I write to you from one of the most zen places on earth— North Central Florida. It’s so still, all I hear now is the hum of the refrigerator, crickets outside and a slow drip coming from somewhere. I’ll write more about the hometown later— but for now, just know that I have been baptized by the sun’s fire and the rain’s kiss. My crispy red shoulders are proof of that.
Here are some of the things that made me smile as my nervous system screeched to a halt of frenetic energy and settled into something simpler and nourishingly familiar.
“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life / was a bride married to amazement.” Mary Oliver
“the deeper you heal, the more type c you become. less drama. less urgency. less reacting to everything. less ruminating. you just start protecting your energy like your life depends on it. suddenly anything that disrupts your peace feels physically incorrect so it’s all just… strangely easeful.” Jordan Younger
Feeling Magazine’s! summer reading program! (For those of us who miss the fun!)
Words by Jessy Easton on Substack:
“I told my husband not to get me anything for Mother’s Day. Money has been tight, like really tight, and | meant it. Yesterday morning he cleaned the whole house while I slept in. Then he brought me tea in bed, made blueberry pancakes, and handed me cards filled with poems he and my son had written together.
Then there was one small package.
1 could feel the anxiety immediately. That buzzing feeling. The fear that he’d spent money we don’t really have. I opened it and inside was a tiny wax cherry. A few weeks ago we’d wandered into one of those beautiful shops where everything is handmade and lovely, and I’d picked it up, thinking what a perfect little birthday candle. I set it back down. We kept walking. He went back for it.
It probably cost only a few dollars, but it’s sitting on my writing desk now and every time I look at it, I feel loved in this incredibly specific way. Like, hey, I’m paying attention, I remembered, I see you.
Being rich has very little to do with money.
Sometimes it looks like sleeping in.
Like warm tea upon waking up.
Like salty butter pooling over blueberry pancakes.
Like poems written by the people you love most.
Like being seen, thought of, cared for, remembered, celebrated, loved.
Money is tight. But damn, I am rich.”
Words by Lina on Substack.
“I think the best writing prompts are less about creativity and more about permission.
Permission to pay attention.
Permission to exaggerate.
Permission to take your inner monologue seriously for once.”
“Less here’s what I’m still worried about from yesterday and more here’s what I’m building. More fun, more expansive, more exciting. It sets a completely different tone for the whole day.
The meditations I gravitate toward are all about visualization – specifically, what would your perfect day look like? The setting, the pace, the people, the work, all of it exactly the way you want it. These aren’t meant to be realistic. You’re not thinking through your todo list. You’re painting a picture of your best possible life and dropping into a random, beautiful day within it.” Paige Kershaw
GABRIELA YARELIZ 