The world continues to be further divided.

Right <> Left

Black <> White

Good <> Evil

What the media writes gets replayed in our thoughts. The binary of the world forces our brains to choose.

Right hand or left hand? Red pill or blue pill?

But what if there is a third choice?

How about seeing the duality of this world – the recognition of and the interplay between black and white and all of the grey in between?

“I don’t think I can.”

Who is the “I” who is doing the thinking and who is the “I” who is wanting to do the thing?

They are not the same entity.

One is ego, and one is your true self.

Remove the ego and you get, “I can.”

[The ideas in this post originates with teachings from Eckhart Tolle, spiritual teacher and author of many pivotal books including A New Earth, which saved me from myself in 2012.]

Not everyone will love all parts of us.

And in thinking that, we may feel the need to turn down the switch on a part of us because it is “too much” for the other person. And we think, maybe after they get to know us better, we can dial it back up.

And sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t.

You are an adult, and it is your choice to approach new relationships like this.

But know – you are dialing back who you are not because you are too much but because the other person does not have the capacity to accept you fully.

You may want to continue building those relationship and that is your right, but also seek conversations with people who are open to receiving all of you. Your too much is just right in their spaces.

We have holidays for everything.

You’ve got your standard Independence Day and Labor Day.

But then you’ve got the more interesting ones…

National Bird Day

Something on a Stick Day

California Poppy Day

Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day

Looking at the calendar, I realized what these holidays ultimately are.

Days of gratitude.

And everyday, more and more holidays are being added to the calendar. And everyone gets excited because they get to celebrate all the things they love. I’m not so sure commercialized holidays are what will make us happier or more grateful.

Instead, maybe we can start to be grateful everyday for what we have.

What are you really good at?

What comes so easily to you that you don’t even think about it? That you completely disregard its worth.

But why is something only worthy if it is hard to come by?

What may be a commodity to you is not necessarily a commodity to others. In fact, it may be the gold that they want and need.

If you had infinite amounts of gold, would you not want to share it with everyone?

The viola is a beautiful, deep, rich sounding string instrument, though many do not actually know of its existence.

It lives in different sections on stage sometimes between the two sections of violins and sometimes as the bridge between the unmistakable cellos and the melodic violins.

It is hard for the layperson to say what the viola offers to the orchestra but its presence would surely be missed.

It is the support in the background, the one that helps tie up loose ends and adds nuance. Its role is not lauded because it does not take up center stage and does not demand attention.

It is the mother of the orchestra, keeping the wheels oiled and spinning.

And it is time that violas and mothers get the credit they deserve.

As a child, we look to our parents for reassurance. A simple nod or indication that we are on the right path.

If we are lucky, they will say that we did well and they are proud of us.

However, “experts” say if raised “correctly” by instilling internal drive, children won’t need a carrot to work towards their goals. That a healthy child-parent relationship means that the child does not need the parent’s approval.

Perhaps as adults, we don’t need approval but the reassurance from our parents is never unwelcome. We are all children seeking our way home. A simple nod or indication that we are on the right path would be that little something extra that ushers us along our path.

And absent of that, a community of like-minded people can offer similar reassurance, energetically holding space and giving that simple nod as needed.

It is weird to be living the day to day when I am reminded that death is all around.

When a week passes with news each day that someone in my circle is sick or is at the hospital, I start questioning what it’s all for. If I’m doing enough. If I what I’ve done is enough.

Half of me wants to find a soft spot, preferably a bed, and burrow. Death can’t announce itself when I’m hiding right? Snuggling with my babes is a perfect way to pass time.

The other half examines the grandiosity that is life itself and each decision seems to have more weight to it.

Both reactions are a way for the body to process the overwhelm of emotion, pendulating from one to the other as I eventually return to regulation. But this time, with a greater sense of urgency.

Mothers are hardly the protagonists. Instead, we play strong supporting roles in the background or behind stage.

Some of us are too weary to play the main character.

Some of us are taught it is not okay to want to be and to claim that space.

Some of us are told to occupy our time with mundane tasks that we forget we can be the protagonist.

Consider this your invitation to come on stage. You deserve the starring role. You deserve to experience the limelight and shine.

If we have been told all our lives that we are not creative or not artists or not writers or not chefs and so on, we will have those words imprinted in our psyche.

And when we go to create, we will get sent reeling back to those moments.

We will feel fear. We will feel sweaty palms. We will feel hearts racing.

And what do we do?

We can hide or we can sing/draw/write/cook everyday until there is no denying that we are the artists we always were.