And There You Are
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Hello Friends, This week, I’m thinking about where we end up. One day, you’re a cheerful turtle, spouting water for kiddos in the summer heat. The next, it's rainy autumn, the kids are older, and you’re left on the sidewalk, hoping some other family picks you up and takes you home. Or, one day, you’re twenty years old, living with four friends, trying to figure out your life, and the next, you’re heading toward seventy and wondering what happened to your knees. Now, I doubt anyone reading this is a turtle water spout, and who knows how old you are and what your life condition is, but we all have to face change, don’t we? Including this changing world, as we reel from the realities of climate change, war, economic uncertainty, and all the rest. There is a lot that feels out of our control, as if we were the toy turtle left on the sidewalk. But other things? We have still have choices we can make on the daily. Every day, we can choose to show up to our varied conditions and find ways to help, ways to create, ways to care for ourselves and others. We don’t have to mourn the way things were, and we don’t have to settle for the way things are. We don’t have to just end up somewhere, as if we have no will or choice. What helps me remember my power to choose? As usual, that's the small actions: Each day, I choose to write something new. Every day, I take a walk and notice something interesting or beautiful. Every week, I find a way to offer help. Sure, I get angry at the way the world is, but I also revel in the beauty of it. Both of those are choices as well. How about you? Have you just ended up somewhere? What are you choosing right now? What helps you remember to choose? What is getting you through these times? Best wishes — Thorn News:There's a new installment of Magic, Creativity, and Life up on your favorite podcast outlet or my YouTube channel. It's with Tarot reader Rashunda Tramble. For the month of October, 50% of proceeds from ThornCoyleBooks will go to hurricane relief. That includes my oracle deck and ebooks.
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, There’s an artist—or perhaps an arts collective—here in the Pacific Northwest that makes wooden dragon heads with glass teeth and jeweled eyes made of old CDs. The dragons are always painted in bold colors, and attached high up wood utility poles, so it seems as if they are roaring to the sky. I love that part. The roaring to the sky, part. I also love how bright and colorful these dragons are, and how carefully thought out, even if they are made of scraps of wood and outdated...
Hello friends, It’s a rainy summer solstice here in beautiful Portland, Oregon. The sun is hiding, but, as I move my way around the city, I still see all the ways in which things shine. There are roses in full bloom everywhere. People don’t call this Rose City for nothing. Some roses are fragrant, others, not so much. But each flower is gorgeous in its own way, whether pink, red, yellow, or white. What else is shining? The glint on a crow’s beak. Rain on the sidewalks. People. Yeah. People....
Hello friends, These are tough days, aren’t they? At least, they are for anyone paying attention to the world. In Portland Oregon where I live, a dedicated group of activists have been holding it down outside the ICE facility. This is a privately owned building, and another group of activists is pressuring our city council to revoke the lease, so ICE does not have a holding and staging area in our sanctuary city. Especially not next to a school and apartment buildings. Last night, the...