lots to say about this bouncing baby year, but you know, even more to do. sincere wishes of love, but an even truer commitment to show you what i mean. i think that’s the biggest change for me, and while the movement towards it may have been incremental, even unseen, it feels irrevocable for the first time. i know that who i am in the world never mattered, only how i am in it, that it is in love, and kindness, and patience that i will find the freedom to grow forever, and when confronted with injustice or hatred, i must not turn nor retreat from it, but hold the tender ground it is trying to claim and hide from sight.
this past year i learned that the heart does not speak in english, but in nearly imperceptible tugs from an infinite array of strings that travel through all things that have ever lived and ones not yet born, and in those soft pulls, a collected wisdom about how to live, as sure as the one that gathers bodies in their beautiful shapes.
while tempted to go on, i would ruin the promise of brevity held in the first sentence, and i am loathe to ask your reading time now, when i am going to demand it in april when my book comes out. i know. exciting times. you’ll come to the launch in toronto, the after-party, then the one in ethiopia. they’ll be even better with you there.
in the last days of 2016, i kept recalling a quote i read in dag hammerskjold’s book, markings, but it is not his. he attributes it to thomas aquinas, and though i may not have it perfect in my memory, it is something like, “why do you search for rest? you are here to work.”
lots of it ahead. glad to have your company. in it’s spirit, last night i came home from the ER, and put together a mix of songs that kept me warm this last year. different than previous ones, i didn’t favour the album, nor tracks that were only from 2016. why? spotify. still, all of these songs were new to me, and might be to you too.
i’m off to myanmar/burma in a couple of days, and am switching off this mad machineworld that has me so captivated in favour of the subtle one. i’ll see you sometime in february, and be glad. be well. love. j.
for those who dig spotify, the unmixed version is here:
https://open.spotify.com/…/…/playlist/2MtwsNxZ8iHxUEuJLglRH1
One reply on “2016 was everything.”
Dear Doc,
I have just finished your second book, LIFE……..!
Congrats and pride for your efforts.
Who knows, maybe next time will follow you there.
It would be great if could meet you at the exact space between the stimulus and response.
Take care,
Matthew
Toronto