A Hug?
A Nap?
A Walk?
A Run?
A Dance Session?
Shaking Things Off For a Moment? (Literally)
Hearing the Voice of Someone You Love?
Noticing Beauty in Nature?
A Comforting Meal?
Settling Into a Good Memory?
Anticipating a Fun Trip You’ve Planned?
Shutting Off The News?
Playing a Game with Children?
Knowing You’re Enough and Worth it?
I Will Not Die an Unlived Life
Dawna Markova
I will not die an unlived life
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
It is good to find things to savor.
But the truth is, we probably don’t need to find them. We likely already know the simple joys that are worthy of our attention and gratitude. We just need to be mindful of them.
Many things are worth savoring because they aren’t around consistently. One of mine — in fact, what initiated this post — is starting my morning with the windows open. I love this… It won’t be around forever. It’s cyclical.
It’s good to find things to savor.
Sometimes, people name difficulties that you desperately wish you could take away, but you don’t know how. You listen, and then they say how much that means. Presence is enough.
Sometimes, people are grieving, and they are exhausted by all the cliches they’ve needed to dodge. You take a walk together or just sit in silence. Presence is enough.
Sometimes, a young person is lonely and feeling overwhelmed. You watch a tv show together or text back and forth. Presence is enough.
Sometimes, people bring a difficult, personal challenge to a Zoom screen among others who care. They discover they’re not alone — in that problem, and in being loved as they are. Presence is enough.
Sometimes, people are feeling isolated and disconnected. Their friends give them an old fashioned phone call. Presence is enough.
Sometimes, you’re feeling sad, anxious, or weighed down, and you tell trusted people what you need. Presence is enough.
Recently, I had the opportunity to hear some folks encourage a particular person, and I noticed that something kept happening quite naturally. Instead of simply saying,
“We’re with you. . . We believe in you. . . We know you can do this. . .”
they also kept adding the person’s name:
“We’re with you, [Name]. . . We believe in you, [Name]. . . We know you can do this, [Name].”
Throughout all of this, I was reminded of how powerful names can be. In the context of expressing love, gratitude, or encouragement, names themselves can be words of deep affection.
After I had already been pondering this, in a different context, a friend said that she wanted to hear her name more. She felt like people hadn’t said her name as often lately, a name she shares with a relative she lost years ago.
Perhaps somewhere within us, we’re all longing to be addressed by name. This sacred process of speaking and hearing names comes from a place of being known and honored as the ones we are. We are seen and cared for in all our uniqueness.
When addressing others with love, gratitude, and encouragement, I’m going to start speaking names much more often and much more intentionally.
Here’s an image from the desk of my colleague. I share it in the hope that it might resonate with any unfolding directions of our lives.
This purple rock reads, “Be Scared and Do It Anyway.”
I really appreciate this thought from @just-shower-thoughts:
“When people talk about traveling to the past, they worry about radically changing the present by doing something small, but barely anyone in the present really thinks that they can radically change the future by doing something small.”
What an excellent thought.
We can.
