“Dare to be mediocre.” — Pam Grout

Thank you for unabashed imperfection.

Thank you for radical authenticity—for bravery to be ourselves.

Thank you for simpletons, dummies, weirdos, and bores.

Thank you for when unconventional feels normal. Thank you for the swaths of humanity that not-normal resonates with.

Thank you for disrupted living situations. Alien settings nudge us from thinking loops (like discussed in E-cubed), so we’re forced to envision tomorrow as unlike yesterday.

Thank you for a Cuisinart from Goodwill. Thank you for funky coincidental thrift finds.

Thank you for a tarot reading from G’s little guy. (Past: eight of swords. Present: two of swords. Future: death. Advice/path/action?: emperor) 

Thank you for Dad, the “white-haired guru” (the emperor? IDK).

Thank you for SHM’s determination to gain strength. Thank you for his passion to be a positive force.

Thank you for Seneca’s letter on the lesson to be drawn from the burning of Lyons: “Perhaps its destruction has been brought about only that it may be raised up again to a better destiny. Oftentimes a reverse has but made room for more prosperous fortune.”

Thank you always for healing from another’s injuries as a gift of forgiveness.

Thank you for Mindy (Mandy?) offering her pooches, Bolt and Sadie, for me to love on at the coffee shop on the lake St. Patrick’s Day.

Thank you for the opportunity to visit the beautiful NM (and her plus one) up north soon. 

Thank you for sisters and their plus ones’ inspirational real life love stories.

Thank you for a new morning practice of listening to a happy song or two—e.g., What A Wonderful World, Three Little Birds…—before getting out of bed. (That idea is also from E-cubed.)

Thank you for a new catch phrase or mantra to focus on. For several weeks, it was “coherence.” I’d imagine being in a state of coherence while meditating or just breathing. After that, the focus moved for a couple weeks to “rest, hydrate, fuel,” which heavier workouts had been requesting. Now it’s “pause; express”—I’m hoping this new one will add awareness and calm to communicate authentically what’s difficult.

Thank you for Manzanita Mama taking me under her wing, teaching about natives, introducing me to her garden gang, exploring grant options. Thank you for inspiration to share with others as she has with me.

Thank you for sumac buds, toyon berries (Hollywood!), ceanothus flowers.…

Thank you for oak trees catching embers.

Thank you for L’s Lobo paradise.

Thank you for Louie the Komondor (a leaner).

Thank you for the colorful history of our community. Thank you for its protectors.

Thank you for a few small creativity practices from Pam Grout’s Ted Talk (e.g. dream up three adventures you’d like to take, formulate three subjects you’d like to photograph…).

Thank you for a deeper acceptance that the paths we choose may be the ones we have the capacity to travel. And even when joined paths separate, the journey still brims with love and beauty and wonder.

Thank you for your superpower of making others feel seen. Thank you for your strength as a caregiver. Thank you for the warmth you radiate. I hope you feel worthy of love in all caps. I hope you give yourself grace.

Thank you for healing.

Thank you for a well-meaning thought coming from a position of privilege that assumes beyond basic needs are met—healthcare is attainable, food is on the table, and home is safe, peaceful, clean, conducive to health…

It’s the notion that true contentment may be less like the rare or pricy splurge and more like the tchotchke on a clearance rack. Only happiness isn’t bought. We have access to it free, in some sense, as much as we tap into nature in and around us, cultivate connections with life, forge autonomy and purpose...

(That thought came from a memory of grad school days walking through the neighborhood around Westwood—Bel Air—and wondering how happy were the people who lived in all those fancy mansions. It sort of puffed me up to know I could be content with a small fraction of what they had, like I was in on some big overlooked truth.)

Thank you for questioning with playful curiosity.

Wishing us the courage to explore worlds within and beyond, with love. Be well!  <3