Into another intensity
The 3rd newsletter post has gone up – and out – over at Substack! Here’s a snippet…
what i’m up to
I’m currently listening to a chill playlist my brother made just for me on Spotify, sitting on my rooftop back home in Phnom Penh after spending five-ish blissful days back in the islands (As Gandalf said once, “I strayed out of thought and time” while there). The skyline of the city unfurls around me now, beautifully uneven and chaotic. I love that here the residential mingles with the business, the massively tall building stands alongside the short little houses. I never bore of looking around.
Yesterday I spent the day in the Cambodian countryside with a friend, digging for crabs and wading/walking through rice paddies to fish. She invited me to join her and her restaurant staff on an outing to go fishing and crabbing and enjoy drinks and BBQ back in the village where she grew up and with her extended family. All told, it was about 13 hours of fun and mud and dust with a successful catch of fish, avoiding being pinched by crabs (mostly), finding some bonus snails and frogs, and enjoying a good BBQ and tractor ride afterward through the surrounding hillside. I definitely slept hard and well last night!
what I’m thinking
There’s so much I’ve been thinking about; the usual year-end reflections and processing; the being here and still in COVID for the holidays; and the “where will I be in 2022” questions (answer: it’s still a mystery). Betty White also just died, and it’s pretty amazing that someone could live to days before turning 100 and the whole world still feels like they needed more time with her. A 30-year-old woman I knew was also just struck and killed while jogging in a hit-and-run situation, and it is so hard to see her life, however full and shining, snuffed out so abruptly, senselessly, and soon. So my thoughts are really tied in right now with what it means to lead a good life, to have no regrets, and to live life to the fullest – while respecting the environment, being mindful of others, and not taking foolish risks.
Spending the holidays with two beautiful souls in a rustic resort on an isolated beach on a lonely little island in the Gulf of Thailand this past week was just the thing I needed. We spent our time swimming, lazing, reading, writing, painting, making and enjoying music, dancing, and delighting in the wonder of the world and each other. (There may have also been one terror-inducing evening when wildlife got just a little too close for comfort – but that’s a story for another time!)
I feel a little more connected to my deep core after those restorative days; a little less risk-averse; and a lot more in tune with the deep magic that pervades the world, which can be so beautiful and is so full to bursting with the glorious, terrifying chaos of life.
On my mind right now is..
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