what it can do, rather than fretting about what it can't.


Our relationships with our bodies have a profound impact on the way we engage the environments, people, and opportunities around us. I think J. Sarano said it most simply and beautifully:

It is in and through our bodies [that] we ultimately witness 

to that which we are and that which we want in our most profound verity. 

It is in and through my body that I bear witness. 

It is in and through the body that one sees the man.

With That Moon Language

Admit something:

Everyone you see, you say to them, "Love me."

Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.

Why not become the one who lives with a full moon in each eye

that is always saying, with that sweet moon language,

what every other eye in this world is dying to hear?

-Hafiz 

A barista in a coffee shop watched me through a window on a phone call (which included tears) and a while later, quietly came over to ask if I was alright..

Me: Yes, thanks, tough call. 

Him: I saw that, I’m sorry, hope you’re ok. Can I get you a drink on the house? 

Me: No that’s ok, thanks though. 

Him: Chai latte it is. 

And then he brought me a latte which was the sweetest I’ve ever had, not because of sugar, but because of the care from a stranger. and I thought that was beautifully human of him.

Boredom, The Teacher

Would you like to learn some things about yourself? Experience boredom. Well first of all, just your aptitude to get bored can tell a lot in itself. Warhol said “only boring people get bored.” ..convicting, isn’t it?

I admit that I get bored from time to time, and although I don’t usually dwell in it very long, I do tend to fill it quickly with less-than-meaningful activity. It occurred to me that we can learn so much about ourselves from the ways in which we arrive at that drab place called boredom, and how we perceive it, face it, and respond to it (or perhaps even more so from how we don’t respond). 

If I may dig a little deeper, how do you respond to loneliness? Do you seek connection, or do you sink into the alone-ness, wishing things were different? Is your mind occupied by the insecurity of being lonely, or do you absorb that experience and appreciate the time to call your own?

Or how about the quiet? What do you do with the quiet nothingness that is hollow and heavy all at once? Must you make noise to combat the gnawing, desolate air? Or do you let the quiet seep into you, resetting your mind and spirit? Can you sit with quiet and let the unspoken teach you?

These empty spaces, though unfilled, can be some of the heaviest states of the human experience. They are tough, but they often speak some truth about your character, and it’s usually in a sobering, clear and convicting voice. Learn from these places. Exist in them, but move through them in a way you can be proud of. I believe the ways in which we respond to the difficult spaces not only reflect who we already are, but can also, in turn, refine and reshape us into who we are becoming.

I do believe that you will forever feel lost, insecure, and ambiguous if you do not identify, reconcile, and commune with what you believe to be the source of your existence.