The Center

“I want you to go forth into the world with this new information. And I want you to transform the people around you with your joy and vulnerability. I want you to let grief wash over you so that you may be reborn over and over again.  I want you to build the canoe to take your people to the other side of the river. I pray for your imposter syndrome to fall away.  For ease to fill your days and for discomfort to be accepted one day at a time in all its mystery and pain. I pray you find glory and magic in every small thing. That you turn gratitude into action. That generosity becomes your way of living. And most of all, I pray that you keep your center. That you get to it. And that you get to it again, over and over until you die. Because that is what being alive is – remembering and re-centering. There is no right way to do this and there is no timeline too short or too long. You are right on time. You can begin today. And if you fuck it all up, you can start over anytime. I promise to keep doing the same. The one thing that is always true, no matter what year or what day, is that I promise to love so bright and be so alive that it beams back into the earth and the water and into the everything. Easy does it.”

The above quote is from the book Getting to Center by Marlee Grace. I haven’t read it yet, but I am currently listening to the UnKnowing Podcast and Marlee is interviewed in one of the episodes. The entire podcast is speaking to me. Deeply. In this time of grief, I feel compelled to inundate myself with conversations about vulnerability, authenticity, struggle, love and community. 

I don’t know exactly why I need to share this quote — this beautiful, honest prayer with you. Maybe because it is my prayer for myself right now. Because it is my prayer for my family. These uncomfortable — and yet somehow nourishing — feelings of raw openness in my heart exist. I see them and also close my eyes against them and also step closer to them. It is all the things. And none of them. From the center, I can see and feel from all sides. I am at the center of this storm. I am trying to be brave.

This is my rambling truth for the moment. 

There is no resolution. Only to stay.

Stay. 

With love and light to you, my friend. Thank you for reading.