celebrating friends is a beautiful & joy-filled practice.
happy debut novel release day to my dear friend, Veronica Bane!! 🤩DIFFICULT GIRLS is out today! 🎉
my preordered copy arrived at my doorstep AND i’m looking forward to attending a talk and book signing this Thurs 7/10 in Phoenix, AZ 🤗 if you’re in the area, come on by 👍🏼 or check out dates for a location near you.
so happy to celebrate Veronica! she’s not only one of the most generous hearted people i know, but also one of the most disciplined and dedicated to her passion and craft. bravo, friend! so happy for you and this moment!! 👏🏼♥️🙏🏼
loving each other into wholeness can be expressed in many different ways, i think. it can look different in different situations, depending on the need.
but it most certainly doesn’t look like assaulting & grabbing people off the streets & disappearing them, or relegating them to concentration camps, or modern-day enslavement, or cutting their healthcare & access to food assistance. these are examples of cruelty, a loss of humanity, & an affront to the soul.
let us choose love, not cruelty.
resist the darkness being celebrated. stand up, speak out on behalf of each other.
love knows no bounds.compassion is one piece. it seeks out & goes to any place where there is suffering & to anyone who is suffering. authentic, complete compassion has no bias, shows no favor. it simply, directly, & profoundly goes to where the suffering is. this is what we are called to embody.
so when we notice we are leaving someone or some group out, we know that we have fallen off the path, we have missed the mark, that our heart has remained closed to that person or group. if our heart has not fully opened, our expressed love is incomplete, & we have work to do on ourselves.
we cannot say we are fully loving or that our heart is fully opened in this country, if we support or are indifferent to the suffering of the immigrant, the suffering of the trans person, or the erasure of the history of Black, or Indigenous, or LGBTQ+ people, or the withholding of food & medicines from the sick, the elderly, the disabled, & children. to do so, is to not be on the side of love.
likewise, love is not limited by borders either whether physical or psychological, so may our hearts open to the cries of suffering from Texas, from Gaza, from Ukraine, from the Congo, from wherever & whomever they come. when they are silent may we be their voice. when they fall, may we lift them up & stand beside them, walking hand in hand in however that is possible.
i grieve this present moment. the amount of unnecessary suffering this administration is causing, that the Republicans are causing should not be underestimated. i have further thoughts for a post that will publish tomorrow. for now i’m sharing two links of two previous posts one regarding self-care during this challenging time & the other a list of organizations to put our efforts into to help us in this moment. we have each other, friends, & we must take care of each other.
may all be safe, healthy, at ease, and free from suffering.
The Metta Garden 