You are alive.
You have a heart that is pumping,
Lungs that are breathing.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Welcome to a hit of hope.
And fair warning,
This one is salty.
In a recent meditation,
I vowed to quit saying that life is hard work.
I said we should change our words so that we see life as an opportunity full of freedom and room.
Yeah,
Fine,
Whatever.
Today,
That feels like a lot of shit.
Why?
Because life is hard.
Even if,
Or maybe especially when,
You have a dream.
Am I alone in wondering where is my fucking fairy godmother?
Where are my friends' fairy godmothers?
Right now we have economic uncertainties and disparities.
We have love and loneliness.
We have diagnoses and dreams.
We should all have dreams,
Something we are working toward,
And something we can help others as much as we can to achieve their dreams,
Too.
But sometimes it feels as if it might take forever.
And so we focus on how hard the work is,
How long it will take,
Never knowing if or when it might happen.
Inhale.
Exhale.
There is no fairy godmother,
Dammit.
Well,
I suppose some reality TV shows act like fairy godmothers.
You want love?
Poof!
Here you are in beautiful clothes.
And oh,
Your first date is in Bali.
You want a makeover?
Poof!
Here are the Fab Five,
And they will teach you how to dress better,
Which almost always involves a French tuck.
Cook better with a towel over your shoulder.
They will make you cry as you face your demons.
They will get rid of your mullet from the 80s.
And Bobby will create magic in your living room,
All in the span of five short days.
So yes,
If you find yourself on one of those shows,
Then you basically have a fairy godmother.
But many of us,
Most of us,
Will never be on a show like this,
Which means there is no shortcut,
Which is why I am so tempted to go back to the idea of hard work.
Because maybe like me,
You have a dream,
Maybe several dreams,
Something you are working toward,
And you just want to get there already.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Many of the sages say it's about the journey,
Not the destination.
It's the process,
Not the product that matters.
Of course,
They are right.
They are goddamn sages after all,
But ugh,
It's just so damn annoying.
When you want to do something,
Get somewhere,
Fall in love,
Create the business,
Move to the cabin in the mountains.
Your inner self can turn into that two-year-old and whine,
When are we gonna get there?
Inhale.
Exhale.
I wrote this meditation on my balcony this morning as a gentle rain fell.
I was too sweaty to sit inside because I had just made it back from my run before the rain started.
As I sat there,
I could feel all peaceful and enlightened because the physical labor of the run was done.
And it didn't hurt that I was having nirvana juice,
Otherwise known as coffee.
To get to that soul-nourishing moment on my balcony,
Though,
And let's be honest,
To get to the nirvana juice,
I made the choice to get out of bed,
Lace up my shoes,
And take the first step.
Then I took another.
And another.
Soon,
My heart was pumping.
My lungs were breathing.
My legs were moving me forward.
Because of the humidity,
I was sweating buckets.
But there I was.
Now by a lake,
Now in a field with wildflowers,
Now startling a deer from its slumber.
Why,
Hello,
Bambi.
And finally,
By a baby rabbit nibbling on sweet clover.
If I hadn't taken the first step,
I would have missed it.
And so maybe we need a balance of thinking of life as hard work and opportunity.
Inhale.
Exhale.
And let's forget the fairy godmother.
And instead,
Your path and all of its opportunities awaits.
Namaste.
