The Everyday Human

September: On Friendship and Connection September 10 Sometimes the measure of a friendship can be weighed by the trouble you find yourself in—by fault of your own or not—and the friends you can’t trust to let you face it alone. Is it who you expected it to be? Or is that person nowhere to be found when you need them? Or is it someone else? Someone you never thought would come to your aid? You can’...

September: On Friendship and Connection September 9 Joy is a beautiful thing that can be felt individually, but is somehow all the more sweeter when sharing it with a friend. The next time you stumble upon a little bit of joy, make it a point to share it with your partner, friend, colleague, whoever—you’ll make their day, and you’ll be a little better off for it. Reflection title: Plenty To Go Aro...

September: On Friendship and Connection September 8 Humans are not meant to be lonely and without companionship. We aren’t made for it. Our minds and bodies deteriorate in isolation (not to be confused with a controlled amount of healthy solitude). Isolation is even used as a punishment or form of torture. Touch, smiles, laughter, conversations, presence—these are essential things to strip one of....

September: On Friendship and Connection September 7 The art of listening and conversing and truly hearing one another is a critical aspect of what makes us human. It’s a major component of how we begin, nurture, and continue relationships. At the root of almost every friendship, marriage, or familial relationship that has ended is the erosion or complete breakdown of communication. This may lead t...

September: On Friendship and Connection September 6 Companionship, where it is most profound and in its most natural state, is in the silence. The quiet moments—sitting together in a car on a long drive, sitting at the table over a meal or cup of coffee, walking a path in the woods or walking the block—without ever the need to speak or fill the air for fear of silence. In its most natural state, f...

September: On Friendship and Connection September 5 Maybe it’s that your memory has altered and obscured the events of your past, trimmed the edges or punched holes through the middles to fit the shape of the puzzle you’re placing them into. That’s likely it.  Not a bad thing. We all do it. It’s how we grow and get by. But what if someone saw the real truth of you? Saw through those lies you tell...

September: On Friendship and Connection September 4 I’ve learned to not only accept that friendships ending is a part of life, but also to love it. Amor fati, am I right? We’re all waves in the big ocean of humanity. Some of us cross paths for a brief time, and for whatever reason, we continue on our separate ways, carried by the currents. And some of those waves collide, making a single larger wa...

September: On Friendship and Connection September 3 While it’s an interesting exercise to reflect on the precise moment a friendship forms and why it forms—those commonalities or shared events—I don’t think that’s very important at all in the scheme of things. I think what’s more important is the fact that they ever formed in the first place . . . and that they lasted . . . or maybe even didn’t la...

September: On Friendship and Connection September 2 The princess takes the seraph’s hand and without speaking, they sit in the field. The goldenrod and asters and wild carrot bloom and die around them and then bloom and die again and so do these travelers in the field, because things like Life and Death have no place here—Time sees to that. Because what else might they be up to existing and not ex...

September: On Friendship and Connection September 1 It is beautiful, yes, but remember—and I must remind myself of this very often—friendship and companionship are indeed like plants that need nurturing. They are not the hearty wild onion or thistle that can spring up and stand strong in both deluge and drought. These relationships need checking in on, good soil, sunlight, pruning. As I’m sure you...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 31 We are a part of these wild and beautiful things contained on Earth. We are fortunate to have developed consciousness and to be able to recognize the life and wonder around us. We are privileged to breathe this air and cultivate this land and to work with the animals and each other to survive. And we have the privilege of looking up at the stars, those beautiful...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 30 It might sound like nothing, but there in that moment, under the blue sky, warm in the sun, the sound of water from the creek not far off, and the scent of that beautiful plant . . . it was everything. If only for a moment. And following that moment, I couldn’t help but feel I just experienced awe. Wonder at being present at the exact time and place where everyt...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 29 We’re humans, not gods! We aren’t meant to be all-knowing. Part of the fun of life is not knowing and then learning and discovering . What is more thrilling than trying so damn hard to learn something, whether from a book or in physical practice, and then failing over and over and over again until one day, it finally clicks. And you can say, Eureka! I’ve got it!...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 28 Moments of wonder and awe bring us into a sort of perfect stillness (at least internally). They force us into the present moment, however long it may last, and they help us concentrate on living, ironically, perhaps, by forcing us to focus on something that usually transcends life. Wonder and awe steal you away from hopes or fears, anxiety or contentedness, happ...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 27 And then there’s the odd uneven times in between—I believe this is where humans fit best. We are transitory creatures by nature and so it is the days when nature herself has yet to decide what she wants to be and so becomes a little bit of everything that we feel most at home. This is a touchpoint in us as we are shapeshifters in our appearance from infant to ad...

