Dearest Reader,
“Healing” is a word we use that means…what, exactly?
Like all words, it’s made up. A human construction full of strangeness…distance. A human construction that means…many things.
But, for me, in my personal practice and practice of medicine, it’s not about one thing or after shot or end point.
It’s about being in healing relationship—with self, others, Universe. Not all of the time, but more of it.
The essence of that relationship is a dance of stillness and change, steadiness and ease, reception and stewardship.
It’s everything and everyone dancing us towards clear seeing. It’s everything and everyone dancing us towards true self.
And by true self, I mean a more complete, more loving expression. I mean a more whole iteration AND a more beautiful, more honest way of showing up.
I mean that quiet, slow procession of being and becoming that’s less about reaching somewhere and more about…remembrance.
This relationship—this change—unfolds as process.
It’s more than just one thing and takes place so slowly, so imperceptibly, that one day we look up…surprised.
By ourselves. By how we’ve changed. By how we’ve emerged into someone and something…different.
This emergence—not some fabled notion of “wellness” or “balance”—is the entire point.
This emergence arises from the secret orchestration and dawn-til-death dance of us…in concert. Us…in communion.
This emergence is an alchemy of all that came before—darkness and hurts included.
From there, arises something at once original and old as time.
From there, arises something bigger than the sum of its parts and the sum of our parts—most especially the parts we talk and post about. Most especially our words and identities and maneuvering and stories.
From there, arises healing. Healing is alchemy.
It’s both easy and hard to push off from there. But (based on reads and clicks) you all seemed to love the link-ups here and here.
So, another for paid subscribers, below.
The eclectic focus of this week’s link-up: quitting social media; quitting your job; quitting co-dependency; quitting self-censorship; decriminalizing magic mushrooms; magic mushrooms for eating disorders; partying, vacationing, and honeymooning sober; love in a time of Winter; the best cat video I’ve ever seen (not that I watch cat videos 😂). All that and more, below.1