Hello friends, It’s the time of the equinox, which means the sun appears to rise and set due east and due west. Also, day and night appear to exist in equal measure. It is a time of balance. A time to pause and reflect. Time. I keep repeating that word. As I approach my sixtieth revolution around the sun—yes, I was born just past the autumnal equinox—I feel the acceleration of time. But I also notice the steadiness of life itself. In youth, time stretches, yet life itself often feels unstable. At this phase of my life, though time passes more quickly, my days have an equilibrium they did not have forty years ago. I appreciate that, especially in the midst of global upheaval and uncertainty. On one of my walks this week, I paused to snap a photo of a pale dahlia flower. It was only upon looking at the image later that I noticed some of the petals looked chewed on and ragged. The flower was still beautiful and whole enough that it made me pause, all the same. And isn’t that a metaphor for us all, no matter our age? Life can tear at us, leaving us feeling raw, ragged, or simply worn down. Yet none of that takes away our beauty, or the beauty of this moment, right now. So, this equinox season, I hope we all pause, take a breath, and remember we are beautiful, no matter how rough we may sometimes feel. Beauty, like time, persists. Best wishes — Thorn
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Hello friends, I posted a picture of a cat on social media this morning with the caption “Sometimes we need to speak up.” It was a close up of the beautiful creature talking to me. Here it is: Close up photo of a meowing cat. But there’s a story behind that photo, one that relates to so many of us right now. The cat wasn’t just greeting me. The cat was asking me for help. Here's the story: On one of my walks, I spied this cat watching me. I stopped and greeted it when it was still a couple of...
Hello friends, Well, it was another stressful week here in the US and some other parts of the globe. When things feel overwhelming, what is important to me is to connect with what is in my physical environment. I make my bed in the morning. I wipe the kitchen counters. I set things in order. What else do I do? I make sure I go for a walk, even when I have a pile of work to do that feels endless. It is on these walks that, not only do I notice my environment, but I also catch sight of how...
Hello friends, On an old garage somewhere in Southeast Portland, someone hand lettered a large message. The bulk of it reads “Matter would not have become us if it doubted our ability to change…” Now, on one hand it reads as the start of a philosophical discussion I would’ve engaged in during my teens or early twenties. On the other hand, though? Well, it made me pause and snap a photo, didn’t it? Photo: Garage wall message: “Matter would not have become us if it doubted our ability to...