This reflection or musing is not a part of our regularly scheduled programming.  Think of it as a bonus.  Bridges are necessary. You cannot get from point a to point b without them. And our lives are filled with bridges that MUST be crossed.  What’s the alternative? Going back to where you came from? Not an option. The traffic of life goes one way. Stay there on the bridge forever? If you want to...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 26 Music was a trusted companion through many challenging times, and it was right there with me through some of the best times as well. It is an alchemy of sorts. It has the ability to change your mood from somber to happy or slow and lethargic to energized. It inspires movement. It inspires thought. It gives us chills and moves us to tears. It brings people togeth...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 25 Lose yourself in the stars and the thought of how miniscule you are in the vastness of the universe. Lose yourself in the thought that you are but one soul among billions trying to make it just as you are in a mischievous and mercurial world. Be shattered by the magnitude of the mountains and lose your mind contemplating the vastness and mystery of the sea. But...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 24 They sit in the pews of Sagrada Família, looking up at the cavernous, intricate ceiling and stained-glass windows. “Do you know when construction began on this basilica?” “I don’t know.” “Antoni Gaudí began construction here in 1882 and since then—” “Do you know the reason for it all?” says the know-nothing. “Well, it was inspired by a bookseller named—” replies...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 23 Awe is a double-edged sword.  In a way, it satisfies us. Certain types of it (for there are many, and not all must be grand and induced by nature) allow us to proclaim that we were there, as Crane’s man did. It allows us to declare that we scaled the mountain, sailed the ocean, or reached the stars. But with that elevation, we are humbled. It shines a light on o...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 22 I step up onto the seat now, looking into the ocean. Slate gray, some blue. I have no idea how deep it is—maybe anywhere from 30 to 50 to 80 feet out this far. And I have no idea what lurks below those waves, but my mind likes to guess at it. Fish, sharks, squid, dolphins, plenty of jellyfish, maybe whales, maybe . . . a kraken. Every true adventurer of the sea...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 21 It’s an extraordinary little universe back in that compost pile. The cycling of life and death, the plants beginning their lives there as sprouts to one day venture out into the big, wide garden where they will fulfill their purpose, die, and then return to the place they came.  As I work the compost, watching the worms and wasps and flies do their work, and as...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 20 You have to imagine . You have to envision in your mind how you would live in different circumstances. How you would live if you had more time to do the things that mattered most to you. How you would live if you could spend more time in nature, standing still in the middle of the day watching a butterfly until it flew off into the sky. How you would live with m...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 19 Reading the fantasy stories of Jacques’ Redwall, Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, Haydon’s Symphony of Ages, and countless comic books, stole me away from a life that I sometimes did not wish to inhabit, and thrust me into fantastical worlds and realms with magic, sorcery, powers, heroes, villains, and breathtaking landsca...

August: On Wonder and Awe August 18 It’s not the spoon that brings out the flavor, is it? The flavor is in the sauce itself, in each and every ingredient that comes together to make a single, solitary entity. The spoon just gives it a gentle nudge to bring it all out and push it toward something beautiful. And just so, the capacity for wonder and awe is within us all. I can’t quite say what it is,...