Hello Friends, This cold November morning, I’m staring through the bare winter branches outside my window. The branches are festooned with rows of raindrops, hanging on like bright pale jewels. But what catches my attention is a hummingbird on a wire. It is so tiny, it is barely a dark spot on the slender line. Occasionally, it flies up, then quickly returns to its perch. As I paused in my watching to type these words, the hummingbird departed, a squirrel climbed a fence across the street, and in the distance, a crow flew by. Life is everywhere. Leaves decay, making new soil. Worms and insects burrow beneath the leaves, some of them becoming food for robins and crows. Evergreens remain stalwart, insistent on providing shelter for the birds and animals who do not migrate. Even during times of destruction, life abides. Creativity abides. On the topic of creating when times feel cold and hard, remember that Vegas conference I just attended? I wrote about listening to a keynote given by actor, writer, and director Kevin Smith. ...Kevin Smith then proceeded to give the most foul-mouthed commencement speech ever. It was great. In between laughs, Kevin Smith’s pale, grizzled, middle-aged face told the story of his life. Hard work. Pain. Laughter. Trauma. Self-loathing. Movies. Love. A near death from a massive heart attack. A stint in a mental health facility. And kindness. An ocean of kindness. And it was the kindness that he offered us, rolled out on a mighty wave. “Your voice is your currency,” he said. And, in an echo of the great Martha Graham, he expanded on that to say that our unique perspective is all we have, so that is what we must offer. And then he went on: There are two pathways in life, creativity and destruction. “Destruction is easier,” he said. And isn’t that the truth? But still, we must create. In a world filled with destruction, creativity is vital. Without creativity, things wither and die. So today I ask us all: What are you creating? I made the essay public on my Patreon today, if you’d like to read the rest: The Night I Didn't Meet Kevin Smith. Kevin Smith—like me and so many others I know—has managed to keep going for decades, even when the odds were stacked against him. Like the tiny hummingbird and the foraging crows, Kevin Smith keeps responding to life itself. How about you? Best wishes — Thorn
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Hello friends, This week, fires rage in the Los Angeles basin while other parts of the US are freezing. War continues elsewhere across the globe. It’s easy to give up, wondering what in the world we can do. When the world feels overwhelming, any of our efforts can seem like a drop in a bottomless bucket. But as organizer and writer Mariame Kaba has said, “Let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair.” A bucket, no matter how large, is still filled one drop at a time. And then a...
Hello friends, While out running errands the other day, I paused to snap a photo of a sticker on a concrete barrier. The sticker read, in bold print, Realize You’re Alive. It seems like a simple injunction, doesn’t it? Too obvious to say out loud. Of course we realize we’re alive! We’re breathing, aren’t we? We’re thinking. Moving through the world… But do we actually pause long enough to feel this? This thing called us, on this planet, rotating in space, living. How often are we sleepwalking...
Hello friends, Since the solstice, I've been starting every morning by lighting candles and stating my intentions. Then I meditate and make a cup of tea. I'm really enjoying this pattern, and am using it to carry me through to the next calendar year. As a matter of fact, I just ordered a Moleskin daily diary as a gift to myself. I plan to write three daily intentions down each morning, plus my writing plans and business tasks for the day as a way to focus both my attention and my intention. I...