Beloved friends,
Folks in the San Francisco Bay Area have the opportunity to see this face in person soon! I'll be offering private sessions Saturday May 11 & Monday May 13. Connecting in person is such a precious experience; I'd love to get my hands and knees on you, meditate with you, or sit and talk about where things are at with your life; whatever calls to you in the moment.
Sessions will be held at the Hotel Zephyr near Fisherman's Wharf. This will be my second time here and all reviews of the first were positive; everyone seemed pleasant surprised with their parking experiences, saying that it was easy and inexpensive. There are comfortable indoor and outdoor lobby spaces for lounging if you arrive early. More than one person noted that they'd keep it in mind for visiting family. Hotel Zephyr is right across from the newish SkyStar ferris wheel, which I'm hoping to ride on this time! Maggie said she had a great meal nearby at Chennai Kings.
You can book on my Calendly, easy peasy! Got a question? Drop me a line! I'm always happy to hear from you. Speaking of how happy I am to hear from you, I'm noticing that every single resource I have to share with you today was a gift to me from someone else. Your suggestions of delights and supports are warmly welcome.
Resources
Queer Parent Support Group
When longtime community member Meg Elliott was a new parent she couldn't find a support group that felt just right for her, so she began to host her own. She's been at it for a few years now and has a new one starting up in Berkeley next week! Mama Meg's Queer Parent Support Group is a circle of support for LGBTQ+ parents and caregivers of babies ages 0-6 months. You can learn more at mamamegsgroups.com. Meg has a deep, curious, loving presence and my deep trust and respect. Warmly recommended. Thanks to Meg for holding this space.
Mmmmmusic
Last fall James and I spent an amazing weekend at Jacumuba Hot Springs which I raved to you about at the time. Our room contained a turntable and a single album: Charlie Megira's 2001 Da Abtomatic Miesterzinger Mambo Chic. This genius experimental/surf-rock album has been on heavy repeat for us ever since and the playlist riffing on it that Spotify made for James has been a big hit with everyone we've played it for. Thanks to James.
Sometimes It Helps To Say It
I've been fascinated for a while with the phrase, "species loneliness", which Robin Wall Kimmerer defines in Braiding Sweetgrass as, "a deep, unnamed sadness stemming from estrangement from the rest of Creation." Imagine my gratitude when a kind soul sent me just the opposite: Tenalach is an old Irish Gaelic word that refers to "the relationship one has with the land, the sky, the water; a deep connection that allows one to hear the Earth sing and be one with nature". Thanks to Amy.
Reading Circle
Next week we'll be reading the chapter "Sitting in a Circle". My favorite passage from Braiding Sweetgrass this past week is, "Nanabozho's people know time as a circle. Time is not a river running inexporably to the sea, but the sea itself – its tides that appear and disappear, the fog that rises to become rain in a different river. All things that were will come again. In the way of linear time, you might hear Nanabozho's stories as mythic lore of history, a recounting of the long-ago past and how things came to be. But in circular time, these stories are both history and prophecy, stories for a time yet to come. If time is a turning circle, there is a place where history and prophecy converge – the footprints of the First Man lie on the path behind us and on the path ahead."
Support for Anxiety
The Anxious Truth, The Mental Illness Happy Hour, and Your Anxiety Toolkit are among the excellent-sounding resources in this NY Times article: "6 Podcasts to Soothe an Anxious Mind." gift link Thanks to Kirsten.
How You Feel About It Matters
This is incredible: Yale psychologist Becca Levy’s research has shown that, “median survival was seven and a half years longer for those with the most positive beliefs about aging, compared with those having the most negative attitudes.” She has written about this in her book Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs about Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live. The person who suggested this book to me loved the audiobook and you can check out an article about this in the NY Times to see if it might be interesting to you. Thanks to Jessie.
One More Time
A few weeks ago I fervently encouraged you to consider reading Ross Gay's incredible poem "A Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude". It is a long and astonishing poem; it contains death and sorrow and is also the most joyful and life-affirming thing I've read in some time. I enjoyed it so much that I ordered the book of the same name and oh, friends, this is wonderful stuff. James and I have made an agreement: I'm only going to read this book aloud to him. I reread the earlier poems to myself, but only read the news ones with him. It's that kind of precious. I'd love to share it with you, too! Thanks to Leah.