Floating Into Calm

let go of your hold

to your former selves

allow the river to carry you

this new trust

is the undercurrent

holding up your bones

float

- AKU_MATU* -

Four months have passed since I’ve written a blog. I found myself having nothing to write, as I took the March blog’s quote to heart and let the river of life carry me, trusting that my bones would be held and that I would indeed float.

I can’t say the last four months were easy. The turbulence was strong, and from what I’ve heard from friends and can sense in the air and in others’ eyes, I don’t imagine it’s been so calm for many of you either.

Yet allowing myself to trust that turbulence, and the intuition that has brought us to a new city and a new adventure after a year of traveling has given me a sense of calm unlike any I’ve ever known.

For now, there is a profound knowing that I can speak up and be heard. I can fall apart and be comforted. I can hold the space while others are doing what they do best. I can ask for help and it appears. I can discern when, and when not, to take an action. I can intuit a powerful possibility shimmering in thin air and it becomes solid.

All the while floating along on the river of life, sometimes in the company of big puffy clouds and a quiet mind, other times being tossed about in the rapids of reaction and terrifying powerlessness.

Friends, we are ongoing creations. We are more often rendered stronger, wiser, more intact, and more resilient by weathering the tough times—with a hand spread wide over our heart and the other hand extended to our families, friends, and Mother Earth.

• With many thanks to Iñupiaq rap artist Allison Akootchook Warden (AKU_MATU) and her life-changing quote, which I was lucky to see at the Palm Springs Art Museum exhibit "Unsettled."