Dear reader,
Mother’s Day came and went. As the magnolia trees bloom all around (cue Leon Bridges’ song “Magnolias”), I’m reminded of the magnolia bouquet my mom handmade for me for prom 7 years ago. I viscerally remember feeling great joy at the sight of her making and doing something she loves. I’ve experienced the most love from my mom through what she makes and does with her hands. My prayer this week and always is for her great health and that she gets to spend the rest of her life doing what she loves. Perhaps you share this prayer for your mother.
This week, I’ve been bringing together fresh cut magnolia blooms for a kitchen vase. They die after one day, so I bring them back to the Earth. I learned that even though magnolias and lemons share a strong citrus scent, they are not, in any scientifically proven way, family.
Is scientific proof what makes a family…? Debatable.
I went pretty analog this week. It felt real good.
I have to say that this platform is, for me, the most peaceful platform on the entire internet. It feels as though we’re connecting typewriter to typewriter. It does not feel like we’re placing our value in or centering our lives around the attention economy. I’ve come to believe the internet is mostly a placebo. A placebo for connection, for productivity, for meaning, for purpose.
There is no real answer that has ever come to me by spiraling within the confines of my limiting mind or through the glowing box of a screen and its ceaseless information. And trust me, the screens promise me answers I seek intensely these days, but I’ve never really found them there.
Information is not the cure — of that I’m convinced. Before I’ve even gotten to quarter-life, I’ve taken in more information than a person even really needs across their entire lifetime. Answers are not the end all be all. Because everything changes.
My best ideas have often emerged on long walks in quiet and bustling places, when I’m of service to other people and creatures, when I immerse in the creative, non-linear process of making art, when I wake from sleep, or when I ideate on the back of a napkin at a function.
I saw the recent Prime Video series Young Sherlock this week, and though it is set in the Victorian era, it felt eerily relevant to the human condition we experience glaringly everywhere today. Innovation, spare no cost. Innovation over love. Power, spare no cost. Power over love. I did screenshot some subtitles. You can sense that observation and wonder live in these characters’ bones which leads to curiosity which leads to solution-finding. In that way, I find our callings live in our somatic experience.
We are not above nature. Regardless of the dystopian times we’re living in.
Speaking of awe and curiosity, I’m an aunt to a 10-month-old baby girl. My dog Jack got to meet her this week and she got to meet bubba Jack.
One creature with endless wonder, one creature with endless wisdom. She squeals and reaches for him, launching herself into a trust fall. He lets her hold him close, which for her tiny hands results in intensely gripping his fur. Their full capacities for love were on full display. So much goodness behind the squeezes.
In an effort to access the wonder of a baby and the wisdom of an elder dog, I danced bachata last night, two cha-cha-chas included. Nothing like footwork to remind you you’re alive and that your own movement + the rhythm of another can move you profoundly. I believe dancing is one cure for the plague that is “othering.”
The breeze of grace is ever-blowing. Catch the waves.
What sparked true joy for me this week: Jack’s arthritis symptoms reducing enough so that he could run like when he was young. Stephen Sanchez’s new record LOVE, LOVE, LOVE top to bottom. Belt singing again. Quilted jackets. Mary Jane flats. Lotus Foods ramen with bok choy, toasted sesame oil, tamari, ginger, garlic, and lime.
What sparked joy for you this week? I care to celebrate that with you.
With much love & to going beyond the surface,
Anjali
Next week: dancing through the next chapter of my story !!